Developmental Relationships are critical to ensuring young people become their best selves. Through close connections with trusted adults, young people discover who they are, are empowered to shape their own lives, and better understand how to contribute to the world. Relationships truly are a foundation for learning:
Relationships inspire motivation.
Learning within the context of relationships helps youth see themselves in math, which is critical to the learning process as well as how much value they see in math.
When math isn’t relatable, even the most talented students can disengage. because they wonder, “why learn math if it’s not important to me and the people I care about?” [1]
Relationships buffer challenges.
Mistakes and confusion are a normal part of the math learning process.
By building meaningful relationships, you also empower young people to take on challenges as they arise.
Relationships support culturally responsive teaching.
Math is not a neutral subject—it is a field with stereotypes and stark racial/ethnic, gender, and class disparities. Relationship-building can be a critical asset in countering systemic inequities by increasing marginalized youth’s access to high-quality math resources and helping young people feel they belong in math. [2]
The DR + Math Toolkit offers a culturally responsive lens, with recommendations embedded throughout the pages, as well as a dedicated page discussing Culturally Responsive Relationships.
At Search Institute, we’ve distilled years of research into the Developmental Relationships Framework, five elements that make relationships powerful in young people’s lives—Express Care, Provide Support, Challenge Growth, Share Power, and Expand Possibilities. In this Toolkit, we adapt the Developmental Relationships Framework specifically to math learning spaces:
Express Care—show youth they matter to you.
Expressing Care shows young people they matter to you. Some program practices that facilitate expressing care include frequent, individual check-ins that gauge students’ emotional states and needs. It is important to note that Expressing Care in math tutoring programs often goes beyond math. It is helpful to allocate time for casual conversations and playing games so that youth know that their tutors care about who they are holistically, rather than just how they are doing in math. Click here to learn more.
Provide Support—help youth complete tasks and achieve goals.
Whether it’s a math problem or a life problem, guiding youth through hard situations encourages confidence and empowerment. Break down a challenging math problem into small steps beginning with tactics they’ve already mastered. Be an advocate for the young person you work with. This could include, if you are allowed, communicating your student’s strengths to their math teachers and families. Click here to learn more.
Challenge Growth—push youth to keep getting better.
This includes expecting youth their best, and holding them accountable to live up that potential. In a math tutoring program, Challenging Growth looks like setting high expectations for all youth because you genuinely believe that no one is innately inferior in math. Challenge Growth also involves helping youth learn from mistakes, which are natural and inevitable on everyone’s math learning journey. This looks like curating a growth mindset culture and setting assessment standards that value improvement over absolute performance. Click here to learn more.
Share Power—treat youth with respect and give them a say.
Share Power is about recognizing and celebrating youth’s autonomy and the funds of knowledge that they already possess and respect the assets that they bring to the program. Sharing power centers their voices, instead of treating youth as passive receivers of knowledge. It’s also about providing youth with leadership opportunities, such as peer teaching or leading a discussion. Click here to learn more.
Expand Possibilities—inspire youth to broaden their world.
As a tutor or educator, you have the opportunity to connect the young people you serve with contacts, resources, and experiences that facilitate personal growth. By expanding a young person’s possibilities, you are helping to build a web of relationships that they can access and mobilize to help improve their lives and achieve their goals. For example, Expand Possibilities looks like having role models to look up to, knowing various career options and having access to try out different opportunities, and having resources to help achieve whatever goals the youth decides to pursue. Click here to learn more.
How do you use the Developmental Relationships Framework in your learning/education context? Take the Relationship Check Up to better understand your strengths and opportunities for growth as you build relationships with young people. This is a tool to help you determine where to begin as you bring the elements to life through the activities provided in the DR+Math Toolkit. You can also download this page as a PDF.
As shown in the figure above, three main principles guided the development of our Developmental Relationships in Math Toolkit, and please keep them in mind as you apply the framework and try out our activities. The Going Deeper section contains more resources for each of the three principles:
Be intentional.
Building relationships is easier said than done. With all the competing demands of being a math tutor/educator (e.g., learning goals, change in curriculum, testing pressure), it is easy for relationship-building to slip through.
By building relationships that are meaningful and intentional, you protect time and effort to make sure a strong and positive relational foundation is secured, creating an environment of trust where learning can flourish.
Be culturally responsive.
For all youth to enjoy and feel belonging in math, positive and strong tutor-student relationships must also be culturally responsive. We recognize that there are significant, systemic barriers that marginalize certain groups of youth more than others.
To counter the existing inequities in math, we’ve developed this DR+Math Toolkit specifically with a culturally responsive lens in mind.
Be reflective.
Building intentional and inclusive relationships is a continuously evolving process and requires flexibility and adaptation. Take time to reflect on the DR Framework and how you’ve leveraged it to build meaningful relationships with the young people you serve.
There is no one correct way to be culturally responsive, and what is most culturally responsive for one group of students might not be the most ideal for another group or at a different time. As such, the DR+Math Framework and activities are designed to prompt constant reflections, re-evaluations, and adaptation.