Preservice Teachers’ Perspectives of Equity-Based Instruction in Mathematics

Thirty-five pre-service teachers enrolled in an elementary teacher education program completed a course assignment to understand their knowledge of equity-based mathematics instruction. Results of the study revealed that all the pre-service teachers indicated knowledge of equity- based mathematics; however, many discussed having a limited understanding of implementation in classroom instruction. They expressed limited opportunities to observe and engage in equity- based mathematics instruction during their teacher preparation program. The results suggested that the pre-service teachers did not feel prepared to teach mathematics to diverse students effectively. Thus, a more significant focus needs to be placed on providing pre-service teachers experiences with developing and delivering instruction to meet the needs of a variety of learners