Culturally Sustaining Practices for Middle Level Mathematics Teachers

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article is well written.  I find the content compelling but unsure of the audience for this paper.    I interpreted the report to be an attempt at highlighting how recommendations for teacher education might be utilized in activities designed for them.  Particularly, offering a conceptually grounded model of ways that CSP might be introduced and stressed in MCME.  In that sense, I believe the paper is details the attempts.

I found the article to be un-necessarily lengthy.  Due to this, this reader tended to loose focus.  A more selective approach to crafting the paper will make it not only easier to read but also more valuable in finding direction for future research in the same area.

Results reported (based on selection of comments from PSTs included) is not sufficient to capture the merit of initiatives undertaken by the authors.  Again, if this is to be a report of empirical study a better structure needs to be imposed.

Author Response

We revised the focus of the study to redress a focus on culturally sustaining practices for middle school mathematics teachers. We removed Part I of the study with the intent of focusing explicitly  on tools we use as mathematics teachers that support  Culturally Sustaining Practices as described in the goals stated.  To that end we examined the three tools of reflection, literacy integration, and placed-based/problem-based learning as three tools that all math teachers could use to create a more culturally sustaining mathematics classroom.

Reviewer 2 Report

The author has put in effort to discuss the issue of "culturally sustaining practices". The paper is difficult to read mainly for the lack of focus and coherent arguement. Below are some suggestions for considerations;

(1) state the research questions explicitly

(2) explain the methods of the study and the criteria for the selection of literature in the literature review.

(3) Rewrite and reorganize the paper in alignment with (1) and (2). 

 

Author Response

Your advice was addressed by stating the research question; explaining the methodology we used to share our findings, and reorganized the paper to address explicitly what we found to be the most comprehensive view of what a middle school mathematics teacher needs to consider as they move towards becoming a more culturally sustaining educators. Thank you for your feedback.

Reviewer 3 Report

I think this manuscript has a lot of potential and I do want to see it published but not in its current form. It seems like the authors are trying to fit too much in one manuscript. My suggestion is to focus on addressing one population only: Middle grades Mathematics Teacher Educators OR Pre-service teachers (PSTs). My suggestion is to focus on addressing MTEs and then the content that is intended for PSTs (and in-service teachers as well) can be written up as a separate stand-alone manuscript and submitted for review to a journal such as Teaching for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics (I am an associate editor for this journal and I think such a piece would be a great fit). Or maybe write up one manuscript expanding on the content used in Part I and another manuscript (for this special issue) expanding on Part II. Something I am confused with is why are there resources supporting culturally sustaining practices in Part I and then Goals that support culturally sustaining practices in Part II (but then there are resources here too). Overall, I think there is too much in this manuscript and many tools/resources/strategies are discussed, some in more detail while others require elaboration, some need more explicit links with RMLMT and culturally sustaining practices, and some strategies noted are not described at all. Also, I think the manuscript can be organized better because I feel like much of my confusion stems from the way in which it is currently organized. For example, on page 2, lines 49-52, the authors provide an outline for the manuscript. I suggest expanding that paragraph to provide a more detailed outline. For example, this is where I would have liked to see the authors introduce the “questions to ponder. Also, is Part I an overview of culturally sustaining practices and resources OR is it an overview of resources that promote culturally sustaining practices. In this paragraph the authors state the fist.  However, Part I begins with a description of a particular resource. 

Overall comments on Part I: I like the content in Part I but in my opinion, it is not well developed as is. I was confused with what is a resource or a tool and as a reader I didn’t have an overview of all that is shared here. Maybe use a table to organize everything and then elaborate on each of these resources/tools. Otherwise it all seems scattered. Also, I would like a more robust discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of culturally sustaining practices and what they may look like in math and at the middle school level, before seeing the resources and then I would like the authors to make connections between each resource/tool and the discussion on culturally sustaining practices. 

Overall comments on Part II: I like the content in part II as well. However, some of the strategies referenced in the tables are not discussed (or not discussed clearly enough and I missed them) and the overall organization does not make sense to me. 

I have included more specific comments and suggestions in the body of the manuscript. I will likely have additional comments after reviewing a revised version of this manuscript. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We found your advice to be most helpful and also consistent with the previous reviewers. Thank you for spending time to help us reconsider the focus of this paper.  We chose to refocus our paper for middle school mathematics teachers and provided three tools to address the goals outlined for a culturally sustaining classroom. 

We eliminated Part I for this publication and focused on cleaning up the tools we chose to focus on in Part II that we believe provides middle school math teachers with a deeper understanding of how to address culturally sustaining practices. 

Again, we appreciate all of the time you took to help us.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I believe the authors have done a fine job of revising the document.  Focus is now clear and detail provided in the text relevant.

Author Response

Thank you for the information you provided to us to help make it  more clear and detailed!!!

Sincerely,

Nancy

Reviewer 3 Report

This revised version of the manuscript I previously reviewed is wonderful! I only found a few minor errors: 

- Page 1, line 32: "They define" - replace "They" with the researchers' names.

- Page 2, line 49: Replace "Zapala" with "Zavala"

- Page 4, line 125: Replace "Teachers (CRMT)" with "Teaching (CRMT)"

Also, I have one additional suggestion regarding the terms culturally relevant, culturally responsive, and culturally sustaining. Are they used interchangeably (like in much of the relevant literature)? If so, state it upfront. If not, then be consistent with how and when you use each term and clarify the meaning of each term upfront. 

Author Response

This revised version of the manuscript I previously reviewed is wonderful! I only found a few minor errors: 

- Page 1, line 32: "They define" - replace "They" with the researchers' names. Names were inserted.

- Page 2, line 49: Replace "Zapala" with "Zavala" Corrected

- Page 4, line 125: Replace "Teachers (CRMT)" with "Teaching (CRMT)" Corrected

Also, I have one additional suggestion regarding the terms culturally relevant, culturally responsive, and culturally sustaining. Are they used interchangeably (like in much of the relevant literature)? If so, state it upfront. If not, then be consistent with how and when you use each term and clarify the meaning of each term upfront. We had our view that culturally sustaining is more representative of culture and community serve as an intentional, ongoing focus for planning, teaching, and assessing... We made the point at the end but see it needing to be at the front as well. So, we have added a clarification in the question and the findings introductions. (page 5, lines 143-150).

The Question

What specific tools address the goals of culturally responsive classrooms and how are these viewed as culturally sustaining practices?

Findings

From our examination of culturally relevant and culturally sustaining practices, we offer three tools to support teachers’ use of culturally sustaining practices. We are using the term culturally sustaining to represent how classroom teachers intentionally weave culture and community throughout the planning, implementation, and assessment process.