ABSTRACT
Assessment has been a key component of mathematics reform in the USA, driven by reformers’ emphasis on deepening students’ conceptual understanding of as well as improving their procedural fluency in mathematics. In this chapter, I argue for a multi-dimensional approach to assessment, suggesting that standardized test scores do not adequately capture the extent of Black students’ mathematical knowledge and performance. This chapter reports results from the implementation of an intervention around elementary mathematics with a group of elementary teachers and their African American students in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse school district, Joytown. Although the intervention had a positive effect on mathematics performance (participating students outperformed non-participating students), so-called low scoring students on standardized assessments demonstrated mathematical knowledge that, at times, was nuanced and sophisticated, but may not have been adequately measured by these assessments. In this chapter, the impact of implementing lessons with multiple assessment opportunities on African American mathematics achievement is discussed, and the mathematics performance and conceptual understanding of a sample of African American students are analyzed, using pre-and post-standardized test data as well as instructional tasks given throughout the academic year. The importance of providing rich formative as well as summative assessment opportunities for students is discussed in the context of enhancing classroom practice, deepening these students’ knowledge of mathematics, and reframing the discussion about Black students’ mathematics achievement from one of deficit to one of excellence and potential.
