Parents as Observers in the Mathematics Classroom: Establishing a Dialogue Between School and Community

In this paper we present a model for mathematics classroom observations conducted with parents that allows us to engage in a dialogue on issues around reform-oriented mathematics teaching. We will report on our findings on Hispanic, working-class parents ' perceptions about the teaching and learning of mathematics. 2As a means of introduction, let’s look at the two vignettes that follow. Both took place in our local context. Vignette 1: A second grade teacher has just finished teaching a lesson on median and mean. Unfortunately, she has those two terms mixed up and children go home that evening with the wrong information. By the next day, this teacher has received a long series of phone calls and notes from concerned and in many cases angry parents. Vignette 2: A second grade girl has attended a Math workshop with her mother, in which she has learned a new way to add, from Left to Right. The girl is really proud of her new knowledge and shares it the very next day with her teacher. The teacher pretty much dismisses it and tells her that she needs to add the way she’s been taught at school. The mother is saddened by the teacher’s reaction because she feels her daughter’s feelings hav