Anita Crowder, PhD, Senior Director of Impact Research
An ideal Illustrative Mathematics (IM) classroom is one where students’ curiosity drives learning, their feedback shapes instruction, and their identities are embedded in every mathematical task.
Student voice is a powerful component of authentic learning and inclusive classrooms.
At the heart of this classroom experience is recognizing that students are active doers of mathematics and builders of their knowledge. Centering student voice is not just a pedagogical nicety—it is an equity imperative, a strategy for deeper learning, and a catalyst for teacher growth. This post explores the multifaceted impact of student voice, focusing on mathematics equity and teacher development.
Belonging, Equity, and the Right to Be Seen
Nowhere is the inclusion of student voice more urgently needed than in mathematics education, particularly for students from minoritized and marginalized communities. Elevating student voice in mathematics goes beyond asking what students think; it means being genuinely curious about how they feel and experience their learning. All students deserve to be seen and valued as mathematical thinkers. This shifts the narrative from “remediation” to “restoration,” helping to build student agency, trust, and joy in math learning.
Matthews et al. (2023) write that middle school math classrooms often fail to provide a sense of belonging to students of color, contributing to disengagement and underachievement. Their Belonging-Centered Instruction (BCI) framework outlines how teachers can create interpersonal and instructional conditions, affirming students’ identities and promoting equitable participation. This includes implementing instructional practices that honor students’ cultural knowledge and ways of reasoning, inviting them to contribute authentically.
At IM, we believe student belonging is an essential pillar of the IM classroom and have explicitly made belonging a key factor in implementing IM Certified® curricula with integrity. The Implementation Reflection Tool (IRT) integrates the principles of the BCI framework to help educators reflect on their instructional practices.
Student Voice Sparks Teacher Growth
Research shows that listening to students changes teachers. But it’s not always comfortable. Treacy and Leavy (2023) highlight how student feedback can create cognitive dissonance for educators, especially when it challenges their assumptions about effective teaching. In their study of a math reform initiative, teachers believed they were creating inclusive, challenging environments. However, students shared a different perspective, expressing feelings of fear, exclusion, and low expectations. This feedback prompted teachers to reflect on their practices, ultimately leading to shifts in their instructional approaches.
In “Who’s Afraid of Student Voice,” Conner (2022) outlines teachers’ four core anxieties: fear of losing authority, doubts about student capacity, lack of time, and resistance to change. Yet Conner finds that when teachers push through these fears and learn to learn from students, they become more reflective, responsive, and inspired.
Student voice is more than a feedback loop—it serves as a professional learning tool. It humanizes data, contextualizes outcomes, and elevates students from ”subjects of intervention” to “partners in innovation.”
Using Student Voice in Action
IM is currently working on a study with two school districts where educators are engaging with and reflecting on student data in instructional cycles. Based on these reflections, educators make adjustments to their instruction that they believe will “move the needle” in the student data. Educators and leaders focus on areas that align with their specific goals and interests.
For example, one aim of the educators in our study is to increase student discourse and belonging. Therefore, they are asking students questions like, “How often do you ask other students about their methods or solutions?” While some teachers believed this kind of discussion was happening regularly, student feedback suggested otherwise—highlighting a gap between teacher intention and student experience.
In response, the educators have decided to focus on implementing an effective Think-Pair-Share every class period for a few weeks. Then, they will administer the student survey again to assess whether this explicit change in instruction has impacted students’ perceptions of how often they are given opportunities to share their thinking.
This type of iterative action cycle not only communicates that educators care about what their students say but also demonstrates that they are listening to and acting on what their students are saying.
This data can also drive discussions between coaches and educators, serving as a foundation for building a true professional learning community. Educators and coaches can discuss shared challenges, collaborate on potential solutions, test those solutions in their classrooms, and evaluate the results, continuing the cycle of improvement.
Conclusion
The research converges on a simple but radical idea: Centering student voice improves learning for everyone. Listening when students share their experiences in the mathematics classroom leads to richer instruction and deeper learning. It makes curriculum more relevant, instruction more inclusive, and teachers more attuned to the actual experiences of their students.
Student voice is not just about inclusion—it’s about transformation. Truly leveraging student voice pushes educators and leaders to reimagine classrooms as spaces of shared inquiry rather than one-way instruction. It calls for trust in students as learners and leaders. Attending to student voice challenges educators to move from doing math to students to learning math with students.
Conner, J. (2022). Who’s afraid of student voice: The challenges of learning to listen to and learn from student feedback. Teacher Education Quarterly, 49(4), 49-71.
Illustrative Mathematics. (2024). The Implementation Reflection Tool Retrieved from sites.google.com/illustrativemathematics.org/irt/home
Matthews, J., Gray, D. L., Lachaud, Q., McElveen, T., Chen, X. Y., Victor, T., … & Cha, E. (2021). Belonging-centered instruction: An observational approach toward establishing inclusive mathematics classrooms.
Treacy, M., & Leavy, A. (2023). Student voice and its role in creating cognitive dissonance: The neglected narrative in teacher professional development. Professional Development in Education, 49(3), 458-477.
WestEd. (2025). Math Practical Measurement. Retrieved from mpm.wested.org
Next Steps
So how do we move from research to practice?
- Educators listen and respond. Professional learning should include explicit strategies for eliciting and acting on student voice. This includes managing discomfort, learning to objectively reflect on instructional practices, and recognizing implicit bias.
- Embed student voice into instructional cycles. Make feedback loops routine—not as an end-of-unit survey but as real-time conversations that shape pacing, discussions, and scaffolding.
- Measure what matters. Move beyond assessment data to explore indicators like belonging, agency, and relevance. Observational tools like IM’s Implementation Reflection Tool and the Belonging-Centered Instruction protocol can help while observing classrooms. Accessing WestEd’s Math Practical Measures repository for student and educator instruments can help guide data collection.
Anita Crowder, PhD
Senior Director of Impact Research
Anita Crowder, PhD, is the senior director of impact research at Illustrative Mathematics. Dr. Crowder has a BS in systems and control engineering, an MA in secondary mathematics education, and a doctorate in educational psychology with a focus on broadening participation in STEM among youth from minoritized and marginalized communities. She plays the piano and saxophone and enjoys writing and art.
