Joi Spencer, PhD

Joi Spencer is focusing on mathematics education, teacher education and educational equity in urban and minority communities.  Her research has examined mathematics learning opportunities in the poorest middle schools in Los Angeles, as well as the impact of video-based mathematics professional development on student learning and teacher development. Dr. Spencer was a member of the National Science Foundation’s Diversity in Mathematics Education Center for Learning and Teaching, and a research associate for the LessonLab Research Institute, which conducted the TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) Video study. She received an AERA dissertation year fellowship for her thesis, “Balancing the Equation: African American Students’ Opportunities to Learn Mathematics with Understanding in Two Central City Middle Schools.”  In 2011, Dr. Spencer was selected as the Greater San Diego Mathematics Council’s Outstanding Post Secondary Mathematics Teacher of the Year.  Most recently she led a team of graduate students from SOLES to Ghana, West Africa to conduct academic needs assessments and to provide teacher professional development in affordable private schools. Her latest publication, “Views from the Black of the Mathematics Classroom” appears in Dissent Magazine.