A Systematic Review of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Mathematics Teacher Education: Methods, Successes, and Room for Improvement

With diversity increasing in United States public schools, teachers need to be prepared to deliver high quality mathematics instruction to culturally and linguistically diverse students. Culturally relevant pedagogy offers a framework for teachers to address the needs of diverse students by using their cultural backgrounds as an asset to building mathematics knowledge. This study used a systematic review method to compile and analyze the results of studies in culturally relevant mathematics professional development trainings and courses delivered to pre-service and in-service teachers. The findings from all studies point to a common theme that teachers are not fully equipped to enact all components of culturally relevant pedagogy in their instruction. Implications from this study suggest that teachers require more modeling of concrete applications to employ culturally relevant pedagogy in mathematics education.