“With its potential to be a professional life changing book, Empowering Science & Mathematics Education in Urban Schools is a must read for all individuals who have a stake in science education, including science education researchers, professional development providers, and school administrators of curriculum and instruction, so that social justice pedagogy becomes part of the repertoire of good teaching in order to strive for equity and science for all.”

Jazlin Ebenezer | Studies in Science Education

“Teachers and researchers in urban schools, the authors make a compelling argument for transformative classrooms that connect the worlds of youth with the world of school. They present timely, well-written case studies describing how many urban students are underserved in math and science. . . . Highly recommended.”

D. M. Moss | Choice

“Empowering Science and Mathematics Education makes a compelling case for rethinking science and mathematics education through a critical sociocultural perspective and rich descriptions of ‘empowering learning environments’ in and out of school. By unpacking meanings of equity, equality, and enculturation, Edna Tan and Angela Calabrese Barton offer an important counterpoint to dominant assimilationist approaches to science and mathematics education.”

Beth Warren, Chèche Konnen Center, TERC

“Tan & Barton’s stance that rather than asking students to change in order to fit into the culture of science and math, science and math should change to be responsive to the desires of students is a provocative one that raises new questions for educators.”

Cory Buxton, University of Georgia