RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
Exploring Conceptions of Smartness in Mathematics: Connecting Student and Instructor Perspectives at a Hispanic-Serving Community College
Page: 1355
This study extends previous work on community college students’ conceptions of smartness in mathematics by examining how instructors’ implicit beliefs align with or diverge from students’ perspectives. The study takes place at a Southern California Hispanic-Serving Institution (SCHSI), a comprehensive two-year community college. The study involved 103 student responses to the prompt “What does it mean to be smart in math at SCHSI?” and interviews with five instructors who participated in equity-focused professional development. Student responses were thematically coded and mapped across two axes, process to outcome and dominant to counternarrative conceptions of smartness. Instructor interviews, analyzed using the same framework, revealed tensions between desired equitable practices and persistent procedural tendencies. For example, instructors described valuing conceptual understanding and student agency, yet often defaulted to practices reinforcing dominant narratives. Findings highlight how instructors’ implicit conceptions of smartness may reproduce or disrupt inequitable narratives, underscoring opportunities for professional learning that explicitly engages notions of smartness in mathematics.