A framework to measure microaggressions in the mathematics classroom

Abstract

Discriminatory treatment has been identified as one of the major factors that cause the mathematics achievement gap between White and many minority students, particularly, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Culturally Responsive Teaching has been promoted as a means to reduce discrimination in the classroom. However, the appearance of neo-racism in the form of racial microaggressions suggests that Culturally Responsive Teaching may not be enough. Three personality types along with their traits have been identified as the source of racial microaggressions in social psychology. In this theoretical paper, we propose a framework to help researchers and teachers become aware of and identify microaggressions and their extent in a mathematics classroom. The framework is based on two defined types of microaggressions and three personality types that strongly predict discriminatory behaviors.