Teacher perspectives as they influence minority students' mathematics achievement

This study is a language analysis of mathematics teacher perspectives of minority and female students. The research examines teacher perspectives as they influence those teachers' expectations for the mathematics achievement of their students. A review of literature considers the notion of self-fulfilling prophecy, the bases of teacher expectations and how teacher behaviors influence students. This participatory research methodology focuses on discourse as the means to uncover the participants' views. The data are interpreted and analyzed from a hermeneutic perspective. The implications of the research data are interrelated and presented in categories which emphasize that teachers and other significant people influence students, that teachers vary in their meanings of success for students and that teachers' perspectives can be uncovered in discourse. Importantly, administrators must understand the perspectives of teachers to provide the leadership needed to influence teachers' perspectives. In this way, teachers and administrators can work jointly to benefit minority students' mathematics achievement. It is through the shared meanings in discourse that teachers and administrators can understand their practice. In summary this researcher offers implications of this research as they reflect in guidelines for administrators. These guidelines focus on what administrators must consider when hiring teachers, planning school programs and designing staff development.