At Risk: A Practitioner Ethnography of University Mathematics Teaching Under an Institutional Student Retention Model

This practitioner ethnography examines first-year mathematics classroom cultures at a Colombian public university under an at-risk monitoring protocol (2024–2 to 2026–1). The corpus comprises 264 observation records on 47 students, 57 voluntary reflections, and unsolicited e-mails. Five socio-affective patterns emerge, alongside a paradox: students value support resources yet do not use them, possibly reflecting the social cost of being seen in difficulty, a proposition, not a demonstrated cause. Student voices complicated the teacher-researcher’s interpretations and, with a 2024–2 evaluation, prompted an assessment redesign students described favorably. The evidence supports the redesign and these perceptions, not learning or retention gains.