Unpacking the Links Between Equitable Teaching Practices and Standards for Mathematical Practice: Equity for Whom and Under What Conditions?

In their commentary, “Toward a Framework for Research Linking Equitable Teaching with the Standards for Mathematical Practice,” Bartell et al. (2017) provide a stepping-stone into the challenge of clarifying the interface between equity and standards setting in mathematics education by devising a framework that relates the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics to an explicit articulation of equitable teaching practices. In this commentary, we respond to this proposed framework and aim to clarify some key elements. Furthermore, we draw on our own positionings and scholarly interests to critique and bolster the framework by focusing on the tensions related to co-opting the Common Core for equity-oriented purposes, the framework’s relation-ship to neoliberalism, and the role of racialized rhetoric and nondominant family and community knowledge.