Towards cultural responsiveness in mathematics education

We describe ongoing work on the Culturally Responsive Elementary Mathematics Education (CREME) project, in which we work with teachers and students in two schools with contrasting student populations and communities. We present core principles of our emergent theoretical framework as we partner with the teachers and students to realize (in both senses of 'understand' and 'make happen') what culturally responsive elementary mathematics education might be. The backdrop for this activity is the educational/political arena within the United State, in particular in Oregon where we work, and in the schools themselves. We outline future development of CREME, and end with what we see as the implications of our experience with CREME for the ethical and political responsibilities of educational researchers.