Faculty Research Profiles: Rochelle Gutierrez

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Associate Professor

Curriculum & Instruction
392 Education Building
1310 S. 6th St. MC 708
217 244-3904
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Research Biography

My research focuses on the structural and pedagogical factors involved in equity for marginalized students, especially African American and Latina/Latino students. In the past, I have focused upon understanding the organizational, cultural, and pedagogical aspects of high school mathematics departments that support students of color and students in poverty taking high levels of mathematics by grade 12.

My current research focuses upon understanding the development of teacher practice and teaching communities that achieve equity in students' mathematics participation and achievement. I strive to situate teacher practice in a socio-cultural and political context of schooling and broader society. I am currently involved in three related research projects. The first project attempts to understand how a partnership between the mathematics department in a Chicago high school and a group of pre-service teachers at the University of Illinois influences the dispositions and practices of those (pre- and inservice-) teachers and their students. A second project is a year-long case study of 2 "secundarias" (middle schools) in Mexico, one of which has a long standing tradition of strong teacher community and student advancement and the other is a more traditional/individualistic teacher environment.  The goals of that project are to undertand some of the cultural practices in mathematics teaching in Mexican secondary schools, as well as some of the relationships and tensions between teacher community and individual teacher practice.  The third research project is more theoretical in its approach and builds upon the work of scholars in Latina/Latino Studies, specifically the notion of "Nepantla" and "conocimiento" in the work of Gloria Anzaldúa, in order to help reconceptualize what might count as knowledge for equity teaching.  A long term goal is to understand what it takes to build equity-based teacher communities in places where they do not already exist.

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction, University of Chicago, 1995
  • M.A., Curriculum and Instruction, University of Chicago, 1995
  • B.A., Human Biology, Stanford University, 1990

Key Professional Appointments

  • Associate Professor, Mathematics Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002--
  • Associate Professor, Latina/o Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002--
  • Assistant Professor, Latina/Latino Studies, College of Liberal Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998--
  • Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1996--

Activities & Honors

  • Member, Dissertation Award Committee, The Spencer Foundation, 2007-2008
  • Editorial Board Member, Research and Publications Editorial Board, TODOS--Mathematics for ALL, 2006-2008
  • Visiting Scholar, Learning Sciences Institute, Vanderbilt University, 2006-2007
  • Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 2005-2008
  • Member, editorial board., Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 2005-2008
  • Consultant, multicultural and bilingual literature, Latino families, Champaign Public Library, 2003
  • Reviewer, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2003
  • Selected Scholar in Education, University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2002-2003
  • Invited Member, Committee on Increasing Students' Engagement and Motivation to Learn, National Academy of Sciences, 2001-2003
  • Invited Member, Minority Student Dissertation Award Committee, American Educational Research Association, 2000- present
  • Invited Member, National Study Panel on Mathematics, RAND, 2000-2003
  • Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1996-1998

Grants

  • Principal Investigator, Understanding Mathematics Teacher Work Groups as a Model for Professional Development: Learning from México, U.S. Department of State, 2004
  • Principal Investigator, A Community of Practice Model for Teacher Education: Developing Teacher Candidates' Understandings to Teach Quality Mathematics to Urban Students, American Educational Research Association, 2003
  • Fellow, Understanding Teacher Candidates' Knowledge and Disposition to Teach Mathematics to Diverse Students, Bureau of Educational Research, 2002
  • Fellow, Faculty Fellows Program, Bureau of Educational Research, 1999
  • Principal Investigator, NAE/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Spencer Foundation (National Academy of Education), 1998
  • Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Urban Education Institute, Stanford University, 1996

Selected Publications

  • Gutierrez, R. (2007). (Re)defining equity: The importance of a critical perspective. In P. Cobb & N. Nasir (Eds.), Diversity, equity, and access to mathematical ideas. New York: Teachers College Press.
  • Gutiérrez, R.  (in press).  Stand and deliver:  The challenge of language in the study of mathematics .  To appear in Garcia, M., and Valdivia, A. (Eds.) Geographies of Latinidad:  New Directions for the Twenty First Century.  New York:  Duke University Press.
  • Lubienski, S. T. & Gutiérrez, R.  (in press).  Bridging the "gaps" in perspectives on equity in mathematics education.  Journal for Research in Mathematics Education.
  • Gutiérrez, R.  (in press).  A "gap gazing" fetish in mathematics education?  Problematizing research on the achievement gap.  Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 
  • Gutiérrez, R. (2003). Beyond essentializing: The complex role of language in teaching Latina/o students mathematics. American Educational Research Journal, 39(4), 1047-1088.