Julia Aguirre, Ph.D.
About
Degrees
BIO
Julia Maria Aguirre is a Professor of Education and Faculty Director for teacher certification programs at the University of Washington Tacoma. Dr. Aguirre's work focuses on critical equity studies in mathematics education, teacher education, culturally responsive mathematics pedagogy, and mathematical modeling. Dr. Aguirre is co-author of four books: The Impact of Identity in K-12 Mathematics: Rethinking Equity-Based Practices (2024); Cultivating Mathematical Hearts: Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching in Elementary Classrooms (2024); Transforming Mathematics Teacher Education: An Equity-based Approach (2019); and The Impact of Identity in K-8 Mathematics: Rethinking Equity-based Practices (2013); She has taught mathematics in formal and informal classroom settings. She is committed to working with educators to positively impact children’s math learning by reimagining their pedagogy to leverage student strengths and experiences; partner with families and communities; dismantle academic apartheid; and advocate for mathematics education that cultivates justice, joy, and civic engagement. She welcomes all to make learning mathematics more meaningful, humanizing and just. She has a bachelor's degree in Psychology from University of California Berkeley; Master's degree in Education from University of Chicago; and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California Berkeley. She joined the UWT faculty in 2007.
Books
Peer-Review Scholarship
Turner, E., Aguirre, J., Carlson, M. A., Suh, J., & Fulton, E. (2024). Resisting marginalization with culturally responsive mathematical modeling in elementary classrooms. ZDM–Mathematics Education, 1-15.
Tate, H., Proffitt, T., Christensen, A., Hunter, C., Stratton, D., Fleshman, E., Aguirre, J., & Suh, J. (2022) Mathematizing Representation in Children’s Libraries: An Anti-Racist Math Unit in Elementary Grades. Teaching for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics – Special Issue: Anti-racism in Mathematics Education. TODOS:Mathematics For All.13(1), 23-40.
Turner, E. E., Bennett, A. B., Granillo, M., Ponnuru, N., Roth Mcduffie, A., Foote, M. Q., Aguirre, J.M. & McVicar, E. (2022). Authenticity of elementary teacher designed and implemented mathematical modeling tasks. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 1-24.
Aguirre, J.M., Anhalt, C.O., Turner, E.E., Foote, M.Q., & Roth McDuffie, A. (2020) Engaging children’s mathematical knowledge bases with math modeling tasks in elementary classrooms. Quaderni di Ricerca in Didattica (Mathematics). 7, 463-472.
Aguirre, J.M., Anhalt, C.O., Cortez, R., Turner, E.E., & Simi-Muller, K. (2019). Engaging teachers in the powerful combination of mathematical modeling and social justice. Mathematics Teacher Educator. 7(2) 7-26.
Drake, C., Land, T., Bartell, T. G., Aguirre, J. M., Foote, M. Q., Roth McDuffie, A., & Turner, E. E. (2015). Three strategies for opening curriculum spaces. Teaching Children Mathematics, 21(6), 346-353.
Aguirre, J. M. Aguirre Zavala, M. (2013): Making culturally responsive mathematics teaching explicit: a lesson analysis tool, Pedagogies: An International Journal, 8(2), pp. 163-190. DOI:10.1080/1554480X.2013.768518.
Aguirre, J.M., Turner, E.E., Bartell, T., Kalinec-Craig, C., Foote, M.Q., Roth McDuffie, A., & Drake, C. (2012) Making connections in practice: How prospective elementary teachers connect children’s mathematics thinking and community funds of knowledge in mathematics instruction. Journal of Teacher Education. 64(2), 178-192.
Turner, E. E., Drake, C., Roth McDuffie, A., Aguirre, J. M., Bartell, T. G., & Foote, M. Q. (2012). Promoting equity in mathematics teacher preparation: A framework for advancing teacher learning of children’s multiple mathematics knowledge bases. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 15(1), 67-82. doi: 10.1007/s10857-011-9196-6.
Research Commentaries
Aguirre, J.M., Herbel-Eisenmann, B., Celedón-Pattichis, S., Civil, M., Wilkerson, T., Pape, S., & Clements, D.H. (2017) Equity within mathematics education research as a political act: Moving from choice to intentional collective professional responsibility. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(2) 124-147.
Book Chapters
Turner, E., Suh, J., Tate, H., D., Carlson, M. A., Aguirre, J., Fulton, E. A. (2024). Cultivating Equity and Empathy in Community-focused Elementary Math Modeling. In M. Strutchens, G. Krause, D. White, & J. Bay-Williams (Eds). Anti-racist mathematics education: Stories of acknowledgement, actions and accountability. (pp. 121-132). TODOS: Mathematics Education for All. Amazon Publishing Agency.
Aguirre, J.M. & Adams Corral, M. (2022) Respecting our house: Protecting our salmon neighbors. In C. Koestler, J. Ward, M. del Rosario Zavala, T. Bartell, & B. Lawler (Eds). Early Elementary Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Respond to Social Injustice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Anhalt, C., Cortez, R, & Aguirre, J.M. (2021). Mathematical modeling thinking: A construct for developing competency across grades. In J. Suh, Wickstrom M. H., & English L. (Eds.). Exploring the Nature of Mathematical Modeling in the Early Grades. Springer.
Turner, E.E., Roth McDuffie, A., Aguirre, J.M., Foote, M.Q., Chappelle, C., Bennett, A, Granillo, M., Ponnuru, N. (2021). Upcycling plastic bags to make jump ropes: Elementary students leverage experiences and knowledge as they engage in a relevant community-oriented mathematical modeling task. In J. Suh, Wickstrom M. H., & English L. (Eds.). Exploring the Nature of Mathematical Modeling in the Early Grades. Springer.
Turner, E.E., Bartell, T.G., Drake, C., Foote, M.Q., Roth McDuffie, A., & Aguirre, J. (2020) Prospective teachers learning to connect multiple mathematical knowledge bases across multiple contexts. In G.M Lloyd & Chapman, O. (Eds.). International handbook of mathematics teacher education: Volume 3 Participants in mathematics teacher education. (2nd ed, pp. 289-320). Boston, MA: Brill.
Bartell, T.G., Foote, M.Q., Roth McDuffie, A., Turner, E.E., Aguirre, J.M., & Drake, C. (2018) Connecting children’s mathematical thinking with children’s backgrounds, knowledge and experiences in mathematics instruction. In S. Celedón-Pattichis, D.Y. White, & M. Civil (Eds.) Access and equity: Promoting high quality mathematics Pre-K-Grade2. (pp.161-173). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Aguirre, J.M. (2016) Addressing deficit language in math methods: Providing critical feedback to pre-service teachers. In D.Y. White, S. Crespo, & M. Civil (Eds.). Cases for mathematics teacher educators: Facilitating conversations about inequities in mathematics classrooms. (pp. 13-22). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Barajas-Lopez, F. & Aguirre, J.M. (2015) Fostering English Language Learner perseverance in problem solving. In A. Bright, H. Hansen-Thomas & L. de Oliviera, L. (Eds.) Common core state standards in mathematics for English language learners: High School. pp. 123-137. Alexandria, VA: TESOL Press.
Bunch, G.C., Aguirre, J.M., & Téllez, K. (2015) Integrating a focus on academic language, English Language Learners and mathematics: Teacher candidates’ responses on the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT). The New Teacher Educator, 11(1) 79-103.
Turner, E. E., Aguirre, J. M., Bartell, T. G., Drake, C., Foote, M. Q., Roth McDuffie, A. (2014). Making meaningful connections with mathematics and the community: Lessons from pre-service teachers. In T. G. Bartell & A. Flores (Eds.), Embracing resources of children, families, communities, and cultures in mathematics learning [A Research Monograph of TODOS: Mathematics for ALL], 3, 30-49. San Bernardino, CA: TODOS.
Aguirre, J.M. & Zavala, M. (2013). When equal isn’t fair. In E. Gutstein & B. Peterson. Rethinking mathematics: Teaching social justice by the numbers. pp. 115-121. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools, Ltd.
Aguirre, J. M. & Bunch, G. C. (2012) What’s language got to do with it?: Identifying language demands in mathematics instruction for English Language Learners. In S. Celedón-Pattichis & N. Ramirez (Eds.), Beyond good teaching: Advancing mathematics education for ELLs. (pp. 183-194). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Aguirre, J. M., Turner, E., Bartell, T. G., Drake, C., Foote, M. Q., & Roth McDuffie, A. (2012). Analyzing effective mathematics lessons for English learners: A multiple mathematical lens approach. In S. Celedón-Pattichis & N. Ramirez (Eds.), Beyond good teaching: Advancing mathematics education for ELLs. (pp. 207-222). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Aguirre, J. (2009) Privileging mathematics and equity in teacher education: Framework, counter-resistance strategies and reflections from a Latina mathematics educator. In B. Greer, S. Mukhopadhyay, S. Nelson-Barber, and A. Powell (Eds). Culturally responsive mathematics education. pp. 295-319. New York: Routledge.
Aguirre, J. (2009) Teacher domain-specific beliefs and their impact on mathematics education reform. In Jürgen MaaB and Wolfgang Schlöglmann (Eds.). Beliefs and attitudes in mathematics education: New research results. pp.45-58. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.