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The opportunity gap: culturally relevant pedagogy in high school English classes
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The opportunity gap: culturally relevant pedagogy in high school English classes
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Content
Running head: CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 1
THE OPPORTUNITY GAP: CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY IN
HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSES
by
Andrea Poma
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
August 2018
Copyright 2018 Andrea Poma
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 2
Dedication
When those who have the power to name and to socially construct reality choose not to
see you or hear you . . . when someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the
world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked
in the mirror and saw nothing. (Adrienne Rich, n.d., para. 1)
I dedicate this dissertation to my daughter Kendall, the greatest gift that I have ever
received. She has made me a better person and a better educator. She deserves, every day of her
life, for her identity to be valued and for her voice to be heard. Kendall, this is for you, and it will
always be for you.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 3
Acknowledgments
This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of the following
people:
• First and foremost, my dissertation committee: Dr. Paula Carbone (Chair), who sup-
ported me through this process, challenged me, and encouraged me to dig deeper to
find the beauty in analysis; Dr. Jenifer Crawford (member), whose enthusiasm for the
topic of the opportunity gap, culturally relevant pedagogy, and culturally sustaining
pedagogy helped me to approach the problem with a different, wider lens; and Dr. Nilsa
Thorsos (member), who helped me through my master’s thesis process several years
ago, has championed me as an educator, and willingly took on the task of being part of
this dissertation journey. I am grateful for everything that the three of them have done.
• Keisha Larry-Burns: This dissertation came together because of her support and tireless
effort. Working with her was such a wonderful experience, and I am proud to share
this moment with someone that I now consider my friend.
• My family: Their continuous love and support are immeasurable. They have supported
me and encouraged me to work hard for everything that I desire, believing that there is
nothing too big for me to handle.
• Dr. April Leon: Without even realizing that she was doing it, she encouraged me to
apply for this program. As I watched her work through her own process, I knew that I,
too, could make this dream come true.
• The 2015 Wednesday Night Cohort: We started a journey 3 years ago; and as arduous
as it was, time flew by. The bond that we created is incredible. I am so proud of each
and every one of them.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 4
Table of Contents
Dedication 2
Acknowledgments 3
List of Figures 6
Abstract 7
Chapter One: Overview of the Study 8
Background of the Problem 8
Opportunity and Achievement 9
The Educational Debt 12
Multicultural Education 14
Statement of the Problem 16
Purpose of the Study 18
Research Questions 18
Theory and Framework 19
Significance of the Study 19
Limitations and Delimitations 20
Definition of Terms 20
Organization of the Study 21
Chapter Two: Review of Relevant Literature 22
History of African American Educational Opportunity in U.S. Public Schools 22
Current State of African American Education in U.S. Public Schools 27
Opportunity Gap—Not Achievement Gap 31
Educational Debt 32
Deficit Mindset 34
Resources 36
Multicultural Education 40
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 42
CRP and Its Benefits in English Language Arts 52
Theory and Framework 56
Sociocultural Learning Theory 56
SCT and Culturally Diverse Students 59
Critical Race Theory 65
Conclusion 67
Chapter Three: Methods and Procedures 68
Methods 68
Rationale 69
Sample and Site Selection 69
Data Collection 71
Observations 71
Interviews 72
Artifacts 74
Data Analysis 74
Researcher Biases and Positionality 75
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 5
Chapter Four: Results 76
Site and Participants 77
Demographics of Interview and Observation Participants 78
Mrs. Gaspar 78
Mrs. Atkins 80
Mrs. Casey 80
Findings 81
Themes for Research Question 1: Understanding and Perceived Enactment of CRP 81
Themes of Research Question #2: Enacting CRP in English Classes 95
Chapter Summary 116
Chapter Five: Discussion 117
Discussion of Findings 119
Implications for Practice and Research 122
Implications for Practice 123
Implications for Future Research 125
Conclusion 126
References 128
Appendices
Appendix A: Introduction Email to Prospective Site Principals 148
Appendix B: Follow-up Phone Call Protocol for Prospective Site Principals 149
Appendix C: Introduction Email to Prospective Participants 150
Appendix D: Follow-up Phone Call to Potential Participants 151
Appendix E: Observation Protocol 152
Appendix F: Interview Protocol 153
Appendix G: Confirmation Email to Participants 156
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 6
List of Figures
Figure 1: Summary of participants’ characteristics, including observations and
interviews 79
Figure 2: Research questions and themes generated 119
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 7
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the ways that high school English teachers
incorporated culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) to engage their African American students for
more equitable academic outcomes. The rationale for this study was to gain a deeper understand-
ing of how English teachers understood and enacted the theory to address the disparities in oppor-
tunity for African American students caused by historic factors and systemic racism, discrimina-
tion, and oppression within the education system in order for them to reach national and societal
goals of educational excellence. The following research questions informed this dissertation
study:
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students using
CRP explain their understanding and enactment of CRP?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
CRP within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures?
The study examined the practices of three English teachers identified as successfully
implementing CRP. Two in-depth interviews were conducted for each participant, one prior to
classroom observations and one immediately following the last observation. The researcher also
conducted two classroom observations for each participant. The findings revealed that the
teachers’ belief systems and expectations were influential in how they understood and ultimately
enacted CRP. The data indicated that the English teachers focused on connecting the curriculum
to students’ backgrounds, establishing community, and using their personal histories as a catalyst
for their pedagogy. Further investigation showed that enacting CRP required the participants to
build a rapport with their students, to encourage student engagement, and to focus on collabora-
tion.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 8
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
The focus of this dissertation was to examine how the role of historic factors and systemic
racism and oppression within the education system has impacted the progress of African
American high school students in English language arts (ELA). The researcher sought to under-
stand the ways in which high school English teachers incorporated culturally relevant pedagogy in
order to engage their African American students for more equitable academic outcomes. This
chapter deals with the background of the problem, presenting issues surrounding the gaps in
opportunity for students of color (Milner, 2010, 2012), specifically African American students. In
addition to the opportunity gap, the researcher highlights concepts related to the educational debt
(Ladson-Billings, 2006) the culture of power (Delpit, 1988), and culturally relevant pedagogy
(CRP; Ladson-Billings, 1995a, 1995b). The chapter also includes the statement of the problem;
the purpose of the study; the significance of solving the problem as supported by research; and
information pertaining to the limitations and delimitations of the study, definition of terms, and an
overall outline of how the problem was addressed.
1
Background of the Problem
Du Bois (1903) argued that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the
color-line” (p. viii). The problem of race-related issues creating disparity in social, economic, and
political advancement articulated by Du Bois is just as prevalent today in the 21st century as it
was back then. Recent research in education suggests that, in many cases, minority students
struggle not only academically but also emotionally, socially, and physiologically due to gaps in
opportunity to learn in schools (D. Bell, 1983; Ladson-Billings, 1995a; Milner, 2010).
1
The following sections were co-written with Keisha Burns: Background of the Problem,
Theory and Framework, Definition of Terms, and Organization of the Study. Both authors con-
tributed equally.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 9
Opportunity and Achievement
Some scholars call into question the term achievement” (Milner, 2010; Ogbu & Simons,
1998; Stanton-Salazar, 1997), as traditional measures of achievement do not provide a complete
picture of performance and potential. The traditional measures of achievement are problematic
because they fail to account for all aspects of schooling (T. C. Howard, 2010). Approaching
education through the lens of the achievement gap encourages deficit instead of asset model
thinking, as it relates to students of color (Milner, 2010). Deficit-based thinking suggests that
students of color suffer due to a culture of poverty, lack motivation, devalue education, or are
lacking in language development due to an ignorance of standard English (T. C. Howard, 2010).
Ultimately, instruction loses rigor; and a cycle of teachers with low expectations leave students
feeling disconnected, leading to low grades and test scores (Milner, 2012).
Focusing solely on the achievement gap is negligent because the ideology does not
examine its reasons through the lens of cultural differences; consequently, students of color are
placed at a deficit compared to their White contemporaries. The assumption is that there is
something inherent in students of color, their families, communities, and teachers that is to blame
for the disparities (Ladson-Billings, 2013; Milner, 2012); therefore, current research suggests
using the term opportunity gap (Milner, 2010). Difference should not be framed as dichotomous,
with one group seen as deficient, because it masks the structural inequities impeding opportunities
in educational advancement. To bridge the gaps in opportunity and decrease deficit model
thinking, Milner (2010) suggested that educators attend to five areas: (a) rejecting color blindness,
(b) the ability to work through and transcend cultural conflicts, (c) understanding ideas surround-
ing meritocracy and how that shapes students’ academic and social success, (d) shifting from
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 10
deficit mindsets to asset model thinking, and (e) the rejection of context neutral mindsets and
practices.
When rejecting color blindness, educators are challenged to understand that race matters
for all involved in education and to recognize the individual and systemic realities related to race
that contribute to gaps in opportunity for students. Cultural conflicts exist when an educator’s
cultural ideology takes precedence over that of their students, and this issue can make teaching
and learning difficult. Educators must be willing to acknowledge that there are factors beyond
merit that shape the academic and social success of their students; they must be mindful of that
when designing lessons and programs. With a deficit mindset, educators tend to focus on what
their students are lacking instead of the assets that they bring to the classroom, which often causes
them to set low expectations. Teachers must consider the context in which their students are
learning. Context-neutral mindsets often reinforce opportunity gaps and the status quo (Milner,
2010). To understand opportunity and its impact on education, Milner (2012) further contended
that “context-neutral mindsets do not allow educators to recognize the deep-rooted realities that
are embedded within society” (p. 707). Approaching education from the idea of the opportunity
gap compels educators to consider the historic inequities, racist structures, and policies of practice
enacted upon African American students.
Literature on equity in education begins with race, and often references court cases that
have impacted the state of education (Strouse, 2001). For example, the 1896 case of Plessy v.
Ferguson set a precedent that separate facilities for Blacks and Whites were constitutional if they
were equal. This court decision became known as the separate-but-equal doctrine that was
extended to include public facilities such as restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools.
The inequity produced from the ruling perpetuated the disparity in educational outcomes between
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 11
White and minority students (Vanneman, Hamilton, Anderson, & Rahman, 2009). In an effort to
end and replace Plessy with a more equitable outcome for students of color, the 1954 ruling of
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, highlighted the detrimental impact of segrega-
tion on African American students due to inequities in educational opportunities. The ruling of
Brown v. Board of Education was intended to provide equity for students of color. However,
integration has created another layer of disadvantage for students of color, such as schools within
schools, an increase in the special education population, and cultural disconnects between teachers
and students (B. W. Bell, 1987).
The perception and treatment of students by mainstream society—and consequently by the
schools they attend and the educators who teach them—are fundamental in creating academic
success or failure (T. C. Howard, 2003). Research shows that students of color are more receptive
to learning from a teacher who looks like them and shares the same background (Dee, 2004; J. J.
Irvine, 2009). Teachers of color are role models to all students, as their presence helps to diminish
stereotypes and prepares all students to live in a multiracial society (Hubert, 2013). However,
65% of educators in California K-12 schools are White, whereas only 24.6% of the student popu-
lation is White (California Department of Education [CDE], 2016a). Data from the national
Schools and Staffing Survey (U.S. Department of Education [USDOE], Office of Planning, Eval-
uation, and Policy Development, 2016) of teachers and principals shows that 82% of public
school teachers identified as White whereas only 50% of the national student population was
White. According to Milner (2012), White educators and students of color may have had different
racial experiences both inside and outside the classroom—a situation which may create road-
blocks to students’ academic and social success in the classroom and beyond. Teachers need to be
knowledgeable not simply regarding the individuals taught but also their surrounding community
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 12
(Du Bois, 1935). The USDOE, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development (2016)
projected that by the year 2025, students of color will make up 56% of the student population
whereas the population of K-12 educators will remain overwhelmingly White. It is crucial for
educators to understand the culturally constructed nature of educational environments and to
develop an awareness of the effect of their own racially and ethnically defined sense of self, of
learning, and of education (Chávez & Guido- DiBrito, 1999). What is imperative about the
groups excluded from educational opportunities over the past several centuries is that they are the
groups who continue to be at or near the bottom of the achievement hierarchy today (T. C.
Howard, 2010). This fact is illustrated by the notion that “educational outcomes for students of
color are much more a function of their unequal access to key educational resources, including
skilled teachers and quality curriculum, than they are a function of race” (Darling-Hammond,
1998, para. 3). Student achievement does not depend solely on the race of the student; it depends
on the opportunity that the student is given throughout the educational process.
The Educational Debt
Ladson-Billings (2006) described the educational debt as a debt that the educational
system owes to students who are not being properly served and highlighted the system’s issues
with respect to various educational components including history, economics, politics, and
morality. The historical context related to the educational debt dates back to slavery when it was
illegal to teach enslaved persons to read (Tyack, 2003). After the emancipation and years of
struggle, African Americans were afforded the opportunity to go to school; however, these
schools were separate from those of Whites and only operated during the agricultural growing
season. As a result of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), schools for Blacks received second-hand,
outdated books and resources that were formerly owned by White schools (Ladson-Billings,
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 13
2015). After the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision, schools were forced into inte-
gration; Whites developed private schools that they called academies and refused to send their
children to the local desegregated public schools (Tyack, 2003).
The financial disparity in education is another key component of the educational debt.
More affluent areas tend to have better performing schools due in part to the resources that are
afforded to the neighborhood school district. Property taxes account for a large portion of school
funding. In low-income areas, school resources are scarce and the federal funding given to those
schools does not make up for the economic disparity between lower income schools and those in
communities of a higher socioeconomic status (Ladson-Billings, 2015). Politics plays a key role
in that there is a lack of representative legislators to assist persons of color. Thus, families of
color continue to be excluded from the conversation surrounding quality education for their
children (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Finally, the debate between what is morally right and wrong
continues. The government continually raises the notion that individuals need to take personal
responsibility for their health, welfare, and education; however, the national government is
negligent when it comes to providing the opportunity for certain groups of people to receive
equitable access to education and encourages its citizens to ignore their social obligations
(Ladson-Billings, 2006). The educational debt must be addressed because of its impact on
educational progress and to give voice to the past and forge a better educational future (Ladson-
Billings, 2006).
In addition to addressing the educational debt, Delpit (1998) asserted that all stakeholders,
regardless of race and ethnicity, must be educated in what she called “the five powers” (p. 2). The
five aspects include the power that surrounds teachers and curriculum, the language and codes
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 14
used in schools, the organization of schools, communication, and cultural acknowledgment
(Delpit, 1998; Freire, 1993). The present study focused on cultural acknowledgment.
Multicultural Education
Pedagogical approaches to address the structural inequities have included multicultural
education and CRP. Multicultural education and instructional practices are essential, as affirmed
by the National Education Association (NEA; 2004):
As students continue to grow and as we continue to develop a multiracial society, the
societal and educational benefits of racially diverse classrooms remain just as valid. These
benefits include reducing stereotypes and prejudices; offering students great opportunities
for learning how to function in integrated environments; and promoting cross- racial
understanding that brings out different vantage points, skills, and values to enhance a
student’s abilities to succeed. (para. 3)
This idea ties directly back to cultural acknowledgment in that a student’s ability to
succeed often is influenced by external attributions such as environment and the acknowledgment
of different cultural perspectives. Likewise, Stanton-Salazar (1997) argued that students of color
are systematically denied opportunities for academic success because of schools failing to provide
them with training for effective decoding of language. Such training would undermine the
bureaucracy of the organization and challenge the myth of meritocracy; therefore, those essential
funds of knowledge needed to assist students of color are ignored (Milner, 2012; Stanton-Salazar
1997).
Ladson-Billings (2009) proposed a theory of culturally focused pedagogy that “not only
addresses student achievement but also helps students to accept and affirm their cultural identity
while developing critical perspectives that challenge inequities that schools (and other
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 15
institutions) perpetuate” (p. 469). As she explained, CRP is “humanizing pedagogy that respects
and uses the reality, history, and perspectives of students as an integral part of the educational
practice” (Ladson-Billings, 1995a, p. 160) and requires that students maintain some cultural
integrity to enhance their opportunity for academic success. Similarly to Ladson- Billings, Gay
(2000) introduced culturally responsive pedagogy, which addresses curriculum and instruction.
Gay (2000) wanted to address curriculum and instruction but felt that incorporating multicultural
information, resources, and materials in all subjects and skills taught in schools was also essential.
The importance of CRP lies in the validation, information, and pride that it produces in African
American students.
Cunningham (2016) asserted that when teachers chooses a pedagogical practice that
addresses the cultural and linguistic heritage of students, they are, in turn, choosing a method that
validates the prior knowledge base of their students and allows them to work from the complexi-
ties of their own background to cognitively connect to the necessary knowledge, attitudes, and
21st-century skills. To illustrate, in a study that sought to assess African American students’
interpretations of culturally responsive teachers within an urban context, 17 students were inter-
viewed both individually and within a focus group with peers. The findings indicated the fol-
lowing:
Students stated positive relationships between teachers and students affected academic
achievement; teachers’ responsiveness to students personal lives generated positive
feelings that led to increased effort in school, and that they preferred for teachers who
enabled them to actualize their own ideas in completing assignments and becoming
engaged in class discussions. (T. C. Howard, 2001b, p. 133)
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 16
African American students need the encouragement to believe that they could accomplish
just as much as their White contemporaries (Du Bois, 1935). Essentially, CRP enhances the
capacity of teachers and students and attempts to shift curriculum from individual disempower-
ment toward collective empowerment (Delpit, 1986; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). This peda-
gogical approach is described in more detail in Chapter Two.
Paris (2012) has questioned whether the terms relevant and responsive went far enough to
address the full scope of our multiethnic and multilingual society. In turn, Paris offered culturally
sustaining pedagogy (CSP) as an alternative term and argued that CSP was to sustain “linguistic,
literary, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling” (Paris, 2012, p. 95).
The attention given to culture and language by these scholars has been crucial in closing the
opportunity gap.
The aforementioned components contribute to the problems that exist in education as it
pertains to the gap in opportunity for culturally relevant pedagogical learning opportunities (Irvin
& Darling, 2015). Often, the CRP gap exists because of a teacher’s lack of deeper understanding
of the social context within which he or she is working and the skill set needed to incorporate
culturally relevant pedagogical practices into their curriculum (Milner, 2010).
Statement of the Problem
This study addresses the problem of the disproportionate number of African American
students in California public high schools who are not performing at the same level as their White
contemporaries in ELA, as evidenced by their results on the California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress (CAASPP). According to the CDE (2016a), the CAASPP is a statewide
student assessment system used to monitor student progress and to meet federally mandated
accountability requirements (Every Child Succeeds Act, 2015, as cited in USDOE, n.d.). As of
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 17
2016, only 31% of African American students had met or exceeded the high school ELA content
standards, as compared to the 71% passage rate of their White contemporaries (CDE, 2016a). The
40% gap in testing achievement could be an indicator as to why only 68% of African American
students are graduating from high school in the state of California (Snyder, De Brey, & Dillow,
2017). These data highlight the need for schools to look at theoretical practices such as CRP as a
potential way to address the disparities in opportunity for African American students (Carter &
Welner, 2013). This problem is important to address so that educators can make informed
decisions concerning instruction in ELA and African American students can have opportunities to
exceed the ongoing national goals of educational excellence, high school graduation, and college
acceptance and to excel in their social, economic and intellectual goals (Snyder et al., 2017).
Currently, African American students account for 15% of the students in special education
classes while representing only 14% of the total population of students in the United States
(Snyder et al., 2017). This disturbing trend has led to reified images of students who appear more
suited for special education and remediation versus gifted education and advanced placement (T.
C. Howard, 2003). Negative views of African American students that are perpetuated by
prejudice often lead to limited educational opportunities that result in failure and increased
susceptibility for dropping out of school.
Currently, 1 in 5 African American students fail at least one grade level in either ele-
mentary or secondary school, or both. The overall average for student failures is 1 in 10 (Carter,
2009). As of 2015, it was reported that the graduation rate for African American students in the
United States was 71%, thus creating a 16% gap between them and their White peers, who have
an 87% rating (Snyder et al., 2017). These disparaging statistics indicate that traditional education
and its research have yet to consider the collective historical experience of African Americans or
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 18
the structural barriers impeding them (Ogbu, 2007). Instead, opportunity gaps and access remain
persistent and pervasive. Despite the educational practices that have contributed to these
disparities, educational practitioners and researchers continue to seek out interventions to address
the academic underperformance of African American students (A. L. Cole & Knowles, 2005;
Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Gorski, 2008; Milner, 2012). New paradigms and reconceptualization
must be related to issues such as the contextualization of instruction and teaching materials,
individual needs, reflection and critical inquiry in teaching, redefinition of teacher roles, cultural
immersion experiences, and interpersonal skills training (Russo & Talbert-Johnson, 1997).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ understanding of culturally relevant
pedagogy and how they described its enactment in order to provide usable information for
teachers, administrators, policymakers, and teacher education instructors. The study has the
potential to provide information explaining what CRP looks like when enacted in ELA classes
and to assist others in integrating this instructional approach into their classroom teaching, school,
and district-wide initiatives as well as preservice teacher preparation. It was the goal of this study
to understand the level to which teachers grasped the concepts of CRP and to what degree they
thought that their students were benefitting from the incorporation of CRP, so as to contribute to
educational research on CRP and its influence on student engagement and learning.
Research Questions
In order to understand how CRP may be understood by teachers to address gaps in
opportunity, the researcher had to gather information surrounding teachers’ understanding,
descriptions, and perceptions of CRP as it relates to student engagement and ultimately achieve-
ment. To this end, the research questions that guided the study were the following:
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 19
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students using
CRP explain their understanding and enactment of CRP?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
CRP within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures?
Theory and Framework
The literature stresses the relationship between activation of cultural prior knowledge with
a cognitive connection, as in sociocultural theory (SCT; Scott & Palincsar, 2013). Greater atten-
tion is paid to discourse and community as educators work to create the “third space” in which a
student’s primary discourse and secondary discourses are merged (Scott & Palincsar, 2013; Moje
et al., 2004). Thus, interest in the success of CRP lies in what is happening in the classroom and
how teachers are incorporating it to engage students. Ladson-Billings (1995a) proposed a theory
of culturally focused pedagogy that addresses the necessary factors surrounding student achieve-
ment, as well as giving students the tools to accept and affirm their cultural identity and challeng-
ing inequities that schools perpetuate. The premise behind CRP has been linked to the idea of
teachers connecting the cultural knowledge, beliefs, and practices that students bring from home
to the content and pedagogy used in their classrooms in order to potentially enhance the academic
performance and overall schooling of culturally diverse learners (T. C. Howard & Terry, 2011).
Significance of the Study
This study is important in order to address the ambiguity surrounding CRP as it relates to
classroom instruction in high school ELA (Lee, 2007). The cause of the ambiguity could be the
lack of training on CRP through professional development or in many teacher education
programs, which has caused classroom teachers to struggle to understand ways in which they can
design classroom instruction to meet the needs of their students (Barnes, 2006).
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 20
This study was important to the researcher on a personal level because of her background
as a high school English teacher with goals to eventually coach and teach other teachers how to
effectively design instruction for their students to bridge their cultural backgrounds, to narrow the
gaps in opportunity, and to increase academic achievement and ultimately graduation rates and the
rates of college acceptance.
Limitations and Delimitations
Limitations for this research included time constraints, a small sample size, limited
interviews (one or two) for each participant, one school site instead of two, and participants’
possible lack of total understanding of CRP. Delimitations of this study included not studying
other underrepresented groups outside of African American.
Definition of Terms
Achievement gap: Discrepancies in educational outcomes between primarily White and
some Asian students and underserved populations (T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson- Billings, 2006).
Critical race theory (CRT): A critical analysis from a legal standpoint that examines the
oppressive social (e.g., race, racism, laws) and educational structures (e.g., tracking, standardized
testing) that impact student learning and achievement in education and identifies power structures
are based on the superiority of White culture, therefore marginalizing people of color (D. Bell,
1989; Delgado & Stefanic, 2001).
CRP: “Humanizing pedagogy that respects and uses the reality, history, and perspectives
of students as an integral part of the educational practice” (Ladson-Billings, 1995a, p. 160).
Culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP): Pedagogy that seeks to perpetuate, foster, and
sustain linguistic, literary, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling;
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 21
the shifting of society toward valuing, preserving, and maintaining a multilingual and multicul-
tural society (Paris, 2012).
Opportunity gap: Focus on the disparities among students in schools relating to the quality
of schools, resources, and diversity by addressing the ways that race, ethnicity, English language
proficiency, and socioeconomic status perpetuate lower attainment and/or aspirations for students
of color (Milner, 2010, 2012).
Organization of the Study
Four chapters follow the introductory chapter. Chapter Two will present the literature to
support the study. Chapter Three deals with the methodology of the research, including the
participants, data collection, and data analysis. Chapter Four contains an extensive explanation of
the findings of the study. Chapter Five concludes the dissertation with a discussion, as well as
suggestions for future research in the area of CRP.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 22
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine teachers’ understanding of CRP and
how they describe its enactment in order to provide usable information for teachers, administra-
tors, policymakers, and teacher educators. It was the goal of this study to understand the level to
which teachers grasped the concepts of CRP and to what degree they felt that their students were
benefitting from the incorporation of CRP so as to contribute to educational research on CRP and
its influence on student engagement and learning.
The literature review identifies strengths of past studies in the salient literature, analyzes
emerging themes from the research, and explores previous research that focused on the opportu-
nity gap between African Americans and their White counterparts. The chapter will also address
contributing factors to the opportunity gap such as government policies, historic implications,
teachers’ roles and preparation, and teaching strategies.
Chapter Two begins with a historic overview of the treatment of African American
students in the U.S. public education system, followed by the current state of education for this
group. This chapter deals with the literature and theoretical frameworks of CRP to provide a
foundational lens and understanding of the data that were collected and analyzed and reported in
Chapters Four and Five.
2
History of African American Educational Opportunity in U.S. Public Schools
As a result of years of exclusion and unequal treatment under the law, African American
students have historically been denied an education equitable to that of their White counterparts.
2
The following sections of this chapter were co-written with Keisha Burns: History of
African American Educational Opportunity in U.S. Public Schools, Current State of African
American Education in U.S. Public Schools, Opportunity Gap—Not Achievement Gap, Cultur-
ally Relevant Pedagogy, Theory and Framework, and Conclusion. Both authors contributed
equally.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 23
Centuries of slavery in the United States fueled by systemic racism created a society in which the
“other” remains oppressed and denied their inalienable rights (D. Bell, 1983; Ladson-Billings &
Tate, 1995). The historic and contemporary treatment of marginalized communities attests to the
fact that they have never been afforded their full rights as citizens of this country (G. R. López,
2003).
After the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the culmination of the
Civil War in 1865, in recognition of the plight of African Americans and the importance of their
education, Woodson (1931) wrote:
The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the
thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worthwhile, depresses and
crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that his race
does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other peoples. (p.
21)
Students denied the opportunity of an equitable and meaningful education are also cut off from
other opportunities for success (G. R. López & Burciaga, 2104). such as participation in social,
economic, and political activities.
Whenever things might have appeared to be moving towards progress in equity, new
methods were used to prevent Blacks from progressing (D. Bell, 1983; Ladson-Billings, 1995b).
Legislation and policies have been tactics used by those in power to maintain the status quo.
Policy determines what gets done and what decisions are (or are not) made and by whom (G. R.
López, 2003; López & Burciaga, 2014). Policy focuses on the visible as well as the invisible
mechanisms that structure organizational life (G. R. López, 2003). Several laws and policies
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 24
instituted in the U.S. had a profound correlation on marginalized populations, specifically in the
field of education.
After the emancipation of slaves in 1863, separate but equal became law under the 1896
Plessy v. Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Under this ruling, segregation became legal and
extended to cover many areas of public life such as restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public
schools (D. Bell, 2004). The ruling reinforced the ideology of White superiority over Blacks
through legislation (D. Bell, 1983; Ladson-Billings, 1995b; G. R. López, 2003), enacting doctrine
and overt racism toward mistreatment of African Americans in the United States. Presumably
Blacks were assigned equal membership in society under the law; however, socially, politically,
and economically, they remained at a disadvantage by a racist political and legal system that
marginalized them daily (Bell, 2004; G. R. López, 2003; G. R. López & Burciaga, 2014). These
Jim Crow laws remained in effect for almost 60 more years, reassuring Whites of their superiority
to Blacks (D. Bell, 1983, 2004). Three centuries of oppression institutionalized many challenges
for Blacks in the United States. Many of these challenges were and are still connected to a larger
system of racial oppression that is perpetuated and reinforced by the ideology of White supremacy
(G. R. López & Burciaga, 2014; Orfield, 2014; Oliver & Shapiro, 1997).
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
deemed racial segregation unconstitutional, thereby overturning Plessy. The court concluded that
the doctrine of separate but equal has no place in education and that separate educational facilities
are inherently unequal (NEA, 2004). In response to the Supreme Court’s decision regarding
Brown, Chief Justice Earl Warren commented:
In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if
he (or she) is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity where the state
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 25
has undertaken to provide it is a right, which must be made available to all on equal terms.
(as cited in NEA, 2004, p. 3)
Critically, in the 21st century, the dialogue of inequity in education continues.
Teaching as a profession was seen as an honorable career, especially among African
Americans (Smith, Mack, & Akyea, 2016). By the 1950s, half of the working African American
professionals were teachers. Unfortunately, during the 1960s, with desegregation initiatives, the
percentage of African American teachers who held jobs began to decline. The reason for the
decline was that when White and Black students began to attend integrated schools, African
American teachers were the ones who were dismissed from their jobs (B. P. Cole, 1986). By the
1970s, educators’ attempts to remedy the issue of African American teachers’ underrepresentation
failed; the damage had already been done. African Americans were no longer seeing teaching as a
viable profession because it did not hold the same appeal that it once did. In fact, of the public
school teachers in 2013, only 7% of them were African American, less than 2% of them being
men (Bitterman, Gray, & Goldring, 2013). Teaching was no longer perceived to be an avenue out
of the lower class (Smith et al., 2016), and students—especially African American males who
would have once held those jobs—began to pursue other opportunities.
As a result of integration and free public education made available to all citizens, the
expectation is that the discourse of equal education for Blacks (and other marginalized groups)
should no longer be relevant. However, since 2014, children from minority backgrounds have
constituted the majority of children in the nation’s public schools (U.S. Department of Education,
National Center for Education Statistics, 2018), yet the opportunity gap in the public education
system continues to widen. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES; Snyder et al.,
2017) projected that 50.4 million students entered public schools in the United States, with
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 26
Whites accounting for 24.6 million and minority students, 25.8 million. In California the ethnic
distribution of public schools is more profound. with White students consisting of 24.10% of the
population (CDE, 2017). The difference between racism today and in the past is that modern-day
racism is more subtle, invisible, and insidious (G. R. López, 2003). The subtleties can lead to
equity-blind and color-mute discourse that continues to perpetuate the status quo by rendering the
needs of the most vulnerable children invisible (Bonilla-Silva, 2014; Pollock, 2004). Equity blind
refers to the disregard the fact that schools with a high population of minority students receive
unequal access to resources. Pollock (2004) emphasized that color-mute conversations or
suppressing discourse around race creates a false reality and belief that racism is nonexistent. For
example, many do not realize that Rosa Parks’s protest occurred 18 months after the Brown ruling
and that the integration of Central High School by the Little Rock Nine happened 3 years after the
ruling (G. R. López & Burciaga, 2014). When racism becomes invisible, individuals begin to
think that it is merely a thing of the past and/or only connected to the specific act (G. R. López,
2003). As a result of this disconnect, students are uninformed about their history, as schools do
not utilize textbooks or curriculum that accurately depict the history of all Americans to create a
dialogue about racism past and present. Yet years of subjection to the cruelty of mental and
physical oppression have created a significant gap in opportunity between the treatments of
African American children in U.S. public schools.
The opportunity gaps created by a tumultuous past and the constant inequities that remain are still
evident in US classrooms today. Orfield and Eaton (1996) argued:
How can a student who grows up in a family with fewer resources, in a neighborhood that
has fewer educational activities, attends a less demanding school with fewer teachers and
students who are well-prepared, and more limited curriculum have a fair chance to
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 27
compete with students who face none of these inequities? (as cited in Noguera, 2017, p.
132)
It is imperative for teachers to recognize the impact history plays on the misalignment of
opportunities in education that prevent African American students from having an equal playing
field. The historic inequities ingrained in the education system can cause an unconscious bias in
educators with respect to minority students. The goal of this research was to address the role of
CRP on these and other current issues found in the U.S. public school system.
Current State of African American Education in U.S. Public Schools
More than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education (1954), issues of race continue to
be a persistent cause of the disparities in education for African American students. Current
research reports that the United States continues to have the most inequitable education system in
the world (Darling-Hammond, Noguera, Cobb, & Meier, 2007). Within the politics of education
there is an assumption that all legal citizens have certain inalienable rights. including the right to
vote to ensure that the government and policies work in the interest of everyone (D. Bell, 1995;
G. R. López, 2003). There is also an assumption that people will assert their rights as citizens
through influence, power, conflict, political pressure, and voting to minimize real and opportunity
costs (G. R. López, 2003). Unfortunately, the concept of rights is elusive to the voice and issues
of marginalized communities in the politics of education until the issue of racial inequality is fully
addressed. As G. R. López (2003) explained,
issues of race and other areas of difference must play an instrumental role in our knowl-
edge base and practices, so that the important topics pertaining to education policy and
leadership is not solely rooted in technical knowledge but rests in the nuances of creating
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 28
schools that truly work for all children, families, and members of the school community.
(p. 87)
Had the Supreme Court required the representation of African Americans on school
boards and other policymaking bodies after Brown (1954), African Americans would have had
access to decision making—a prerequisite to full equality still unattained in many predominantly
Black school systems (D. Bell, 1983). Until there is equity among all stakeholders to provide
input in the creation and implementation of education policies and procedures, the gaps in
opportunity for African American students and other marginalized groups will continue to widen.
Additional factors contributing to the opportunity gap experienced by African American students,
as identified by Darling-Hammond (2010a), include the resegregation of schools that equate to
unequal access to quality teachers, curriculum, and increased dropout rates (Orfield & Eaton,
1996). Many of the nation’s African American students remain segregated from their White
counterparts, who have more affluent families and are able to gain access to wealthier schools
(Carter, 2009). By 2000, resegregated schools were the norm across the United States, with 71%
of African American students attending majority ethnic schools (Pitre, 2014). Many segregated
schools with a predominantly African American population have overcrowded facilities; poor
libraries; and materials that are old, dilapidated, and must be shared among students (Darling-
Hammond, 2010a). A study by Houck (2010) examined the resegregation of schools in the
Nashville School District from 1999 to 2004 and revealed that students’ race and poverty char-
acteristics were significantly associated with an increase in the number of nontenured teachers.
The small amount of progress achieved in attaining academic equality after the Civil
Rights Movement (1954–1968) and landmark legislation of 1896 and 1954 has waned. Re-
segregation of schools has become more prevalent as complacency developed after the Brown
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 29
case. Darling-Hammond (2010a) emphasized how resegregation of schools is a critical factor
responsible for the disparities in the academic achievement of African American students:
Deepening segregation tied to dwindling resources has occurred as African American
students are increasingly concentrated in central city public schools, many of which have
become majority “minority” over the past decade while their funding has fallen further
behind . . . a group of schools emerged that can be characterized as apartheid schools—
serving exclusively students of color in low-income communities. (p. 38)
The traditional minorities now comprise a majority of the population, as described by Darling-
Hammond (2010a) above. Therefore, the definition of minority, “the smaller in number of two
groups constituting a whole” (“Minority,” 2017, para. 2), is no longer fitting. Groups that are
different in race, religious affiliation, nation of origin, sexuality, and gender and have less power
or representation as a result of social constructs will be referred to as minoritized persons (Smith
et al., 2016). Minoritized persons were not born to be discriminated against; rather, this behavior
has been placed upon them as exemplified by the inequities found in low- income schools, such as
teacher quality and consequently quality courses and curriculum.
Unqualified teachers are disproportionately found in schools with high minority and low
socioeconomic populations (Barton, 2004; Darling-Hammond, 2010b). In 2001, students in
highly segregated minority schools in California were 5 times more likely to have an uncertified
teacher (Pitre, 2014). This is a problem because research has shown teacher quality to be the most
important school-based factor in student achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Hightower et al.,
2011; Pitre, 2014; Rand Education, 2012). In addition to lacking experience, unqualified teachers
lack certification, subject matter training, and pedagogical training. Therefore, as a result of
having high numbers of inexperienced, unqualified teachers, minoritized students face significant
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 30
differences in the availability of courses, curriculum, materials, and equipment afforded to them.
Inequitable access to qualified teachers correlates with courses and curricula that impede African
American students’ exposure to college preparatory courses in high school. Multiple studies
reported by the NCES (Snyder et al., 2017) found minoritized students attend schools that have
more remedial, vocational, and special education courses (Boykin & Noguera, 2011;
Darling-Hammond, 2001; Pitre, 2014) that often have an overrepresentation of African American
students. By contrast, minority students are disproportionately referred for special education
services on account of behavior and learning problems compared to their White counterparts
(Russo & Talbert-Johnson, 1997). Many teachers expect African American students to conform
to the status quo method of teaching and often refer to students’ indifference as defiance or a
learning disability.
Research has shown that teachers are the most important school-based resource for equity,
yet experienced and effective teachers with strong educational backgrounds remain concentrated
in schools and districts with higher income families and fewer students of color (Houck, 2010;
Orfield, 2014). Experienced and certificated teachers have both subject matter knowledge and
knowledge of teaching and learning. The inequitable distribution of qualified teachers is a major
cause of the disparity in learning. After analyzing 900 school districts in Texas, Ferguson (1991)
found that the single most important measurable cause of increased student learning was teacher
expertise. The differential in teacher effectiveness is a strong determinant of student learning
more so than class size and heterogeneity (Darling-Hammond, 2001). Students who are assigned
to several ineffective teachers in a row have significantly lower achievement gains with differ-
ences as much as 50 percentile points over 3 years in comparison to students who are consistently
assigned to highly effective teachers (Sanders & Rivers, 1996). Research has further posited that
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 31
African American students are twice as likely to be assigned to ineffective teachers, because poor
and minority students are concentrated in inequitably funded schools with an uneven allocation of
resources. Expert teachers use strategies to address the needs of all students while being able to
implement curriculum that is challenging rather than rote learning or dumbed down (Dar-
ling-Hammond, 2001). Results from a study by Dreeben (1987) analyzed reading instruction and
outcomes for 300 White and Black students in Chicago. He found that “when black and white
children of comparable ability experience the same instruction, they do about equally well, and
this is true when the instruction is excellent in quality and when it is inadequate” (p. 34). The
study further revealed that the majority of African American students received a much lower
quality of instruction than the White students, thereby creating a racial gap in aggregate achieve-
ment. Schools serving predominantly minority and poor populations offer fewer advanced
courses and more remedial courses (Vanneman et al., 2009). Teacher interaction with students in
lower track classes is less motivating, less supportive, and less demanding, thus leading to
interactions that are less academically oriented (Darling- Hammond, 2001; Oakes, 1986;
Robinson, Good, & Brophy, 1987). Schools are the only public institution that can reach the
majority of American society and explicitly commit to equalizing opportunity (Orfield, 2014).
However, the common presumption about educational inequality is that it resides in students with
inadequate capacities to benefit from what education the school has to offer (Darling-Hammond,
2001) rather than looking at the unequal learning opportunities afforded to students based on their
race and social status—thus setting up the failure that society predicts for them.
Opportunity Gap—Not Achievement Gap
Viewing students from the lens of an achievement gap perspective is equivalent to
standardization. This point of view negatively assumes all students come from environments that
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 32
are equal and equitable and therefore students of color simply need to apply grit and tenacity to
achieve at the same rates as the status quo. On the other hand, the opportunity gap takes into
consideration the historic, cultural, social, economic, and racial constructs that minoritized
students encounter that prohibit an equal and equitable education, thereby accounting for the gap.
Educational Debt
Much like the national debt, the educational debt was conceived to address the inability of
the courts to provide equitable outcomes for African American students. Ladson-Billings (2006)
argued that the focus on the achievement gap is misplaced and that looking at the achievement
gap from year to year is misleading, because it does not address the reasons for the gap, which is
the gap in opportunity. She emphasized that the historical, economic, sociopolitical and moral
decisions and policies surrounding American society have created an educational debt, much like
the national debt, and that if one looks at issues in education in terms of a debt instead of focusing
on the achievement gap, then people will need to take ownership for their role in creating the gaps
in opportunities (Ladson-Billings, 2006). When people take ownership for their part, they can
work toward creating systems and interventions to decrease the debt.
Achievement gap explanations can force researchers, policymakers, and practitioners into
conceptualizing students of color from a deficit perspective that is transferred into practices with
students. Subscribers of deficit thinking have contended that “deviations from mainstream forms
of verbal and cognitive processing are viewed as dysfunctional, pathological, or inferior” (T. C.
Howard, 2010, p. 30). The deficit-based thinking of White educators toward African American
students creates a classroom that bolsters low expectations and a disengaged student body. What
people believe, including their biases and prejudices about people, deeply influences how others
relate to them and, inevitably, how they are taught (Gorski & Pothini, 2013; T. C. Howard, 2010;
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 33
Ullucci, 2007). Ng (2006) studied teacher candidates and found that preservice teachers were
likely to avoid teaching in urban schools due to the misperception that students of color were
behavior problems and would be more difficult to engage. Individuals subscribing to deficit
thinking frequently contend that low-income students and students of color are unfit for academic
success (T. C. Howard, 2010). Deficit thinking such as this is indicative of the cultural disso-
nance between the lived and schooled experiences of White teachers and the experience of their
students of color (Bergeron, 2008; Ladson-Billings, 2011; Milner, 2011).
Context-neutral mindsets further deficit-based thinking; therefore, teachers should
incorporate the context of students’ backgrounds to make the tasks relevant. However, many
teachers choose to adopt a colorblind philosophy and avoid the discussion of race altogether,
believing that they can separate themselves from the responsibility of needing to consider the
context by which a child is accessing learning (Liu, 2011). The notion that primarily White
educators hold that they should avoid the discussion of race and how it operates within the
confines of education is an oppressive yet prevalent epistemology within the educational system.
Delpit (2006) argued that “if one does not see color, one does not really see children” (p. 177). By
refusing to consider culture and race as relevant to student learning, teachers and school leaders
inevitably wound children’s self-concept, render them invisible, and allow White people to remain
ignorant of the institutionalized racism to which they are continually subjected (L. A. Bell, 2002;
Delpit, 2006). The notion that race is not a factor in society actually legitimizes the inequities that
still exist and perpetuates the beliefs, attitudes, and practices that lead to disparaging outcomes for
students of color (Bonilla-Silva, 2003.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 34
Deficit Mindset
One way of thinking about the achievement gap that has been reinforced by school offi-
cials is through a deficit lens. Deficit mindsets covertly and tacitly construct White students as
intellectually and academically superior to others (Milner, 2012). White privilege presents White
students as the norm by which other racial and ethnic groups are compared (Foster, 1999; Milner,
2012; Russo & Talbert-Johnson, 1997). Historically, the idea of White privilege generated the
resistance of many Whites in allowing non-Whites access to mainstream society in the United
States. This issue is evident as African American students were prevented from receiving
equitable educational opportunities and attended schools that were underfunded and segregated
based on their racial and ethnic classification (T. C. Howard, 2010). Remnants of White privilege
are ingrained in the current public education system. The difference is that the beliefs and
behaviors are more subtle and covert, appearing in the form of low expectations, exclusion from
academic enrichment programs, and inequitable funding for schools attended by students of color
(T. C. Howard, 2010; R. W. Irvine & Irvine, 1983; Kozol, 1991). Teachers who subscribe to
deficit-based paradigms typically seek to rid students of their cultural knowledge and means of
communicating, and to replace their ways of knowing with mainstream cultural norms (T. C.
Howard, 2010; Valenzuela, 1999). Teachers who ascribe to a deficit-based notion of students
have low expectations and provide ineffective instruction as teachers question the intellectual
capability of students’ abilities based on the assumption of race, culture, ethnicity, and socioeco-
nomic status (T. C. Howard, 2010). Deficit-based explanations are centered around students of
color lacking culture, coming from a culture of poverty that is unsuitable for attaining academic
success, having a disdain for academic achievement, or having parents who lack concern for their
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 35
child’s academic goals (T. C. Howard, 2010; Ogbu, 1987; Steele, 1997; Suzuki & Valencia,
1997). Culturally responsive teaching attempts to alter deficit-based thinking.
Meritocracy works largely to perpetuate the system of domination by those who are
already advantaged in society in that success and failure are based on the individual characteristics
of the learner instead of institutionalized discrimination. U.S. society is philosophically and
ideologically structured such that all people are supposedly created equally with the same oppor-
tunities for success (Milner, 2012). People tend to explain academic success or deficiencies on
the individual characteristics of the learner rather than the contribution of institutional factors
(Lynn & Adams, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 1995b; Milner, 2012). They argued that benefits should
be afforded to those who demonstrate the talent and effort required by the system of domination.
This is another example of a cultural conflict that is frequently evident in schools that serve
minority children in that educators’ cultural understanding and ideologies often take precedence
over those of their students. By not acknowledging the greater social and structural inequalities at
play, the myth of meritocracy minimizes the race and language factors that often impede a
student’s opportunity to receive equitable access to meaningful education, and perpetuates cultural
conflicts (Liu, 2011; Milner, 2012; Ullucci, 2007). There is a “legacy of inequality in U.S.
education” (Darling-Hammond, 2007, p. 320).
Focusing on the opportunity gap instead of the achievement gap allows for examining the
causes for disparities in education that are structural and systemic rather than blaming the student.
The disparity in achievement is usually between White and non-White students; the difference can
be seen in standardized test scores, grade point averages (GPAs), graduation rates, and college
admission data (Pitre, 2014). The focus of the achievement gap is one dimensional, namely on
standardization and the individual student, whereas the opportunity gap encompasses a more
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 36
complex and nuanced reality (Milner, 2012). Those in education must be persistent in questioning
what knowledge is; how it is constructed and validated; and who decides the worth, value, and
meanings of knowledge (Apple, 2006; Milner, 2012). Milner (2012) highlighted the implications
of framing opportunity accounts for the inequitable systems, processes, structures, policies, and
practices demonstrated by research to prevent minority students from reaching their full potential.
Educational outcomes for students of color are a function of their unequal access to key
educational resources, including skilled teachers and quality curriculum, than they are of race
(Darling Hammond, 2007; T. C. Howard, 2010). Many educators subscribe to deficit thinking in
regard to the expectations of students of color and from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Re-
search has demonstrated the detrimental effects that low expectations can have on the academic
performance of students (Avery & Walker, 1993; T. C. Howard, 2010; Irvine & York, 1993) in
addition to having a lack of available resources. Pedagogy and educational experiences must be
designed in ways that address the varying needs of all students and are responsive to the socio-
cultural context in which students live and learn (Gay, 2010; T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson-
Billings, 2009; Milner 2010, 2012). To this end, the focus of the present research was on how
teachers perceived their role of fostering an equitable learning environment and on what teachers
do to build capacity for a more equitable environment in learning.
Resources
There continues to be pervasive disparities in educational resources afforded to African
American children that continue to perpetuate the gaps in educational outcomes. Education is
believed to be the “great equalizer”; however, the inequitable funding of urban schools by the
government is disparaging. Statistically, higher spending schools outperform lower spending
schools, thus causing the gap in opportunity for students in low-income areas to widen (Darling-
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 37
Hammond et al., 2007). This is another systemic way that inequity is perpetuated, and it connects
directly to Black students’ opportunities in schools.
Teachers. Another issue in equitable opportunities for minoritized students are the
teachers. The largest populations of incoming teachers are White and are often not prepared to
teach diverse students. They often default to habits from their educational experiences that
contribute to the gap in accessible educational opportunities for their African American students
(Delpit, 1988). Teaching is often based on the assumptions that are developed by a teacher’s
understanding of the world, which racial and cultural identity deeply influence (Romanowski,
1996). Those assumptions often follow teachers to the classroom, and the stereotypes that they
carry with them are typically a strong indicator of student success (Bright, Turesky, Putzel, &
Stang, 2012; Milner, 2010, 2012; Muijs & Reynolds, 2002). When teachers are biased and a lack
of positive student–teacher relationships within the classroom causes them to underestimate
students, they have a tendency to underserve these students.
Preparing teachers in preservice education programs with the knowledge, attitudes, and
skills to implement a culturally responsive lesson can lead to improved academic success for
ethnically diverse students. Teachers working in schools with large, diverse student populations
often exclude issues of culture in their lessons. With diversity education being used as an
ancillary component to instructional methodology in teacher education programs, it is easy to see
why teaching principles are disconnected from the learning contexts of students (Bakari, 2003).
Building a cultural knowledge base requires that teachers do more than just acknowledge dif-
ferences and makes necessary the practice of championing the lived experiences of students as
viable classroom resources (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). However, Cochran-Smith
and Power (2010) identified a gap in teacher quality whereby schools with large numbers of
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 38
historically marginalized students are more likely to have teachers who are inexperienced, or
teaching outside of their area of expertise. As G. R. Howard (2016) stated, “We can’t teach what
we don’t know” (p. 2), and this is the sentiment with which many teachers grapple in addressing
the needs of a diverse student population. Many teachers are inadequately prepared to teach eth-
nically diverse students as a result of some professional programs’ equivocation in including
multicultural education despite the increasing numbers and disproportionate poor performance of
students of color (Gay, 2002). While there is an overwhelming amount of research that shows
that social progress in the United States is directly connected to equity, and quality education
(Achinstein, Ogawa, Sexton, & Freitas, 2010), American schools are failing to translate that
research into the need for the diversity of teachers in the classroom.
CRP embraces student academic achievement, the teacher’s ability to develop in students
cultural competence, and students’ development of a critical consciousness (Ladson-Billings,
1995a). Teachers who use CRP as a strategy exhibit a passion for what they are teaching believe
that all students could and must succeed, and they create bonds with students and their families.
Good, effective teaching goes beyond race as a determinant to teach minoritized students using
CRP (T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995a). CRP puts teachers in an ethical, emotional,
and academic partnership with ethnically diverse students who are anchored in respect, honor,
integrity, resource sharing, and a deep belief in the possibility of excellence (Gay, 2002).
Curriculum. An additional aspect of the opportunity gap lies within the curriculum
taught in schools. Woodson (1931) evaluated the curriculum of Southern schools and found that
the curriculum failed to include factual information about African American culture. For
Woodson, teaching African Americans about their true history was a form of self-empowerment
during a time when Blacks were still viewed as three-fifths of a person. Woodson posited that
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 39
“the so-called modern education with all its defects, however, does others so much more good
than it does the Negro, because it has been worked out in conformity to the needs of those who
have oppressed weaker peoples” (p. 20). Similarly, Du Bois (1935) argued that schools should
give special consideration to instructing African American youth from the vantage point of the
African American so as to encourage them to believe that they could accomplish just as much as
their White counterparts. Du Bois’s theory may have been a precursor for CRP. Further analysis
of the background of African American education and teaching practices leads to an understand-
ing of why there is a gap between African Americans and students in other demographics (The
Education Trust West, 2011). Without being able to make relevant connections to the curriculum,
African American students continue to struggle to achieve (Ladson-Billings 1995b; Delpit, 1988).
African American students have traditionally received a substandard curriculum due to the
high number of novice teachers assigned to urban schools. The U.S. education has not been very
culturally responsive to ethnically diverse students. Instead, traditional public school instruction
is based on White Americans’ perceptions of the educational needs of Black Americans, thus
controlling their education and placing students in “double jeopardy” where they toggle between
mastering the lesson while functioning under unfamiliar cultural conditions (Gay, 2002).
Minoritized students have been expected to divorce themselves from their cultures and learn
based on the cultural norms of European Americans (Gay, 2002). Curriculum continues to be
dominated by content that focuses on the contributions of White people, and leaves minoritized
people out of the conversation. When curriculum is void of the acknowledgment of various races,
students are learning something valuable about the perceptions of that race in that they may end
up feeling like who they are is of no serious value to society, or to the world (Banks, 2001; Gay,
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 40
2010; Milner, 2010). It is imperative to acknowledge cultural diversity as a way to meet the
educational needs of ethnically diverse students.
Culture encompasses many aspects and has direct implications for teaching and learning
(Gay, 2002). To establish the importance of culture in the classroom, teachers can examine the
unspoken norms and assumptions stemming from instructional practices that reinforce students’
perceptions of color and socioeconomic status (Friedus & Noguera, 2017). Cultural values,
traditions, communication, learning styles, contributions, and relational patterns of ethnic groups
should be incorporated into the curriculum. Incorporating these different facets of culture is
needed to make schooling more interesting, relevant, and responsive to the needs of a multiethnic
student population. The influence of culture on attitudes, values, and behaviors that students and
teachers bring to the instructional process has to be a major determinant of how the problems of
underachievement are solved (Gay, 2002).
The focus of this research is primarily on teachers’ perceptions and enactment of CRP, as
inappropriate and ineffective teaching can alter the academic performance of students. The ability
of teachers to provide well-chosen curricula and appropriately designed instruction is contingent
upon not only teachers knowing their students but also their recognition of how acknowledging
and incorporating students’ background into the curriculum can influence learning. This theory of
multicultural education can act as a means to close the opportunity gap.
Multicultural Education
Diversity in education is essential to the academic and social development of all students,
not just students of color. Because of the lack of teachers of color, there exists a gap in cultural
knowledge (Wilder, 2000). Multicultural education recognizes the diversity of the human race
within classrooms and the need for educators to create systems that promote respect and equitable
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 41
education for all students. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2017), 13.3% of the nation’s
people are African American. Public schools are continuously experiencing demographic
transformation, and the assimilation model that exists in public education is failing students.
According to Nieto and Bode (2012),
multicultural education is a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education
for all students. It challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in
schools and society and accepts and affirms the pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic,
religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and
teachers represent. Multicultural education permeates the curriculum and instructional
strategies used in schools, as well as the interactions among teachers, students, and
parents, and the very way that schools conceptualize the nature of teaching and learning.
Because it uses critical pedagogy as its underlying philosophy and focuses on knowledge,
reflection, and action (praxis) as the basis for social change, multicultural education
promotes the democratic principles of social justice. (p. 307)
Students of all ethnic backgrounds benefit from a diverse, multicultural education that
encourages positive, fluid relationships (Roberts, 2010) and explores the struggles and successes
of people of color (Graham & Anderson, 2008). Despite the arguments of scholars, multicultural
education is not an integral part of all K-12 curriculums, thereby leaving the realities of social
problems and racial identities continuously distorted and incomplete (Banks, 1993; Gay 2002).
A variety of cultural knowledge is empowering. Dee and Penner (2016) conducted a
quantitative study about the effects of CRP on student outcomes for historically marginalized
African American high school students. Several students receiving a 2.0 or below in the eighth
grade and considered at risk when entering the ninth grade were given a year-long ethnic studies
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 42
class. The course focused on themes of social justice, discrimination, stereotypes, and social
movements from multiple race and ethnic groups that are not typically represented in U.S. social
studies curricula. Students were also required to explore their individual and family identity,
along with the history of their community, to design service learning projects based on their
findings. In order to create a correlational study, other students meeting the criterion were not
asked to participate in the ethnic studies course. The study results for students who did not
receive the ethnic studies course were as follows: Student attendance increased by 5.6%; GPA, by
.039%; and credits earned on all ninth-grade academic outcomes increased by 6.3 credits. The
results for students who did receive the ethnic studies course were as follows: Student attendance
increased by 21%; GPA rose 1.4 grade points; and credits earned on all ninth-grade academic
outcomes increased by 23 credits. These results indicated that the implementation of CRP led to
significant improvements in ninth-grade GPA, attendance, and credits earned and could be
effective in supporting the academic progression of African American students. Delpit (1988)
argued that when stakeholders, regardless of race and ethnicity, are educated in a culturally
relevant curriculum and gain relevant knowledge, they can work to create a more just society.
Although the focus of this research was on the effects that CRP has on African American
students, the learning benefits associated with the various strategies are effective for all students.
The next section defines, discusses, and shares empirical studies that illustrate the effects
of CRP on the academic achievement of African American students.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
When academic knowledge and skills incorporate students’ lived experiences, frame-of-
reference lessons become personally meaningful and more appealing and are learned more easily
and thoroughly (Gay 2000, 2002). The goal of CRP, which was the focus of this study, is to
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 43
affirm African American students—empowering them intellectually, socially, emotionally, and
politically through cultural referents in order to impart knowledge, skills, and behavior.
In 1990, Ladson-Billings sought to shift the blame for academic deficits away from
African American students to the educational system in such a way that would encourage edu-
cators to incorporate their students’ assets into their curriculum and daily practices within urban
classrooms containing African American students. Through her research in this area, she devel-
oped the term culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995b). Ladson-Billings (1995b)
noted that for pedagogy to be culturally relevant, there were four criteria: collective empower-
ment, academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness. Ladson-Billings (2014)
discussed academic success as the intellectual growth that a student experiences as a result of
classroom environment and instructional experiences. Academic success requires educators to
prepare students in the areas of literacy, mathematics, technology, and civics to get them ready for
a democratic society. CRP suggests that to make advances in student academic competence,
students must engage in collaborative sharing to ensure their ability to be educationally competi-
tive with their dominant counterparts. CRP also requires educators to create and cultivate the
cultural competence of each student in home, community, and school cultures (Ladson-Billings,
1995b).
Teachers’ classroom practices have the greatest impact of all school-based factors
(Lingard & Mills, 2007), meaning that teaching among diverse populations requires teachers to
work toward understanding the cultural aspects shared among students and between teacher and
student (Young, 2010). CRP depends on teachers’ ability to be nonjudgmental and inclusive of
the cultural differences within their diverse population of students (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2011).
CRP requires that teachers are intentional about accessing students’ cultural knowledge and
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 44
linking it to the curriculum, especially where the cultural context of the teacher does not align
with that of the student (Sleeter, 2008). For example, T. C. Howard (2001b) examined African
American students’ perceptions of instructional practices used by four teachers who were con-
sidered to be culturally responsive, meaning that they were able to incorporate features of the
students’ cultural capital into their practice. T. C. Howard (2001b) found that students felt more
engaged and willing to work when their teachers displayed caring bonds and attitudes toward
them, established community and family-type classroom environments, and made learning
entertaining and fun. As part of the present study, teachers’ perceptions, beliefs, and enactment of
CRP in the classroom were observed to see how a cohesive classroom is constructed.
Milner (2011) spent 19 months in an urban school focusing on how one White male
science teacher developed cultural knowledge and competence to effectively teach at the primarily
African American school. He wanted to know what made the teacher so successful and in what
ways the struggles and successes of this teacher contributed to the building of cultural compe-
tence. Similar to T. C. Howard (2001a), Milner (2011) found that the teacher’s success with
students relied in part on building and sustaining meaningful and authentic relationships with
students. For instance, instead of sending students out of the classroom through referrals due to
undesirable behavior or noncompliance with school rules, the teacher chose to adopt a philosophy
of restoration, in that a student had an opportunity to “get it right the next time” (p. 77). He
refused to give up on his students but rather chose to meet students where they were instead of
using a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning. He explained to his students that a
criterion for success existed, and his expectation was that each of his students meet that criterion;
he demonstrated a positive level of caring when conflict arose rather than letting it overshadow
his students’ opportunities to learn. One way of doing this was to ask personal questions about
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 45
students and engage them in friendly conversations about their interests and activities. Milner
(2011) recounted an anecdote that the teacher shared about a student athlete who was having
difficulty completing his homework. The teacher showed up at the student’s basketball games
and even played one on one with the student. Once the student developed a positive relationship
with his teacher, he did not want to disappoint him by not turning in his work. The teacher
reported that the student missed only two homework assignments the entire year, because of the
teacher’s efforts in showing interest in the student. The teacher refused to adopt the colorblind
approach (previously discussed) in his practice; he built an understanding of how his White race
was perceived by his students and worked to change the negative view by recognizing his
students’ identities and developing a belief system that teaching is a family and communal affair.
He shared personal narratives with his students to provide a window into his life and invited
students to share theirs, thereby indicating that he valued them beyond their roles as students. He
took his students’ perceptions of him to heart and worked on developing their understanding of
the commonalities that existed between them, which helped to serve as a bridge to building
cultural competence (Milner, 2011) and his ability to incorporate CRP.
Culturally relevant teachers who are aware of their conceptions of self and others are
meticulous in how they structure social relationships (Milner, 2011) and continue to develop the
current cultural knowledge that they know; they are teachers who effectively aid in the
implementation of CRP (Banks, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 1992). These teachers genuinely believe
in their students’ intellectual potential and understand that it is their responsibility to facilitate the
unveiling of their potential, by leading them to critical consciousness without ignoring their
students’ ethnic and cultural identities (Gay, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 1995b; Sleeter, 2001).
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 46
Young (2010) conducted a qualitative study in which an attempt was made to work col-
laboratively with a group of administrators and teachers at one urban school to define, implement,
and assess CRP as a viable pedagogical tool. Taking on a participant-as-observer role, Young
used CRT as the foundational framework for examining the racial practices existing in schools to
engage administrators and teacher leaders in difficult discussions surrounding race and racism.
Together, they examined research surrounding CRP to understand how it could be effectively
implemented into classroom practice to bring about change in academic outcomes for African
American students. Based on the assumption that racism was deeply rooted in the structure of
schools as the underlying cause of the racial achievement gap, the purpose of the study was to
engage in a collaborative study inquiry to understand and eventually alter the oppressive condi-
tions of schools.
Young’s (2010) study took place in an elementary school in a large metropolitan area in
the northeastern United States. The total enrollment was 220 students, 80% of whom were
African American or Latina/o or Hispanic and had test scores that historically classified them
under the “needs improvement” category. Eight participants from the school’s leadership team
took part in the study, including the principal intern who asked to be a part of the study upon
receiving information that the study was aimed at promoting antiracism in urban education. Over
the course of 3 months, data collection strategies such as interviews, inquiry group meetings,
follow-up meetings with the principal and the principal intern, classroom observations, the
participants’ reflections, the district’s documents, online discussions, and the researcher’s journals
were employed. Young reported that the participants, especially new teachers, found CRP almost
impossible to implement. They felt overwhelmed with the amount of time that they had to cover
course material in order to assist students in meeting grade-level proficiency and because CRP
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 47
stands in sharp contrast to standardized curriculum and high-stakes tests (Morrison, Robbins, and
Rose, 2008), Young shared an understanding of why the new teachers reacted as they did.
Participants raised concerns centered around three critical challenges: encouraging educators to
confront their own cultural biases, addressing systemic roots of racism in school policies and
practices, and adequately equipping preservice and inservice teachers with the knowledge of how
to implement theories into practice. Toward this end, Young found that much of what the
participants were complaining about had much to do with the current state of teacher preparation
programs in that not enough was being done to equip teachers with the support needed to imple-
ment scholarly theories into their practice—which is one weakness with respect to the enactment
of CRP. Preservice teachers lacking an opportunity to develop their awareness, knowledge, and
skills working with diverse populations are inadequately prepared to meet the needs of classrooms
with a diverse student population (Avery & Walker, 1993). To this end, participants in the
present study were asked to reflect on their experience in their preservice teacher program
pertaining to implementing CRP in their class. Prospective teachers believe that having high
expectations for the academic performance of minoritized students can make a difference and that
teachers must be aware of and inclusive of elements of diverse cultures (Avery & Walker, 1993).
Morrison et al. (2008) synthesized 45 classroom-based research studies in the area of
CRP, from 1995 to 2008, to understand how it was enacted in classrooms. The researchers found
that teachers’ use of explicit instruction methods such as modeling, scaffolding, and clarifying
helped guide their students through the curriculum successfully. Building upon student successes,
planned activities were implemented to develop student self-efficacy by focusing on their
strengths prior to moving on to more rigorous and challenging material. To assist students
further, effective teachers of CRP set flexible schedules in such a way that students had access to
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 48
them during various times of the day. Finally, the teachers expressed their desire and determina-
tion to ensure high levels of learning for all of their students. The creation of nurturing and
cooperative environments is also a hallmark of CRP. Morrison et al. pointed out that these char-
acteristics were demonstrated when classroom inequities occurred and teachers would step in to
encourage and support their students in feeling a sense of belonging and emotional and physical
safety. Culturally relevant teachers also maintained high expectations of their students by
immediately enforcing the rules when and if they were violated, refraining from arguments, and
facilitating an environment focused on learning.
Teachers also built on students’ funds of knowledge that embraced students’ cultures,
experiences, artifacts, values, feelings, language, and identity—which is a powerful way to
communicate to students that they are important. The researchers also found that teachers brought
primary sources to their classrooms and asked students and their families to also share informa-
tion, thus allowing them to serve as an academic resource (Morrison et al., 2008). Students were
given an opportunity to communicate with teachers outside of academic matters so that teachers
could gain insight into their students that would later benefit them in designing lessons and class
discussions. The study highlighted various organizational structures necessary to fully enact CRP,
such as collaboration time, funding, and smaller class sizes, noting that, albeit difficult, the
pedagogy is necessary to ensure high levels of learning for all students (Morrison et al., 2008).
Borrero and Sanchez (2017) conducted a study that presented asset mapping as an
example of CRP enacted in classrooms. Asset mapping allows students to visually represent their
personalized stories of culture and to share these stories with their peers and community through a
gallery walk type of forum. Focusing on students as the prime holders of their cultural beliefs,
behaviors, traditions, and perspectives, the researchers chose to call special attention to students as
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 49
prime entities in the construction and study of assets. The work with new teachers, primarily
preservice teachers, was at the core of the study. For this study, the researchers sought to explore
asset mapping with teachers and students in public school classrooms. The project required three
1st- or 2nd-year teachers to create their own maps, debrief with colleagues, and then prepare a
project for their 15 students to implement in their classrooms. All three teachers were females
(two White and one African American) between the ages of 25 and 35. Their students, eight
females and seven males, were between the ages of 8 and 11. Of the girls, one was of mixed race,
one was African American, and six were Latina. Of the boys, one was Asian/ Pacific Islander and
six were Latino. The researchers met with the teacher participants at the beginning of the year,
encouraging them to invite family and community members to also participate in the asset
mapping activities. After the projects were carried out, teachers and students were given the
opportunity to share their experiences and reflections of the asset mapping activities. The themes
that emerged from the participants were learning about self, learning about others, and building
community.
During the mapping process dedicated to self-awareness, students were asked to reflect on
their own personal and family history. They were asked to speak with their parents and grandpar-
ents, review old photographs of their family, and learn about who their ancestors were. Students
were given the autonomy to choose how they mapped those experiences; some developed
timelines, and others created pop-out details that were folded into the paper. One of the most
important aspects of the mapping process was that teachers participated alongside their students.
One teacher explained that she felt it was an important part of relationship building with her
students in that they were able to learn from one another’s shared experiences, which led into how
teachers and students learned about one another. Teachers organized a gallery walk to encourage
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 50
students to share their maps and talk about their experiences. This activity allowed for a universal
language. It did not matter what language students were speaking, all were able to learn from one
another, which enabled connection and community building (Borrero & Sanchez, 2017).
Teachers and students discussed the ways that asset mapping impacted the classroom
environment. Students developed a sense of pride about their families and completion of their
projects. Teachers observed an increase in positive communication both in and out of the
classroom. Borrero and Sanchez (2017) reported that teachers attributed the success of the project
to family involvement and the access to key elements that they were given as a result. This
vulnerability is an important aspect of CRP, and to this study, as it seeks to build connections
between students home lives and their school identities (Ladson-Billings, 1995b).
In her 2014 study, Ladson-Billings reflected on the uses and misuses of her theory of CRP
since its 1995 inception. She addressed various researchers who have challenged or added
suggestions to her theory, such as Beauboeuf-Lafontant (1999), who argued that because of the
political shortchanging that has occurred for students of color, CRP required a more political
edge, and Dixson and Rousseau (2006), who thought that CRP should take a more feminist
perspective when it came to seeing teachers as an avenue by which change could occur. In her
reflection, Ladson-Billings (2014) acknowledged that culture extends further than race and eth-
nicity; it also encompasses age, gender, language, and beliefs. In this work, she proposed that
CRP undergo a “remix” of sorts to incorporate CSP (Paris, 2012), which works to “ensure that the
consistently marginalized students are repositioned into a place of normativity—that is, they
become subjects in the instructional process, not mere objects” (Ladson-Billings, 2014, p. 76).
The evolution of CRP to CSP equips teachers with the skills needed to rejuvenate their practices
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 51
and to avoid a sort of “death” of classroom practices that can negatively influence African
American students. As described by Ladson-Billings (2014),
the academic death of students is made evident in the disengagement, academic failure,
dropout suspension, and expulsion that have become an all too familiar part of schooling
in urban schools. Academic death leaves more young people unemployed, underem-
ployed, and unemployable in our cities and neighborhoods, and vulnerable to the criminal
justice system. Furthermore, this vicious cycle often continues with the children they will
parent. If we hope to disrupt this cycle, our pedagogies must evolve to address the
complexities of social inequalities. (p. 77)
Not only is CRP is suggested for providing new strategies for meeting the needs of students, but
also it is necessary to ensuring the positive trajectory of students’ lives.
Ladson-Billings (2014) recounted a seminar course that she constructed, entitled Peda-
gogy, Performance, and Culture. The purpose was to give teachers who were interested in urban
teaching a relevant teacher education experience. Students were provided the opportunity to
speak one on one with each of the lecturers involved in the lecture series that ran concurrently
with the seminar. Ladson-Billings (2014) relied on the expertise of her students to provide her
with new understandings of how popular culture could be enacted to engage in conversations
about critical theoretical concepts and the development of pedagogical strategies. An example of
this would be when she asked her students to “spit a poem” (p. 79) through spoken word, students
were able to deliver content that “brought their audience to tears” (p. 79). Her goal was to show
that the knowledge and skills of learners are a critical component of CRP and essential to the
overall learning process (Ladson-Billings, 2009). For the purposes of the present study, it was
imperative that teachers were asked about the level to which the knowledge and skills of their
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 52
students were considered when designing their lessons to align with the assertion of Ladson-
Billings (2009).
When describing how CRP has been used over the years, Ladson-Billings (2014) asserted
that state departments, school districts, and individual teachers have essentially distorted the ideas
and theories that she had developed related to CRP and had reduced the pedagogy to simplistic
ideas of adding books with people of color, having cultural celebration, or posting diverse
photographs and other images around the classroom or in the hallways of the school. It was
important to her that teacher educators and teachers understand the philosophies held by research-
ers Paris (2012) and Paris and Alim (2014), who felt that CRP must be pushed further and who
first decided to name and define CSP. Paris and Alim looked to take the principles of CRP and
incorporate the multiple variables concerning identities and cultures that help to formulate the
culture of today’s youth (Ladson-Billings, 2014). CSP focuses on global identities rather than on
one racial or ethnic group. This theoretical approach is still creating notions that are critical as
educational structures continue to evolve; however, Ladson-Billings (2014) recognized that a CSP
has the ability to meet the demands of external performance assessments instituted by the system
of education, as well as community- and student-driven learning.
Essentially, in order for CRP to work, teachers need to critically analyze the way that race
and racism influence the educational system in its entirety. CRP cannot remain a taboo phrase; it
must be seen as a pedagogical practice that has the ability to reconstruct education (Ladson-
Billings, 1998).
CRP and Its Benefits in English Language Arts
Ethnically diverse students benefit from ELA instruction that includes diverse literature;
explicit instruction needed to interpret complex texts; and opportunities for positive, meaningful
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 53
discussion. CRP requires that teachers develop curriculum that addresses diversity and higher
thinking skills. Diverse literature that portrays students of color in a positive light, and is based
on teachers’ understanding of students’ interests, ability, and frame of reference gives students of
color equitable representation and opportunity within the curriculum (J. J. Irvine et al., 2001) and
enhances their opportunity to create meaningful connections to the curricula. Partnered with
culturally responsive instructional practices such as journal and essay writing, reciprocal teaching,
cooperative group work, text sequencing, and peer tutoring (Banks et al., 2005; Lee, 2001) and
bringing in the essential funds of knowledge (Ladson-Billings, 1994) of each student, African
American students have an opportunity to both construct and demonstrate understanding of
relevant text in a variety of ways.
A. E. López (2011) examined the impact of CRP on student engagement in diverse
classrooms. Situated in an academic or university-bound, multicultural 12th-grade class, the
qualitative study focused on one teacher’s choice to use performance poetry as a way to imple-
ment CRP into the curriculum. The teacher wanted to focus on three specific goals for her
Writer’s Craft class that centered around ensuring student success, inclusion, and the recognition
of students as individuals who could offer something unique to the curriculum. The teacher
participant encouraged her students to read several poems describing urban life in the American
and Canadian context; students’ initial reactions varied from thinking that the content was too
graphic to believing that the content was necessary. In their journals, they were asked to answer a
series of questions related to how the poems made them feel and whether or not they were able to
relate to them. Next, students participated in small, collaborative discussions before sharing with
the class as a whole. In the next activity, the teacher asked students to write down words that
described the characters in the poems that they read and to place them in a basket in the middle of
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 54
the room. She used guided questions to help students deconstruct the words. Questions involved
the discussion of the similarities and differences between the characters and the students them-
selves. They were asked to reflect on what they learned in the poem and what they need to
unlearn. Students were able to discuss their feelings and make connections other than race that
included age and school experience. As students deconstructed the poetry, they examined the
position of the author and compared it to their own assumptions and beliefs through critique that
they examined the sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts of the author. Through collaboration,
they were able to share their ideas with one another, and act by taking notes on topics they would
like to address in their own writing. Finally, students reflected on the process, and the insights
that they gained. A. E. López (2011) reported that students became excited about writing and per-
forming their own poetry pieces.
Houchen (2013) used practitioner inquiry over the course of 1 year in a high school
intensive reading course. She drew on theories surrounding literacy, ELA instruction, and CRP
with 24 African American secondary students and created a conceptual framework of instruction
that included lessons that she had learned from her students. Houchen merged the frameworks of
literacy theory and CRP to derive the following guiding principles for her study:
(1) to create strong and caring relationships with students based on mutual respect and
high expectations, (2) to assess student thinking regarding their own learning needs and
their cultural background to inform the curriculum, and (3) to teach metacognition and
comprehension skills and strategies in multiple formats both explicitly and generativity.
(p. 98)
Choosing a cyclical process of planning, action, and assessment, Houchen (2013) planned
five instructional units to develop and reflect on over three cycles. She focused on creating
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 55
cohesion with her students through the implementation of small groups and partner work; she also
gave her students autonomy in creating goals and visions for the expectations of the class. This
process served as an avenue by which students would feel comfortable moving into the test
preparation unit, where she asked them to think critically about content in order to maximize their
opportunities for higher scores on their 10th-grade reading examination retake. She taught
metacognitive and analytical skills and strategies. Her next step was to focus on fiction and
nonfiction evaluation strategies of reliability and validity of information; articulation; and sum-
marization of main ideas, synthesizing sources, identification of themes, and author’s perspective.
Houchen focused on the culturally relevant topic of immigration and engaged students in a
discussion about its ethical consideration as well as political implications for their lives. By mid-
year, Houchen examined the scores provided by the retake examination. She invited students to
participate in a focus group to gather information about their perceptions of self- efficacy,
classroom management, engagement, and curriculum. Based on the data, she adjusted her
practice and incorporated the findings into the existing framework.
In the final unit, as described by Houchen (2013), students read a novel written by an
African American male and a White male. The two voices gave students an opportunity to
examine the similarities and differences in speech patterns, writing styles, word choice, and the
literary devices used by the two authors. Text strategies were focused on identifying authors’
purpose and reading comprehension. The findings indicated that after the 1-year cyclical process,
84% of the students who took the retake examination that school year passed, which was a 190%
higher passage rate than the state average of 29%. The focus group data found that students
translated test failure to personal failure, that placement in a remedial course affected students’
school- related personas, that relationships between teachers and students must be built one on
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 56
one, that a relaxed class environment did not mean a lax class environment, and that all literacies
were valid and could be used for instruction. The aforementioned studies provide inductive
information to consider in conducting the present study.
CRP enhances the capacity for African American high school students to attain the
necessary intellectual, social, and content-specific skills required to gain access to opportunities
for higher education. When teachers actively use the social and cultural knowledge of their
students, including language, as a foundation for planning instructional activities, their students
benefit from the opportunity, and academic achievement can increase (Delpit, 1992; Ladson-
Billings, 1995b; Milner, 2010).
Theory and Framework
This investigation drew on the frameworks and theories of SCT related to learning and
CRT. The fact that CRP is derived from the foundational knowledge of SCT and CRT provides a
strong justification for why CRP is an essential practice in education.
The premise behind CRP has been linked to the idea of teachers connecting the cultural
knowledge, beliefs, and practices that students bring from home, as well as the content and
pedagogy used in their respective classrooms, to potentially enhance the academic performance
and overall schooling of culturally diverse learners (T. C. Howard & Terry, 2011). Essentially,
CRP focuses on cultural competence rather than cultural assimilation and links principles of
learning to a deep understanding and ultimately an appreciation for culture (Ladson-Billings,
2014).
Sociocultural Learning Theory
Features of SCT are relevant in providing a guiding pedagogy centered around valuing
cultural diversity in the classroom. SCT, developed by Vygotsky (1978) in the early 20th century,
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 57
looks at the impact that society has on the development of an individual. The theory postulates
that the true understanding of a person is encompassed in the understanding of the contexts and
history of that individual (McBride, 2011; Rogoff, 2003). An important advantage of SCT is that
it addresses the issues of race, culture, language, and learning in a way that incorporates conceptu-
alizing complex social and cultural processes (Nasir & Hand, 2006) that affect the education of
African American students. SCT embraces the ideals of Ladson-Billings (1994) regarding CRP,
which is the inclusion of students’ culture in lessons so as to transcend the negative effects of
mainstream culture while uplifting the culture of minoritized students.
Smagorinsky (2013) posited that Vygotsky’s (1978) ideals regarding learning are signif-
icant in that school work must be grounded in what students know from their daily experiences.
That foundation becomes refined as students learn how to take what they know and create
abstractions to apply to new situations. Vygotsky emphasized the educational process as a source
rather than a consequence of the development of cognitive and learning skills (Kozulin, 2004),
thus demonstrating that people learn by making things that they find useful and meaningful.
Vygotsky postulated that what a child accomplishes through cooperative learning today and
scaffolding can be reproduced independently tomorrow. This claim is known as the Zone of
Proximal Development (ZPD), described as “the distance between the actual developmental level
as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as deter-
mined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable
peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).
ZPD suggests that with proper guidance or scaffolding, a student can master a task
regardless of previous knowledge. However, growth can be problematic if the developmental
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 58
path assumed by teachers conflicts with the pathways assumed by the culture of the student
(Smagorinsky, 2013).
An example of SCT and ZPD was evidenced by Gallas (2001), who taught in a suburban
class in Massachusetts before transferring to a diverse school in California. Gallas (2001) noted
that it was assumed that students were lacking imagination as they attempted share time and other
forms of literary performance. Gallas was approaching her heterogeneous class in California with
the same lens that she used for her homogeneous class in Massachusetts, whereas the teacher and
prior students were acculturated to experience conventional classroom processes associated with
White culture. More often, when particular cultural groups do poorly in school, it is often due to a
lack of familiarity with the cultural practices through which they are taught (Smagorinsky, 2013).
After self-reflection, Gallas (as cited in Smagorinsky, 2013) realized that it was “her responsibility
to adapt to her students’ ways of being in school” (p. 201). Soon thereafter, Gallas realized that
“her students had relational personalities” (p. 201) and that the work that she wanted students to
produce could be manifested through social engagement. By switching her paradigm rather than
comparing current students to her former students, the teacher “recognized and provided students
with an opportunity to bring their lives into contact with the curriculum” (as cited in Smagorinsky,
2013, p. 200).
Gallas (2001) demonstrated her expectations through modeling of lessons and then scaf-
folding for student success. The teacher provided structured classroom experiences including
share time, science lessons, math lessons and reading lessons. Gallas recognized the importance
of language development, socialization, and play for the growth of a student. During math,
science, and reading lessons, the teacher used authoring as a strategy. As defined by Gallas,
authoring is when “children’s interactions with text, props, and cultural tools are created with an
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 59
awareness that they will have a public viewing of their work” (p. 476). Authoring encouraged
peer collaboration in which students discussed their work in pairs or small groups in preparation
for sharing with the whole class. This engagement prompted rich social interactions and fueled
new and different ideas from the students (Gallas, 2001).
Gallas’s (2001) self-reflection and willingness to change her mindset allowed both her and
her students to take on the role of leader in which learning became reciprocal. Scaffolding of
expectations and building a learning community empowered Gallas’s students academically and
socially. As teachers strive to adapt to students, the classroom dynamics may be altered to
promote rich learning and a strong sense of school affiliation. SCT helps educators to provide
instruction that recognizes and empowers culturally diverse students (John-Steiner & Mahn,
1996).
SCT and Culturally Diverse Students
Milner (2012) expressed that a critical entity of sociocultural learning is that educators
recognize their own backgrounds as well as the racial backgrounds of students. Examining one’s
own cultural influences and potential biases; having a desire to learn about another’s culture,
history, and the dynamics that mold them; and moving beyond a deficit mindset are all aspects of
sociocultural learning (McBride, 2011; Rogoff, 2003). This knowledge will aid in preparing to
teach the whole child rather than fragmented, disconnected students (Milner, 2012).
Instructional practices and related educational experiences have to be constructed in ways
that address and are responsive to students’ varying needs due to the range of differences that
students bring into the classroom and the social context in which students live and learn (Gay,
2010; T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 2009; Milner, 2010). When particular cultural
groups perform poorly in school, it is often due to a lack of familiarity with the cultural practices
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 60
through which they are taught and assessed (Smagorinsky, 2013). The cultural-historical
dimension of SCT highlights that learning and development cannot be disassociated from their
context and that the way learners interact with their worlds informs their thinking (Alfred, 2009;
Schunk & Pajares, 2004).
While schools are believed to be institutions that transmit academic knowledge, there
exists the transference of cultural knowledge consistent with mainstream concepts, paradigms,
and experiences (Banks, 1996; Carter, 2005) that are problematic for minoritized students as they
attempt to exhibit academic proficiency. Fordham and Ogbu (1986) argued that the academic
struggles of African American students are attributed to a disconnection among personal
knowledge, cultural knowledge, and the knowledge that is valued in schools. Whaley and Noel
(2010) argued that some sociocultural theories, specifically those concerning the academic success
of African American students, promote a “cultural incompatibility” perspective.
Cultural incompatibility presents a dichotomy of rules for African American students,
thereby suggesting opposing roles for African American students’ cultural identification and
academic success (Whaley & Noel, 2010). It has been noted that African American youth who
succeed academically can be viewed as preferring the European American culture; conversely,
students who identify with their culture may feel a sense of vulnerability toward negative racial
stereotypes. In turn, cultural incompatibility is based on the assumption that current schooling
practices are dominated by and promote European American culture in addition to perpetuating
negative stereotypes of African American students’ underachievement (Whaley & Noel, 2010).
This dichotomous experience is a result of the remnants of oppressive history and current
injustices in the education system as they pertain to the African American student.
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Research does not show a consensus among scholars regarding the cultural identity of
African Americans or regarding their reaction to the European American culture versus a strong
identification with their African heritage (Ogbu, 2004; Whaley & Noel, 2010). SCT seeks to
move culture away from simply an individual construct that resides in a person’s mind, to one that
is also influenced by the external or outer factors that shape human cognition (M. Cole, 1998;
T. C. Howard, 2010). Sociocultural theorists have recommended examining culture as a construct
that influences cognition, motivation, modes of interaction, everyday practices, as well as ways of
viewing the world and navigating one’s place within it (M. Cole, 1998; Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003;
T. C. Howard, 2010; Nasir & Cobb, 2002). These sociocultural ideals overlap with the Ladson-
Billings (1995b) framework of CRP in addressing the opportunity gap in the U.S. public
education system.
Educators with a strong understanding of SCT are able to connect the ideals to student
learning and cognition and therefore are able to construct pedagogical practices that are accessible
for students from diverse backgrounds. A study by Nasir (2002) examined the math proficiency
of African American adolescents by using students’ knowledge of dominoes. She found that
incorporating the cultural knowledge and identity of her students allowed for a rise in math goals.
Further results were demonstrated in an earlier study in which Nasir (2000) explored using
basketball to engage students in lessons in statistics and mathematical reasoning. The findings of
the study suggested incorporating students’ cultural experiences as a data set to help them to
analyze new information.
Teacher pedagogy should be arranged in ways that enable students to use cultural forms of
expression, interpretation, and analysis (T. C. Howard, 2010). A teacher from T. C. Howard’s
(2001a) study stressed the importance of recognizing the verbal propensities that her African
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 62
American students brought to the classroom. The teacher discovered that many of her African
American students performed better with oral than written forms of expression. Consequently,
her students’ literacy performance improved after integrating verbal opportunities as a form of
assessment. Another teacher from T. C. Howard’s (2001a) study, Louise, recognized that incor-
porating students’ discourse patterns into lessons was helpful and important in their academic
success.
Louise further explained that her students did not have the background knowledge to
understand some of the stories that she had to introduce and read in class, such as Greek mythol-
ogy. She imitated her students saying, “Polyphemus, Odysseus, what is that” (T. C. Howard,
2001a, p. 192). If students do not have the background knowledge, it becomes difficult for them
to understand. Therefore, Louise presented Greek mythology to her students using familiar
language—analogies and metaphors to make connections. Using the names of students in the
class, the teacher was able to create background information and make meaningful parables for
students to transfer knowledge from their personal understanding to the message of the story.
For example, when introducing Odysseus, the teacher (Louise) had students imagine their
classmate, Dwayne, as the wisest leader in the class who fought hard to protect Louise’s class
from the other classes that were trying to conquer it. She continued the story, casting other
students along the way as other participants in the Trojan War. Louise then asked the students,
“Can we allow Room 14 to dis us like that” (T. C. Howard, 2001a, p. 192)? The students replied
together with a resounding, “No!” Louise then cast Diondre as Polyphemus, telling the students
that “he is a mess because he has done something we can’t tolerate. He killed Ray because he was
jealous of Shaneequa” (p. 192). Louise ended the story and proceeded into a classroom discus-
sion, where she informed the students, “These are some crazy people, so let’s deal with it” (p.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 63
192). Louise used meaningful examples with unfamiliar content to actively engage students in the
learning process. Sociocultural learning, as demonstrated by the teacher, emphasizes interactions
with persons in the environment to stimulate the developmental process and to foster learning.
Another aspect of SCT is providing opportunities for students to interact with others to minimize
alienation and discontinuities between the home and school culture (Nieto, 2000).
A meta-analysis in which Aboud, Mendelson, and Purdy (2003) reviewed 515 social
science studies over 30 years found that significant contact between different groups lowers
intergroup prejudice. The research demonstrated that exposure to students of other racial and
ethnic backgrounds produces knowledge and awareness of those backgrounds—in turn, lowering
anxiety and increasing empathy.
In addition, Allport (1954) theorized that there are critical elements necessary to foster
optimal contact across different groups: All members need equal status; stakeholders need clear
guidelines on working cooperatively; and leadership must actively support intergroup relation-
ships. The elements suggested by Allport can be demonstrated in schools through the elimination
of tracking students, subsequently removing barriers to advanced courses, and suspending the
overidentification of Black students for referral to special education. Second, the use of heteroge-
neous cooperative grouping and extracurricular activities enable students to actualize working
together toward a common goal. Finally, the modeling of positive behavior by teachers and
administrators around issues of fairness and diversity (Siegel-Hawley, 2012) is needed to foster
favorable relationships among different groups of people. Based on the aforementioned studies
showing that CRP is about fostering relationships, among other things, for the present study, it
was imperative that participants’ strategies for building rapport and facilitating collaboration
among students were solicited in addition to observing their methodology to enact CRP.
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The U.S. school system is an institution of historical significance that should promote
learning for all, but it is often structured to alienate minoritized students. One goal of CRP is to
minimize the alienation experienced in the classroom as well as the discontinuities between home
and school culture (Alfred, 2009; Nieto, 2000). To create an environment that includes all
students, regardless of culture, educators can take a more sociocultural approach that incorporates
the personal, sociohistorical, and institutional dimensions that influence learning. Culturally rele-
vant teaching offers an intervention for reversing the perennial underachievement that has become
commonplace for an increasing number of students (T. C. Howard, 2003). However, the funda-
mental aim of CRP is to empower ethnically diverse students through academic success, cultural
affiliation, and personal efficacy (Gay, 2000). CRP recognizes and utilizes students’ cultures,
histories, and identities to plan and deliver instruction. CRP incorporates individual learning,
social learning, and the characteristics that the learner brings to the classroom—concepts inherent
to the sociocultural approach (Alfred, 2009). For the present study, CRP was defined as “human-
izing pedagogy that respects and uses the reality, history, and perspectives of students as an
integral part of the educational practice” (Ladson-Billings, 1995a, p. 180).
Research on race, culture, and learning spans a wide range of theoretical perspectives and
concerns. The theoretical foundation of the sociocultural approach emphasizes that learning
occurs within a social world (Alfred, 2009). The sociocultural approach to learning also must
address equity and justice in education by utilizing CRP to deliver concepts. SCT conceptualizes
multiple factors, processes, and levels of analysis but tends to exclude the discussion about race
and power that is required to understand race, culture, and learning in America’s schools (Nasir &
Hand, 2006). Bridging sociocultural learning with CRP embraces the expectations of both
teachers and students, fosters respect for self and others, and acknowledges the importance of
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 65
community building to bridge the opportunity gap. CRP provides teachers with the tools and
strategies that allow students to draw from their own experience and cultural knowledge, therefore
empowering them to take an active role in their learning and closing the opportunity gap along the
way.
Critical Race Theory
Race, culture, power, and education intersect to form CRT. Originally derived from the
work of Derrick Bell, Alan Freeman, and Richard Delgado, CRT was developed to address the
issues of race and racism within the legal and judicial system (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
Racism is normatively viewed in its individual form rather than as a large, collectively institution-
alized system that perpetuates the benefit and advantage of White people (Tatum, 1997). CRT
calls attention to racism, places it at the forefront of the discussion to highlight its presence in
every facet of American society, and unveils the disparaging truth about its normalized part of the
social order (Ladson-Billings, 1999). Although CRT has been largely used in the legal arena,
scholars have expanded it into education, thus providing an additional explanation for the practice
of CRP (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). Because education is not outlined in the Constitution, -
states are given autonomy when it comes to the laws and governance of education. As a result,
states often contour their educational laws to fit the dominant culture, thus supporting institutional
inequities of opportunity (D. Bell, 1983). When the battle over equal opportunity began, states
felt that providing the same education to African Americans was sufficient; however, they failed
to address the past afflictions that made it nearly impossible for African American students to
receive access to the same quality of education as their White counterparts (Ladson-Billings,
1998). Ladson-Billings (1998) used the areas of curriculum, instruction, assessment, school
funding, and desegregation to show the parallel between CRT and education.
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Curriculum is seen as an avenue by which educators can maintain White supremacy by
erasing African American history when it challenges the dominant culture and authority. Here,
race neutral or colorblind perspective comes into play in that students are not taught the true
manner in which their ancestors arrived in America and are subsequently left feeling guilty for not
rising above their immigrant status in the same way as those who were afforded the opportunity to
arrive in the United States on their own (Ladson-Billings, 1998; Milner 2010). In an effort to
provide voice and agency to African American students, researchers developed the practice of
counter-storytelling.
Solórzano and Yosso (2002) asserted that counter-storytelling can be found in a variety of
narrative forms that help to contradict and challenge the privileged discourses that are noted in
predominantly White explanations of the truth. Counter-storytelling (Matsuda, 1995) is an
essential element of CRT. Its aim is to counteract the misinformation given to persons of color
about their origin and their role in U.S. history, and it provides a voice to the historically margin-
alized population. Through counter-storytelling, students of color can shed light on educational
issues such as academic rigor, which is not available on a consistent basis for African American
students. Rigorous courses are given over to the gifted, while enrichment courses are offered to
those usually of the dominant culture, thereby leaving African American students out of the
equation. These curricular decisions often leave African American students stuck in a cycle of
underperformance, unprepared for collegiate studies (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995).
Current instructional strategies suggest that African American students are deficient and
then design instructional approaches that usually involve remediation. Initial instruction is
presented as a one size fits all; and when students do not deliver the desired outcome, the student,
not the instructional strategy, is blamed for the low performance. When the curriculum is
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dysfunctional and the instruction lacks innovation, students are least likely to perform well on
assessments. The assessments are able to demonstrate only that the student does not understand
what is on the exam; they do not, however, show what the student understands and is able to do
(Ladson-Billings, 1998). CRT also suggests that using property taxes to fund schools is another
cause in the disparity in the instruction received between X and Y. The areas with more affluent
residents have better funded schools, meaning that property is a strong determinant of academic
advantage, and the status quo is continuously reproduced (Ladson-Billings, 1998). The aforemen-
tioned issues addressed by CRT are what Ladson-Billings (1995b) sought to expound upon when
she developed her theory of CRP.
Conclusion
Until there is discourse in action, and acknowledgment about the injustices endured by
African Americans, society remains stagnant and children of color are deprived of their rights to
an equitable education. When knowledge and skills are situated in the lived experiences and
frames of reference of students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher appeal, and are
learned more easily (Gay 2000, 2002). CRP uses the cultural experiences, characteristics, and
perspectives of minoritized students as an instrument for teaching these students more effectively.
Using the lens of CRP, the vision of this research was to add to the body of work currently
addressing the opportunity gap present in educating African American students.
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CHAPTER THREE: METHODS AND PROCEDURES
African American students in California public schools are performing at a disproportion-
ately lower percentage compared to their White contemporaries in high school ELA. At the time
of this study, there existed a 40% gap between the two, as evidenced by the 2016 CAASPP results
(CDE, 2016b). Through the examination of the ways in which historic and systemic racism and
oppression have impacted African American students’ success, the researcher sought to under-
stand ways in which the incorporation of targeted CRT results in more equitable outcomes for
these students. It is imperative that this problem be addressed in order for African American
students to have opportunities to exceed the ongoing national goals of educational excellence,
high school graduation, and college acceptance and to excel in their social, economic and
intellectual goals (USDOE, NCES, 2018).
The research questions that guided the study were the following:
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students using
CRP explain their understanding and enactment of CRP?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
CRP within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures?
Methods
The purpose of this chapter is to present the methods that were used to conduct this
educational research study. Qualitative research allows a researcher to enter the field to explore
the meaning behind certain phenomena, understandings, or perceptions that help explain what
cannot be directly observed (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Patton, 2002). For this study, the re-
searcher was interested in looking at the historical and systemic issues that have contributed to the
disparity of opportunity that has impacted achievement for African American students. More
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 69
specifically, she wanted to know how CRP could be used to increase educational outcomes for
students.
Rationale
In this study, the goal was to find out pertinent information pertaining to CRP as it related
to student engagement. Qualitative interviews provide opportunities for researchers to understand
phenomena in ways that would be difficult otherwise (Weiss, 1994). The researcher interviewed
participants to understand their perceptions of student engagement and achievement, which quan-
titative research would not support. The researcher also needed to ascertain the belief and values
systems of the participants who were chosen for the study and to listen as they explained their
understanding of CRP. She observed the participants in their natural setting so as to understand
the process by which teachers incorporated the various elements of CRP. The study was specific
to a group of people, and qualitative research allowed the researcher to immerse herself into
settings where the phenomena took place. It also allowed her to triangulate the data collected,
which is an attribute of qualitative research. Discovering ways in which teachers understood CRP
and enacted its incorporation into their curriculum and classroom structures to engage African
American students allowed the researcher to share the acquired knowledge with colleagues and
others for the purpose of working toward decreasing the opportunity gap for African American
students.
Sample and Site Selection
The researcher employed purposeful sampling for the site and participant selection
because the study was centered around the practice and understanding of high school English
teachers with predominantly African American students. The state of California reported that the
population of African Americans in California public schools was 5.81% (CDE, 2016a);
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 70
therefore, it was imperative that the researcher select a school site with a significant population of
African American students in comparison to the state average. The goal was to find a site that had
at least a 15% population of African American students, but no less than 10%. The researcher
also wanted to make sure that the site chosen was within a geographic area no more than an hour’s
drive away from her residence. She explored the CDE website for demographic data on all nearby
schools. After sending out several emails and making phone calls, she was able to obtain access
to a school 5 miles from her home.
The researcher gained access to the chosen school site by contacting the principal of the
site by first emailing (Appendix A). After a week of no response, she contacted the site’s office by
telephone (Appendix B) and asked to schedule a short meeting with the principal. The purpose of
the email and telephone calls was to set up a short, face-to-face meeting with the principal to
explain the study and ask for permission to contact teachers to be study participants. The intent
was to give them a general overview of the study by considering how the research questions might
affect the participants and their lives (Agee, 2009), to review what participants would be expected
to do, to explain the duration of the study, and to reflect the true intent of the study.
Patton (2014) argued that in order to achieve the most in-depth, rich understanding of the
issue or phenomenon of central importance, qualitative purposeful sampling should be used.
For this reason, the researcher asked the principal—as a key player at the selected site and the
individual who was knowledgeable about the practices of the school’s teachers—to connect her
with two to three ELA teachers who had in their classrooms a high ratio of African American
students in comparison to the state-reported demographics. The researcher sent the principal an
email detailing the study’s purpose, research questions, and time requirements, so that he could
forward the information to them (Appendix C). After about a week, the principal sent the
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 71
researcher the names of three teachers who were looking forward to participating in the study. In
the fast-paced high school environment, it was difficult getting in touch with the participants at
first. After about 2 weeks and a follow-up phone call (Appendix D), the researcher was able to
get one teacher to agree to a meeting and an initial interview.
Data Collection
This study utilized observational, interview, and document data. The researcher took field
notes during classroom observations, which become part of the corpus of data. She conducted a
preobservation interview to gain the necessary background information from participants, as well
as to answer certain elements of the first research question. She then conducted her observations
before interviewing again. She used the observation and interview data to triangulate the findings.
Observations
The purpose of each observation was to obtain a first-hand account of what happened in
the setting where the incorporation of CRP occurred in English classes with primarily African
American students as well as students’ reactions and interactions (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This
process helped the researcher to compare her observations to the description that teachers later
gave during their postobservation interviews. For the observations, the researcher set herself up in
an area of the classroom that was most comfortable for the teacher. She acted as an overt,
complete observer (Adler & Adler, 1998) so as not to draw too much unnecessary attention to
herself during the observation process. Therefore, the researcher dressed casually to blend in
more with the student population. All observations were conducted in October of 2017.
CRP focuses on teachers establishing caring bonds with and positive attitudes toward their
students, establishing community, engaging students in collaborative sharing, and designing
curriculum and instruction in a way that makes learning enjoyable (Ladson-Billings, 1995b). To
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 72
that end, the researcher observed the physical setting, activities, and interactions between the
teacher and students and the student-to-student conversations, nonverbal communication, and
connotative meanings for words for the purpose of thoroughly grasping how teachers enacted
CRP and the level to which it was taking place (Appendix E). The researcher observed each
participant twice for 1 hour each and asked participants to provide the dates when they would be
most likely to actively use CRP in their classes. However, because of the limited time frame in
which the study was conducted, the researcher had to give teachers a specific time frame so that
she could observe as many teachers on the same day and weeks as possible. It was the goal to
observe teachers two to three times within a 4-week time frame, with the last observation occur-
ring on the same day as the scheduled interview. Due to unforeseen school issues, that timetable
was extended to 6 weeks instead of 4. The purpose of observing the participants more than once
was to gain a full understanding of the research questions, to answer any questions that arose from
previous observations, and to assist in producing deductive knowledge based on the inductive
information that the researcher already have about the phenomenon, based on the literature.
Having a 6-week window of time allowed the researcher to ensure that the study did not lose
momentum and give her adequate time to type out her field notes after each observation, to
confirm observation dates, and to anticipate any unforeseen issues that might arise with the
availability of the participants. Student names were deleted from the transcripts.
Interviews
Interviews are important to obtain information about things that cannot be observed:
feelings, thoughts, intentions, behaviors from previous points in time, situations where an
observer is not present, and respondent emerging worldview (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Patton,
2002). The interview length was determined by the number of questions and probes that were
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 73
necessary to complete a thorough investigation and by the interview protocol (Appendix F).
Therefore, more than one interview per participant was necessary because the researcher did not
want to exceed an hour per interview. She conducted semistructured, face-to-face interviews for a
number of reasons. One was that she wanted the opportunity to ask probing questions, if neces-
sary, and to be present for areas where elaboration could lead to a rich understanding of the topic
(Weiss, 1994). Another reason was that she wanted to make sure that teachers had the opportu-
nity to answer with complete, unhurried responses. Third, she wanted to make sure that she
would be given an opportunity to respond to whatever the participants had to say and if something
came up that she found intriguing, she wanted to be able to have the opportunity to explore those
nuances (Patton, 2002).
The researcher requested a meeting time and place for each interview at the end of the first
observation, when both the teacher and the researcher would had access to their calendars and
then followed up with the teacher face-to-face or via email (Appendix G) 2–3 days prior to the
interview and final observation date. The researcher explained via email the reasons for request-
ing an interview, which included being able to obtain information such as perceptions and cur-
ricular intent that could not be observed (Patton, 2002). The researcher interviewed the partici-
pants in their classrooms so as to provide them the opportunity to be in their natural settings
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) and to increase the chance of obtaining as much genuine information
from them as possible. All interviews were conducted in October of 2017.
As discussed by Patton (2002) regarding key points for interviewing, the researcher
recorded the interviews to preserve the data for analysis and took notes, just in case there was a
technical malfunction and to have the ability to write down meaningful quotes during the
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 74
interview (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). She recorded memos immediately afterwards to capture
contextual information not present in the dialogue. She transcribed her own interview data.
Artifacts
The researcher collected artifacts in the form of lesson plans of observed lessons, pertinent
handouts that were given to students during the lessons, learning outcomes that were posted
during the observations, and students’ work. She requested all slide and multimedia presentations
to be sent to her via email.
Data Analysis
Data analysis is the process of making sense of the data that have been collected through-
out the course of a particular study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). To make sense of the data, the
researcher secured internal validity through triangulation (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Triangulation allowed the researcher to consolidate, reduce, and interpret the observation
and interview data as she moved back and forth between inductive and deductive reasoning and
description and interpretation.
The researcher coded using the highlighting tool supported by Google Docs. The add-on
allows the user to create a different color per theme or code and then assign it to a piece of text.
The researcher then exported the colors into a new document, which generated an organized
codebook that was essential for categorizing the data, identifying themes, and connecting
strategies with transcribed observations and interviews (Maxwell, 2013). She started with a priori
codes that, as a result of the existing literature on CRP, were already of interest prior to the
beginning of the research (Harding, 2013)—identified as classroom environment, collaboration,
teachers’ beliefs and expectations, and observed student participation. She then developed those
themes, categories, and patterns throughout the data collection process (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 75
To further ensure the credibility of the data, the researcher employed reflexivity to critically reflect
on her role as investigator and how that role might affect the study and its participants.
Researcher Biases and Positionality
A major part of ensuring credibility and trustworthiness of a study is that the researcher
maintains a trustworthy and credible work ethic throughout the course of the study and beyond
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). While I did not have a personal relationship with any of the respon-
dents, I made sure that my own personal opinions about what CRP is and how a teacher should
carry out instruction in the area of ELA did not interfere with what the literature provided about
the subject and the deductive reasoning that I sought to develop throughout the study. I used
member checks to ensure that my own personal opinions did not influence how I was interpreting
the data and to give the respondents the opportunity to clarify ambiguous information and
eliminate my own bias due to content area expertise.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 76
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
This chapter presents a narrative of the findings for this study. The stimulus for the study
was how systemic racism, oppression, and discrimination within the education system have
contributed to the opportunity gap and have impacted the progress of African American students
in ELA. The study addressed the problem of the disproportionate number of African American
students in public high schools who are not performing at the same level as their White contempo-
raries in ELA classes. The researcher sought to examine teachers’ understanding and enactment
of CRP to engage their African American students for more equitable academic outcomes. To
that end, the research questions that guided this study were as follows:
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students using
CRP explain their understanding and enactment of CRP?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
CRP within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures?
CRP embraces student academic achievement, and the teacher’s ability to develop in
students’ cultural competence (Ladson-Billings, 1995a). Teachers who use CRP exhibit a passion
for what they are teaching, believe all students can and must succeed, and create bonds with
students and their families. While race should be an integral part of the incorporation of CRP,
good, effective teaching goes beyond race as a determinant to teach minoritized students using
CRP (T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995a; Milner, 2017). CRP puts teachers in an
ethical, emotional, and academic partnership with ethnically diverse students and is anchored in
respect, honor, integrity, resource sharing, and a deep belief in the possibility of excellence (Gay,
2002), which ultimately impacts equitable learning outcomes for African American students.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 77
Site and Participants
This section will provide a detailed description of the school site and the participants of
this study. In order to ensure anonymity, all site and participant names were changed to pseudo-
nyms.
Granite Valley High School (GVHS) is the oldest of four comprehensive high schools
located in the Granite Valley School District, an urban district in southern California. At the time
of the study, information on the district’s website indicated that the total student population was
1,350 students. Eighty-eight percent of the students at GVHS received free and reduced-price
lunches. Eighty-five percent of the student population was Hispanic; 11% were African American.
The breakdown of teachers’ ethnicity at GVHS was as follows: 30% Hispanic, 26% African
American, 24% White, 10% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 10% other. Although Latinx, a gender
neutral word referring to Latin or Latina, is the term most commonly used in scholarly work (Ruiz
& Sánchez, 2016), Hispanic is the term that was published by the school district in which the
study took place.
With the assistance of the principal, the researcher was able to obtain detailed information
about the school. It was one of the three schools participating in the district's Neighborhood
Schools Pilot Program with a focus on curricula that, according to the school’s website, was
“engaging, culturally relevant, and challenging.” At the time of the study, the school had a
graduation rate of 88.7% students, with 88.5% of their African American students represented in
that number—16% higher than the California average for African American high school gradu-
ates. Mr Knight had been the principal of GVHS for 9 years. He shared that the school had three
main foci: Diverse Student Learning Needs, Literacy, and Fundamental Math Skills. The school
also incorporated a school-wide CRP and Depth of Knowledge (DOK; Webb, 2002) focus. In the
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 78
area of ELA, Mr. Knight explained that there were embedded supports for students such as a
writing proficiency course, which was an English support class offered to students whose Lexile
levels were below the ZPD for their grade level. The class focused on improving technological
literacy, vocabulary, collaborative assignments, projects and assessments, and calibrated systems
for curriculum and instruction that aligned with the 4Cs (Communication, Collaboration, Creativ-
ity, and Critical Thinking) of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS; Common Core State
Initiative [CCSI], 2012).
Demographics of Interview and Observation Participants
All of the interviews with teachers and classroom observations were conducted in October
or 2017. Figure 1 presents information related to the interviews and observations including the
names, years of service, ethnicity, and courses taught by each participant. The total number of
years of teaching experience for all three participants was 49. Only two English levels (Grades 9
and 11) were observed, even though participants taught multiple class levels and disciplines. The
lowest number of teaching years was 8; the highest, 23. Additionally, the total hours observed
and context of observation are indicated, along with the total number of interview hours per candi-
date. The data revealed that the participants represented three different, self-identified ethnic
backgrounds: Hispanic, African American, and White. A detailed description of each participant
follows:
Mrs. Gaspar
Mrs. Gaspar was a 37-year-old Latino female who had been teaching for 12 years. A
graduate of GVHS, Mrs. Gaspar attended both public and private universities to obtain her under-
graduate and graduate degrees (B.A. and M.A.). After completing her B.A. degree, she began
working at GVHS while working on her teaching credential. A few years later, she moved
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 79
Participant
Relevant Char-
acteritistics
Courses Ob-
served
Length & Content
of Observations
Interview
Length
Self-
Identified
Race/
Ethnicity
Mrs. Gaspar
5 years at GVHS, 8
total years teaching;
AVID 9 teacher
English 9 Observation 1: 1
hour, Argumenta-
tive Analysis
Observation 2: 1
hour, Rhetorical
Appeals
Interview 1: Pre-
observation, 1
hour
Interview 2: Post-
observation, 1
hour
Hispanic
Mrs. Atkins
13 years at GVHS, 23
total years teaching;
drama teacher and
leadership team
member
English 10 Observation 1: 1
hour, Expository
Writing
Observation 2: 1
hour, Analyzing
Text Structure
Interview 1: Pre-
observation, 1
hour
Interview 2: Post-
observation, 1
hour
African
American
Mrs. Casey
17 years at GVHS, 18
total years teaching;
leadership teacher
English 9 Observation 1: 1
hour, Analyzing an
Argument
Observation 2: 1
hour, Theme Anal-
ysis
Interview 1: Pre-
observation, 1
hour
Interview 2: Post-
observation, 1
hour
White
Figure 1. Summary of participants’ characteristics, including observations and interviews.
GVHS = Granite Valley High School; AVID = Advancement via Individual Determination.
to the state of New York and taught, while completing her master’s degree in Education. After
about 3 years, she moved back to California and returned to her position at GVHS. At the time of
the study, Mrs. Gaspar taught English 9 and the ninth-grade Advancement via Individual Determi-
nation (AVID) elective class. Her largest class size was English 9 with 31 students; her smallest
class was English 9 honors with 27. She explained that there were more females than males and a
much larger minoritized group than the “sprinkle of White kids” present in her class. The classes
observed had a 25% African American student population, which is approximately 20% higher
than the California state average of African American students in California public schools.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 80
Mrs. Atkins
Mrs. Atkins was a 47-year-old African American female. At the time of the study, Mrs.
Atkins was a 23-year veteran of the teaching profession, having spent the last 13 years at GVHS.
Prior to working at GVHS, she taught for 10 years at the feeder middle school. Mrs. Atkins
shared that before teaching, she had tried her hand at corporate America; however, she felt that
teaching was always “in [her] blood.” She taught classes both in her church (Sunday school and
vacation Bible school) as well as workshops in banks to chief appraisers about withholdings. At
the time of the study, Mrs. Atkins taught four sections of English 9 and one drama class. She
explained that she was one of few people who would sign up for overages when given the oppor-
tunity or the need. Her smallest class size was 25 students in English 10; her largest, 40 students
in English 11. African American students comprised 34% of the classes observed.
Mrs. Casey
Mrs. Casey was a 41-year-old White female who had been teaching English for 18 years,
17 of which were at GVHS. She held several leadership roles on campus. She explained that
originally she did not wish to be a teacher; she loved to research and thought that she would go
into administrative law. However, after volunteering at a local elementary school, she realized
that teachers were able to employ their creativity and subsequently switched passions from
administrative law to education. At the time of the study, Mrs. Casey taught four sections of
English 9 and one Renaissance Leadership course. Her largest class size was her Renaissance
class at 35, her smallest, English 9 with 25 students. Mrs. Casey’s African American student
population was 12%.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 81
All three participants shared openly about their perceived success and struggles with
implementing CRP in ELA. Even though their teaching experience ranged from 12 to 23 years,
there were some differences but many similarities among the three teaching styles.
Findings
This study revealed that the participants’ belief systems and expectations were influential
on how they explained their understanding of CRP, which further extended into information
surrounding the teachers’ personal background and how their background influenced their instruc-
tion.
Themes for Research Question 1: Understanding and Perceived Enactment of CRP
Twenty years after Ladson-Billings (1994) developed the theory of CRP, she reflected on
its misuse, citing that the field of education had reduced the theory to include a vague recognition
of supplemental material that included persons of color (Ladson-Billings, 2014). CRP embraces
student academic achievement, teachers’ ability to develop students’ cultural competence, and
their developed understanding and enactment of critical consciousness (Ladson-Billings, 1995a).
Research Question 1 was centered on how teachers understood the theory of CRP. When
the researcher analyzed the participants’ interview responses, three themes emerged: (a) connect-
ing to students’ background, (b) establishing community, and (c) teachers’ histories.
Teaching is often based on assumptions that are developed by teachers’ understanding of
the world, which is deeply influenced by racial and cultural identity (Romanowski, 1996; Tettagah
1996). Those assumptions often follow teachers to the classroom, and the stereotypes that they
carry with them are typically a strong indicator of student success (Bright et al., 2012; Milner,
2010, 2012; Muijs & Reynolds, 2002). A teacher’s ability to understand and put into use race as
central to curricular choices and classroom conversations is an important factor in building
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 82
pedagogical practices from a culturally relevant perspective (Milner, 2017). Ladson-Billings
(2006) argued that teaching philosophy and understanding of pedagogy is essential in K-12
instruction, especially when attempting to address the educational debt and the historical,
economic, sociopolitical, and moral decisions and policies surrounding American society that
contributing to the gap in opportunity for minoritized students.
Connecting to students’ background. CRP asks teachers to assist their students in
making cultural connections to the curriculum and to the classroom environment as a whole. The
participants did not merely stress the need for students to be subject matter proficient, but they
made it a point to draw attention to the fact that connecting students’ backgrounds to the material
was key and that it was the responsibility of the instructor to make sure that students could make
those connections. Mrs. Gaspar explained CRP as follows:
I think it’s . . . in the classroom. I see it as your belief that takes into account your
students, and where your students come from, and then you touch on those experiences
and make those connections to the [class] literature and to the bigger questions.
Mrs. Gaspar explained that her belief system and her desire to help students make connec-
tions were an intricate part of how she understood and ultimately enacted CRP through explicit
connections to students’ lived experiences. She shared an example of how she connected her
students’ background and prior knowledge to the text:
We are reading Of Mice and Men, and with that book it is about making the connections
of what happens to people and how it affects people and if we see it in modern society. So
I pose the question, “Are women treated like Curley’s wife?” and “Are people treated like
Lenny?” My students’ responses were like, “Yeah, Black lives matter” and “Women are
mistreated.” What I’m struggling with is one, what do we do about it, and two, do we see
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 83
it affecting our own lives? I pose these questions to the kids, and it creates meaningful
dialogue. In turn, my students want to finish reading the book. They want to know what
happens, and they want to talk about the symbolic nature of the text because I’ve taken the
time to take their lives and place it into the context of what we are learning. Sometimes it
really is just about asking them if they see these things in their world, and then creating a
map.
Mrs. Gaspar’s explanation illustrated her resolve to understand her students’ backgrounds.
It also implied that culturally relevant teachers of English must take the time to use the knowledge
obtained about their students to infuse the curriculum thematically in ways that assist students in
understanding the ambiguities and nuances of the text. She acknowledged, “I have to teach the
standards. I have a required list of readings, but it’s up to me to find those connecting pieces.”
Without being able to make relevant connections to the curriculum, African American students
continue to struggle to achieve (Delpit & Perry, 1998; Ladson-Billings, 1995a). Traditional
measures of achievement fail to account for all aspects of schooling (T. C. Howard, 2010);
however, Mrs. Gaspar’s explanation and intentional practice served as a reminder that teachers’
commitment to assisting their students in making relevant connections to the curriculum is just as
important as the content that they teach. She drew on the need to truly understand the lived
experiences of her students. Her student population was largely comprised of a minoritized
group, with a majority of those students coming from a lower socioeconomic background. Milner
(2010) explained that often teachers view these students through a deficit lens—that is, they tend
to employ a curriculum and instructional practices that are not challenging and often pity these
students for their circumstances instead of looking at them as people who have valuable funds of
knowledge that can be used within the context of the classroom. However, asset-based
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 84
pedagogies allow teachers the opportunities to use student culture and background as valuable
instructional tools in the classroom (Milner, 2017). Mrs. Gaspar chose to use those same societal
barriers as assets when engaging her students with the curriculum, and she executed rigorous
instruction to bridge the gaps in opportunity.
Like Mrs. Gaspar, Mrs. Atkins shared the belief that connecting students to the material
presented in class was important, and stressed that “cultural relevance in the classroom is much
deeper than just race.” She pointed out that “it’s about having meaningful discussions with
students about the history of a particular subject or topic before they become turned off to it. She
explained that in her classroom, she frontloaded information and found different mediums with
which to present the same theme or topic. Mrs. Atkins explained that
while teaching Mockingbird, I have to think about how uncomfortable it will be for my
students because of the “N” word. So I found a Ted Talk
3
because I needed to get rid of
the elephant in the room. I need them to speak, I need them to write, so I need to make
sure that I can make room and provide them the capacity to do so.
Here, the capacity that she spoke of was not about outlining or sentence structure. She wanted to
make sure that her students could connect positively to the text; and in order to do so, she needed
to anticipate the socioemotional needs of her students and have conversations with them about
terms that may have had a negative impact on their social identity. Without acknowledgment of
the issues that affect them, students indirectly learn that they have no serious value to society or to
the world (Banks, 2001; Gay, 2010; Milner, 2010)—a situation that often disconnects them from
the curriculum and the necessary skills that they are intended to learn.
3
Beginning in 1984 as a platform to share ideas, “TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading
ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less; TED, n.d., Our Organiza-
tion section, para. 1).
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 85
She argued that teachers did not have to be of the same cultural background as their
students to connect them with the curriculum. She recounted a conversation with her student
teacher after her lesson about the “N” word:
I had a student teacher, and he was White. He told me, “I could never have had that
discussion because I’m not you”; and I told him, “Oh, yes, you can.” He told me, “But
I’m White,” so I explained to him that he had to do his homework, his research, and then
he had to deliver the information. He really enjoyed working with our population and
wondered if he could ever be hired in a school “like this.” Then I said, “Yes, you just
have to be you. If you get it, then let them know that you have a little swag about you.”
Mrs. Atkins’s conversation with her student teacher dispelled the myth that teachers must
be of the same ethnic or cultural background of their students to be effective. Mrs. Atkins encour-
aged her student teacher to continuously research ways that he could connect with his students to
deliver content that is relevant to them and to continuously seek out opportunities to develop
cultural compatibility with his students.
Within the school system, curriculum is not always packaged in ways that students find
accessible to them. Mrs. Atkins explained how English literature pertaining to the dominant
culture could be transformed into culturally relevant lessons that connect students to learning. She
stated that she made it a point to
always try to choose literature that is very multicultural. So, for instance, right now we are
in Chapter 1 of our book. It’s the 17th century, so it’s not really something that the kids
can relate to. So I try to bring a little 21st century into the discussion. I also try to change
things up a bit. I will choose to survey authors from various backgrounds. I choose a
woman, an African American, a Native American, and a Latino American. We can only
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 86
really fit about three novels per year; and because of the complexity of each novel and the
activities that go along with them, it takes a long time to get through. So last year, we did
Scarlet Letter, Gatsby, and Fences. One year I threw in the Narrative of Frederick
Douglass. It doesn’t matter what text I choose. There’s something very relevant about the
text that connects to modern living, and I work to make sure that I can connect them to
what my students are experiencing also.
As Mrs. Atkins explained, the junior curriculum at GVHS was determined by the cur-
riculum developers at the district level. She recognized that her students might not connect
immediately or at all to the curriculum; therefore, she designed lessons that included supplemental
materials to help her students understand the content and achieve mastery. Because education is
not outlined in the U.S. Constitution, states are given autonomy when it comes to the laws and
governance of education. As a result, states often contour their educational laws to fit the
dominant culture, thus supporting institutional inequities of opportunity (D. Bell, 1983).
Ladson-Billings (1995b) sought to expound upon this issue, along with others magnified
by CRT, when she developed her theory of CRP. Within the sociopolitical constraints of public
education, Mrs. Atkins incorporated instructional strategies and lesson designs that took into
account her students’ background and cultural needs to bridge the gap in opportunity.
Mrs. Casey echoed the sentiment surrounding CRP when she explained that she believed
that students should co-construct curriculum with teachers because “student needs need to drive
the curriculum instead of testing and other crippling practices existing in education.” Mrs. Casey
went on to state, “When students can connect, they are more apt to work harder and dig deeper.”
Mrs. Casey continued with examples of lessons that she incorporated in order to bridge students’
background to the curriculum. She explained that she tried
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 87
to incorporate current events into most lessons. During our Romeo and Juliet drama unit,
I will use articles about marriage and teen marriage in other countries. When I’m teaching
metaphorical meanings of poetry, I will use a classic example of an Eric Clapton song and
compare it to a song from Tupac Shakur. My students are passionate about their beliefs
and experiences, and it’s my job to acknowledge and celebrate those things.
Like Mrs. Gaspar and Mrs. Atkins, Mrs. Casey’s statement highlighted her desire to use impor-
tant, context-specific factors that influenced her students to design curriculum that they could
connect to, rather than focusing solely on testing as the catalyst for instruction. Milner (2010)
explained that teachers must consider the context in which their students are learning. This
statement indicates that teachers must focus on getting to know their students and their commu-
nity to design curriculum that is meaningful and relevant to their students. In order to understand
the context, teachers must engage in meaningful and authentic conversations with their students,
their families, and the community. Culturally relevant teaching “filters curriculum content and
teaching strategies through their cultural frames of reference to make the content more personally
meaningful and easier to master” (Gay, 2010 p. 26). When teachers co-construct curricula, they
are honoring student voices and becoming advocates for counter-storytelling, which provides a
voice to the historically marginalized population and sheds light on educational issues such as
academic rigor, and underperformance (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Matsuda, 1995). Cultur-
ally relevant teachers bridge the opportunity gap by connecting students’ prior knowledge to the
content as a means of affirming identities and values (Byrd, 2016).
Establishing community through relationships. Not only did the participants call
attention to the need for connection to the curriculum, but also they emphasized a need for
students to be able to connect to the classroom environment and ultimately, their teacher. Mrs.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 88
Gaspar explained that “teachers are the people who make or break you—we see them every single
day. We have the ability to be their support system, or not.” Mrs. Gaspar’s statement accentuated
the power that teachers have over pedagogy and the major influence that a teacher has in the
overall success or failure of a student. The assumptions that teachers carry with them to the
classroom about their students are often an indicator of that student’s success (Milner, 2010,
2012).
Mrs. Atkins elaborated on Mrs. Gaspar’s sentiment by drawing attention to teachers being
students’ “constant.” She explained that she believed CRP involved the connection that a student
was able to make upon entering the room. She stated that students should be able to walk into a
room and “see themselves” and know that their teacher also sees them and “feels them.” Mrs.
Atkins explained that for her, CRP meant to understand how students view themselves and stated,
“Before I can get to grammar, I have to get to them.” This acknowledgment from Mrs. Atkins
indicated that students who were disconnected from the teacher and/or the class would have a
difficult time consuming the material. The information also zeroed in on the need for teachers to
include relationship-building opportunities into their daily routines. Students learn more from
people who take the time to invest in them and get to know who they are outside of the constraints
of the classroom (Delpit, 1988; Ladson-Billings, 1995a; Milner, 2011).
All three teachers agreed that when bonds are established between the community and
classroom environments, learning can become engaging, fun, and effective. The participants
explained that at the beginning of each year, they introduced assignments that helped them to
understand their students and, as well, gave their students some insight into who the teachers were
as well. Mrs. Gaspar and Mrs. Atkins, after several years of collaboration, developed an assign-
ment entitled “Dear Mrs. . . .”; the students placed the name of their teacher in the empty space.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 89
From there, the students were asked to share something about themselves. The teachers modeled
the assignment by writing their own and then reading it to their students. Mrs. Casey had a
similar assignment that she called, “If you really, really knew me, you would know . . .” She, too,
modeled the assignment by first completing it herself and then sharing with the students. Students
were allowed to read their papers for extra credit, or they could simply turn them in with the
promise that the information shared would remain confidential. With assignments such as those,
students were able to contribute to the climate of the classroom and make connections with their
teacher on day one of instruction.
The participants each shared that making connections with students was essential, along
with the uncompromising belief that regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic background,
their students could succeed. These teachers seemed to help their students to see the way that
their home lives intersected with their academic lives. Milner (2017) explained that educators
who design culturally relevant learning opportunities see student culture as an avenue by which
students can be successful, rather than a determinant of student success. Creating activities such
as the ones discussed enables teachers to make personal connections with their students that often
lead to significant improvements in the academic progression of African American students and a
decrease of the opportunity gap (Delpit, 1988; T. C. Howard, 2001a; Milner 2011). The partici-
pants took what they understood CRP to be, and applied their understanding in ways that helped
to establish community, and create environments for students who have historically struggled in
schools.
Teachers’ histories. The participants shared that their personal experiences had a major
influence on their perceptions and understanding of CRP. In all cases, the participants were
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 90
personally touched by life experiences prior to becoming educators, and those experiences heavily
influenced their pedagogy.
Mrs. Gaspar recalled the day that she realized the magnitude of influence that her high
school teachers had on her educational experience and the development of her philosophy on
CRP:
I realized that I made it, and other kids didn’t. I realized that I was tracked differently, and
I realized that my ultimate outcome was because of the teachers that I had—the teachers
who said to me “Yes, yes, you can.” So now I talk to my other friends who have reached
success, and I ask them “What was it” and their answer: It was always a teacher, and it
was always a program, and I realized that we all had this common ground—we had poten-
tial and maybe didn’t know it. I knew that I had to give back to my community. Now I
see students with potential and they don’t know it, and now it’s my job to tell them, “Yes,
you can.” And when they see me, they see themselves . . . it’s so important to have Black
and brown bodies in positions as teachers.
Mrs. Gaspar’s explanation illustrated the impact that teachers can have on students when
they choose to look at students outside of a deficit lens. Milner (2012) argued that deficit
mindsets covertly and tacitly construct White students as intellectually and academically superior
to others. Mrs. Gaspar’s experience as a Latina growing up in the same neighborhood where the
study took place impacted her in ways that encouraged her to see her students as people who were
capable of far more than the stereotypical narratives that exist about students of color. It encour-
aged her to focus on bringing overall awareness to social issues. She knew that she was not
merely her students’ cheerleader; rather, she was the educator who would need to use pedagogy to
support her students’ needs. For Mrs. Gaspar, being colorblind was not an option. She knew that
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 91
she had to take into account the cultural identities of her students to call attention to injustice in
the literature and to ask her students if they saw similar “injustice and inequality happening in our
world right now.” In addition to connecting students’ backgrounds to the content, as mentioned
above, she shared that this was important because it was “affecting our kids, and we have to deal
with it. If it is affecting us, then we have to look at it.” Her insistence on bringing social issues to
the forefront and combining them with the themes in the literature taught in the class highlighted
the need for teachers to use the lived experiences of students as educational resources. It also
helped her students to develop cultural competence. Not only were her students asked to look at
the text through their own cultural lens, but they were also asked to apply their cultural under-
standing to literature set in geographical areas outside of their own, with characters who differed
from their own cultural context. This process aligns with CRP in that cultural competence sur-
rounds the ability of teachers to assist students in learning about their own culture, other cultures,
and the world so as to be successful contributors to the community (Milner, 2017). Social issues,
framed by only those in power, mask the way that they create and maintain inequity (Delpit,
2006). It was because of her lived experience that she began to think about students and teaching
in this way. For Mrs. Gaspar, she was able to benefit educationally because of the asset model
thinking of a teacher-mentor. Her teacher recognized a certain brilliance that she possessed and
encouraged her to expound on her potential. Opportunity gaps often exist because of what Milner
(2012) explained as the “blame the victim” (p. 706) orientation. This mindset causes teachers to
deliver substandard instructional designs and practices. Mrs. Gaspar chose to reflect on her
history and to implement the practices that were effective in helping her to achieve at high levels
into her own practices, which is why she developed challenging learning opportunities that helped
her students to question and research the ambiguities and nuances surrounding the status quo. Her
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 92
resolve to show her students that they could achieve is an example of how teachers can begin to
eliminate deficit model thinking and color-blind mentalities.
Mrs. Atkins credited her students, their struggles, and even her adopted daughter for her
views on CRP:
The kids [her students] made me stay. At one point, a few years ago—Joshua [the prin-
cipal] showed us our data, and he said that we had 70% of children in some kind of foster
care, and then it made sense to me why they hang out or act out in class and then come
back and say “Hi” to you, and it made sense because we are their constant. That’s how I
met my oldest daughter. She was a kid that was homeless, living in an alley across the
street. It was myself, Mrs. Gaspar, and another teacher and a counselor [who worked with
her]; and she ended up staying with Mrs. Gaspar, and then ended up in juvenile hall. From
there, I ended up her guardian. There’s a need. That was 10 years ago, and I’ve never
stopped trying to connect to the kids, since.
Mrs. Atkins experienced a life-altering event that shifted her focus and her mindset and
forced her to see her students as more than just a body in a chair. Her ability to understand the
context of her students’ experiences helped her to change the way that she approached instruction,
classroom management, and student engagement. Mrs. Atkins was given information that
allowed her to abandon her context-neutral mindset. Context-neutral mindsets do not allow
educators to recognize the school or community realities that students are facing, all of which
contributes to the gap in opportunity for marginalized students. By drawing attention to the
context in which a student has to live, or survive, educators are able to interrogate, challenge, and
put into place practices that are beneficial in bridging the divide between different social contexts
(Milner, 2012). Mrs. Atkins gained a deeper understanding of CRP and was able to look beyond
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 93
race as a sole indicator; she then began to include other elements such as student background,
community, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Mrs. Casey acknowledged her privilege as a White woman and noted that it was “defi-
nitely not [her] whiteness that influenced [her],” but instead her “socio-economic background.”
CRP requires that teachers are intentional about accessing students’ cultural knowledge and
linking it to the curriculum, especially where the cultural context of the teacher does not align
with that student (Sleeter, 2008). Mrs. Casey and her brother were raised by “a single mother who
worked two jobs.” Her father was not in the picture, and she “went to a Title 1 school, even
though it wasn’t called Title 1 back then, and because [she] did not come from high finances,
education was stressed in [her] home.” She explained that although she was White, she often
faced what she perceived to be reverse racism or discrimination; however, she knew that she had a
much better chance of getting out of poverty than her peers, as illustrated by this comment:
I remember being in school and all of the literature being accessible to me. I mean, even
though we didn’t have money, I could relate to what the text was saying. And I realized
that when I would go to my friend’s houses . . . who were Black . . . that they had a dif-
ferent way of doing things, and not in a bad way. It’s just the way those households ran
that I started to understand why they would say things like, “I don’t care about all that; I
just do what I need to do to pass the test.” And we didn’t have this heavy standardized
testing back then, but we had exams for our classes, for our grades . . . but it’s like, now, I
realize . . . they weren’t learning anything. They were just going through the motions, and
how sad is that? So now I’m a teacher, and it’s my responsibility to make sure my kids
aren’t having those same experiences. They need to succeed, so I have to get them the
tools.
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Mrs. Casey acknowledged the advantage that she had over her peers because of her
cultural background and noted that as a young child, the disparities in educational opportunities
were still apparent. As a result of her experience, Mrs. Casey designed units and lessons that
would give a voice to her students and portray them positively. Diverse literature that portrays
students of color in a positive light and that is based on teachers’ understanding of students’
interests, ability, and frame of reference gives students of color equitable representation and
opportunity within the curriculum (J. J. Irvine et al., 2001)—an important factor in CRP and CRT.
It also enhances their opportunity to create meaningful connections to the curricula. Mrs. Casey’s
experience spoke to the need for teachers to be purposeful in their practice and to create necessary
opportunities for students to have a voice and to succeed academically. Ladson-Billings (2017)
explained that CRP has evolved to equip teachers with the skills needed to continuously rejuve-
nate their practices and “ensure that consistently marginalized students are repositioned into a
place of normativity—that is, that they become subjects in the instructional process, not mere
objects,” (p. 76). Instead of learning inaccurate depictions of their history, students in Mrs.
Casey’s classes were able to benefit from the absence of a colorblind perspective and engage in
counter-storytelling as they co-constructed curriculum. Although she did not know it at the time,
Mrs. Casey had an eye-opening experience that would influence her pedagogy and, in turn,
connect her to her students.
Taken together, the teachers were heavily influenced by their past that shaped their values
in and out of the classroom. In order to have high expectations of their students, they each
acknowledged that they had to have high expectations of themselves—which seemed to be a
result of their prior experiences.
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The participants agreed that academic achievement was about student learning and under-
stood that they had the power to assist their students in advancing toward that achievement.
Furthermore, the teachers agreed that every student could succeed and that success had more to do
with student learning, the content that students were being taught, and what students were able to
connect to rather than what exams they were able to pass due to a spoon-fed curriculum. This is
what Ladson-Billings meant when she set out to explain her theory of CRP as it pertained to
academic achievement (Milner, 2017). All three participants shared their commitment to overall
student achievement and the fact that they understood that what teachers believed and enacted in
their classrooms could determine the academic outcome for their students. The participants
shared philosophical beliefs about their pedagogy but arrived at those beliefs through varying
cultural contexts and experiences that further highlighted the importance of developing cultural
competence in students so that they could participate in the discourses necessary to be successful
(Freire, 1998; Milner, 2017).
Themes of Research Question #2: Enacting CRP in English Classes
CRP recognizes and utilizes students’ cultures, histories, and identities to plan and deliver
instruction. CRP incorporates individual learning, social learning, and the characteristics that the
learner brings to the classroom (Alfred, 2009). The fundamental aim of CRP is to empower eth-
nically diverse students through academic success, cultural affiliation, and personal efficacy (Gay,
2000). Research Question 2 focused on the enactment of CRP within the sociocultural constraints
of the school system. After analyzing the observational and semistructured interview data, three
common themes emerged: rapport, student engagement, and collaboration.
Wlodkowski and Ginsberg (1995) discussed the importance of the relationship between
what is to be learned and students’ personal experiences. Teachers are to structure their lessons in
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ways where the goals are clear and the expectations for class are understandable and enforced. In
each of the classes that the researcher visited, structure was very apparent, as was the teacher’s
personal motivation to incorporate various inclusive techniques that helped to build rapport and
engage students in the learning process.
Rapport. Teachers emphasized the importance of creating an environment where
students could not only connect to the content but also could build a rapport with their teacher as
well. Mrs. Gaspar explained that “rapport is the key to success,” citing that her students’
benchmark scores were the best they had ever been after incorporating what she felt were the CRP
techniques. She gave way to the idea that she might have had a “great group of kids” but
acknowledged the fact that it could have been “the rapport.” During the researcher’s first obser-
vation, she watched what Mrs. Gaspar called “organized chaos” as her students prepared for their
lesson:
Mrs. Gaspar: Ladies and gentlemen, you have a “Do Now” on the board, so let’s get out a
piece of paper, please.
[The students were slow moving.]
Mrs. Gaspar: Let’s rock and roll with some paper, please.
[Mrs. Gaspar moved around her room quickly and fluidly. One student came to speak to
her.]
Student 1: Miss, I got a piece of paper, and a pencil and everything.
Mrs. Gaspar: That’s awesome, you’re on fire. . . . Ladies and gents, I don’t want to see
phones.
[The students quickly put their things away. A few she kindly prompted once again.]
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Mrs. Gaspar: Please, let’s just put it away. I’ll give a media break if we can keep them
away.
When the researcher asked her about the media break, she mentioned that she was “fully
aware that cell phones have become an addiction for my students, so instead of saying you can’t
have it at all, I use it as an incentive.”
Even during the lesson, as students would pull away from the task to discuss other things
with her, Mrs. Gaspar would quickly but effectively respond to the student and then redirect him
or her back to the task. She did not once allow students to feel that they were not noticed or
worthy of a response.
Mrs. Gaspar showed mutual respect for her students, and encouraged them even when the
tasks that they were proud of seemed minuscule compared to the expectations for students in a
traditional classroom. Mutual respect is present within classes that employ CRP, which gives
students the feeling of safety to produce authentic and enlightening work. The students in Mrs.
Gaspar’s classes required different things from her. She acknowledged those things and
responded to them within the context of her lesson. She did not sacrifice the social aspect of her
instruction. Even though there was a task for her students to complete, she remained responsive
to the immediate needs that her students required in order to settle into the classroom and the
day’s lesson. Instructional practices and related educational experiences have to be constructed in
ways that address and are responsive to students’ varying needs due to the range of differences
that students bring into the classroom and the social context in which students live and learn (Gay,
2010; T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 2009; Milner, 2010). Mrs. Gaspar remained an
authoritarian by requiring students to begin working but continued to maintain the rapport that she
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 98
had built with them. When asked to elaborate on how she navigated through being the authoritar-
ian in the classroom and building a positive rapport with her students, she responded:
I was once accused of being very motherly. I took it as a compliment. I have two
children, and I connect with these kids. These kids are me. How can I not connect with
them? I like them. I love them. It’s believing in relationships. You will get more buy-in
if you build a relationship with them.
She continued with an example of a situation with a student who spoke inappropriately during the
lesson: “Let’s take Edgar, for instance—when he used an inappropriate slur, I told him, “Let’s
have this discussion again. . . . Edgar, I’ve heard you say brilliant things, so that’s what I would
like to see. Who do you want to be?”
Mrs. Gaspar didn’t ridicule or criticize Edgar. Instead, she turned the infraction into a
teachable moment. Mrs. Gaspar encouraged her students to maintain their individual identities
that validated the development of their cultural competence in that students accept and affirm their
cultural identities (Ladson-Billings, 1995a). She recognized that there was a teenage culture that
also existed that relied heavily on technology and subsequently implemented strategies to bridge
that culture with the culture of school. Instead of working against what she called “an addiction”
she used what she knew about her students and reframed it as an incentive. Additionally, instead
of shaming her students who violated language rules, she used it as a teachable moment to guide
her students into choosing a better response. Mrs. Gaspar’s observed actions accentuated the need
for teachers to be proactive instead of reactive. It was apparent that she was intentional in her
desire to know her students, so that when she had to ask them to do things within the confines of
the classroom, they were more likely to adjust and respond positively to her correction and redi-
rection. Culturally relevant teachers who are aware of their conceptions of self and others are
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 99
meticulous in how they structure social relationships (Milner, 2011), and they continue to develop
the current cultural knowledge that they know. They are teachers who effectively aid in the
implementation of CRP (Ladson-Billings, 1992).
Similar to Mrs. Gaspar’s recognition of the teenage culture and her students’ need to have
their cultural identities validated, Mrs. Atkins employed procedures that celebrated her students’
cultural identities and ensured attention to the lessons taught in class. On the first day that the
researcher observed Mrs. Atkins’s English 4 class, her students were very rowdy; however, their
behavior did not seem to bother her. When she wanted to get their attention, she called out,
“Ninja”; the class synchronously called back, “Turtle,” and the room fell silent. When the
researcher asked her about this technique, she said that “this is about them, this school thing, so
you have to find a way to draw them in and to keep them connected to you. I just happen to like
the Ninja Turtles.”
Students were able to engage with their teacher using attention techniques that were dif-
ferent from the norm. In Mrs. Atkins’s class, students were given a unique routine and procedure
that separated their experience with her from their experience with their other teachers and
classes. Milner (2011) explained that a teacher’s success is dependent upon creating and main-
taining meaningful and authentic relationships. The authenticity of the way that Mrs. Atkins
called for attention placed students in a position to contribute to the self-assessment of their own
behavior and to maintaining the behavioral expectations of the class. Students had to respond to
their teacher in order to continue with the next step, or part of the lesson. Without their audible
contribution of “Turtle,” the lesson could not go on because their teacher required a response from
the class in order to do so. This strategy drew students to her. Both Mrs. Atkins and her students
needed something from the other to make their classroom dynamic work. This rapport building
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 100
strategy showed the “cultural compatibility” (Whaley & Noël, 2010, p. 150) of her and her
students.
Other ways that Mrs. Atkins built rapport with her students was to show the nature of
failure. During the researcher’s second observation, students were encouraged to point out when
she was doing something wrong. That day, during writing instruction, she was observed making
fun of herself when she skipped a step: “You can write down, Mrs. Atkins doesn’t know what
she’s doing, if you want.”
Mrs. Atkins’s response celebrated failure. When she went back through the steps to
correct her mistake, she taught her students that mistakes can be corrected. Students were able to
see that even their teacher did not always have the right answers but that they could persevere
until they got it right. She described her decision to draw attention to her failure as showing her
students that
writing isn’t hard—writing is challenging, but it’s possible to work through it. If I’m not
transparent with my struggles, then they can’t see how anything I’m saying about chal-
lenges is real or connects to them, and that where the road block hits.
Mrs. Atkins engaged her students in activities that created a comfortable environment for
them. Her transparency allowed her students to see that she was not infallible and that it was okay
to fail. She did not reduce the level of rigor in her classes to accommodate a deficit thinking
approach; instead, she chose phrases such as “not hard . . . but challenging,” which aligns with
CRP research that requires teachers to have high expectations for student success (Milner, 2012;
Ladson-Billings, 1995a). Mrs. Atkins’s students were able to see that even when something
became challenging, they were still expected to persevere and finish their tasks with fidelity.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 101
Mrs. Casey had other strategies for building rapport with her students. On the morning of
the researcher’s first observation, Mrs. Casey opened with banter of “Good morning” with her
students. She explained that she tries “to start every day off with a welcoming moment. When
students can connect to me, they are more apt to work harder and dig deeper.” This connection
was not just in the things that she did verbally with her students; she also implemented curriculum
ideas such as spoken word and personal narrative pieces when teaching argument and rhetoric.
For instance, the researcher observed her after her class read Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a
Dream” speech. She decided to connect Dr. King’s dream to a living legacy. Even though she
was shifting the academic focus to writing, she wanted to make sure that the writing was relevant,
citing: “I can find out how well my students write a five-paragraph essay by making it personal to
them. It has to be something that they can connect to.”
Writing a cohesive five-paragraph essay was the skill that Mrs. Casey was intending her
students to acquire. Allowing her students to personalize the experience not only helped them to
connect to the curriculum but also gave them each an individual voice and validated their role in
humanity. Mrs. Casey’s approach helped her to build rapport with them and make invaluable
connections to the curriculum as well. CRP is about extending learning and approaching the
acquisition of knowledge in such a way that students are able to conceptualize it and make mean-
ingful connections (Ladson-Billings, 1994). That day, students were given a handout entitled
“Defining Yourself.” Below are some questions from the handout:
1. What are three words you would use to describe yourself?
2. When have you felt pressure to fit into other people’s definitions instead of your own?
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 102
3. Dr. King encountered serious instances of racism, hate, and humiliation because of the
labels that people applied to him, but he did not let those labels define him. How can
you choose to define yourself instead of settling for labels that others give you?
Mrs. Casey posed questions that challenged her students to consider the context of their own lives
and apply them to the curriculum. Her assignment choice also helped her to bridge the cultural
gap that existed between herself and her students. She was not afraid to meet them where they
were or to engage them in relevant discussions about topics that greatly influenced them.
Effective teaching involves the in-depth knowledge of both the student and the curriculum
(Ladson-Billings, 1994). When asked why she chose that particular assignment in response to
teaching rhetoric, she replied:
It is important for teachers to know their students and to pull relevant pieces. . . . My
students are students of color, who have, at some time, experienced bullying, prejudice,
racism and the like. I can’t just pull a piece about a White male going to boarding school
and having a hard time getting up to go to class in the morning. The students won’t
connect. We read, “I Have a Dream”; they write their essay, and then they have to turn it
into a speech where they use the rhetorical devices. I’m not going to say that it is easier;
but I will say that when they see that I am working to help them to connect to the material,
even though I do not look like them, then I notice that they become engrossed in learning
and they don’t even know that they are doing it. My students know that I care. I take the
“uncomfortable” out of the room. Then they open up. They open up, and I get so much
out of them.
Acknowledging the cultural differences between herself and her students, Mrs. Casey
made it a point to find ways that her students could relate to the curriculum. She did not appear to
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 103
encompass a color-blind belief system that often causes teachers to overlook important identity
characteristics affecting students (Milner, 2012). Mrs. Casey credited that commitment to why
her students, in turn, began to trust her. Students often need to know that their teachers are
accepting of who they are as people, especially when their teacher is part of the dominant culture
(D. Bell, 1983). A child very rarely feels motivated to engage in a lesson being taught from
someone they do not like or trust. Mrs. Casey’s decision to include important elements of her
students’ lives into the assignments for her classes showed her students that they mattered and
were valued, thus aiding in her ability to build a positive rapport with them. Gay’s (2000, 2002)
assertion that when academic knowledge and skills incorporate students lived experiences and
frames of reference, lessons become personally meaningful and more appealing and are learned
more easily and thoroughly. The opportunity gap persists when teachers do not allow the demo-
graphic divide between themselves and their students to engage them in concepts and practices to
connect with their students (J. J. Irvine, 2003; Nieto, 1994).
In order to properly build rapport with students, teachers must connect to their individual
and collective needs. Mrs. Gaspar noted about her class:
This needs to be a safe place. There are concepts that can be talked about when they make
a connection. They can share it out, and they share because they know that I don’t care if
their opinion is different than mine. Everything can be worked through. This is a safe
place.
The work of culturally relevant teachers exemplifies student learning that is expansive and
deeply intellectual (Ladson-Billings, 2017). When teachers develop a rapport with their students
that allows students to take risks, to be creative, and to feel physically and emotionally safe, these
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 104
students begin to trust one another and their teachers. These factors are influential in providing
positive academic experiences and ensuring equitable outcomes for African American students.
Student engagement. Culturally relevant teachers provide opportunities for meaningful
participation in learning. While rapport is important in establishing classroom environments, it is
also essential in providing strategies for student engagement. Tomlinson (2003) asserted that
tapping into a student’s interest gives that student a sense of personal control, feelings of auton-
omy, and self-determination that can, in turn, contribute to positive emotional states. During the
second observation of Mrs. Atkins’s English 3 class, the researcher was able to see how she
evoked interest in her students. Upon entering the classroom, students were asked to take out a
half sheet of paper and share the other half with their neighbor. The boys were asked to write
down five male celebrities; the girls, to write down the names of five female celebrities. The
students began thinking of their favorite celebrities and became curious as to why they were being
asked to do this. Mrs. Atkins just reassured them that they “would see.” The students became
rowdy, and she paused the class telling them that they were “out of order” and they would be
unable to “continue with the activity” if they did not “get back in order and focus.” Students
quickly adjusted and continued writing down their names. Once they were finished, she had them
rank their celebrities from 1 to 5 and then called on a few students who were not engaging with
peers to share with her their chosen names. One student happily announced, “I picked Halle
Berry,” to which another student offered, “She’s old.” Faking shock, Mrs. Atkins said, “She’s not
old.” Her students laughed, and she continued with the instructions:
I need you to circle your number 3 person, and then take out your Chromebooks. We are
going to write a breakup letter, and the person you are breaking up with is the person you
circled as your number three.
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The students began to groan. Some of the boys began protesting and pleading with the teacher to
choose another person. Mrs. Atkins took a poll of the room to see with the students were
breaking up. Students had listed Ariana Grande, Drake, J-Lo, Ashanti, Lebron James, and others.
From there, Mrs. Atkins shared her breakup letter with Ice Cube, a well-known musical artist and
actor. The students sat silently to listen to the letter. Mrs. Atkins then asked students to tell her
what they noticed about the letter. She placed her version on the screen for viewing. Students
mentioned things about a “slow lead in”; some called it an “introduction.” Other students noticed
the “detailed information about the problem in the relationship,” while others mentioned that she
“included information about how [she] tried to work on the relationship.” Others noticed the
“way the letter concluded” and “how final it seemed.” Mrs. Atkins instructed the students to write
down the following instructions:
1. Write “Break Up Letter” at the top of your Google Doc.
2. Start your letter by explaining what is about to happen (1 to 2 sentences).
3. Explain how you thought the relationship was going to be, or tell how you think it
should be (2 sentences).
4. Describe specific things you found wrong with the relationship or situation.
5. Describe how you tried to change the relationship or situation (2 things).
6. Explain your final feelings and your final decision (1 or 2 sentences).
She admonished them to follow the directions and to be specific. One student called out, “This
hurts, Ms. Atkins, I can’t do it. This is serious.” She laughed and asked him who he was
breaking up with; he replied, “Lauren London . . . you don’t understand . . . that’s my boo.” She
encouraged him with, “You’ll be fine—get to work.” From there, the students began to discuss
the project with their peers and got right to work. When it became noisy again, Mrs. Atkins told
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 106
her students that she would play breakup music for inspiration. She played the first song at an
almost inaudible volume. Students began to complain that they could not hear it. She said, “You
would be able to hear it if you were quiet.” They quieted down again as she played a little rhythm
and blues. Students began to type vigorously and started to share pieces of their letter with one
another. It was interesting to see so many students engaged in a writing task. When the re-
searcher asked Mrs. Atkins what she thought stimulated her students to actually complete this
writing assignment (because writing is often a daunting task for high school students), she replied:
It’s the fact that everyone has their own story, and by high school those interests are
already developed. Allowing those stories to manifest in the classroom keeps students
engaged, even if the subject that they are learning is not their favorite.
Mrs. Atkins drew attention to the need for interest to play a vital role in the creation of
curriculum. She also pointed out pertinent information about adolescents and their identities in
that it was her belief that student interest was developed by high school; therefore, teachers need
to draw on those interests to engage students. Before the students left the class, Mrs. Atkins told
them that their letters would be due the following Monday. The student asked what they were
going to do with them. She said that they would share a few and vote on the best; then “next
week, we will discuss the best breakup letter in all of history.” The students began to buzz: “What
is it?” She told them that they would have to wait and see. When the researcher asked what the
“secret letter” was, she said:
Oh, it’s the Declaration of Independence. We start Thomas Jefferson on Monday, so we
are now going into that. I plan to show them how they wrote their letter and how that
aligns with the format of the Declaration, the preamble, statement of beliefs, etc. We
study the literary components, look at parallelism and how it was written, and the format
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 107
as we study Thomas Jefferson. I also incorporate a video where there are a group of actors
from different kinds of legal shows, so by the time that we get to the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, they fully understand the artistry of the artist’s choice of words and literary
devices.
Cultural values, traditions, communication, learning styles, contributions, and relational
patterns of ethnic groups should be incorporated into the curriculum. Mrs. Atkins’s goal was for
students to analyze more complex material in subsequent lessons; therefore, by providing the
framework through an interesting activity, Mrs. Atkins was able to teach her students the
necessary elements that they would need to analyze new text. What teachers bring to the instruc-
tional process is often a major determinant of how the problems of underachievement are solved
(Gay, 2002). Engaging students in an activity that mirrored the structure of the more rigorous text
to follow gave them the opportunity to preview the text complexity through a lens that connected
to their personal realities.
Other ways for students to become engaged in the curriculum is through the element of
choice. Mrs. Casey explained that allowing her students a choice with her short stories was a key
factor in how her students became engaged in a particular assignment. She explained that, during
the fiction unit, “I allow students to choose what they want to read, and they vote on the top three.
That way they have some sort of say in the way that the curriculum is developed.”
By allowing her students to choose, Mrs. Casey used a strategy that provided them with
the opportunity to participate in formulating the curriculum and gave them a sense of autonomy.
She was able to see what her students were interested in and was able to engage them in the
learning because they saw the novel selection of the choice and were more inclined to persist with
something in which they were interested.
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Culturally relevant teachers provide encouragement for students to read text from a variety
of perspectives, use research skills, and create projects to represent their ideas (Ladson-Billings,
2017). During the researcher’s second observation, Mrs. Casey’s class was working through To
Kill a Mockingbird. The lesson was about walking in someone else’s shoes. Casey chose to teach
the lesson of perspective, bias, and predetermined judgments through an individualized activity
that led to a class discussion. Students were asked to cut out different pictures of shoes from all
around the world and write a character description of the person to whom the shoes belonged
(homeless person, doctor, nurse, new father, etc.). Students were told that they had to base their
assumptions only on the shoes that the models were wearing. When it came time for discussion,
students were asked to show the shoes that they were referencing, to share the character
assignment, and to give a justification for their opinion. When the students were finished sharing,
Mrs. Casey revealed the true identity of the people behind the shoes. A perceived homeless
person was actually a dentist on a fishing expedition. A well-to-do young girl was actually an
orphan who had received shoes for her birthday through a local charity. Students called out
comments such as What?” and “No way!” as each identity was revealed. One student said “Ms.
Casey, this is cool.” When she asked him why, he added, “Well, we assume so much, and I never
would have known about some of these people or life experiences if we had not done this.”
During the discussion later with the researcher about the assignment, Mrs. Casey said that the
assignment
helps to shape them into people tolerant of others, self-aware, and really helps them to
work towards who they want to be as humans. From here we will apply it to how Scout
[the main character] is trying to navigate her reality in TKAM [book title abbreviation].
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Evoking students’ interest helps them to value the idea of meaning making and aids in the
transference of knowledge. In Mrs. Casey’s class, students quickly developed an interest for the
activity and treated it as a mystery to be solved. As the layers of the activity began to be stripped
away and the true identities were revealed, a learning opportunity was sparked that incorporated
complex social and cultural processes that affect many students, especially minoritized students.
Students shared their own stories about assumptions that they had made about people based on
appearances alone, as well as assumptions that had been made about them. The true understand-
ing of a person is encompassed in the understanding of the context and history of the individual
(McBride, 2011; Rogoff, 2003). Even though students were sitting in an English class and would
later have to record their thinking in the form of a written response, the dialogue helped students
to formulate their thoughts and gave them varying perspectives with which to work as they started
to write. Students were able to share stories from their own lives and essentially contribute to
valuable learning experiences for their peers.
All three teachers explained that they researched material to assist them in delivering the
content and then included information that they knew their students would be interested in, in
order to evoke student buy-in to the topics and subsequent assignments. Students of all ethnic
backgrounds benefit from a diverse, multicultural education that encourages positive, fluid rela-
tionships (Roberts, 2010). What was apparent in each class observed was that students were not
sitting in a silent class. They were chatting with their friends, chatting with one another, and
writing things down at the same time. It appeared that students were not paying attention, but
then someone would raise his or her hand and ask a question that was relevant to what the teacher
was saying. Mrs Atkins said that it was because students “like to talk,” so she designed her
lessons so that students had an opportunity to “talk all of the time.” Instructional practices and
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 110
related educational experiences have to be constructed in ways that address and are responsive to
students’ varying needs due to the range of differences that students bring into the classroom and
the social context in which they live and learn (Gay, 2010; T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson-Billings,
2009; Milner, 2010). Mrs. Atkins continued the discussion with the researcher by explaining that
in certain areas, people “call in the SWAT [Special Weapons Attack Team]” instead of having
peaceful conversations and negotiations. She argued that
students are dealing with more than we can even fathom, so it’s important to use who they
are in order to “experiment.” Each lesson will look differently, year after year, if it is truly
based on who the students are in a particular class.
Mrs. Atkins’s explanations challenged the notion that there is a one-size-fits-all approach
to learning. It calls for equitable experiences for students and challenges the idea that if students
are given an equal education, in that they are all delivered the same content in the same way, they
will learn. Such thinking contributes to the institutionalized system that perpetuates the benefit
and advantage of White people (Tatum, 1997) and disadvantages minoritized students.
Mrs. Gaspar, like Mrs. Atkins, understood the magnitude of the social context of educa-
tion. She recognized that her students had a variety of educational and socioemotional needs that
had to be met. She explained that
everyone has a school story. I almost dread telling people what I do for a living because of
it. Usually their school story is very negative. I always seek to decide on what life is like
for my students, and what are those things that I need to pay close attention to when I’m
working to engage my students in learning, and how can I make that happen.
She went on to discuss how educators have to be aware of their students’ backgrounds and their
likes and dislikes; they should not lead with a “get-over-it” attitude but rather facilitate learning.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 111
Mrs. Gaspar’s explanation highlighted the importance of engaging students in the process to own
their individuality, so that their “school story” does not have to turn out negatively. Learning and
development cannot be disassociated from their context. How learners interact with their worlds
informs their thinking (Alfred, 2009; Schunk & Pajares, 2004). When teachers are sensitive to the
needs of their students, students encounter engaging learning opportunities that contribute to their
overall academic success.
These explanations are examples of teachers abandoning context-neutral mindsets to
develop effective learning experiences for students. What Ladson-Billings (2014) tried to explain
was that gender and age had much to do with CRP, as did race. Instruction that is relevant to
students’ needs on all levels is imperative and supports the notion of cultural competence that
encourages students to appreciate their history, culture, and traditions while developing valuable
understanding and aptitude in other cultures. The goal is for students to become “multiculturally
competent” (Ladson-Billings, 2017, p. 88) and able to code switch when necessary. The teacher
participants’ willingness to allow students the opportunity to make mistakes and to contribute to
the curriculum engaged them in the learning process and helped them to develop fundamental
skills in how to respond appropriately in a variety of settings.
Collaboration. Teacher pedagogy should be arranged in ways that enable students to use
cultural forms of expression, interpretation, and analysis (T. C. Howard, 2010). Upon entering
each classroom, it was noticeable to the researcher that the desks were arranged to facilitate col-
laboration and class discussion. Mrs. Gaspar’s room setup was comprised of several groups of six
or seven. Mrs. Atkins positioned her desks in a horseshoe. Mrs. Casey’s design consisted of nine
groups of four. At first glance, one might believe that the lesson that the researcher was observing
occasioned the arrangement; however, after observing again and speaking to the teacher
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 112
participant, she realized that the design was intentional and that the rationale was a desire for
student collaboration. Knowledge emerges through collaboration rather than via a single
authoritative voice at the helm of the discussion (Ladson-Billings, 1995b). When asked about the
seat assignments in her class, Mrs. Gaspar explained that “the students are sitting in groups, so
there’s natural collaboration going on. I used to think we teach . . . there are supposed to be rows,
and students shouldn’t talk, but there is so much power in discussion.”
By arranging her students’ desks into collaborative groups, Mrs. Gaspar empowered her
students to create meaning out of what transpired in the classroom through consistent dialogue
with one another. In doing so, the expert–novice relationship was able to undergo a shift in that
students were able to take on the role of expert as they began to understand the curriculum and
elaborate on instruction with their peers. Vygotsky (1978) emphasized that what a child
accomplishes through cooperative learning and scaffolding today can be reproduced independ-
ently tomorrow. Mrs. Gaspar continued:
It’s English; they have to have discussions, and they can come to individual understand-
ings after that. So let’s break it down into roles. I try to make sure that we can do
something collaborative each day and for as long as time allows, considering our multi-
tude of standards. So for instance, for the lesson that was observed, the rhetorical précis
will come at the end of their collaboration, and it’s great to have the discussion before
each person is expected to show me their individual part.
While students had an opportunity to work together to gain deeper understandings of the
content, they were also each held accountable for producing their own authentic work. Requiring
students to work as a group and then produce individual work allowed students the opportunity to
reexamine their own thinking and understanding of the material and legitimized the collaboration
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 113
process and their personal perspectives as part of the official curriculum. When CRP is incorpo-
rated with fidelity, teachers challenge conventional scripts by importing the culture and everyday
experiences of the students into literacy learning (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Mrs. Gaspar acknowl-
edged her traditional way of thinking about the delivery of content and the execution of instruc-
tion and then challenged herself to identify a more contemporary approach to teaching and
learning. In doing so, students understood that they were expected to excel individually and to be
able to share their expertise with their peers.
The collaborative process also helps to address the concern of some teachers when it
comes to assessment strategies. To illustrate, Mrs. Atkins explained:
The collaborative process allows me to gauge whether or not my students are understand-
ing. . . . It helps me to understand where I need to reteach and when my students are ready
for me to move on. As I circulate my room, I’m able to hear the students who have a
better understanding of the material and observe the students who are gaining insight from
their peers. It allows me to conduct formative assessments as well. I can ask students
who are not participating questions to prompt them to engage in the conversation and to
contribute to the analysis of the text. It also helps me to gauge the overall classroom
climate. Is there tension today? Are my students tired? Have they studied? . . . Collabo-
ration is just as important to education as education in and of itself . . . at least that’s my
thought.
Mrs. Atkins’s strategy helped her to provide additional instruction wherever necessary and
to figure out ways to engage students who were not participating in the collaborative structure of
her class. The collaboration also allowed students to share their knowledge with peers and to use
the collective knowledge of their groups to transfer short-term conversations into long-term
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 114
understandings. Through collaboration, students were able to engage with the curriculum as a
community of learners rather than individual competitors and to embrace responsibility for the
academic success of their peers (Ladson-Billings, 1995b). Additionally, students were able to
receive immediate and relevant feedback from their teacher and to assess their own learning so
that they could make corrections wherever necessary and achieve in challenging areas.
When asked about collaboration in her English classes, Mrs. Casey explained that her
students are
always collaborating. I use Kagan Cooperative Learning in my class. If students are
lacking energy, I will have them get out their whiteboards and write an answer, and get up
and explain/justify the answer to a partner. This is called Rally Coach.
Mrs. Casey established norms in her class and did not allow her students to engage in
whole-group discussions before having a conversation about the norms. During one observation,
she paused before beginning the group share and reminded students of their responsibilities to one
another:
Mrs. Casey: Okay, when someone else is talking, what should the rest of us be doing?
Students:
4
Listening.
Mrs. Casey: Why do we want to make sure that we are listening?
Students: Because everyone’s opinion matters.
Mrs. Casey: And what are we telling people when we aren’t listening to them when they
speak?
Students: That their opinion does not matter.
Mrs. Casey: And do we ever want anyone to feel like their opinion doesn’t matter?
4
Students answered in chorus.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 115
Students: No.
Mrs. Casey: Great, now we can begin . . .
Mrs. Casey’s conversation with her students illustrated a culturally relevant classroom manage-
ment technique of the teacher as authoritarian, assisting students in understanding and maintaining
high expectations for themselves and their peers (Ladson-Billings, 1995b). Students were able to
respond to verbal cues about their expectations and knew that their teacher would hold them
accountable for their actions during the collaboration process in class.
Each teacher emphasized during their lessons the importance of the collaborative process,
as well as their expectations that students should respect each other and that learning takes place
every day, in and out of the classroom. The collaborative process helped some students to lower
their intrinsic load while engaging in tasks and assisted others in achieving self-efficacy and
mastery of the content.
The participants implicitly and explicitly discussed race as an important factor in develop-
ing their lessons and instructional designs. When race was implemented implicitly, teachers
chose materials and characters who closely resembled their students, such as Martin Luther King
or Ice Cube. When race was implemented explicitly, teachers drew attention to the fact that they
needed to find books that appealed to a certain race or culture and gave students the ability to
choose, thus empowering them to take ownership for their own curricular opportunities and
learning outcomes—a tenet of CRP (Ladson-Billings, 1995a; Milner, 2017). With race and
culture celebrated and teachers giving students access to collaborate, to engage in meaningful and
interesting curriculum, and to build meaningful relationships with them, the gap in opportunity for
marginalized students to feel like valuable members of society who have something to contribute
to the world has the possibility of closing (Milner, 2017).
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 116
Chapter Summary
The incorporation of CRP in classroom instruction is essential in shaping the way that
students think, feel, and learn. Teachers have an awesome responsibility to ensure that their
students receive equitable opportunities to achieve at high levels. “Racism lies at the center, not
at the periphery; in the permanent, not the fleeting; in the real lives of black and white people, not
in the sentimental caverns of the mind” (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 84). Based on the present
study and the findings, it is evident that the incorporation of CRP in ELA classes is an act of
social justice. Properly implemented, CRP empowers students to become co-constructors of
knowledge, to engage in the conversations happening in the classroom, and to transfer their
knowledge to academic and social settings with fidelity. CRP also incorporates student culture
into the curriculum and instruction and encourages students to maintain and sustain it. Finally,
CRP engages students by challenging them through learning opportunities that are inspiring and
innovative to assist them in meaning making and developing cultural competency (Milner, 2017;
Paris, 2012). If educators are to close the gap in opportunity to ensure equitable outcomes for
African American students, it is imperative that the powers that be advocate for accurate and fair
representation of African American culture in curriculum and incorporate pedagogical practices
that will aid in the academic success of these students. Through the practice of CRP, students are
given an opportunity to learn in meaningful ways that may afford them the opportunity and
capacity to grow and develop into lifelong learners and ultimately benefit from the closing of the
opportunity gap.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 117
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
This study examined the role of historic factors and systemic racism, oppression, and
discrimination within the education system regarding the progress of African American high
school students in ELA. The researcher sought to understand how teachers enacted CRP in high
school English classes to engage their African American students and to decrease the opportunity
gap for more equitable academic outcomes. At the time of the study, there was a disproportionate
number of African American students in California public high schools who were not performing
at the same level as their White contemporaries in ELA (CDE, 2016a). The data, which showed a
40% gap between African American students and their White peers, illuminated the need for
schools to examine theoretical practices such as CRP as potential ways to address the disparities
in opportunity for African American students.
The problem is important to address because the testing achievement data could have been
an indicator as to why only 68% of African American students were graduating high school in the
state of California (Snyder et al., 2017). To address the disproportionately low numbers of
African American students meeting or exceeding content standards in ELA, educators could
benefit from solid examples of pedagogical practices in order to make informed decisions
concerning instruction in ELA to provide African American students with the opportunities to
exceed the national goals of educational excellence, high school graduation, and college accep-
tance and to excel in their social, economic, and intellectual goals (Snyder et al., 2017).
State performance indicators labeled the academic success or failure of students in terms
of achievement; however, some scholars sought to challenge those traditional measures, citing
that they did not account for all aspects of schooling and encouraging deficit model thinking,
particularly when it related to students of color (T. C. Howard, 2010; Milner, 2010; Ogbu &
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 118
Simons, 1998; Stanton-Salazar, 1997). The thought was that focusing on the achievement gap
was negligent, because it placed students of color at a deficit compared to their White counterparts
and essentially blamed them for the disparities in education when the real contributing factor to
low performance was the gap in opportunity (Ladson-Billings, 2013; Milner 2012). The term
opportunity gap (Milner 2010) was adopted to draw attention to the impact that the larger struc-
tures in the educational system had on the education and development of African American
students. To address these inequities, educators needed (a) information explaining what CRP
looks like when enacted in ELA classes and (b) strategies to integrate the instructional approach
into their classroom teaching, school- and district-wide initiatives, as well as preservice teacher
preparation.
In this qualitative study, the researcher used purposeful sampling to select one comprehen-
sive high school with an African American student population of 11%, nearly twice the average
for public schools in the state of California. The principal of the selected site recommended three
English teachers for the study whom he felt had shown evidence of enacting CRP in their class-
rooms. Over the course of 1 month, a total of six observations and six interviews were conducted.
Data were collected to address the following research questions:
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students using
CRP explain their understanding and enactment of CRP?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
CRP within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures?
In the following sections, the researcher provides a discussion of her findings and implications for
practice and future research.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 119
Discussion of Findings
While exploring teachers’ understanding and enactment of CRP in high school English
classes, six distinct themes emerged: connection, community, teachers’ histories, rapport, engage-
ment, and collaboration. Figure 2 outlines the two research questions that drove this study and the
themes that emerged through the analysis of the data.
Research questions
Number of emergent
themes List of themes
#1: How do high school English
teachers of primarily African
American students using CRP ex-
plain their understanding and en-
actment of CRP?
3
1. Connecting to student’s
background
2. Establishing community
through relationships
3. Teachers’ histories
#2: How do high school English
teachers of primarily African
American students enact CRP
within the sociohistorical con-
straints of school structures?
3
1. Rapport
2. Student engagement
3. Collaboration
Figure 2. Research questions and themes generated. CRP = culturally relevant pedagogy.
As indicated in Figure 2, the first research question asked teachers to explain their
understanding and enactment of CRP. Three themes emerged from the data that assisted the
researcher in answering the question: connecting to students’ backgrounds, establishing commu-
nity through relationships, and teachers’ histories.
According to the data gathered in this study, connecting students’ backgrounds to the
curriculum requires teachers to adopt a belief system that values the lived experiences of their
students. Additionally, teachers must work toward obtaining knowledge of their students’ back-
grounds and the context in which they are learning to create accessible, rigorous, and empowering
learning opportunities for students. The participants embraced the sometimes uncomfortable
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 120
discussions (e.g., racial slurs, racism, and taboo interests) to assist their students in becoming
co-constructors of the curricula. Teachers felt that they held a significant power over their peda-
gogy and that it was their influence that would determine whether or not a student was successful
in their class. They emphasized that in order to establish community, students would need to
reach a certain level of comfort and feel valued by their peers and their teachers. Teachers also
felt that having high expectations for students’ success also helped to establish community and
create positive environments for their students. Throughout the study, it became apparent that the
background and history of the participants played an intricate role in how they approached their
pedagogy and, in turn, enacted their understanding of CRP. Although only two participants came
from historically marginalized groups, all three shared life -altering experiences that encouraged
them to become teachers and to view students through an asset lens.
Figure 2 also indicates that the second research question was centered around how
teachers enact CRP in English classes. The findings indicated that the teachers had a noticeable
rapport with their students. They served as warm demanders, listened to their students, and
addressed their varying needs. Students appeared comfortable with their teachers and responded
well to their redirection and overall instruction. The rapport also assisted teachers in developing
student engagement. Students responded well to topics and activities that interested them.
Content that was more difficult for students to attend to was made more interesting by their
teachers through research, the element of student choice, and special attention to lesson develop-
ment. The participants also encouraged student collaboration; they arranged their classrooms in
such a way that collaboration would naturally happen because of the seating design. Teachers
served as facilitators of cooperative learning and allowed the voices of their students to impact
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 121
their understanding of curriculum, thereby making them co-constructors of the curricula and
classroom environment and climate.
It is important to note that while much of the study aligned with what current research says
about CRP, some aspects of the observations challenged the nuances and ambiguities of the
theory, particularly concerning the notion that culturally relevant teachers maintain high expecta-
tions for their students and approach their practice with an insistence on creating and maintaining
structured classroom environments (Ladson-Billings, 1995a). During one particular observation
of Mrs. Atkins’s class, the researcher described the class as “rowdy.” Students were working
through the lesson of “the love letter.” What was notable about that particular lesson was that
although the dynamics of the class seemed a bit chaotic, students did not miss portions of the
instruction. When the teacher had to serve as a warm demander, she did so and her students
complied with her requests. Having worked in environments such as the one sampled for the
research study as well as in environments that stood in stark contrast to the setting observed, the
researcher was able to see the difference that school and personal culture played in how CRP was
interpreted and implemented.
In schools that had a similar percentage of minoritized youth, the researcher observed
students being given the same freedoms that were allowed in the classes observed for the study.
In schools that had a higher percentage of White students, the idea of high expectations and
structure was interpreted to include a certain rigidity where the class environment and instruction
lacked the flexibility and fluidity of the classes observed for the study. In the second setting,
students from minoritized groups were often sent to conference with school administrators for
enacting many of the behaviors exhibited by students observed in this research study, often
resulting in the administrator taking disciplinary action against the student. Even under the
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 122
guidelines of a progressive discipline policy, marginalized students who offended by talking out
of turn or for lack of compliance quickly ended up being suspended. Upon their return to school,
these students entered their classes days behind their peers regarding access to curriculum and
instruction. Students were then expected to catch up on their own—a situation often resulting in
task avoidance, thus perpetuating the cycle of misbehavior, punishment, and denial of curriculum.
This is why CRP challenges teachers to evaluate their own feelings about race, ethnicity, and
culture and to use their understanding of student culture to engage students in the creation of
cultural competence and why how a teacher views the world can have a lasting positive or
negative effect on the students that he or she teaches (Milner, 2017).
Implications for Practice and Research
The voices of African American students are often stifled due to the sociopolitical
demands of public school education. Because people do not know what they do not know, it is
imperative that educators who are entering the field do so equipped with the knowledge and
resources necessary to assist students in achieving academic success. It is also pertinent that
veteran educators are provided with opportunities for continued education related to CRP and
other equitable practices. Research shows that student achievement does not depend solely on the
race of the student or the effort that they put forth. Much of student achievement has to do with
the opportunity that students are given, throughout the educational process, to succeed (Darling-
Hammond, 1998; T. C. Howard, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 2017; Milner, 2012). In this section the
researcher will describe the resources from which educators can benefit as they navigate their
enactment of CRP in ELA.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 123
Implications for Practice
One implication for policy and practice is that there must be more training for teachers as
it relates to CRP. What the study revealed is that what the teachers enacted in their classrooms
and with their students had much to do with their race, culture, background, and belief system.
What people believe, including their biases and prejudices about people, deeply influences how
others relate to them and inevitably how they are taught (Gorski & Pothini, 2013; T. C. Howard,
2010; Ullucci, 2007). Teacher education programs that focus on CRP as an important factor of
pedagogy can help teachers to challenge their own personal belief systems so that they can deliver
content in ways that give students a voice, draw them to the curriculum, and provide them with
the opportunity for success. Teachers are a resource; their teaching is often based on the assump-
tions that are developed by their understanding of the world, which is deeply influenced by their
racial and cultural identity (Romanowski, 1996). Based on the findings of this study, educators
need professional development on strategies pertaining to the social and cultural context of
students and how they can use the information that they acquire about their students to design
challenging and engaging curricula that enhance instructional opportunities for students (Milner,
2017). Many African American students are forced to leave their day-to-day lives behind when
they arrive at school and assimilate to the culture of the school. Pedagogy and educational experi-
ences must be designed in ways that address the varying needs of all students and are responsive
to the sociocultural context in which students live and learn (Gay, 2010; T. C. Howard, 2010;
Ladson-Billings, 2009; Milner 2010, 2012). Minoritized students have been expected to divorce
themselves from their cultures and to learn based on the cultural norms of European Americans
(Gay, 2002); therefore, teachers must provide the capacity for students to connect to the curricu-
lum. Milner (2017) suggested that teacher educators should also examine their own race as they
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 124
prepare professional development opportunities for prospective teachers. Essentially, teacher
educators should move beyond simply looking at CRT as merely a theoretical approach and
instead work toward ways to assist teacher practitioners in their efforts to put the theory to
practice. The findings of this study indicated that teachers, with the proper training, can learn to
infuse culturally relevant, ethnically diverse supplemental material and instructional strategies that
are unique to students into the existing state–district curricula.
Another implication for practice lies in teachers’ ability to structure social relationships
with their students. The teachers in this study truly believed in the potential of their students and
held themselves responsible for facilitating the unveiling of that potential. As evidenced by the
research findings, students benefit from teachers taking time to develop relationships with them
and then using those relationships to facilitate learning. When teachers work toward building
rapport with their students, they can teach the whole child rather than fragmented, disconnected
students (Milner, 2012). With that in mind, teachers should plan classroom activities and
structures that provide emotionally and intellectually safe environments that celebrate students
and in addition provide opportunities for culturally compatibility (Whaley & Noël, 2010).
Teachers should refrain from generalizing students based on their age, gender, and ethnicity and
view their students as individuals worthy of developing individualized relationships that work for
them. However, race does have to be emphasized when developing instruction to support
marginalized students in getting the educational opportunities that they so highly deserve (Milner,
2017).
Other implications for practice surround student engagement and collaboration. The study
reveals that through collaboration, students were able to work together to become co-constructors
of knowledge. It is important for teachers to give clear guidelines for cooperative learning, sup-
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 125
ported intergroup relationships, and to model positive behaviors to foster relationships among
different groups of people (Allport 1954; Siegel-Hawley, 2012). Through cooperative learning,
teachers can also give their students the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge verbally, rather
than in written form, and incorporate their students’ discourse patterns into lessons that are helpful
and important for their academic success.
Implications for Future Research
The current research on CRP offers broad understandings of its implementation in K-12
schools. Most of the research focuses on CRP implemented in K-8 classrooms rather than
including a high school perspective. Therefore, future research should incorporate specific
subject matter strategies for secondary English teachers to address this gap in the research. Addi-
tionally, future research should show correlations between the implementation of CRP and
academic achievement for African American students so as to illustrate how providing the oppor-
tunity for CRP can increase the academic proficiency of minoritized students in the area of ELA.
Each of the participants were either members of minoritized groups or had personal educational
experiences with historically marginalized students. Delpit (1988) argued that White teachers are
often not prepared to teach diverse students and default to habits based on their educational
experiences—a factor that contributes to the gap in accessible learning opportunities for African
American students. Because White teachers comprise 82% of public school teachers (USDOE,
Evaluation and Policy Development, 2016), and many come from different cultural experiences
both in and outside of the classroom, a benefit could be found in future research that assists
teachers in strategies to connect them to their students and the communities in which they serve.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 126
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to examine how the role of historic factors and systemic
racism and oppression within the education system has impacted the progress of African
American high school students in ELA. The researcher sought to understand how teachers using
CRP were incorporating the theory to engage their students for more equitable academic out-
comes. This qualitative study captured the overall understanding and beliefs on CRP held by
three teachers with varying years of service in the teaching profession. These individuals
demonstrated how they enacted CRP in their English classes.
The first research question was how high school English teachers of primarily African
American students using CRP explained their understanding and enactment of CRP. The findings
were in alignment with the literature on CRT, SCT, and CRP. Teachers celebrated their students
lived experiences by incorporating their frames of reference into the curriculum, thus affirming
and empowering them intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically (Gay 2000, 2002;
Ladson-Billings, 1995b). Teachers did not explicitly state that race played a definitive factor in
their instructional decision making; however, teachers used the context in which students were
living to inform their thinking and to transmit academic knowledge (Banks, 1996; Carter, 2005).
Teachers challenged the dominant culture by allowing students to share their experiences openly
and to use those experiences as critical pieces valuable in the analysis and understanding of
traditional classroom literature, thus providing voice to the historically marginalized population
(Matsuda, 1995).
The second research question was how high school English teachers of primarily African
American students enact CRP within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures. The
findings showed that teachers who enact CRP and who build rapport engage students in the
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 127
learning process and promote collaboration. Here the researcher noticed a bridge between SCT
and CRP in that there existed noticeable expectations for both students and teachers, a respect for
authority and peers, and intentional community-building opportunities. Alfred (2009) asserted
that CRP incorporates individual learning, social learning, and the characteristics that the learner
brings to the classroom. By intentionally building rapport with students and encouraging engage-
ment and collaboration, the participants were able to bridge the experiences of both home and
school cultures for their students.
The current state of public education still places minoritized students at a disadvantage.
African American youth continue to be blamed for achievement gaps, while the system that has
failed to provide the opportunity for these students to succeed remains unchallenged. Students
learn quickly that in order to be academically successful, they must divorce themselves from their
culture and behaviors and comply with the academic structure of the dominant culture. When this
situation happens, students are rendered invisible because their culture or way of being does not
fit the mold that some schools and teachers cast for what a good student looks like. CRP seeks to
grant these students the opportunity to showcase their value and worth and to engage in curricula
and academic experiences that are meaningful and relevant. As defined by Ladson-Billings
(1995a), CRP is “humanizing pedagogy that respects and uses the reality, history, and perspec-
tives of students as an integral part of the educational practice” (p. 180). When this is done with
fidelity, African American students who have had to endure the weight of historical systemic
racism, oppression, and prejudice can see a decrease in the gap opportunity for them and an
increase in achievement.
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Appendix A
Introduction Email to Prospective Site Principals
Dear _______________,
I am a doctoral student in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern Cali-
fornia, and am conducting an educational research study as part of my dissertation process. The
purpose of my study is to examine how effective high school English teachers are incorporating
targeted cultural pedagogies into their practice. The purpose of this email is to request a brief,
ten-minute meeting with you to discuss my study to see if it would be possible to conduct my
study at your site, with a few of your teachers.
As I will review with you during our meeting, if you do decide to allow participation at your
school site, any and all information obtained in this study will remain confidential and the
participants will remain anonymous.
Thank you for taking the time to read my request. Please let me know if it will be possible to
accommodate my request for a meeting, and if so, what dates and time work best for you.
Sincerely,
Andrea Poma
USC Doctoral Student
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 149
Appendix B
Follow-up Phone Call Protocol for Prospective Site Principals
Hello, _______________:
My name is Andrea Poma, and I am a doctoral student in the Rossier School of Education at the
University of Southern California, and am conducting an educational research study as part of my
dissertation process. The purpose of my study is to examine how effective high school English
teachers are incorporating targeted cultural pedagogies into their practice. The reason for my call
is to follow up with you about an email that I recently sent requesting a brief, 10- minute meeting
with you to discuss my study to see if it would be possible to conduct my study at your site, with a
few of your teachers.
As I will review with you during our meeting, if you do decide to allow participation at your
school site, any and all information obtained in this study will remain confidential and the
participants will remain anonymous.
Please let me know if it will be possible to accommodate my request for a meeting, and if so,
what dates and time work best for you.
Thank you for your time and have a nice day.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 150
Appendix C
Introduction Email to Prospective Participants
Dear _______________,
I am a doctoral student in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern Cali-
fornia and am conducting an educational research study as part of my dissertation process. The
purpose of my study is to examine how effective high school English teachers are incorporating
targeted cultural pedagogies into their practice. My study asks the following questions:
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students, using
culturally relevant pedagogy, explain their understanding and enactment of culturally
relevant pedagogy?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
culturally relevant pedagogy within the socio-historical constraints of school structures?
I am currently a 10th-grade English language arts teacher and am interested in understanding how
culturally relevant pedagogy works in order to contribute to further investigation and growth in
this area, and the purpose of this email is to request your participation in this study. If you do
decide to participate, any and all information obtained in this study will remain confidential and
the participants will remain anonymous.
Thank you for taking the time to read my request. Feel free to contact me with any questions that
you may have about my study, or the process. I am grateful for your help, and I hope to be able to
learn from your participation.
Sincerely,
Andrea Poma
USC Doctoral Student
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 151
Appendix D
Follow-up Phone Call to Potential Participants
Hello, ____________:
I am a doctoral student in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern Cali-
fornia and am conducting an educational research study as part of my dissertation process. The
reason for this call is to follow up on an email that was recently sent to you. The purpose of my
study is to examine how effective high school English teachers are incorporating targeted cultural
pedagogies into their practice. My study asks the following questions:
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students, using
culturally relevant pedagogy, explain their understanding and enactment of culturally
relevant pedagogy?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
culturally relevant pedagogy within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures?
I am currently a 10th-grade English language arts teachers and am interested in understanding
how culturally relevant pedagogy works in order to contribute to further investigation and growth
in this area, and the purpose of this phone call is to request your participation in this study. If you
do decide to participate, any and all information obtained in this study will remain confidential
and the participants will remain anonymous.
If you have questions about the study or the process, I am free to answer them for you now. I am
grateful for your help, and I hope to be able to learn from your participation.
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 152
Appendix E
Observation Protocol
Date
Observation Time/
Location
Teacher
Additional Comments Observation Notes:
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 153
Appendix F
Interview Protocol
Thank you again for your willingness to set aside time to participate in my study. As previously
mentioned, this interview should last about an hour. If you do not have any questions for me, I
would like to have your permission to begin the interview. I have brought a recorder with me
today so that I can accurately capture what you share with me. The recording is solely for my
purposes to best capture your perspectives and will not be shared with anyone else. May I also
have your permission to record our conversation?
Personal Reminder of Interview Questions:
1. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students, using
culturally relevant pedagogy, explain their understanding and enactment of culturally
relevant pedagogy?
2. How do high school English teachers of primarily African American students enact
culturally relevant pedagogy within the sociohistorical constraints of school structures?
Setting the Stage
I’d like to start by asking you some background questions about yourself and your class.
Question
# Question
Research
Question #
1 First, can you tell me about your background in education?
• How long have you been teaching?
• How long have you worked in your discipline?
• How long have you worked at your school site? For your dis-
trict?
• Tell me about any leadership roles you’ve held in your depart-
ment, if any.
• What other positions have you held in the field of education?
1
2 What made you decide to become a teacher?
• To what extent did your cultural background influence your
decision to teach?
" Why do you believe you were influenced by these factors?
• What academic factors influenced your decision to teach?
1
3 How many students do you teach throughout the course of your
day?
• How many students are in each class?
• How many female students are in your classes?
• How many male students do you teach?
• How many students who are not classified as White or Asian do
you teach?
• How many African American students do you teach?
1
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 154
Now I would like to ask you some questions about your definition, understanding, and
explanation of culturally relevant pedagogy, as well as how it is enacted in your class.
4 What does the term pedagogy mean to you? 1
5 What does it mean for pedagogy to be culturally relevant? 1
6 What role does culture play in teaching and learning? 1
7 What types of beginning-of-the-year rituals do you have in your
class?
2
8 How do you decide which instructional strategies you will use
during the course of a lesson?
• Can you give me an example?
2
9 What role does your students’ culture play when developing a
lesson and/or unit of study?
• Can you give me an example of some activities that you
incorporate that speak to your students’ interests?
• How do you go about determining the interests of your stu-
dents?
2
10 What role does your students’ lifestyle play when developing a
lesson and/or unit of study?
• What are some strategies that you use to incorporate student
lifestyle into your curriculum?
2
11 To what extent does your students’ family lives influence your
pedagogy?
• What are some strategies that you use to include families into
the curriculum?
2
12 To what extent doe student language influence your pedagogy? 2
13 What are some strategies that you use in order to make connections
with your students and build rapport?
2
14 How do you facilitate student collaboration in class? 2
15 Tell me about a time when you felt your students were engaged in
your lesson.
• What was your lesson?
• What culturally relevant strategies did you implement?
2
16 How do you engage students in the critical thinking process? 1 & 2
17 What types of activities do you have your students do that encour-
age them to use their learned critical thinking skills out in the
community and the real world?
1 & 2
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 155
18 How do you handle the discussion of sensitive subjects in class,
which may relate to students personally?
1 & 2
CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH 156
Appendix G
Confirmation Email to Participants
Dear _____________:
First, I would like to thank you for your willingness to set aside time to participate in my study.
As previously mentioned, our scheduled interview is on [date] at [time] and should last about an
hour. Please respond to this email to confirm our interview appointment time.
Before our interview, I would like to remind you of the context of my study and answer any
questions that you may have about participating in my interview. I have structured my line of
inquiry around the topic of culturally relevant pedagogy in high school English language arts
classes. I am particularly interested in understanding how core content area teachers understand
and enact the pedagogy in order to engage their African American students. I am observing
multiple classrooms and talking to multiple teachers to learn more about this.
The information that I collect will not be used in any way, other than for my research. I will not
be sharing this information with any administrators or colleagues. I will be using a pseudonym to
protect your identity and will try my best to de-identify you in the data, as I compile my report.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to receiving your interview con-
firmation.
Thank you,
Andrea Poma
Abstract (if available)
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Creator
Poma, Andrea Lynnette
(author)
Core Title
The opportunity gap: culturally relevant pedagogy in high school English classes
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Education (Leadership)
Publication Date
06/12/2018
Defense Date
04/09/2018
Publisher
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Tag
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achievement gap
African American high school students
African American students
critical race theory
culturally relevant pedagogy
educational debt
equity
high school English
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minoritized
opportunity gap
socio-cultural theory