Community Based Mathematics Project: Conceptualizing Access through Locally Relevant Mathematics Curricula

In this article, the authors describe a conceptual framework for using locally relevant mathematics curricula to increase access to mathematics for marginalized youth. Drawing on different strands of research on equity in mathematics education, the authors propose that there are three kinds of access that are afforded by the use of contexts that have local and personal meaning: (1) access to mathematics that matters; (2) access to institutions; and (3) access to critical ways of thinking. This framework was developed in a grounded manner; it evolved through the authors' work with middle school students and their teachers and through their critical analysis of the mid- and macro-level contexts (Irvine, 1990) in which their schooling is situated. In order to illustrate this process, the authors present this framework as it has emerged. After a brief introduction to the project, they review the research that informs their work and then explicate the three different forms of access that are embedded in their curriculum design. (Contains 4 endnotes.)