Charles E. Wilkes II Joins School of Education Faculty

The School of Education welcomed Dr. Charles E. Wilkes II as an assistant professor in September. Wilkes focuses on the teaching and learning of Black learners in K-16 contexts, including how mathematics instruction supports the learning of mathematical content and the nurturing of positive mathematics identities for Black learners. His research also supports pre-service and in-service teachers in cultivating equitable teaching practices through interventions and professional development.

Wilkes grew up in Dayton, OH, graduated from high school at age 16, and earned a B.S. in mathematics at Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 20. He went on to earn his M.A. in teaching and learning and his Ph.D. in mathematics education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He spent three years as a postdoctoral scholar at San Diego State University (SDSU) before joining the UC Davis School of Education.

Wilkes’ own experiences as a student influenced his research. He had thought of himself as being smart at math throughout high school, but when he started taking advanced math classes in college he felt out of his depth for the first time. “It’s not until you take advanced college math that you see what drives the discipline,” he said. “In K-12 math, and even in early college mathematics, the emphasis is on covering as much material as possible rather than on the underlying practices. By comparison, English is taught as an interdisciplinary practice where you’re working on writing, prose, and persuasive arguments at every level.”

That experience raised intersecting questions for Wilkes about smartness, identity, and teaching practices in mathematics classes. During his doctoral program, he began studying the meaning of smartness in classrooms and how it affects both teachers’ perceptions of their students and students’ perceptions of themselves. His dissertation explored Black learners’ conceptions of smartness and how instructors communicate smartness through their teaching practices.

Critically Exploring Smartness

“‘Smartness’ as a concept is a space that allows me to think more critically about what it means in a classroom,” said Wilkes. “I can look at what messages are implicitly and explicitly communicated through the teacher’s practice. How can we change how students see that? And how can the perception of smartness evolve over time and allow for meaningful and powerful change? Smartness also allows me to think about both content and identity, because just as it’s important for students to know math concepts and practices, it’s also important for them to know what behaviors or skills mean that they’re smart at math. We want them to have a sense of belonging in math classrooms.”

According to Wilkes, messages about smartness start in elementary school classrooms, have a cumulative impact over time, and convey that math smartness is an identity rather than a clearly identified set of skills, some of them more observable than others. Students who can answer teachers’ questions quickly may be viewed as smart, whereas the talents of those who have less-observable skills, such as persevering until they solve problems or asking good questions during group work, may be overlooked.

Building Teacher Professional Development at Community Colleges

As a postdoctoral scholar at SDSU, Wilkes was on the research team for a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) called Mathematics Persistence in Inquiry and Equity. The project focused on the impacts of California Assembly Bill 705, which took effect in 2018 and requires that community colleges maximize the probability that entering students will complete transfer-level coursework in English and math within a one-year timeframe.

After assessing the bill’s impacts related to math class requirements, the research team created a sustainable and replicable professional development program with a focus on inquiry and equity. Wilkes’ role included co-development and co-facilitation of instructor professional development.

“We wanted to understand the implications of the new policy while also supporting teachers and navigating with a focus on equity-oriented practices,” Wilkes said. “There are a lot of minoritized learners attending community college, especially in California. It’s a very rich space to work on ensuring that minoritized learners have the experiences and preparation they need to study math or STEM, and to set them up for success if they choose to transition to four-year institutions.”

The research team coded videos of classroom interactions to give instructors specific data about their own patterns of instruction, such as calling on men more often than women, only calling on students of specific racial backgrounds, or asking some students more conceptual how/why questions and others primarily procedural questions. “After we shared our reports with the instructors they met as a small professional learning community to talk about what they noticed and hear about what they could try next,” said Wilkes. “We developed concrete practices to reduce inequity in their classrooms, and generated a model that allowed people at community colleges to build up institutional knowledge to keep this work going. In the final year, the faculty were able to take over the work entirely.”

Supporting Schools to Build Successful Mathematics Programs

Wilkes explored math teaching practices and professional development for teachers through a second NSF-funded project at SDSU called the Model for Sustainable Ambitious Mathematics Program in High-Needs Settings. The research team collaborated with professional development leaders, students, teachers, coaches, and administrators to explore how to improve mathematics programs and broaden student participation in secondary school math classes.

After exploring the requirements of high-needs schools and districts as they implement ambitious secondary mathematics programs, the team identified the resources needed to sustain such programs, created a model that could be used in other schools, and tested the model at school sites in San Diego.

“My long-term goal is that I would love for students to truly have the choice to decide whether or not they will pursue an education or career in STEM,” Wilkes said. “I think a lot of students who could really thrive and be great in the discipline don’t end up pursuing it, because they think they’re not good at math, or that they aren’t a math person, because of how we define math smartness. I want them to be able to make that decision based on what they want to pursue, not based on a narrow idea of what makes someone good at math.”

Continuing to Explore Math Teaching, Learning and Identity

Wilkes will continue his work on inclusive mathematics programs at UC Davis. In addition to joining the School of Education faculty, he has been accepted into the UC Davis Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS), a community of scholars who bring gender and multicultural perspectives to STEM. He was also recently selected for a fellowship with the Institute in Critical Quantitative, Computational, & Mixed Methodologies (ICQCM), which brings together the nation’s first transdisciplinary network of methodologists of color devoted to the advancement of critical quantitative and computational methodologies, as well as their integration into mixed-methodologies.

“One thing I’m always big on is finding my community—finding people who are doing meaningful, impactful work and who care about students—because that’s what drives our work,” said Wilkes. “Davis is an amazing opportunity to continue doing that. I’m looking forward to familiarizing myself with the campus and my colleagues, developing my courses, and really being in a community and connecting with teachers, students, and local school districts. There are a lot of amazing scholars already doing great work here, I’m excited about the direction the new dean wants to take the School, and it’s so close to the state capital. It has everything a researcher needs to be successful.”