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The disproportionality of African Americans in special education programs: an exploratory study
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Content
Running head: AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 1
THE DISPROPORTIONALITY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
PROGRAMS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
By
Jerrilynn Miles
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
May 2019
Copyright 2019 Jerrilynn Miles
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 2
DEDICATION
I dedicate this dissertation to my husband Mark who encouraged me and supported me
throughout this process. To my mother Betty who supported me, encouraged me, and let me
know that I could accomplish anything in life.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I would like to thank the most important person in my life, my wonderful husband
Mark. You made sure that there was dinner ready for me when I returned home from the library
every night. Thank you for making sure I did not sit in front of my computer all day without
eating and letting me know when it was time for me to take a break from writing. You were there
for me every step of the way and understood when we had to miss quality time with each other
on the weekends. Your unconditional love gave me the strength and the determination I needed
to obtain this prestigious degree.
To my mother, who instilled in me the importance of an education. Thank you for the
prayers, encouraging words, and the support you gave me. You were always available to listen
during the difficult times I experienced during this process. Thank you for instilling in me the
love of learning and I will be forever grateful to you for shaping me to be the woman I am today.
I would like to give a special thank you to my dissertation chair, Dr. Artineh Samkian.
Your unwavering support got me through this program. You made the bumps in the road feel
like pebbles. Your continued encouragement and positivity helped me through the rough patches.
I appreciated your feedback and your “Does that make sense” comments. That always made me
smile because when you said it, it made sense. Thank you so much for everything. Thank you to
my committee members Dr. Maria Ott and Dr. Darline Robles who inspired me to be a better
leader and a champion for change.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge USC Cohort 5 for their support and encouragement
throughout this journey. A special thanks to my friend Estella Chavarin. Thank you for your
support, encouragement, pep talks, and being a true friend. We finally did it!
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication 2
Acknowledgements 3
List of Tables 6
List of Figures 7
Abstract 8
Chapter One: Introduction 9
Organization Context and Mission 10
Organizational Performance Goal 11
Related Literature 11
Importance of the Study 14
Description of Stakeholder Groups 15
Stakeholders’ Performance Goals 16
Stakeholder Group for the Study 17
Purpose of the Project and Questions 19
Methodological Approach 19
Definitions 20
Organization of Project 21
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature 22
Special Education 22
Implicit Bias 23
Differentiated Instruction 25
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 26
Stakeholder and Knowledge and Motivation Influences 28
Knowledge and Skills 28
Motivation 35
Organizational Influences 39
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Motivation
and the Organizational Context 42
Conclusion 46
Chapter Three: Methods 47
Participating Stakeholders 47
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale 48
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale 49
Data Collection and Instrumentation 50
Interviews 50
Data Analysis 51
Credibility and Trustworthiness 52
Ethics 53
Limitations and Delimitations 55
Chapter Four: Findings 57
Knowledge 57
Strong Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge of Differentiated Instruction 57
General Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 61
Knowledge of the Importance of Students’ Cultural Differences 66
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 5
Motivation 69
Confidence in Evaluating Implementation of Differentiated Instruction and Culturally
Relevant Pedagogy 69
Teachers Value Differentiated Instruction and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 73
Teachers saw the importance of being unbiased when working with students of color 76
Organization 80
Teachers reported general satisfaction with the organization/school’s provision of
academic supports and resources. 80
Support for Differentiated Instruction, but not Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 84
Chapter Five: Discussion and Recommendations 93
Implication for Practice 93
Recommendations for Practice 95
Knowledge Recommendations 95
Motivation Recommendations 96
Organization Recommendations 96
Future Research 97
Conclusion 98
References 100
Appendix A: Interview Protocols 111
Appendix B: Consent Form 116
Appendix C: Recruitment Letter 118
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 6
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Organizational Performance Goal and Stakeholder Goals 16
Table 2: Knowledge Influences on Stakeholders 35
Table 3: Motivational Influences on Stakeholders 39
Table 4: Organizational Influences on Stakeholder 41
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 7
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Conceptual framework. 43
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 8
ABSTRACT
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to implement policies and
procedures to prevent inappropriate and disproportionate representation of students by race
and/or ethnicity. However, research shows that African American students aged 6 to 21 were 1.5
times more likely to receive special education services. The problem lies in educators’ inability
to target specific areas of need using differentiated instruction and culturally relevant
supplemental materials to address their academic needs of at-risk and diverse students. The
current study explored special education teachers’ perspectives on what they do in the classroom
to prevent overrepresentation of African Americans in referrals to special education programs
and how differentiated instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy could address the problem of
disproportionality. The results indicated that participants were well trained in differentiated
instruction, but they lacked training and support in culturally relevant pedagogy. Potential
implications and explanations along with recommendations for practice and future research are
discussed.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 9
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
This study addressed the disproportionate representation of African Americans in special
education. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to implement
policies and procedures to prevent inappropriate and disproportionate representation of students
by race and/or ethnicity (Zhang, Katsiyannis, Ju, & Roberts, 2014), and state education agencies
are responsible for collecting and examining data annually to determine whether there is a
disproportionate number of members of ethnic/racial minority groups in special education
programs (Bird & Bassin, 2014). Nonetheless, Bird and Bassin (2014) found that African
American students aged 6 to 21 were 1.5 times more likely to receive special education services.
According to Artiles, Kozleski, Trent, Osher, and Ortiz (2010) this group of underserved
students are continually placed in special education. Teachers rely on referring students for
special education rather than providing them with pre-referral intervention and supports they
require to succeed in the general education classroom (Blanchett, Mumford, & Beachum, 2005).
The problem lies in educators’ inability to target specific areas of need using differentiated
instruction (DI) and incorporating culturally relevant supplemental materials to provide diverse
and at-risk students the necessary supports to address their academic needs. Furthermore, the
influence of teacher bias on students’ capabilities and motivation to learn is an important area of
study. Ahram, Fergus, and Noguera (2011) state that students’ placement in special education is
based on beliefs and assumptions of their abilities generated from assessment results. Research
found that teachers often expect African American students to be more difficult than their White
counterparts (Baker, 2005). This study explored teachers’ perspectives on what they do in the
classroom to prevent overrepresentation of African Americans in referrals for special education
and how DI and culturally relevant pedagogy can address the problem of disproportionality by
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 10
considering the knowledge, motivation, and organizational constructs that could be solutions to
this issue.
Organization Context and Mission
Golden Valley Unified School District (pseudonym) is an urban district located in the
Southwestern United States. The district serves students in grades Kindergarten through 12 as
well as infants and preschoolers at primary centers, elementary schools, high schools, span
schools, and charter schools. Golden Valley serves male and female students from diverse ethnic
backgrounds, including Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino, African American, American Indian, Alaska
Native, Asian, Pacific Islander and Filipino. Golden Valley USD’s mission is to provide supports
to schools by cultivating school’s cultures, building schools’ capacity, and eliminating inequities.
To support the mission, the disproportionate number of African American students in special
education must be addressed.
Golden Valley USD’s analysis of initial referrals indicated that the percentage of African
Americans referred for special education was 10.5% during the 2014–2015 school year while
total African American enrollment was 8.5%. However, total enrollment for Latino/Hispanic
students is over 65% and referrals for special education among this population does not exceed
their total enrollment. The number of students receiving special education as well as the cost of
providing special education services increased significantly; currently, the average cost per
special education student is $16,921 (NEA, 2017). School districts are responsible for funding
despite monetary shortfalls from the federal government. This monetary demand affects the
resources districts can provide. Special education services will continue to be costly for Golden
Valley USD because students from diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds are continually
misidentified and referred to these services without exploring other options (Ahram et al., 2011).
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 11
Furthermore, due to the lack of pre-referral interventions and general education classroom
support, teachers rely on special education to address the needs of struggling students (Blanchett
et al., 2005).
Organizational Performance Goal
The Division of Special Education has two key goals aligned with Golden Valley USD’s
strategic plan: improve student outcomes and manage performance. This involves transforming
teaching and learning so that all students will graduate college-prepared and career-ready. To
support these key goals, first, instruction needs to be efficient and effective for all students
(Rosenshine, 2012). This could prevent the inappropriate identification of students requiring
special education supports and services. Achieving these goals requires a restructuring of
teaching to best meet the needs of the diverse student population.
Related Literature
The literature in this section focused on how the problem of overrepresentation has been
addressed by the government and potential underlying reasons students from diverse
ethnic/racial backgrounds are referred for special education to address their academic needs.
Moreover, the influence of teacher biases on the misidentification of African American students
placed in special education is discussed.
The U.S. Department of Education recognizes the problem of overrepresentation of
ethnic minorities, specifically African Americans, in special education (U.S. Department of
Education, 2017). Unfortunately, the enactment of IDEA in 1990 has not prevented the
disproportionality of ethnic minority students in special education despite federal policies and
legislation established to monitor progress. The federal government has played an integral part in
assuring that all students receive appropriate consideration for special education services (Bird &
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 12
Bassin, 2014). IDEA requires states to identify school districts with “significant
disproportionality” in special education to address the issue of inequity (California Department
of Education, 2016, para. 3). Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, and Maczuga (2012) state that, since
2004, local education agencies in the United States are required to apply 15% of their Part B
funds for assistance in the education of all children with disabilities and over-identified students
in the areas of academic and behavior services (Morgan et al., 2012). Since ethnicity and racial
background are recognized as a variable that results in overrepresentation (Zhang et al., 2014),
IDEA also mandates states have policies and procedures to prevent inappropriate over
identification or disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of students with disabilities
(Zhang et al., 2014).
A few explanations for the disproportionate number of African Americans referred for
special education were the lack of DI, culturally relevant pedagogy, and teacher biases that
influence decisions to refer students for special education services, which contributed to the
problem under review. More importantly, districts and schools may need to reevaluate current
systems to determine the causes of a student’s deficiencies, teacher bias, and minority students’
academic and behavioral struggles (Ahram et al., 2011). Differentiated instruction is a tool used
to address the specific needs of each student and to instruct them at their level of understanding.
Differentiated instruction is centered on the student and on making teaching and learning
meaningful for both teacher and student (Allan & Tomlinson, 2000). Furthermore, Vygotsky
posited teaching a student at his or her zone of proximal development, which is what a student
can demonstrate without assistance and what that student can demonstrate with assistance
(Huebner, 2010). Understanding the knowledge a student brings into the classroom will facilitate
the learning experience.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 13
Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has is a promising practice for students from diverse
backgrounds. To effectively prepare teachers for their diverse learners, teachers need to
acknowledge and embrace their student’s diversity and utilize their pluralistic backgrounds and
experiences when developing learning activities in the classroom (Oran, 2009). Furthermore,
teachers must utilize CRP that enables African American students to accept and maintain their
cultural identity while succeeding academically (Ladson-Billings, 1995).
To effectively teach using CRP, teachers must also learn to acknowledge their own
understanding of their students and their backgrounds. Teachers’ biases often cloud their
judgements on students’ capabilities. When a teacher’s ethnic background is different from his or
her students, there may be uncertainty in how to develop a learning environment conducive to
students’ success and in trying to accommodate those differences. Teachers need to recognize the
value of different cultural backgrounds and show students that what they bring to an educational
setting is as important as the curriculum (Baker, 2006). To achieve the goal, teachers need to be
prepared for the differences their students bring to the school environment. Moore (2008) posited
that districts must consider the need to prepare teachers for their diverse classroom environments
and allow them to address their biases and assumptions regarding diversity as well as the biases
that affect their decision to refer a child for special education assessment.
Golden Valley USD’s responsibility is to provide the resources and training for teachers
to facilitate changes that foster academic success for all students. Some teachers are
inexperienced in working with students from diverse backgrounds. Teachers need to become
familiar with the values, beliefs, and cultural practices of their students, along with any aspects
related to their students’ lives, and use that information to design an instructional program that
will facilitate success (Artiles et al., 2010). Therefore, it is important for that teachers receive
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 14
professional development and training in instructional techniques to incorporate their students’
community environment and bridge the gap between students’ home and school experiences
(Vaughan & McLaughlin, 2011).
Importance of the Study
The results of this study may provide the necessary tools and strategies to address the
misidentification and overrepresentation of African Americans placed in special education. In
some instances, some teachers may have lacked the necessary tools to meet the needs of their
students. If they do not have knowledge of how to target their students’ specific needs or the
resources to implement strategies for academic improvement, their students will fall behind their
peers. Also, lack of time or resources to target areas of needs for students who are at risk of not
meeting grade level standards can also have deleterious effect for their students.
In addition, the disproportionality of African American students in special education
programs was important to address because the placement of minority students in special
education is a national problem (Skiba, et al., 2008). These students are often ostracized from
their peers and the mainstream school environment. If we fail to address this widespread
problem, African American students will continue to be isolated from their peers, which could
have a negative lifelong effect through their academic careers. Minority students who are
overrepresented due to being misidentified for special education become stigmatized by being
labeled, which negatively affects their self-esteem as well as their academic achievement
(Gentry, 2009). Lee (2007) argued that minority students in mainstream classes were 2 years
behind their white peers by the end of fourth grade, 3 years behind by the eighth grade and 4
years behind by the twelfth grade. Furthermore, by the eighth grade, only 12% of African
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 15
American boys were proficient in reading (Kunjufu, 2013). Removing these students from their
mainstream environment can lead them to feel further isolated in the learning environment.
Beyond school, misidentification in special education has other implications for students’
life chances. Ahram et al. (2011), in a study on African American students, found that these
students had unfavorable life experiences as a result of being disproportionately overrepresented
in special education. According to Kunjufu (2013), 58% of African American males were in the
state prison system nationwide. These students were more than twice as likely to be subjected to
out-of-school suspensions as their mainstream peers (Bird & Bassin, 2014). Consequently, there
was a direct correlation between the overrepresentation of students of certain ethnic and racial
backgrounds in special education and the disproportionality of students who fell into the juvenile
justice system (Bird & Bassin, 2014). It was important to evaluate this problem because minority
students oftentimes do not receive the academic support needed prior to special education
placement. By focusing on what can be done to support students in their mainstream classrooms,
schools and districts can work to prevent misidentification and the resulting negative
implications for students.
Description of Stakeholder Groups
At Golden Valley USD schools, the administrators, teachers, and teaching assistants are
stakeholders who work closely with students and contribute to achieving the performance goals
set forth by this district. The role of the administrator is to develop a vision of academic success
and high expectations for all students and to develop leadership qualities in teachers and support
staff so that everyone plays an important role in achieving the school’s vision on behalf of
students. The role of the teacher is to deliver high quality and rigorous instruction, encourage all
students to do their best, provide additional support to assist students who need it, and monitor
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 16
the progress of students to ensure they are learning grade level content. The teaching assistants
support the teacher in many areas. They provide follow-up lessons to individual or small groups
as directed by the teacher, assist the teacher, administrator, and other support personnel with
maintaining control inside and outside the classroom, and they are assigned to teach specific
subject matter to a small group of students under the supervision of the teacher. All three of these
stakeholder groups play an important role in and benefit from achievement of the organization’s
goals of decreasing the number of African American students being referred for special
education placement.
Stakeholders ’ Performance Goals
School communities employ a variety of stakeholders entrusted with ensuring success for
all students. Administrators, teachers and teaching assistants each play an integral part in
meeting students’ needs and Golden Valley USD’s organizational goal which is aligned with the
organizational mission. Table 1 shows the relationship between the performance goal and the
role each stakeholder plays in meeting specific goals that will result in the fulfillment of the
organizational performance goal.
Table 1
Organizational Performance Goal and Stakeholder Goals
Organizational Mission
Golden Valley USD’s mission is to provide supports to schools by cultivating school cultures,
build capacity within the schools, and eliminate inequities.
Organizational Performance Goal
By June 2020 teachers at Golden Valley USD’s elementary schools will decrease the number of
African American students referred for special education assessment by 20%.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 17
Table 1, continued
Teachers’ Goal Teaching Assistants’ Goal Administrators’ Goal
By June 2019 100% of Golden
Valley USD teachers will
implement high quality
differentiated instruction and
CRP into their daily
instruction.
By June 2019 all Golden
Valley USD teacher’s
assistants will use the
strategies provided by the
teacher to assist with the
implementation of
differentiated instruction using
small group instruction for the
targeted areas of deficits.
By the end of the 2018/2019
school year all administrators
will provide professional
development on differentiated
instruction and CRP training
for those teachers who need it.
Stakeholder Group for the Study
Although a complete analysis would involve all stakeholder groups, for practical
purposes, the stakeholder group of focus was the Golden Valley USD teachers. This group was
chosen because, oftentimes, it is the teachers’ biases, beliefs, and attitudes about a particular
group of students that influence teaching practices and student placements. Rist (2014)
referenced a school staff member’s belief that only a few African American students would do
well at his school due to their low IQ scores and that the majority of these students would bring
down test scores. This assumption was not based on students’ academic performance. Moreover,
teachers’ beliefs and attitudes about diverse learners was due to most teachers having little or no
experience effectively teaching students whose backgrounds were different from their own (Rist,
2007).
As such, the lack of differentiating instruction that would provide early intervention and
classroom support for struggling students has a negative effect on African American students.
Differentiated instruction gives students learning opportunities that match their level of
understanding and enables them to progress to higher levels of functioning (Reis, McCoach,
Little, Muller & Kaniskan, 2011). Furthermore, DI gives every student an opportunity to be
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 18
successful when teachers use varying expectation levels for task completion along with
appropriate supports and scaffolding. Some students may require reduced assignment
completion, extra time on tasks, or additional scaffolding using the same instructional content. It
is the teacher who spends the most time with students and has the power to make a difference in
students’ lives. Practices that support students and meet their specific needs are critical.
Furthermore, it is teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about their students that directly influence
student outcomes.
In addition to DI, teachers need to use CRP to ensure they value their students’ cultural
backgrounds and make the content relevant to them. Therefore, incorporating CRP into the daily
curriculum would allow students from diverse backgrounds to make connections between what is
learned in school and what they experience in the home environment. Ladson-Billings (1995)
posited three criteria culturally relevant teaching must meet: developing students into being
sociopolitical and critically conscious, a willingness to support and nurture cultural competence,
and developing students academically.
The stakeholder goal was determined by the special education department. The goal was
that, by June 2019, all Golden Valley USD teachers would implement high quality DI and CRP
into their daily instruction to support the imbalance between the number of African Americans
who attend Golden Valley schools and the number of African Americans who are referred for
special education. To address these concerns, Golden Valley USD teachers needed to incorporate
DI and CRP to meet their students’ academic needs, target areas of deficit and monitor struggling
students. The student support team process was used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of
the students and the areas of concern that needed to be addressed for intervention. This allowed
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 19
the team, including the parent, to spend the most time developing an action plan that would
incorporate DI and CRP to benefit the student.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to evaluate the degree to which Golden Valley USD was
meeting its organization performance goal of a 20% decrease in the number of African American
students referred for special education by June 2020 through teachers’ implementation of DI and
CRP into daily instruction. The analysis focused on the knowledge and motivation of elementary
school teachers and the organizational influences related to achieving the organizational goals.
While a complete performance evaluation would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes
the stakeholder group focused on in this analysis was teachers because they are responsible for
teaching in ways that ensure their students meet grade level standards. As such, the questions
that guide this study were the following:
1. What are teachers’ knowledge and motivation related to implementing differentiated
instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context and teachers’
knowledge and motivation to implement differentiated instruction and culturally relevant
pedagogy?
Methodological Approach
This project employed qualitative data gathering and analysis. Golden Valley teachers’
performance in relation to the organizational goal was examined using data collected through
interviews. The qualitative method involved gathering information through interviews and
analyzing documentation in the participants’ real-life settings (McEwan & McEwan, 2003). It
involved how individuals interpreted the meaning of their experiences and what they felt had
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 20
influenced those experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Creswell (2005) views the qualitative
method as a way to identify a culture-sharing group and how their shared patterns of behavior are
developed over time. In this study, the interviews focused on participants’ knowledge about
implementation of DI and CRP with underachieving students, biases that affect their motivation,
and how the organization supports their efforts. The majority of questions were open-ended and
focused on interviewees’ beliefs, views, and attitudes as well as their own self-reports of how
they engaged in DI and CRP, if at all. While the concepts of knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences often used in a gap analysis approach were used to frame this study, a
gap analysis in its traditional sense was not used. Rather, this study is an exploratory
examination of the knowledge, motivation, and organizational concepts as these relate to the
topic of interest.
Definitions
Special education: Specially designed instruction that addresses the unique needs of
children with disabilities at no cost to parents (IDEA, 2004)
Differentiated instruction: A set of strategies teachers use in the classroom that focus on
students’ interest, strengths, and needs. These strategies aid in tailoring instruction based on
where the student is when they enter the class (Reis et al., 2011)
Culturally relevant pedagogy: A theoretical model that addresses academic achievement
while helping students appreciate and affirm their cultural identity to foster the development of
critical perspectives to challenge injustices perpetuated by schools and other institutions.
(Ladson-Billings, 1995).
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 21
Organization of Project
Five chapters were used to organize this study. This chapter provided the key concepts
and terminology commonly found in educational settings related to special education. The
organization’s mission, goals, stakeholders and the framework for the project were introduced.
Chapter Two provides a review of current literature on the scope of the study. Topics of DI,
teacher bias and resources are discussed. Additionally, the literature review details the
knowledge, motivation and organizational elements examined and the conceptual framework that
guided this study. Chapter Three discusses the research methods used in terms of choice of
participants as well as data collection and analysis plans. In Chapter Four, the data and results are
analyzed and presented. Chapter Five presents solutions, based on data and literature, as well as
recommendations for an implementation and evaluation plan for recommended solutions.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 22
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
African American students are disproportionately placed in special education programs,
and many of these students are inappropriately placed. Some students are placed in special
education even though the services were not needed (Blanchett et al., 2005). When students are
referred for special education services, they are often segregated from their peers and isolated in
classrooms away from the general education student population. Federal policies and legislation
call for monitoring the disproportionality of minority students in special education. The federal
government has played an integral part in ensuring that all students receive appropriate
consideration for special education services (Bird & Bassin, 2014). However, ethnicity and racial
background has come to the forefront as the target of overrepresentation (Zhang et al., 2014).
In addition, there are major concerns with the correlation between students who receive
special education services and the high number of students suspended or expelled from school.
According to Skiba et al. (2008), the landmark ruling in Mills vs. the Board of Education of
District of Columbia, which involved seven African American boys who were excluded and
denied admission to public schools because of behavior issues, resulted in the essential
provisions for the Education for All Handicapped Children’s Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142),
which was the first comprehensive national special education legislation (Skiba et al., 2008).
Special Education
African American students are overrepresented in special education classes and are more
likely to be placed in special day classes, which is a more restrictive environment, than their
Caucasian peers. According to Skiba et al. (2013), African American students’ representation in
special education classrooms in emotional disabled programs is 1.5 times higher than that of
their peers. Furthermore, Sullivan (2011) also indicated that African American students have
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 23
been overrepresented in the mild mental retardation categories. This has caused a disparity in
placement of African American students in the least restrictive environment.
This disproportionate placement in special education has deleterious implications for
students. Ahram et al. (2011) found that African American students have unfavorable life
experiences as a result of being disproportionately overrepresented in special education. Their
restricted academic interactions with mainstream peers and being labeled emotionally,
intellectually, or physically disabled causes social stigmatization (Ahram et al., 2011). Removing
these students from their mainstream environment can lead them to feeling isolated in the
learning environment. Minority students who are overrepresented due to being misidentified for
special education become stigmatized, which negatively affects their self-esteem as well as their
academic achievement in school and life thereafter (Gentry, 2009). Consequently, Bird and
Bassin’s (2014) noted the direct correlation between overrepresentation of students of certain
ethnic and racial backgrounds in special education and the disproportionality and
overrepresentation of students who fall into the juvenile justice system. These students were
more than twice as likely to be subjected to out-of-school suspensions than their mainstream
peers (Bird & Bassin, 2014). Furthermore, ethnic groups that are overrepresented in special
education will be increasingly overrepresented in the juvenile system (Bird & Bassin, 2014). One
area that may contribute to misidentification is teacher bias and the role it plays when
determining the appropriate response to students who struggle academically and behaviorally.
Implicit Bias
Implicit biases are stereotypical associations that are so subtle that people are unaware of
them (Staats, 2016). Staats (2016) states that no one is immune to implicit bias, even those with
good intentions, and can unknowingly respond in ways that have inequitable outcomes for
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 24
specific groups of people. Researchers posited that most nondiscriminatory individuals hold
implicit biases that may lead to discriminatory practices against African Americans (Rachlinski,
Johnson, Wistrich, & Guthrie, 2008). These discriminatory practices have often plagued minority
students in the educational setting, particularly African American males who are often
disciplined more harshly than their White peers.
Misperceptions and racial discrimination against African American males exacerbate the
increasing gap in academic achievement and discipline (Whitford & Emerson, 2018). Society’s
disparaging perceptions of African Americans causes teachers to have negative perceptions and
low expectations of these students’ academic abilities (Hucks, 2011). It is not the intention of the
teacher to exhibit bias towards their students, and some do not realize they possess these
attributes. However, negative perceptions from their socialization and lack of cultural
responsiveness contribute to the low academic achievement and social failures of African
American students (Whitford & Emerson, 2018).
Furthermore, it is implicit bias that affects differences in how teachers deliver content and
develop expectations of their students. According to Peterson, Rubie-Davies, Osborne, and
Sibley (2016), these differences not only influence teachers’ expectations of their students’
academic abilities, but, teachers’ differing expectations for a specific group of students may also
affect how they engage, teach, and support their students. As a result, students of color are at an
academic disadvantage when teachers’ implicit biases interfere with their good intentions and
their instructional delivery. With this in mind, utilizing DI and CRP could help mitigate the low
expectations teachers have of African American students, as these approaches promise to support
all students, ultimately producing better academic outcomes.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 25
Differentiated Instruction
In today’s schools, students come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
which makes it difficult for teachers to meet the needs of their students. Aside from special
education self-contained classrooms, students with disabilities are among those in the general
education setting. This has been a struggle for many teachers who lack the training and
knowledge in how to develop an educational program in which students can excel regardless of
their capabilities.
According to Rock, Gregg, Ellis and Gable (2008), one solution to this problem is DI,
which is matching a student’s level of readiness and interests with what and how that student
learns and how that student can demonstrate what has been learned. It means providing
instruction at a level of understanding without compromising the curriculum content. When a
teacher differentiates instruction, they move away from the idea of completing the curriculum
modules to moving towards the student’s individual needs (Subban, 2006) while focusing on the
same key principles with varied instructional pace.
Furthermore, Hall (2002) posited that DI acknowledges the students’ backgrounds, their
interests and the prior knowledge they bring into the learning environment. In a differentiated
classroom, a powerful motivator is when teachers tap into students’ interests by utilizing
discussions and activities constructed around the students’ life experiences, allowing the
curriculum to become more meaningful for them (Subban, 2006; Rueda, 2011). Furthermore,
Cox (2008) stated that implementing differentiation at the elementary level shapes the way
students view themselves as learners as well as how they view their school experience and their
learning process. Tomlinson and Imbeau (2010) reiterated by stating that customizing instruction
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 26
that takes into account the interest of students could have positive results in their academic
achievement.
There are many ways a teacher can implement differentiation into the classroom: small
group instruction, graphic organizers, scaffolding, and leveled reading materials that focus on the
intended curriculum content, and other strategies and tools. Rock et al. (2008) stated that all
students benefit from the use of multiple approaches of instruction and supports that provide
some level of challenge in the learning process while giving them the opportunity for success. In
other words, students can receive instruction on grade level content without compromising the
curriculum content that they need to learn. It is important to note that most teachers feel they are
not equipped to handle the responsibilities of teaching diverse learners. According to Rock et al.
(2008), teachers are plagued with excessive workload, classroom behavioral challenges, and the
priority of covering the curriculum content in the allotted time. This can be overwhelming for
teachers who are tasked with meeting the needs of struggling learners. Subban (2006) noted that,
for teachers to successfully implement DI, they need consistent and continuous professional
development coupled with collaborative conversations on how differentiation techniques are
implemented and what changes need to be made to improve classroom instruction.
Consequently, DI has similarities to CRP in that it is designed to meet the academic needs of
students who have historically struggled in the mainstream environment (Santamaria, 2009).
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Researchers have acknowledged the need for teachers to become culturally responsive to
make learning meaningful for diverse learners. Ladson-Billings (1995) stated that CRP, also
referred to as culturally responsive teaching, is used to empower students emotionally, socially,
intellectually, and politically by using their cultural attributes that convey the knowledge, skills,
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 27
and attitudes they bring into the classroom. Students embark on their educational journey with
prior knowledge about their family culture and the environment in which they gain their
experiences. Santamaria (2009) asserted that a culturally responsive environment involves a
teacher’s understanding of the importance of valuing culture in education, learning about their
students’ cultural community, and using their culture as a foundation for their learning
experiences.
Howard (2003) stated that, with the growing number of diverse learners being educated
in the United States, students will originate from cultural, ethnic/racial, linguistic and socio-
economic backgrounds different from that of their teachers. Moreover, it is imperative for
teachers to construct pedagogical practices that are relevant and meaningful to their students’
cultural and social realities (Howard, 2003). In essence, the school culture needs to incorporate
the family and community cultures of their students for them to engage in meaningful learning.
Brown-Jeffy and Cooper (2011) posited that, through the use of CRP, schools can acknowledge
their students’ family cultures by integrating their cultural understandings, experiences, and
values into the school environment.
Teachers are culturally responsive when they eliminate barriers for their students to learn
and achieve, their focus is student-centered, and they work to become knowledgeable to
understand, to respect, and to meet the needs of students who come from cultural backgrounds
different from their own (Ford, Stuart, & Vakil, 2014). Brown-Jeffy and Cooper (2011)
reminded us that ethnic or racial minority students view and see themselves and others
differently than those students who are a part of the majority group, and, in light of this, teachers
need to be aware of their personal identities and how those identities may differ from the
identities of their students. Ford (2014) asserted that, if an appreciation for culture does not exist,
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 28
then it is not a student-centered classroom environment. Teachers who say there are colorblind
when it comes to their interactions with their students are, in essence, ignoring the cultural values
of their students. In a culturally responsive learning environment students gain a sense of
belonging and membership into the educational setting that fosters an appreciation an admiration
of the students’ culture (Ford, 2014).
As it has been previously explained in the above sections, teachers need to be
knowledgeable and prepared to educate a growing population of learners who come from many
different cultural backgrounds. Teachers need to be afforded the opportunities to develop an
understanding of how to successfully incorporate CRP into their daily instruction. As mentioned
earlier, teachers need consistent and continuous professional development in CRP if they are
going to ensure the success of all their students. Teachers need the knowledge, skills, and
motivation to consistently and effectively utilize DI and CRP into the learning environment to
foster the academic success for students who come from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Stakeholder and Knowledge and Motivation Influences
Knowledge and Skills
There is specific knowledge and skills that stakeholders need to effectively perform their
job duties to ultimately lead to the fulfillment of an organization’s goals. Aguinis and Kraiger
(2009) pointed out the importance of human capital in that an organization has a collective group
of individuals who have performance-relevant knowledge, attitudes, and skills. The key to
success is to increase the knowledge, skills and motivation of stakeholders and center those
assets on organizational goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). An important factor in goal achievement is
input from a variety of stakeholders and arming them with knowledge of what is required to
accomplish the goal and the skills needed for goal attainment. Clark and Estes (2008) pointed out
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 29
the importance of knowing whether a person knows how, when, where, why and who to achieve
the performance goals. Oftentimes, what has been considered a solution to a problem does little
to resolve the problem, which exacerbate the problem. For instance, if a child is struggling
academically, the first option is often to refer the child for special education. However, this will
not answer the question of what has been done to address the students’ areas of need. Many
times, we look at a problem as being addressed when a solution is in place irrespective of how
well it worked (Rueda, 2011). It is crucial to look at how knowledge and skills as well as
motivation influence the actions taken by stakeholder groups and what organizational barriers
interfere with goal attainment. All three concepts, knowledge and skills, motivation and
organizational elements, work in concert. In the next section, I discuss the knowledge and skills
necessary for teachers to implement programs to reduce the number of African American
students from being referred for special education assessment.
Knowledge influences. Achieving the stakeholder goals is influenced by stakeholders’
knowledge. When we consider the different types of knowledge influences that affect
stakeholders’ achievement outcomes in an organization, we must distinguish how each plays a
role in an organization reaching its goal. The new knowledge dimension of the revised taxonomy
has four knowledge categories: factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive (Krathwohl,
2002). Factual knowledge is having basic facts to a specific concept, discipline, or domains to
solve problems within a given area of study (Krathwohl, 2002; Rueda, 2011). An example of
factual knowledge is when an educator knows that he or she must pick up their students when the
school bell rings. Conceptual knowledge is knowledge of theories, classifications,
generalizations, categories, or models pertinent to a particular area to solve problems (Rueda,
2011). For example, a student learns how to multiply fractions and, on a later assignment, that
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 30
student can use the same strategy to calculate the answers to similar problems. Procedural
knowledge is to know how to do something as well as the methods of inquiry, techniques, and
criteria for using skills to accomplish an activity (Krathwohl, 2002; Rueda, 2011). A teacher
knowing how to form intervention groups based on students’ needs is an example of having
procedural knowledge. Lastly, Rueda (2011) referred to metacognitive knowledge as having
awareness of one’s own cognition and knowing when and why to do something. An example is a
teacher monitoring his or her own effectiveness in how he or she delivers a lesson and knowing
when to adjust to meet students’ needs.
The following section focuses on conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge and
metacognitive knowledge influences that affect students’ learning outcomes. One strategy was
utilizing the student support team designed to support students who struggle academically and
behaviorally as an early intervention tool. The team is assembled to review student data and
construct an intervention plan to facilitate academic improvement. Understanding the importance
of identifying students’ needs and implementing DI based on those needs, incorporating CRP
and continuing to monitor student data is essential in improving the student’s academic
outcomes. Once the areas of deficits are identified, teachers must implement strategies in the
classroom to address these areas. Moreover, a teacher needs to know what and how to implement
the necessary strategies. This involves differentiating instruction to meet the needs of the student.
Teachers needed knowledge of DI and CRP. It is the responsibility of the teacher to use
assessment data to monitor students’ progress and to inform other teachers of the instructional
strategies needed for student success. A key component in addressing students’ needs is for
teachers to know about and incorporate DI. Research stated that DI is the approach to teaching
and learning for students at their different ability levels and meeting students at their learning
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level to maximize their growth (Huebner, 2010). Furthermore, Levy (2008) posited that DI
involves being flexible with the content, the process of learning the content, and the product
based on how the student learns, and his or her strengths or needs. When teaching content, a
teacher must be mindful of the diverse reading levels of each student, the process of how to teach
and how a student learns, and the product that represents how students demonstrate what they
learned (Levy, 2008). For example, a teacher can separate her students into ability levels or
learning style groups for small group instruction, and, if there are students who struggle with
reading, a teacher can reduce the amount of content and/or select materials at the students’
reading level that utilizes the same content.
Taylor (2015) explained that differentiating the process is allowing students’ learning to
be centered on their interests and allowing them to show what they learned by doing research on
the internet, using drawings to depict what has been learned, and/or conduct interviews with
members of the community or school. For instance, when teaching a lesson, it is good practice to
have a written copy of what will be taught or discussed, allow students to discuss the topic, and,
if it is a math lesson, provide manipulatives or tactile resources (Taylor, 2015). Tobin and
McInnes (2008) pointed out that DI enables teachers to create varying levels of expectations for
task completion and fosters an environment where all students can be successful. Moreover, the
use of DI emphasizes that learning is most effective when students’ current levels of functioning
and learning preferences are assessed (Reis et al., 2011) and using the information to help
students progress to advanced levels of functioning to match their learning opportunities.
Knowing about DI is not enough, but knowing what it looks like in the classroom is the
necessary tool for teachers (Tobin & McInnes, 2008). Lack of knowledge on how to differentiate
instruction and how to incorporate CRP affects students’ academic progress along with teacher
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biases towards a specific student ethnic group. Equally important is utilizing CRP in daily
activities. Kirkland (2003) stated that teachers need to understand and welcome the cultural
differences, experiences, and perspectives that students bring into the classroom. Furthermore,
teachers need to be knowledgeable of cultural differences when designing curriculum, student
activities, instructional materials and assessment techniques (Kirkland, 2003). In a classroom that
fosters CRP, students are valued for who they are, are successful, and are guided into doing the
work to make their world a better place (Laughter, 2013). The classroom is where students
receive the necessary tools and strategies to improve their learning; therefore, it is the
responsibility of the teacher to provide the opportunities for success regardless of how a student
learns. Ladson-Billings (2013) pointed out that, when teachers’ lack of recognition and
productive use of students’ differences affects their ability to meet their students’ educational
needs.
In addition, incorporating CRP is an important part of designing instruction for diverse
learners. Students from diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds need to be exposed to content that is
relevant to their culture and their communities. Moreover, teachers who practice culturally
relevant teaching took into account the diversity and differences of their students and their
beliefs that all students could succeed (Ladson-Billings, 2013). It is important for teachers to
recognize cultural diversity among students and how it affects the way they respond to their
specific needs. Cousik (2015) insisted that teachers must sharpen their cultural competency skills
prior to reexamining their curriculum and instruction. Ladson-Billings (1995) noted one teacher
used rap lyrics in a song to teach elements of poetry and reinforced and encouraged her students
who had skills in creating and improvising rap. Ladson-Billings (1995) also recounted a time
when a teacher noticed leadership qualities in one of her troubled students. The young African
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American male had been suspended numerous times in the past in a previous class. He was
culturally competent and had pride in his heritage. As a result, he ran for sixth grade class
president and won. This showed a teacher’s ability to appreciate cultural identity and a way to
channel a student’s disruptiveness in a positive way.
Teachers needed to know how to differentiate instruction and how to incorporate CRP
into their daily lessons. Some teachers are unfamiliar with what it means to differentiate
instruction and how to incorporate CRP into their lessons. It is important for these teachers to
receive professional development and training in these strategies. Algozzine and Anderson
(2010) stated that DI could be done by varying the level of difficulty of the material presented
based on the student’s ability level, grouping students based on similarities and topics of
interests, and/or based on students’ preferred way of working on assignments. In addition, some
students work best alone, with partners, or in small groups. Whatever the case, teachers who are
new to DI need time to learn how to differentiate (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010), choose and plan
one or two routines that can be helpful in their teaching, implement them when ready, and
evaluate their results as they go.
Equally essential is incorporating CRP into the classroom. Ladson-Billings (2014)
reminded us that the classroom setting should allow students the opportunity to appreciate and
celebrate their culture while gaining knowledge and skills and appreciating the cultures of others
(cultural competence), using the skills and knowledge to identify and solve real-world issues
(sociopolitical consciousness), and become academically successful in the process. Examples are
having students read books that enable them to make personal, family, or community
connections; allowing students to share their interests in genres of music and incorporating that
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 34
into a language lesson; and using real-world injustices in a social studies lesson that revolve
around the students’ racial background.
Teachers need to know how their own biases affect their practices, including
misidentification for special education. Being aware of one’s own biases towards another
person is metacognition. Metacognition is being aware and in control of one’s cognitive
processes, having knowledge of how one learns, and thinking about thinking (Mayer, 2011;
Baker, 2006). It is important for teachers to evaluate their prior knowledge about the identities of
their students to be cognizant of their biases, (Cousik, 2015), which may affect their own
behaviors and attitudes. Moreover, being aware of cultural differences and valuing the identities
of their students has an impact on relationships. Cousik (2015) emphasized the importance of
educators exploring their previous knowledge about cultural diversity to be cognizant of personal
biases that may affect attitudes and behaviors towards students from other cultures. Moore
(2008) emphasized the importance of preparing teachers for students who are culturally and
linguistically different from the majority population of teachers and assisting teachers with
acknowledging their assumptions and biases about their students. Baker (2005) posited that, in
some educational settings, African American students were viewed as being difficult, received
more negative criticism regarding behavior than White students, and their teachers had an
overall negative view of them.
Teachers’ deficit views and their resistance to helping struggling students from the
non-dominant culture is partially due to their unfamiliarity with how the ways of the culture
and race affect a student’s attitude about school (Bannister, 2016). It is not uncommon for
teachers to have implicit biases about their students when they base their attitudes and
assumptions on what they heard and not what they had experienced. Implicit biases affect the
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 35
way teachers engage and support their students (Peterson et al., 2016) and, when teachers
exhibit implicit biases towards African American students, they unconsciously have low
expectations for the students’ achievements.
This lack of understanding of our preconceived view of our students has an effect on
their learning because it shapes how they are taught. Table 2 depicts the possible knowledge
influences that hinder teachers’ abilities to meet the needs of their students who were not
meeting grade level standards.
Table 2
Knowledge Influences on Stakeholders
Knowledge Type Knowledge Influence
Conceptual Teachers need knowledge of differentiated instruction and culturally
relevant pedagogy.
Procedural Teachers need to know how to differentiate instruction and how to
incorporate culturally relevant pedagogy into their daily lessons.
Metacognition Teachers need to know how their own biases towards students from
culturally diverse backgrounds different from their own affect their
practices, including misidentification for special education.
Motivation
Motivating stakeholders is critical to achieving a stakeholder’s goal. Rueda (2011) stated
that motivation involves getting us going, keeping us going and telling us how much effort to put
forth in a performance task. Expectancy value theory asks two questions, “Can I do the task?”
and “Do I want to do the task?” (Eccles, 2006). If a student’s response is “no” to the first
question, then it is unlikely that they will be fully engaged in the learning process (Eccles, 2006).
Moreover, Pajares (2006) stated that social cognitive theory involves self-efficacy which
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 36
provides the foundation people need to be motivated, sustain well-being and experience personal
accomplishments. Researchers agreed that there were three types of motivational process that
affected the work environment: active choice, persistence, and mental effort (Eccles, 2006).
Active choice is when an individual chooses one activity over another, persistence involves one’s
commitment to stick to the task amid distractions, and mental effort is the effort put forth to
achieving the goal (Eccles, 2006; Rueda, 2011). Gokce (2010) explained that teachers
themselves need to be motivated and have sufficient knowledge and skills to motivate their
students to learn. Thus, the following section focuses on teachers’ self-efficacy and utility values
affect active choice, persistence and mental effort.
Self-efficacy Theory. Self-efficacy is when a person’s actions and motivations are
guided by the personal beliefs of oneself, one’s personal efficacy (Bandura, 2000). In addition,
Pajares (2006) explained that self-efficacy is a critical factor in self-regulating practices that
people engage in as they participate in self-correcting their understandings and actions. Clark and
Estes (2008) stated that a person’s belief that they have the skill level to succeed in their work is
the most important variable that determines how hard they will push themselves and the quantity
and quality of mental effort they will use to complete the assignment. Similarly, people who
have higher self-efficacy, believe in their own ability and have a high expectancy of a positive
outcome will engage more, persist more, and work harder on a given task (Rueda, 2011).
Furthermore, Mayer (2011) explained that people with high self-efficacy believe that they are
capable of doing well on a task and exert more effort in the task.
Teacher needed to have self-efficacy. Teachers have the responsibility to educate
students in a way that will enable them to reach their full potential. Daniels (2016) explained that
engagement and motivation are explored in relation to students, but it is the teacher who must be
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 37
fully engaged in the teaching practices if he or she wants to create an effective learning
environment. Moreover, Thoonen, Sleegers, Oort, Peetsma, and Geijsel (2011) pointed out that
the motivational factor for explaining teacher learning and practices is a teacher’s self-efficacy.
Clark and Estes (2008) pointed out that, if a teacher is not confident in his or her ability to
perform a task, then he or she will not make a mental effort in goal achievement. In contrast, as a
person’s confidence increases, his or her commitment to goal attainment and their mental effort
is increased (Clark & Estes, 2008). For example, a teacher engaging in professional learning
activities could improve the quality of instruction and practices for better student outcomes
(Thoonen et al., 2011).
Oftentimes, a teacher’s past experiences affect his or her own self-efficacy related to their
job performance and teaching capabilities. Protheroe (2016) viewed certain behaviors of teachers
as having strong self-efficacy: resiliency and persistence when things go wrong, being open-
minded and willing to use new methods to meet students’ needs, and being non-judgmental when
students make mistakes. Bandura (2000) furthered this notion adding that efficacy beliefs
determine how a person reacts to certain situations, the goals a person sets, how much effort is
exerted to achieve those goals and how a person perceives the success of his or her own
accomplishments. De Neve, Devos, and Tuytens (2015) state that teachers with high self-
efficacy spend more time providing additional instruction to students who are unmotivated and
who struggle behaviorally and academically. Furthermore, teachers who believe in their teaching
abilities provide opportunities of diverse learning for their students (De Neve et al., 2015).
It is the responsibility of the teacher to modify instruction to meet the needs of their
students; however, when the teacher has a negative mindset about unmotivated or struggling
students, they respond to these students with annoyance (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011). Reis et al.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 38
(2011) found some teachers struggle with delivering DI and have concerns with planning and
managing differentiation. Teachers need to be confident in changing the way they teach to
facilitate academic achievement for diverse learners. Siwatu, Chesnut, Alejandro, and Young,
(2016) pointed out teachers who deliver culturally relevant pedagogical practices were those who
believed they were capable of incorporating CRP
Utility value theory. Utility value is determined by the value placed on a specific task
that facilitates a person’s long-range goals as well as the ability to obtain immediate and long-
range external rewards such as a raise or bonus pay (Eccles, 2006). Likewise, Rueda (2011) and
Wigfield and Cambria (2010) stated that utility value is how useful a person feels a task is
relative to his or her future goals. In other words, if a task has a high utility value, then the
chances of a person succeeding at that task is greater. Similarly, Clark and Estes (2008) stated
that utility value asks that a person not focus on the lack of interest or the uneasiness of
completing a task but on the benefits of accomplishing the task. Furthermore, it is a way to
justify engaging in something we dislike to receive something we like or avoid something worse
(Clark & Estes, 2008).
Teachers needed utility value. Teachers need to value the process of learning how to
differentiate instruction, incorporate CRP and acknowledge their biases. Eccles (2006) pointed
out that a task must have value and be related to an individual’s plans and goals or contribute to
their psychological needs. Furthermore, a teacher needs to be motivated to engage in an activity
or setting that will provide an opportunity to experience competency and autonomy (Eccles,
2006). Therefore, when teachers struggle with providing DI due to a lack of knowledge,
confidence, and competence, they will not see the value in implementing DI and incorporating
CRP into instructional practices. Unfortunately, at the current time, there is no literature on the
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 39
value and usefulness that teachers place on DI and CRP. Table 3 shows the assumed
motivational influences on teachers’ ability to address their students’ academic needs.
Table 3
Motivational Influences on Stakeholders
Motivation Type Motivation Influence
Self-Efficacy Teachers need to believe in their ability to implement
differentiated instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy for
struggling students.
Utility Value Teachers need to see the usefulness of differentiated instruction,
culturally relevant pedagogy and being aware of how their biases
affect the learning outcomes of their students.
Organizational Influences
To understand how organization functions every day, we must first identify the culture.
Schein (2004) defined the culture of an organization as a pattern of assumptions that are shared
with its members to solve internal and external problems. When trying to implement change in
an organization, you must consider the three levels of culture that affect change: artifacts,
espoused beliefs and values, and basic underlying assumptions (Schein, 2004). Schneider, Brief,
and Guzzo (1996) pointed out that, to change what members of an organization believe and what
their organization values, there must be a change in the climate. Moreover, if change is to be a
positive experience for people, it must be aligned with their sense of purpose (Moran &
Brightman, 2000). Kezar (2001) posited that a change in a person’s attitude is linked to cultural
change. To accomplish this feat, we must look at the cultural influences that affect change in an
organization.
Cultural models and cultural settings. Many factors influence the educational setting.
Each institution establishes a cultural model that stakeholders are expected to comply with as
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 40
they navigate through the organization’s expectations (Rueda, 2011), and the cultural settings are
the beliefs and behaviors that are established in an organization. Cultural models are the ideas,
beliefs and values of an institution that are explicitly outlined through employee handbooks,
bulletins, and procedural policies. Rueda (2011) stated there are often implicit rules in a school
culture learned by being a part of the community and interacting with other stakeholders. The
culture of an organization often affects the way stakeholders feel about their organization and
their performance capabilities.
Cultural model influence 1: The organization needs to encourage teachers to change
the way they implement instruction for struggling students. Change is not easy for an
organization or its members. Agócs (1997) pointed out that members of an organization are
resistant to change because of fear of the unknown, not having adequate skills to implement the
change, and fear of losing what power they may currently have. The organization needs to
communicate the reasons for change, facilitate that change, and make the change clear to
stakeholders. Furthermore, a part of implementing change and the reason for the improvement
efforts should be made clear to those involved in the change. For this reason, their motivation for
making improvements needs to be considered (Langley, Moen. Nolan, Norman, & Provost,
2009).
Cultural Setting 1: The organization needs to provide professional development
opportunities focused on DI, CRP and teacher bias. Teachers need training or professional
development on how to successfully incorporate DI and CRP. Furthermore, teachers need to
engage in culturally relevant teacher preparation classes to address their assumptions/biases
about their students, their families and their communities (Ladson-Billings, 2013). Clark and
Estes (2008) emphasized that giving information about the new procedures was not enough for
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 41
employees to feel comfortable and, sometimes, training, job aids and education may be needed.
When trainers spray training on participants and pray they will absorb it when providing
instructions on how to implement new approaches, there tends to be gaps and errors in the
information given (Clark & Estes, 2008). Therefore, providing high quality professional
development and training would ensure high quality DI and the use of CRP.
There are often no professional development opportunities for teachers on effective DI
for diverse learners. Teachers often lack support in DI and other alternatives to assist them with
struggling students. Darling-Hammond (1998) suggests four strategies to improve teaching and
learning: improve teacher professional development to ensure that teachers have the knowledge
and skills to assist students with diverse needs, make organizational changes within schools to
support more intense learning, ensure that targeted supports and services are available for
struggling students, and conduct classroom assessments that better inform teaching (Darling-
Hammond, 1998). Vaughan and McLaughlin (2011) pointed out that professional development is
a learning opportunity that provides new competencies, skills and/or ways of thinking that would
facilitate improvement in the classroom. Table 3 shows the organizational influences on and
possible barriers to teachers’ ability to perform their duties and meet the needs of their students.
Table 4
Organizational Influences on Stakeholder
Organizational Models/Settings Organizational Influences
Cultural Model Influence 1/
school culture
The organization needs to encourage teachers to change
the way they implement instruction for struggling
students.
Cultural Setting Influence 1/
school resources
The organization needs to provide professional
development opportunities that focus on differentiated
instruction, culturally relevant pedagogy and teacher
bias.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 42
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders ’ Knowledge and Motivation and
the Organizational Context
When conducting a study, one must develop methods that will help answer the research
questions. A conceptual framework is constructed by the researcher using existing theories and
research, experiential knowledge on the topic, thought experiments and pilot studies (Maxwell,
2013). Although experiential knowledge is considered biased, Maxwell (2013) viewed it as a
necessary source of insight, validity checks and hypotheses. A conceptual framework is iterative,
subject to revisions, and constructed (Maxwell, 2013). Merriam and Tisdell (2016) used the term
theoretical framework and saw it as combining a body of literature, your disciplinary orientation,
and informing the reader of your topic of study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Furthermore, it is the
lens through which you study your specific phenomenon.
While the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences were presented
independent of each other, they are not separate in terms of evaluating how they influence
teachers’ abilities to achieve the stakeholder goals. Through the literature, I demonstrated how
each factor was conceptualized and may influence how teachers respond to the demands of their
profession and the lack of knowledge, resources, motivation and cultural influences that may
impeded their success in implementing DI and providing CRP. I demonstrated the importance of
addressing these influences to facilitate achieving the stakeholder and organizational goals.
Figure 1 is the conceptual framework that shows how the organizational cultural settings
and models influence the knowledge, skills, motivation, and actions of teachers and how their
actions are affected by the organization, which ultimately affects the organization and
stakeholder goals. However, there are cultural settings and model influences that affect teachers’
ability and/or willingness to move forward with new strategies.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 43
Clark and Estes (2008) pointed out the need for organizations to arm their stakeholders
with the knowledge, skills, and resources to do their jobs. Teachers needed professional
development and training in DI and CRP. Furthermore, the organization needs to provide
opportunities for teachers to discuss their biases and inexperience with students from diverse
backgrounds. Another factor is whether teachers are motivated to try something new even though
they know it would be beneficial to the targeted students. Teachers’ self-efficacy and the values
they place on making these changes influence their responses to change. Rueda (2011) stated that
a teacher’s self-efficacy plays a role in their beliefs in their own abilities to accomplish a task
and the importance they place on the task of implementing the new intervention strategies.
Figure 1. Conceptual framework.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 44
In Figure 1, the conceptual framework, the blue outer circle represents the assumed
cultural settings and models that influenced teachers’ ability to effectively implement DI and
CRP and to recognize their biases towards students from diverse backgrounds before jumping to
special education assessment referral. Training and professional development was a barrier that
may have influenced a teacher’s ability to perform their task. Dixon, Yssel, McConnell, and
Hardin (2014) stated that organizations need to provide professional development in DI and also
opportunities for teachers to participate in workshops where they can practice the strategy while
being supported by a coach. Golden Valley USD needed to provide these opportunities for
teachers to increase the probability of implementation.
Elmore (2005), stated that, when individuals’ values are aligned with collective
expectations reinforced by the accountability process, the result is an internal accountability to
enable schools to become more effective as organizations rather than as groups of individuals.
For this reason, organizations need to be accountable for providing the resources and
opportunities for teachers to have access to the training and professional development that would
cultivate DI and CRP. It is important to realize that a teacher’s self-efficacy plays a role in how
successful he or she is in differentiating instruction and implementing culturally relevant
materials into lessons (Dixon et al., 2014). In other words, how the district conducts internal
business with teachers influences how teachers respond to changes and address barriers to the
change process, which, in turn, affect achieving the stakeholder goal. Clark and Estes (2008)
pointed out the importance of organizations knowing whether their stakeholders know how,
when, where, and why to achieve the performance goals. This led to the interaction between the
two circles and why the smaller circle was embedded within the larger circle.
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The inner circle represents how teachers’ knowledge and skills, and motivation are
affected by organizational cultural settings and models. For teachers to attain the goal of
implementing high quality DI and CRP into their daily instruction to support African American
students by June 2019, they need a set of knowledge and skills and the motivation to teach in
appropriate ways that support their students. Teachers would need to exhibit self-efficacy and
understand the utility value of providing additional support to students who needed it before
referring them to special education. Teachers need to know that what they are doing is
meaningful and has value, as their knowledge and motivation are linked when they were asked to
learn new strategies. If teachers are not motivated or confident to learn new and improved ways
of completing tasks or learning new teaching techniques, then they most likely not see the benefit
of professional development and training in DI and CRP. For an individual to engage in learning
something new, they need to be confident in their ability to do so (Eccles, 2006). More
importantly, teachers need to know how to implement DI and incorporate CRP. They need the
support of their organization to prepare them to effectively teach their diverse learners.
Both circles interact with each other and play a role in attaining the stakeholder goal. The
arrow leads from the large circle, which has a smaller circle embedded within it, to the
stakeholder goal that exemplifies what the district needs to provide teachers and what the
teachers need to know and be motivated to do to achieve the stakeholder goal. There is another
arrow that leads from the stakeholder goal to the organizational goal which signifies the
connection between stakeholders’ meeting their goal and the organization meeting its goal.
Elmore (2005) stated that an organization must provide the opportunity for employees to obtain
the tools and strategies to improve performance. With this in mind, teachers’ achieving their goal
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could have a positive impact on the district achieving its goal of decreasing the number of
African American students referred for special education assessment by 20%.
Conclusion
Chapter Two looked at the knowledge, skills, motivation and organizational influences
that affect teachers’ abilities to address the needs of all students and the strategies and
interventions that would allow students to be academically successful. The focus of this study
was to look at how knowledge, skills and motivation affected how teachers responded to the
educational needs of African American students who were at risk of not meeting grade level
standards. It also examined the organizational factors that either supported or impeded teachers’
abilities to do so. Chapter Three focuses on the research design.
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CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
This chapter discusses the qualitative method used to obtain data that involved real-life
experiences of the participants and to understand how they interpreted their experiences based on
their personal backgrounds. Understanding how knowledge and skills, motivation, and the
organizational influences shaped teachers’ ability to meet the stakeholder goal was an
appropriate topic for a qualitative study. This chapter outlines the research design and methods
chosen for data collection and analysis to answer the research questions. In particular, interviews
and document/artifacts were used to answer these research questions. This chapter outlines the
sampling, data collection and instrumentation coupled with how I analyzed the data, all the while
maintaining credibility and trustworthiness in this study. This chapter also addresses how I
engaged in an ethical practice as a researcher. Lastly, the limitations and delimitations of the
study are presented.
Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholders that were the focus of the interviews were elementary school teachers at
Golden Valley USD. The selected groups were teachers from schools that served predominantly
minority population of students in grades Kindergarten through fifth. There were over two
hundred elementary schools in the district with over two thousand teachers from different ethnic/
racial backgrounds, of different ages, and with different experience with students, who could
have participated in this study.
One elementary school had a student population of approximately 400 students
comprised of African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos and the other two elementary schools had
approximately 350 who were also African American and Hispanic/Latino. All three schools were
located in the inner city in Hispanic/Latino and African American communities. I chose these
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particular schools because of their location, accessibility, and the percentage of African
American students who were being referred for special education and in special education
classes in relation to the overall percentage of African American student enrollment. The schools
were located within 5 miles of each other, and I worked at each location throughout the week,
which enabled me to have contact with the potential participants when it was time for scheduling
interviews.
The criteria considered useful for sampling were teachers who were teaching or had
taught African American students at schools that served a predominantly minority population
and who had experience working with low-performing students. The rationale for these criteria
was that sampling people who fit these criteria would give insight into their attitudes and beliefs
about working with minority students, whether they knew how to differentiate instruction and
incorporate CRP for these students, and whether they felt competent that their instructional
techniques were benefitting the target population of students. I selected 10 teachers from the
eligible participants. These included three to four teachers from each school site from multiple
grades.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
The interview participants were teachers in Golden Valley USD and provided opinions
and beliefs regarding their experiences working with minority students. The specific criteria
narrowed the focus to a specific group of teachers.
Criterion 1. The first criterion for participation in this study was that teachers would
need to have a minimum of 3 full years of teaching experience at the current school or in a
similar setting at another school. This ensured the teacher had some familiarity with what was
expected of him or her by the organization.
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Criterion 2. The second criterion was that the participants must include upper and lower
grade teachers from each school site. This allowed me to get diverse opinions on teachers’
experiences related to the study. Furthermore, it shed light on the similarities and differences in
how primary and upper grade students were targeted for intervention as well as how instruction
varied across grade levels.
Criterion 3. The third criterion was teachers who had referred minority students for
special education services. This determined whether students of color were provided
opportunities to receive targeted intervention and/or whether how the curriculum presented to the
student had been modified to address the needs of the student. Some teachers skipped the
intervention process and told parents to write a letter to request an assessment for special
education.
Interviewee Recruitment Strategy and Rationale
To recruit teachers for my study, I attended a staff meeting and introduced teachers to my
study. My rationale for attending a staff meeting was to introduce myself as a researcher and
provide information about my study, which allowed potential participants an opportunity to
understand the capacity in which I was representing myself and gave them insight into what they
could expect when they chose to participate. I followed up with a recruitment letter placed in
their mailboxes, which allowed privacy and anonymity if they were interested in participating in
the study.
To achieve a purposeful sample, I selected from a pool of interested candidates who met
the criteria. There were three schools that the participants were selected from. Obtaining
participants from the three schools, as opposed to one school, gave insight into the differences in
the support teachers received from their respective schools. The sample for interviews consisted
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of 10 teachers: five teachers from the lower grades and five teachers from the upper grades. The
rationale for selecting across grade levels was to gain a different perspective of how teachers
viewed DI and CRP. Moreover, it allowed an exploration of what the organization attributed to
teachers’ knowledge and skills and motivation at different grade levels and the level of support
given to the respective grades. The rationale for the limited number of participants was time
constraints and the desire to conduct an in-depth study.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
This research looked at teachers’ knowledge and motivation and how the organizational
culture and context influenced implementation of DI and CRP. To obtain rich data, interviews
were utilized to capture the views, beliefs and attitudes teachers had regarding working with
African American students who were at risk of not meeting grade level standards.
Interviews
I conducted interviews (see appendix A for interview protocol) at three elementary
schools and other locations, based on the participants’ preference, with lower grade teachers and
upper grade teachers from each site. According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), interviewing is a
way to learn about interviewees’ behaviors from their point of view, learn about how an event or
activity made them feel, and how they interpreted the world around them. I conducted two
interviews per participant. Most interviewees preferred to conduct an interview in their comfort
zone (Weiss, 1994). In some instances, the classroom allowed the teacher an opportunity to show
concrete examples of their teaching techniques that were useful for data collection. Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) pointed out that these examples enabled the researcher to gain a deeper insight
into the person being interviewed and the topic of interest. The first set of interviews lasted
approximately 90 minutes on average. The questions involved personal opinion, ideas, and
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values that the teacher had regarding teacher biases, how these affected their interactions with
their students, and their views and opinions on what techniques and strategies teachers needed to
increase their students’ academic success. Lastly, the interview questions focused on the
teacher’s ability, motivation and knowledge of DI, CRP, and how students were supported in the
classroom.
The second interviews were conducted to ask clarifying questions, do member checks,
and allow the participant to add additional information or to omit comments or responses from
the study. The second interview was shorter (no more than 30 minutes) and was conducted on
the phone if preferred by the participant or in person. Allowing opportunities for member
checking was a way to increase validity and allowed the participant to feel confident in my
interpretations of their responses. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) posited that member checking
allows the researcher to clarify any misinterpretation of the data collected in the first interviews.
During the interviews, I used a recording device that captured the dialogue between the
participants and me and made some notations in a notebook that captured details that were
missed by the recording device, such as facial expressions, hesitations, and thinking time. The
recordings and notations made during the interviews were stored in a secure location separate
from the work locations.
Data Analysis
The interview data analysis began during data collection. I wrote analytic memos after
each interview. I documented my thoughts, concerns, and initial conclusions about the data in
relation to my conceptual framework and research questions. Once I left the field, I transcribed
and coded the interview data. In the first phase of analysis, I used open coding, looking for
empirical codes and applying a priori codes from the conceptual framework. A second phase of
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analysis was conducted where empirical and a priori codes were aggregated into analytic/axial
codes. In the third phase of data analysis, I identified pattern codes and themes that emerged in
relation to the conceptual framework and study questions. I used Atlas.ti to analyze the interview
data by using thematic coding that categorized the narrative data from the interview responses.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
To ensure the credibility of findings and deem them trustworthy to participants, I
conducted multiple interviews with different types of teachers, which added credibility and
validity to the findings. Credibility is increased by using multiple methods of data collection and
sources (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This was established by the multiple interviews and the
opportunity for participants to review their responses. More importantly, allowing the
participants to review what had been written increased trust in and credibility of the data. For this
reason, it was the responsibility of the researcher to establish trustworthiness by conducting the
study in an ethical manner. Moreover, the data must be trustworthy as well.
I also took efforts to be aware of my own biases related to my identity as an African
American woman with 20 years of experience working with special needs students of color and
10 years as an administrator responsible for ensuring the needs of special education students are
met. Furthermore, I was aware that there was a disproportionate number of African American
students in special education in the school district, and this knowledge shaped how I saw special
education in general. The assumption I was mindful of was the fact that everyone has a different
way of addressing issues or problems and that my way is not the only way. Merriam and Tisdell
(2016) stated that interviewers and respondents both have personal biases, attitudes, and
predispositions that affect the interaction and the data obtained. To help mitigate my feelings and
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opinions on what I heard and saw, I used research reflective memos to keep my feelings in check
to prevent biases I may have from interfering with data collection.
Ethics
As researchers delve into other people’s experiences, views, and beliefs, the goal is to
obtain detailed information related to a topic. One must also keep in mind that participants must
be treated with respect. I first gave a generalized description of my study, allowed the
participants to ask clarifying questions, and obtained verbal consent for interviewing and tape
recording the responses. When you gain the trust of your participants you gain access to learning
about the things that are problematic (Glesne, 2011). Merriam and Tisdell (2016) stressed the
importance of receiving prior consent, protecting participants from harm, treating them as human
beings and not just subjects, and protecting their right to privacy. Participants must be informed
of the risk of being a participant, informed that their involvement is voluntary, that they have the
right to withdraw at any time during the study, and that their statements and identities will be
confidential (Krueger & Casey, 2009). Krueger and Casey (2009) posited that the institutional
review board (IRB) is used to ensure that participants know what to expect when participating in
research. However, the ultimate ethical treatment of participants is the responsibility of the
researcher. Glesne (2011) points out five principles that guide IRBs’ decisions and are designed
to protect the rights and privacy of participants: participants must be well informed of the study
to make a decision to participate, they must be allowed to withdraw at any time during the study
without penalty, all risks must be eliminated, the study must benefit the participants or society
and outweigh any potential risks, and any experiments must be conducted by qualified
investigators. In other words, it is crucial for researchers to be upfront and honest about their
intentions with their participants.
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Rubin and Rubin (2012) stated that it is the researcher’s responsibility to behave ethically
and that being deceitful is not only ethically wrong but shows a lack of respect for the
participants. Likewise, it is important to get permission to record and also remind participants
that their responses would be recorded and allow them the opportunity to decide whether they
wanted their responses redacted from the study. Equally important is securing interview data in a
confidential storage location to prevent others from gaining access (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). As I
collected data, I ensured I respected the rights and privacy of all the participants, I was open and
honest with my role as a researcher and the purpose of my presence, and I made sure participants
knew that it was my goal to keep all information confidential and anonymous.
My role in my organization is as an administrator of the special education program
within. The participants I focused on were not directly supervised by me due to my
responsibilities to ensure that special education compliance policies and procedure are
implemented at each school site. Special education teachers were not recruited for this study. My
interest was in whether general education teachers had the necessary tools to implement
strategies and interventions to support underachieving students who had the potential of being
referred for special education placement. My position at each school site does not have any
impact on teacher evaluations, hiring or promotional decisions. I act more in the capacity of team
builder and problem solver; therefore, my discussions with teachers emphasized what we could
do to improve educational outcomes for at-risk students as opposed to what the individual was
doing to help solve this problem. In other words, my position in this study started as an observer
and moved towards being a participant by helping fellow stakeholders solve an existing problem.
I communicated to participants that my purpose was to look at what was needed to support their
mission and goals and that their participation would not jeopardize, influence or harm them. I
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explained that data would be confidential and stored at an off-site secure location. Moreover, I
asked for permission to record their interviews before each session. I reminded them that their
participation was voluntary and their right to privacy would be respected at all times. Glesne
(2011) states that participants expect you to protect their confidence and preserve their
anonymity when they grant you permission to interview and observe them.
Limitations and Delimitations
There were some limitations to this study beyond the control of the researcher. It is
important to recognize and explain these limitations which could be useful to other researchers
who may conduct a similar study (Creswell, 2005). For this study, I focused on one school
district which has over 200 elementary schools. Due to time constraints of 3 months to conduct
my research, I recruited volunteers from the three schools where I work on a weekly basis.
Therefore, what I observed cannot be generalized as a representation of what would be observed
at other school sites with different demographics or other school districts. Each school is unique
in how they address the needs of their student population even though their policies and
procedures fall under the umbrella of the mission and vision of their district. Therefore, what
may be in place or exhibited at one school may not be as such in another school. There was also
the possibility of participants responding to the interview questions that may have appeared
favorable to the researcher. Moreover, there are some instances where a participant may choose
not to talk about a certain topic (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Delimitations in a study can be controlled by the researcher. In this study, the
delimitations are how the organization influences the knowledge skills, and motivation of
teachers who work with students not meeting grade level standards. The purpose of the study
was not to point out teacher or organizational deficiencies but to look at possible reasons for
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African American students’ being disproportionately referred for special education. The
interview questions were constructed to extract meaningful and rich data; however, they may not
have been specific enough to obtain the desired responses pertaining to the views, opinions and
beliefs of the participants.
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CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
This chapter focuses on the themes that emerged out of the interview data and the results
of the findings that exemplified how teachers’ knowledge and motivation were affected by the
support or the lack of support provided by their organization. This chapter presents the results
pertaining to the research questions: What is the teachers’ knowledge and motivation related to
implementing DI and culturally relevant pedagogy? What is the interaction between
organizational culture and context and teachers’ knowledge and motivation to implement DI and
culturally relevant pedagogy?
Knowledge
Knowledge is the information and skills a person acquires through their experiences
and/or education. Teachers need the knowledge to successfully implement DI and CRP in their
lessons to support student achievement. A person needs to know the “who,” “how,” “why,” and
“where” to achieve the performance goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). For this study, conceptual,
procedural, and metacognitive knowledge influences were examined. This section focuses on the
level of knowledge, and the subsequent section focuses on teachers’ level of motivation in
response to answering the first research question.
Strong Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge of Differentiated Instruction
It is important that teachers have conceptual and procedural knowledge of DI. Based on
the results, all teachers interviewed understood the concepts and theories of DI and reported that
they regularly incorporated their knowledge of the skill into their daily classroom lessons. For
example, Ms. Simmons explained,
Differentiation to me means teaching to the needs of the child. So, most of the time, if
I’m doing small group or if I was working in a small group, I would be seeing what their
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holes were and trying to fill those holes. So, this is what these guys need, maybe these
guys just need comprehension because they already have the reading. But these guys
need still letters that are foundation, so I need to focus on them. Each group had
something different that they were focusing on, but it was tied into the lesson.
Ms. Simmons expressed her understanding of DI by explaining the multiple ways she addressed
her students’ needs. When she mentioned “fill the holes,” she alluded to focusing on the skills
her students were lacking, embedding those skills, and tying them to her lessons. This would
allow her students to receive the appropriate content with the needed support to understand and
be successful with what was taught. How Ms. Simmons utilized the strategy connects to Levy’s
(2008) work regarding DI.
Similarly, Ms. Wallace, who teaches primary grade students, expressed,
Differentiated instruction means working with the children in learning the standards and
the concepts that they are, perhaps, lacking and addressing those issues in one-on-one or
small group settings, using technology, independent small groups, and visual aids or
tactile manipulatives.
Huebner (2010) posited that DI utilizes the different ability levels of students to maximize their
academic growth. These two teachers focused on their students’ skill deficits and their ability
levels and grouped them accordingly and provided additional resources for support.
Ms. North focused on different avenues through which her students could access and
express their knowledge using DI. She said,
To me, it’s making sure whatever your lesson or your content is, the students can access
it in different avenues or paths. Maybe a lower student can’t access that content, so
you’re helping scaffold and build until they get it. Maybe a kinetic student might need to
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get up and work with another partner, but making sure, at the end, they’re all getting that
main content or standard that you’re trying to get them to understand.
Ms. North understood that her students had different ability levels and she needed to provide the
appropriate support to enable them to understand the content and learn the standards required for
academic progress. She knew the importance of utilizing DI strategies while maintaining
appropriate content and delivery that enabled her students to learn. Although Ms. North
mentioned a type of learning style (kinetic) during her interview which has since been debunked
by research, her main point was how she utilized DI with her students.
Ms. Lewinsky, who was an upper grade teacher, also utilized DI by incorporating
scaffolding techniques and allowed her students to use various output responses to show their
understanding of the content. She explained her approach as follows:
I had groups of students who decided to do a Google Slide presentation. I had another
group of students that were creating their own graphic novels, comic books based on the
story, as well as I had kids who were filming their own movie.
Her use of varying presentations based on her students’ abilities was a good use of DI.
Tomlinson and Imbeau (2010) posited that a DI classroom takes into account the strengths and
needs of students because they do better when activities match their academic level. This concept
was aligned with the multiple ways the teacher allowed her students to present their work.
Furthermore, this allowed students to have a choice in the ways they demonstrated their
knowledge of the content (Taylor, 2015).
Ms. Strong saw the need to keep a record of how she differentiated her lessons and
understood that students do not learn the same way:
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That means knowing the child, keeping record of what has already been tried so that you
can go on to what you haven’t tried. And I think to me as a teacher it means being
creative. Since even though they all need to learn the same thing, they’re not all gonna
learn it in the same way, so you just have to figure out what works for that child.
She realized that her job as a teacher was to make sure all her students were learning, and it was
her job to figure out how she was going to accomplish this task.
Ms. Langley felt strongly about the need to differentiate to support her students’ success.
She saw it as a key piece of instruction. She explained,
The kids who are struggling, if you don’t have DI, they just are totally in the dark. I
mean, ultimately, they give up, and that’s when the behavior problems start. So, I mean,
it’s not an option. I mean, it’s not mandatory because the school says it’s mandatory. It’s
mandatory because it’s the only way to function. Between your high kids getting bored
and your struggling learners giving up, and then they find each other, the bored kids and
the struggling kids, and then you’ve got a mutiny. So, you have to do it.
Ms. Langley’s knowledge of DI helped her understand what was needed for her students to be
successful. She saw it as a mandatory practice for her high achieving students as well as for her
struggling students. According to Taylor (2015), DI is when teachers vary their learning
activities and allow students to demonstrate their understanding of the content in a variety of
ways based on their interests Ms. Langley’s approach is aligned with Taylor in that she
recognized the need to support her students’ varying levels.
As discussed above, all the teachers could explain what DI is (conceptual knowledge) and
some provided insight into how they created activities or provided different ways to show
students’ learning (procedural knowledge). Their classroom groupings were based on the specific
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needs of their students and the teachers recognized their role in differentially shaping instruction.
Unfortunately, they focused more on their students’ deficits than on their strengths. They did not
express that they considered students’ strengths, which could have been utilized to structure the
lessons. Oftentimes, teachers focused more on the negative, which overshadowed the different
talents students brought into the classroom.
General Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Although participants reported consistently using DI, the use of CRP was not exhibited at
the same level. Most teachers did have a strong conceptual knowledge about what CRP is. Ms.
Simmons explained,
Think of teaching to the students, teaching students with materials that are definitely
culturally diverse, but seeing all shades of children in that, so that children can see
themselves in it, bringing in some of their culture or their home background into the
classroom, diverse multicultural materials.
Ms. Simmons demonstrated understanding the concept of CRP by acknowledging the importance
of utilizing and incorporating the cultural backgrounds of her students and the importance of
using multicultural materials in her lesson planning. She saw the importance of students seeing
themselves represented in the content they were learning and the family history they brought
with them to the classroom.
Likewise, Ms. North, a lower grade teacher expressed, “That my theories line up with
respecting and knowing my students’ cultures and teaching towards their strengths and
celebrating who they are.” She incorporated her understanding of the theories on CRP and the
need to celebrate her students’ backgrounds and cultural heritage. She alluded to knowing she
needed to instill in her students how great they are and utilizing those skills that they bring to
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enhance their learning. Ms. North’s comment is consistent with the literature that says teachers
need to be knowledgeable of the cultural differences and foster a classroom environment that
values students for who they are (Kirkland, 2003; Laughter, 2013).
Teachers had a clear understanding of the concept of CRP. However, procedurally, they
would occasionally implement some activities and projects in relation to CRP. Ms. Wallace
stated, “We studied African American inventors. We’ve studied Cesar Chavez and Dolores
Huerta and various people that have contributed to our society as it is now.” Ms. Wallace
reported implementing cultural activities that aligned with the months in which different cultures
were celebrated, such as Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. This was more of
cultural diversity on the surface level and has been criticized by CRP scholars because it lacks
depth and is not woven throughout the curriculum.
Ms. Strong touched on the importance of including appropriate literature that would
represent the diverse cultures of her students. For example, she said,
I would say the literature selections. Trying to find books with characters that the kids
can relate to and that they can identify with, so they benefit because they see that their
culture has value, it is valued by their teacher and their community, even if it is not the
same. And hopefully I would think that through, learning about each other’s cultures. It
sounds so cliché, but that the differences can be appreciated.
Ms. Strong knew the importance of incorporating literature that was representative of her
students. Using students’ cultures allows students to construct meaning and understand their
place in society (Milner, 2011), and literature helps ground them in what has already been done.
She wanted material that reflected her students’ backgrounds and experiences so that they could
make connections to what they were learning.
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Interviewees understood the importance of incorporating CRP but there was still room for
growth in this area. They appeared to have surface knowledge but not a deep understanding of
what they could do to incorporate a mindset of CRP. There were two teachers, Ms. Langley and
Mr. Henkel, who stood above the rest when it came to implementing CRP strategies. These two
teachers understood that, to make their students’ academic experiences relevant, they needed
their students to explore real-life cultural conflict and issues that relate to their students’ cultural
background.
Ms. Langley had her students tackle real-life social issues as it related to her African
American and Latino students and allowed her students to reflect on their own views of social
injustice. As she explained,
I always do many lessons on guns, ’cause gun safety is, I think, something kids need to
be aware of. And nobody really talks to kids about guns. And they are everywhere and in
their homes. We also look at some cases where the police have shot different African
Americans, there’s so many to choose from, but the one we did is this little boy, he got
shot and we looked at it from the point of view of the police officer, and we looked at it
from the point of view of the boy. And we talk about the scales of justice, and how they
weigh, and I really let them evaluate it. And then we actually have interviewed police
officers, and we have interviewed family members. I always have them interview their
family members, just to say this is a conversation that you need to be having with your
family. You need to be having this, you need to be aware that there is this section of
policing that exists, and you need to be aware.
Ms. Langley allowed her students to express their opinions and views on social topics that might
have had an impact on their lives. She allowed her students to analyze their thoughts and feelings
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about real-life interactions involving African Americans and police officers. She further had her
students dig deeper into their thoughts and feelings about how they felt about the social injustices
inflicted on a particular group of people and urged her students to have these tough conversations
with their own family members. Based on her response, it seemed that she created an
environment that enabled her students to examine the social issues that plagued the environment
in which they lived and empowered her students to freely communicate how these affect their
lives. Ladson-Billings (2014) posited that students need opportunities to use the skills and
knowledge they acquired to identify and solve real-life issues. Ms. Langley used what Ladson-
Billings (1995) refers to as culturally responsive teaching in which the school culture and the
home culture are combined to create a greater student success. With this idea in mind, Ms.
Langley used societal issues to teach her students about the injustices and inequality that specific
cultures face that were representative of her student population.
Similarly, Mr. Henkel used real-life current events to have open dialogue with his
students about social injustice. He used news broadcasts to inform his students on cultural issues
and allowed his students to share their own life experiences in class. Mr. Henkel allowed one of
his students to share an incident that occurred while the student was out with his parents:
One weekend, he was at a diner with his parents, and he saw two African American men
come in and beat up workers in front of him. He was sharing that incident, so we had a
discussion about it. I’m trying to just make them aware of getting the fuller picture before
they can make an opinion to make smarter decisions and to be able to support those
opinions. That can be sensitive, too, so I try to go about it in a very respectful way, but I
still try to have that conversation. I think that’s the biggest difficulty. I’m not African
American or Hispanic and being chased by ICE.
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Mr. Henkel saw the importance of his students being knowledgeable about world views and
social issues that might have an impact on their lives. Even though his students are of a different
ethnic background than his, Mr. Henkel still felt it was important to allow his students to share
and talk about their emotions as it pertained to real-life incidences. He understood the possibility
of students being sensitive and emotional about what they were sharing. He also realized that he
could never really understand what there were going through because his ethnic group did not
face the same injustices as his African American and Latino students. Therefore, respecting and
validating his students’ feelings was very important to him. It is important to include the cultural
identities of students and learn about the community from which they come (Baker, 2005;
Milner, 2011). Teaching his students to be consciously aware of the societal views on different
ethnic/racial populations was important.
Ms. Lewinsky’s knowledge of how to incorporate CRP was limited: “Just bringing in a
lot of realia and just posters, different things that the students can be accustomed to, or they can
relate to.” It was evident that her understanding of CRP was to simply post pictures and bring in
realia to represent a different culture and place them around the room for students to see. She did
not fully grasp the importance of CRP and how it related to supporting student success.
Ms. Moore expressed the need for students to become knowledgeable of other cultures to
understand the perspectives of others:
Teaching them how to interact or how to respect or how to see other cultures, not just
their own, or to understand the perspective of other cultures is also really important. If we
only teach them to live in this world of their own culture, then how are they going to
expand past that and how are they going to be able to see different characters or different
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people’s perspective. So, I think that we have to be careful to integrate, but also let them
expand their world.
I think her intentions were good, and she believed in the importance of her students being
prepared for diverse cultures. However, I did not get a sense that CRP was embedded in her
lesson plans and /or whether she really understood how to incorporate CRP as part of her daily
routine.
Knowledge of the Importance of Students ’ Cultural Differences
Most of the teachers interviewed were working with students from ethnic/racial
backgrounds different from their own. Based on their responses, they understood the importance
of accepting the cultural differences of their students. Several teachers indicated that their focus
was less on cultural backgrounds and more on family dynamics. Ms. Wallace looked at her
students’ family dynamics as a means to get to know her students better and learn how they
approach learning: “Well, I know that, with some of my children, and I would not necessarily
base it on culture. I think it has more to do with families and the kind of support they are
receiving at home.” Ms. Wallace realized some of her students had family members who could
provide support at home and some whose family members could not. It was her way of
recognizing potential at-risk students, which gave her the opportunity to provide support for
those students who may have difficulty meeting grade level standards. Ms. Wallace focused on
her students’ weaknesses rather than their strengths. This appeared to be a pattern with some of
the interviewees. Students often miss the opportunity to show what they can do because they are
shown what they cannot do. These are missed opportunities for teachers to engage in meaningful
discussions with students and parents that could facilitate student progress.
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Ms. North had a similar opinion of her students. However, she focused on how the home
may be a catalyst to her students’ academic struggles: “I also have to see what is going on at
home or is something impeding their learning. So, I always keep all of that in mind when I am
thinking about the student.” Ms. North appeared to be insinuating that, her students’ difficulties
stemmed from the home environment. This was the same as Ms. Wallace’s view of her students’
home connections. Again, I saw deficit-oriented instruction with missed opportunities to focus
on student strengths.
Mr. Smith’s sentiment was along the lines of getting to know his students: “When we
start out, we like to talk about the beginning of the year, what their family structure is and the
commonality.” Baker (2005) stated that building rapport with students, their families and
communities will have a positive effect on student achievement. Mr. Smith believed that making
connections with his students’ home cultures would benefit their learning experiences. Ms.
Wallace and Mr. Smith felt that, if they focused on their students’ home experiences, they could
have a better idea of how to support them academically.
Interviewees did consider that their life experiences may be different from those of their
students. Ms. North understood the importance of validating those experiences:
I’m Caucasian, but I am not naïve to think that my experience is unique and different
than my students. So, I do not assume that they have had the same experiences or
privileges. So, I try to be very aware of that. I do, I think for so long now I’m more in
tuned with their culture, but I do have to be aware sometimes too.
Ms. North realized that, although she has worked with this population for a while, it was still
important to continue to acknowledge and recognize those differences.
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Mr. Smith had to be mindful of his students’ family dynamics and how, in some families,
children are raised by someone other than their birth parents:
There are times that I still say that I’ve caught myself saying your mother or father and
then I realize, of course, that some of them do not have their father, some of them do not
have. I said your uncles, your aunts, or your guardians, and I make a big issue about it.
Mr. Smith made a conscious effort throughout the year to recognize that not all his students
come from households with a mother or father figure. He realized that some of his students are
being raised by other members of their families and has taken that into account when he talks
about family. Teachers’ expectations and their attitudes about culture can affect their students’
academic progress (Blanchett et al., 2005). These teachers expressed their knowledge of the
importance of getting to know their students’ cultural differences, celebrate those differences,
and utilized those differences and experiences to enhance their learning and make the
connections to their home and school cultures.
The teachers could explain their understanding of DI and how to incorporate it into their
classrooms. I noticed that teachers were using deficit-oriented thinking as a means of structuring
their students into groupings. Some teachers focused on what skills their students lacked and
missed opportunities to capitalize on their strengths and/or talents. There was more focus on
what was missing or inadequately provided at home. In some responses, participants focused on
home environment as a negative, looking at what type of support was missing in the home and
less on what was inadequate or missing in the classroom. Even though teachers appeared to be
well-versed in DI, they still use additional training or support to facilitate utilizing students’
strengths as a tool to increase academic knowledge.
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When participants spoke about CRP, they all had general knowledge of what they could
incorporate into their lessons to make them more culturally relevant. They knew how to find
culturally diverse materials and resources, even though most stated they looked outside their
school and district to obtain relevant and meaningful information. Noticeable in their responses
were the moments in time that teachers utilized CRP. It did not appear to be a routine thing for
the majority of the teachers interviewed. One teacher mentioned the need for support in this area.
Based on my conceptual framework and the knowledge influences, it appeared that teachers had
the conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge to incorporate DI and CRP in their
daily lesson activities, albeit in a more limited way for CRP. In the following section, the
findings focus on teachers’ motivation to utilize DI and CRP in their daily lessons.
Motivation
A teacher’s motivation is connected to their belief in whether they are capable of
performing a task. If a teacher lacks the confidence to perform a task, then they will not make an
effort (Clark & Estes, 2008). Staying motivated in education is not easy. Teachers must be
confident in their abilities and motivated to do what is necessary for their students to achieve.
This section focuses on the research question regarding teachers’ knowledge and motivation
related to implementing DI and CRP. In the previous section, the focus was on teachers’
knowledge, and, now, I will discuss how motivation and bias may play a role in implementing
DI and CRP as part of daily classroom routine.
Confidence in Evaluating Implementation of Differentiated Instruction and Culturally
Relevant Pedagogy
Ms. Langley understood that her students were great resources for her in learning about
their family culture. She felt confident enough to let her students know that she did not know
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everything about diverse cultures, and she communicated that idea to her students. All of the
teachers had a similar opinion regarding their need to evaluate a lesson or project to determine
whether it was relatable to their students’ diverse backgrounds. Based on their responses they
utilized the family culture to connect with the school culture.
It does not matter what culture you are teaching. There is diversity even within cultures.
So, that’s why you have to really turn to students and say, “You tell me. I’m not gonna
presume. And then adjusting curriculum and standards ’cause our standards are not child-
friendly, to meet the needs. And then helping the kids to realize that they’re not broken;
the system’s broken.
Ms. Langley understood that it was not the fault of her students if they had trouble learning; there
was no connection between the educational system and the cultural backgrounds her students
brought with them into the learning environment. She wanted her students to know that they
were not the problem, but the system was the problem. She was confident enough to show a sign
of weakness to her students by admitting that she did not have all the answers and she did not
want to be presumptuous.
Ms. Moore was confident in her abilities to utilize DI with her students and recognized
when she needed to change or improve on her lessons to meet the needs of her students.
I’ve got a schedule. I have a routine. I know I can do better because I always feel like
that, but I know how to do that. I know how to plan those lessons and how to put that
together so that everybody’s having some measure of success.
Ms. Moore understood the importance of having a routine to ensure that she was, in fact, meeting
the needs of all her students. She was motivated and confident in her ability to do better for her
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students. This was evident when she said, “I know how to do that. I know how to plan those
lessons.”
Ms. Simmons and Ms. Wallace, both lower grade teachers, evaluated their teaching
frequently. They were confident enough to realize when they needed to make changes and
motivated enough to implement those changes. Ms. Simmons stated, “I guess the fourth grade
class when I realized they are not getting it. I switched it. So, being mindful of that is very
important as a teacher. We forget because we get stuck.” Ms. Simmons indicated that, when her
students did not understand the concept, she took a step back, evaluated what was happening,
and changed strategies. She was confident in her ability to recognize the problem and act.
Similarly, Ms. Wallace stated,
There’s always something to get better at. There’s always a teachable moment, not just
for the student but for the teacher too. “Oh wow, I should’ve” or “Oh, this really works
but next time. I would say that always as long as I’d been teaching.
Ms. Wallace recognized the idea of always getting better in what you do. She understood the
importance of evaluating to get better. She was confident in her ability to recognize when change
was needed and confident enough to see those changes through. Both teachers understood that
change was necessary to meet the needs of all their students. Because students learn in different
ways, it is impossible to teach them all the same way (Dixon et al., 2015). Ms. Simmons and Ms.
Wallace realized that it was their job to differentiate instruction, and that evaluating their
approaches regularly was a way to ensure they were appropriately differentiating. This was a
point that was made throughout the interview responses. Every teacher evaluated their lessons
and saw ways to improve on their lesson delivery that would have a positive impact on their
students’ learning experiences. It appeared that every teacher’s focus was student-centered. They
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did not appear to be concerned about the standardization of instruction and provide was
necessary for their students.
Ms. Moore realized the importance of being culturally relevant and recognized when she
needed to differentiate and make changes in her delivery. Her ability to evaluate how she was
doing and to make changes to her practice demonstrated her motivation:
I realized there was place where I was like I really need to get better at letting the kids
have that free choice of people and then providing the support to help them, but I realized
that I wanted to give the kids more freedom to choose people that were important to
them. That is what drives me every day: how am I going to help them catch up? What can
I give them that are going to serve them later? How can I help them be better people?
How can I help them learn that there is a life outside of this neighborhood and this space
and that they can move into that in a way that allows them to still be whom they are and
take everything that they’ve got?
Ms. Moore showed how her motivation influenced her classroom environment. She was always
looking for ways to do better and make learning meaningful for her students. She saw the
importance of students knowing that there was life outside of their cultural community and she
wanted them to be prepared for it. She also saw the positive influences her students brought into
the classroom when she stated, “allows them to still be who they are and take everything that
they have got.” She focused on improving their skill level and wanted to build upon what they
already came with. Those who believed in their ability to incorporate culturally responsive
activities were more likely to engage their students in CRP teaching practices (Siwatu et al.,
2016).
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Teachers Value Differentiated Instruction and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
All the teachers interviewed saw the value of DI and CRP and incorporated many of their
activities that reflected their appreciation for diverse cultures. Some also felt the need provide
them lessons that specifically represented who the students are. Mr. Smith recognized the
absence of culturally relevant activities at his school, saw their value, and was motivated to give
his students the experience of appreciating their cultures:
I remember looking at my drawer and seeing all the things that we used to do. We used to
have programs for MLK. We don’t do that anymore. We just have a month that we share.
This year, I don’t think we even did anything. We just had some teachers did some
things, but it wasn’t schoolwide. I really felt bad about that, but inside my classroom I
feel good because I teach it like it’s every day.
Mr. Smith appeared disappointed and somewhat angered by the lack of culturally relevant
activities at his school. He added how different his students had become throughout the years and
the lack of appreciation for the African American culture. He further mentioned,
There’s a trend right now where we’re not covering specific multicultural. There’s a
group out there, African Americans, especially boys that are having the hardest time.
There is no support, very little if any. There are no real programs out there, and I’m
embarrassed by that because a lot of them are gifted. A lot of them are super bright. A lot
of them have so many potentials. Despite what was lacking in his school environment,
Mr. Smith made sure his students were appreciated for their differences and taught them to
appreciate and respect the differences of others through classroom activities, discussions and
special projects throughout the year. Ladson-Billings (1995) posited that teachers must help
students to appreciate and assert their cultural identity and to develop their critical views of the
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inequities that are prevalent in their educational environment and society. Mr. Smith knew it was
important and necessary to be culturally relevant in his teaching practices. He saw potential in
his African American students and was disheartened by lack of resources that could benefit
them. Ms. Langley showed her students just that:
Well, I think, we did a play on an African folk tale. And I had the kids kind of re-script it
and throw in their own ideas to the play. And it was such a positive experience. I felt like,
I’m doing it right, now. We read the African folk tale, and then we were just going back
and forth. What could we add here? What could a narrator say here? And then, you know,
we researched costumes. What kind of costumes would we like? And then I went
downtown and found the fabric, and we made the costumes.
Ms. Langley saw the value in integrating cultural ideas into her classroom because she allowed
her students to make the folktale their own: “We read the African folk tale. We were going back
and forth. What could we add here? What could a narrator say here? We researched costumes, I
went downtown and found the fabric, and we made the costumes.” She went a step further and
on her own time went downtown to buy the fabric to make costumes. She knew at that moment
that what she was doing was not only right but needed.
Comparatively, Ms. North wanted her students to have access to content that was
relatable to their own life experiences and she used differentiation that allowed them to make the
content meaningful:
I mean, definitely, they’re not getting a one-sided education where it’s the Anglo
education. I think of their learning styles but also the content that they’re brought to. So,
it should be also representing their life stories and what they’re used to. I think,
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definitely, that filter that when students feel respected, they enjoy the learning and it’s
more meaningful to them. So obviously, they perform better.
While Ms. North spoke of “learning styles,” she knew how important it was for her students to
appreciate their cultural differences and to have those differences respected and valued.
Although Ms. North mentioned learning styles, her focus was incorporating CRP. She
understood that her students come into her classroom with diverse backgrounds and experiences,
and it was her job to determine what was needed to accommodate them, to make them feel
valued, and to show them how their experiences connect to the learning outcomes.
Ms. Wallace saw how CRP would keep her students more engaged in the content she
would deliver. She saw the need to incorporate literature that would be culturally diverse and
would appeal to her students’ interests.
I believe it helps them to understand that we, as a various set of cultures, make up the
society we live in and it helps them to understand that we all contribute to the world that
we live in and responsible to make it a better place. I believe that it helps them to relate
more when they see in the stories that we read, people that look like them. They see
situations being depicted that they can actually relate to as having experienced and I think
it keeps them more engaged and interested.
Ms. Wallace wanted her students to know that they had the responsibility of being culturally
responsible in the world. She saw value in engaging her students in conversations and activities
that depicted real-life examples relevant to their specific cultures, and she demonstrated her
value of this when she said, “I believe that it helps them to relate more.” Ladson-Billings (2014)
posited that students needed to have socio-political consciousness in order analyze and solve
real-life societal problems.
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Mr. Henkel used real-life societal issues to get his students involved in culturally
relevant topics. He had a similar view as Ms. Wallace. However, he took it a step further and
used societal issues to help his students find meaning and find their voice in topics that were
important and relevant to them:
I show CNN Student News to my students every morning. It deals with a lot of social
issues, so my students, who are predominantly Hispanic or African American, have a
sense of awareness when they see those news segments about Black Lives Matter, or
ICE, the immigration enforcement going on. I see a big difference from the beginning of
the year and by the end of the year ’cause they’re more cultured, more aware.
Mr. Henkel demonstrated the value he placed on using real-life stories in his classroom. Teachers
who acknowledge their students’ cultural backgrounds and experiences and incorporate materials
that are relevant to them are providing the opportunity to bridge the gap between home and the
learning environment (Oran, 2009). Mr. Henkel knew the value in exposing his students to world
issues and taught them how to appropriately respond to less than favorable outcomes related to
their cultures.
Teachers Saw the Importance of Being Unbiased
The teachers were asked if they agreed with the statement, “Some people say that we
humans all have biases towards people who are different from us. What would you say to that
statement?” This question served to determine whether teachers looked at their students’
academic abilities based on ethnic/racial stereotypes and if they had preconceived notions that
played a part in how they supported their students. This could play a role in a teacher being
motivated to work with students from diverse backgrounds who struggle to meet grade level
standards. There were only three teachers who had a specific comment regarding teacher bias
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and what role it plays in the educational environment. Most of the teachers talked about the
behaviors and attitudes of others or in more general terms when responding to this question, but
this still gave insight into their perceptions. Mr. Henkel responded by saying,
The only case I would think is if the teacher did a poor job and kids started developing
prejudices or stereotypes, but, besides that, I don’t know if I agree with that statement.
But I could see why it’s plausible, because people can be unaware of their biases.
Mr. Henkel felt that it was the actions of the teacher that would be the cause of becoming biased.
He felt that, if a teacher unsuccessfully delivered a lesson on a specific culture and brought their
personal biases into the content of the lesson, students could get the wrong message or
misunderstand the content being presented.
Ms. Lewinsky reflected on her own experiences with bias and responded by saying,
I’ve experienced bias as well. So, it’s there, but, at least in my classroom, I try to create
an atmosphere where we can, because I know how it feels. I don’t like to be treated a
certain way. We try to have mutual respect for each other, which I feel like it works out
pretty well.
She did not want her students experience what she had. She wanted them to feel safe and
appreciated for what and how they contribute to their learning environment.
Ms. Wallace thought that it was impossible to be a teacher and be biased. She responded
by saying,
I don’t think I work any differently with students who are from different ethnic
backgrounds. It’s kind of hard to work in a classroom if you have biases of other
ethnicities or anything because all of my children are different, even those who you might
say come from the same ethnic background.
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Ms. Wallace could not grasp the idea of teachers’ being biased towards the students they
educate. She noticed students of the same cultural background behaved, responded, and needed
support differently as well. Ms. Wallace was identifying more with the home environment than
her students’ cultural backgrounds. She struggled with this answer because she did not think it
would be possible to educate students whom one is biased against. She looked at each of her
students equally, as if she did not consider cultural differences and took students at face value.
However, research does not support a colorblind mentality. CRP is designed to teach students to
appreciate their cultural differences while respecting and appreciating the cultural differences of
others (Ladson-Billings, 1995) Her responses demonstrated how she incorporated DI and CRP
into the curriculum, but her focus tended to lean more on the students’ home life.
Mr. Smith had a different response on the question of being biased. He noticed a
difference in how his students behaved and responded to the demands of the classroom
environment.
There’s one thing that I know that my biases, that having worked with African American
students, our classroom discussions are very lively. There’s a noise level which is a
healthy noise level, and then there are kids that are very quiet, and they’re Hispanic, and
they’ve been taught to be quiet and just observe, and learn, and not give feedback. I think
that’s one thing that still goes on because it’s hard for them to speak up. But, by the end
of the year, they start to speak up. They start to incorporate some of the things that we’re
doing.
Mr. Smith recognized the behavioral differences of his students as it related to the upbringing,
connecting it to their cultural backgrounds. He referred to his discussions a “lively” because the
African American students in his class were often more excitedly vocal than his Latino students.
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From his comment, however, it seems these differences were never looked down upon but used
to teach students how to respond and interact in the classroom environment.
All the teachers interviewed appeared to have confidence in incorporating DI and CRP
into their lesson activities. They wanted to instill that same confidence in their students by
exposing them to culturally specific lessons they could relate to. They saw how DI allowed
students to be successful by providing varying lesson activities without compromising content.
Teachers saw the value in CRP and the positive influence it had on their students’ academic
performance, self-esteem, and behaviors. None of the teachers indicated bias towards their
students. I did note that most of the focus appeared to be on family dynamics and less on cultural
differences. This could pose as a problem because, if teachers focus only on the negative or on
students’ weaknesses, they lose sight of what students could contribute during a learning task or
project. In essence, not building upon the knowledge that students bring into the classroom,
could cloud judgement or opinion of what a student can accomplish with the appropriate tools
and supports.
In spite of this potential problem, all the teachers felt that they treated all their students
with respect and, based on their responses, there was no indication that a student was ever called
out for any ethnic/racial stereotypic behavior. Based on my conceptual framework and the
motivation influences, it appeared that teachers had the self-efficacy to implement DI and CRP
and saw value in these two concepts as well. There were two teachers who put in extra effort to
expose their students to appropriate relevant content because they valued these concepts. In the
following section, the findings focus on the interaction between the teachers’ knowledge and
motivation and their school/organization.
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Organization
Organizational support is crucial in education. Teachers rely on the resources and
supports from their district and their school site administrators to carry out their job duties. As
previously stated, Clark and Estes (2008) posited the importance of stakeholders obtaining the
knowledge and skills and being motivated to carry out the assigned task in hopes of achieving
the organizational goals. The organization and schools need to prepare their teachers for the
types of students they are responsible for educating. This section addresses the research question
regarding the interaction between organizational culture and context and teachers’ knowledge
and motivation to implement differentiated instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy.
General Satisfaction With the Provision of Academic Supports and Resources
The major source of support for the teachers in this study came from the school site
administrator and administrative team. They developed, organized, and scheduled varying levels
of support for teachers throughout the year. Teachers reported that the school site administrators
encouraged staff to improve teaching techniques by providing the necessary resources and
support during and after the instructional day. Ms. Simmons related how her school site
administrators orchestrated their action plan to support student progress:
It was administration because we’d do the literacy. So, it would be the literacy coach or
the math coach. They would do the hour PD [professional development]. We’d go
through the long-term planning, so then we would go back. And then, sometimes, I would
plan with my other first grade people to see what we were going to do for, or how we
were going to address it. That was on our own time. And then, of course, my own
personal planning that I did.
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Ms. Simmons expressed how the resources supported their initial planning and progressed
through small group planning to individual planning, which she stated was on her own time.
However, according to Ms. Simmons, the administrator did provide time for long-term planning,
grade level planning and instructional support.
Mr. Henkel, who worked at a different school, obtained his support from fellow
colleagues as well as the administrator and coaches. He said,
I do get support. I have mentors within our faculty that I look up to and I always
confided, and I seek advice in. So, my fellow peers, grade level teachers, my
administrator, and then my instructional coaches. I’m fortunate enough to have a faculty
where, if I were to raise up an issue, like I have a hard time providing differentiating
instruction, it could become a complete, like a full-on PD the next following week. We
have vertical and horizontal grade level meetings.
Mr. Henkel felt that he was supported by the school staff. His school leaders supported
collaboration and peer support, so, if he was ever in need of that support, he perceived it to be
available. He knew that help was there if and when he needed it.
Ms. North had the same sentiment in regard to her school’s support. According to her, her
school provided plenty of classroom resources for teachers to use:
So, I think we have a plethora of resources…from materials to human beings. So, we
have a lot of intervention and aids and we have a book room tiered and leveled. We all
have leveled libraries in our classrooms to help and a huge library that’s leveled to use.
So, I do feel like our school is very strong in the resources.
Ms. North felt that her school was doing a good job in providing the materials and human
resources to support the needs of the students and to help the teachers differentiate. By
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mentioning “intervention and aids… and leveled libraries” she was showing a focus on
differentiation. Also, her voice during the interview showed that she appreciated the amount of
resources available for teachers. She was very satisfied with what her school provided for
support. The examples she gave were specific to DI and not to CRP.
Ms. Lewinsky, who is a colleague of Mr. Henkel, recognized the time allotted by her
administrator to collaborate with grade level team members and the availability of online
resources provided by her district. She said, “Just getting together as a team, collaboration. They
have a lot of support online as well, where you can watch videos on different teachers.” She said
her school provides support and she can access online support, courtesy of her school district, to
get additional ideas and support for her students. Ms. Lewinsky was taking advantage of all the
avenues through which support was available. Dewert, Babinski, and Jones (2003) posited that
online support gives teachers flexibility in accessing discussion forums, experienced teachers in
multiple academic areas, and professional consultative support, accompanied with example
lessons and materials for those who need it. Online support allows teachers to readily receive the
help that they need while in the classroom.
Similar to Ms. North, Ms. Langley mentioned special programs at her school to support
struggling readers:
Well this year, we had in the past 2 years, we had this wonderful program with the
reading lab where your lowest readers are pulled out almost every day, several times a
week, to work specific skills in the reading lab. And that has really helped, because they
get a break from the classroom every day to work at their own level, and it just has really
targeted what they needed, and it really helped to catch them up.
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Ms. Langley felt that she was encouraged and supported by her administrator because of the
much-needed support provided to her struggling readers. She appreciated the work done in the
reading lab and saw the difference it made for her students’ academic progress. She also
recognized how her administrator encouraged his teachers by his communication and modeling.
He communicates it at the meetings, what he wants to see when he comes in, and he
models it. I think he does a really good job of modeling what he wants to see, the kind of
communication style he wants to see with the kids.
She knew that he had the students’ best interest in mind and communicated and modeled it
regularly. Again, the examples provided by Ms. Langley related to DI based on students’ reading
levels. There wasn’t mention of CRP resources. The school and district were providing multiple
opportunities to receive DI instruction, which allowed teachers to be adequately trained and
confident enough to implement into their classrooms.
Ms. Moore, who is a lower grade teacher and works at the same school as Ms. North,
painted a different picture about the kind of support she felt she received:
We have a guided reading book room. We do ELP, that’s supposedly is providing stuff to
the students at their levels in whatever way, shape, or form the district has decided we’re
all going to do it like little pegs and fit into little boxes, but it’s limited. I feel like when
we need support it was like, “Just use this.” It’s a bigger district problem. When they
really need the support, it’s so hard to get and that’s bigger than the school. I think that
there’s some trainings you can go to on Saturdays if you want to get paid $25 an hour
here and there. If you can find the flyers, if they get advertised, if you’re on learning zone
looking for them. I feel like it’s not there, I feel like we’re letting everybody down. I
think we’ve stopped supporting the teachers. Our school is fairly together on things. You
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will see it with new teachers. I mean, again, I’ve been doing this 17 years. This is not a
new population to me, but can you imagine if you come into this and you don’t know
what you’re doing and you’ve got kids from all different walks of life?
Based on her tone of voice, Ms. Moore appeared to be disappointed by the lack of support
provided by the district she has been teaching in for the past 17 years. She felt that the district
was falling short in support for students who needed support and for the teachers to be able to
provide that support. She acknowledged that her school was doing all that they could for their
student population. However, she felt that more could be done if the district got more involved in
the process. Darling-Hammond (1998) posited that organizations need to routinely and without
hesitation provide targeted services and support struggling students. Ms. Moore realized that the
problem is much bigger than her school site alone and knew that eventually something would
need to be done.
All the teachers acknowledged the multitude of resources and support from their
administrators, coaches, and district in relation to DI. They felt confident in their supports and
easily implemented Di into their daily lesson activities. However, little was said about the
support for CRP from their administrators and/or district. Ms. Moore and Mr. Smith were the
only two teachers who had strong opinions about the lack of CRP, although the other teachers
did also recognize the limited amount of focus as well.
Support for Differentiated Instruction, but not Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Teachers participated in numerous professional development opportunities in support of
DI. The administrators discussed with teachers the importance of differentiating and of providing
resources. Teaching assistants (TAs) were trained on how to support students who were
struggling, and programs were implemented throughout the school day in the form of small
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group instruction and pull-out sessions to target specific skills. Clark and Estes (2008) talked
about the importance of providing individuals with the necessary tools to carry out their job
responsibilities.
Support for DI. Based on their responses, teachers felt that they were fully supported in
their efforts to differentiate. Every teacher discussed the abundance of professional development
opportunities and human resources available when needed. They expressed confidence in their
tone when they responded to questions related to DI. For example, Ms. Simmons talked about
how her school provided human resources and professional development opportunities to support
teachers with their students who were not meeting grade level skills.
We did a couple of PDs where it was about small group instruction the year before last
and then last year. We have the TAs working in the reading lab for 2 days and then, the
other 3 days, they push into the classroom and work with those same students to fill in
those gaps and what we’ve seen from data is that the kids have grown. The intervention
teacher comes two days a week and her main thing is to work with teachers, to build their
capacity so that then they can go take it back to the classroom. she’s also working with
the TAs, we have six of them, because they are very well trained in phonics and
foundational skills and how to differentiate for the kids in red. That’s very important.
Ms. Simmons was confident in that DI was working for her students and, with the additional
support of trained assistants, she knew that her school was moving in the right direction. She had
confidence in the assistants’ abilities to instruct her students in a manner that would benefit them
academically and how important it was to do this work. She appreciated the support from the
intervention teacher who made sure the assistants were well trained and could support teachers
and students.
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Similarly, Ms. Strong felt that her school provided support through human resources by
having access to trained assistants for pull-out instruction.
Last year was actually more supported than any other year. They trained the TAs in the
95% curriculum. Of course, there still has to be communication. For the portion of the
year that we had the literacy, the academy coordinator, that felt very supported.
Ms. Strong recognized how important it was for her to have access to trained assistants. This
allowed her to spend less time instructing the assistant and more time providing support for her
students. This made her feel supported in differentiating instruction.
Ms. Lewinsky expressed her school engaged in professional development and grade level
meetings focused on how to better support students, particularly as it related to different
academic needs.
We do a lot of PDs. We have a grade level meeting where with my colleagues we get to
discuss and talk about the different lessons and what we can do to make it better, or if we
realize that a certain students or group is not understanding we talk about what we can do
to help them learn.
Having the opportunity to discuss strategies with colleagues was one way the administration
supported teachers. These planning meetings were conducted during the instructional day. It was
an uninterrupted hour of planning for teachers to discuss their students’ needs. The
administration made this a weekly activity for all the teachers, but, again, the focus was on DI.
Similarly, Ms. North talked about how her school supported teachers by giving them
planning time and professional development on differentiation:
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I will say we do get planning time, and I will say that’s been our focus the last few years.
So, we do have PD and time to differentiate our lessons and we have grade level times.
So, we’re doing it with our other colleagues.
The administration provided time for teachers to collaborate on differentiation and also provided
professional development opportunities for the teachers in that area. Ms. North seemed to
appreciate the time she had working with her colleagues where they could share ideas and give
each other support. All the teachers recognized the multitude of support for DI. They felt that
their schools were doing well in providing the necessary resources (materials and staffing) that
supports what they are doing for their students. Unfortunately, there was not an equal amount of
support for CRP and the teachers recognized that.
Lack of support for CRP. All of the teachers mentioned the numerous professional
development opportunities focused on DI. They all related how the TAs were trained and used to
support the teachers with the students who were either missing specific skills and/or who were in
danger of not meeting grade level standards. Teachers also mentioned being provided
collaborative planning time to support them in differentiation. When the discussion moved to
CRP, however, teachers felt that there was very little to no support given to them in that area.
Ms. Wallace expressed how CRP professional development training was not prevalent at
her school. She recognized something was done, but not to the extent of DI.
I will say we do get planning time and I will say that’s been our focus the last few years.
So, we do have PD and time to differentiate our lessons and we have grade level times.
So, we’re doing it with our other colleagues.
Ms. Wallace seemed sure of the lapse in CRP. She appeared to view what little training she was
a part of as brief and only touching the surface when she used the words “some” and “overview”
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and “not a lot.” She also mentioned how much time has passed with no mention of developing
CRP into the classroom curriculum.
Ms. North also mentioned how long it had been since any mention of cultural learning
has been brought up in staff meetings or professional development sessions. She said,
I feel like our district was better with that a few years ago because they did do a full
round for a year. I’d say maybe four. We had like four in one year but just like the
pendulum swings, it swung the other way. It’s been about 3 years since we talked really
deeply about cultural learning. So that may be up to us.
Ms. North acknowledged the fact that the district/school had not done anything in CRP. She
mentioned that it was left up to the teachers to learn about the concept and incorporate it on their
own. Her comment “just like the pendulum swings, it swung the other way,” points to the
priorities the district had once but that was not carried forward.
Like Ms. Wallace, Ms. Simmons expressed the superficial training she participated in
recently and like both Ms. Wallace and Ms. North, the lack of training in a number of years:
This last year, we had to do two-hour training on CRP to make sure that we understood
that and what that looked like and also how it would affect the students and what it meant
to us as teachers and how to implement that. The one that we did was kind of a basic. It
was like an overview, going over what it means to do a CLRP class. It was more about, I
guess, clicking with a need, what I needed to do to make sure that I was aware of that.
The other trainings that I’ve been to, which we had a training here at school, but this was
probably about 12 years ago.
Ms. Simmons felt that the training was an “overview,” calling it “basic.” It really did not help or
show teachers how to incorporate CRP into their classroom instruction. She only saw it as
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looking at a student’s needs and then creating an activity based on that need. She recognized how
the district/school fell short on providing more in-depth support in this area, particularly in how
to implement CRP, not just know about it at the surface level. The fact that neither the district
nor her school has provided any support for CRP made her think that it was not that important to
them. She did not mention whether this lack of support was a concern for her or her school site.
Mr. Smith remembered a training he participated in years ago where he felt that it was
too much to cover and not a lot of time allotted and the need to do more:
I remember there was a lot to cover, and the professor was really good, and she gave us
more things to do. I don’t think there was enough time, and I think there’s a lack of
resource in that area. I think that’s where we need to put funding in because it’s a very
valuable tool.
Mr. Smith saw the value in CRP and recognized the need to put more funding into its use. In his
previous comments, he spoke about the lack of resources from the district and his school.
Consistent with the other teacher participants, Mr. Smith also talked about training that was
provided years ago, which provides an unfortunate picture of passing trends.
Ms. Langley echoed the same sentiments about her experience with CRP professional
development training, mentioning its sporadic and surface level coverage. She also commented
on how relevant the information she received from the training was and how it would benefit her
students:
Well, I mean there are a couple lessons that they’ve given us about to explore a kid’s
culture. They’re so scratch-the-surface. That was one PD, a lesson about their culture and
I think food. Most recently it was about having your own dictionary, where they keep
track of their own vocabulary words that are meaningful to them. Okay, it is a storybook
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about these kids who live in the inner city, African American kids, and they make a
snowman and it is black. It’s black because there was a fire and it’s sooty, but as they
taught us this and said, “Take this back to your staff and teach this,” all I thought was our
kids don’t know what snow is. So, is this really culturally relevant? Like great, we got
African American kids here, but they’re living in Los Angeles, snow is not a thing. So, is
this really honoring where they are?
Ms. Langley showed how annoying it was for her to take part in a PD that was not truly
culturally relevant for her students and presented, as she put it, “scratch-the-surface” information
that would not serve as a means of support for teachers. This is what her district thought would
be helpful in a classroom with diverse cultural learners, without recognizing that the color of
one’s skin is not the only identity marker of importance.
Given her disappointment with the professional development session she recounted, Ms.
Langley realized that she could not rely on the district or her school to provide her with the
support in becoming culturally competent, so she motivated herself to learn on her own.
For me personally, it’s being involved in my union. It has a lot on student rights: Black
Lives Matter is within the schools, getting ethnic studies in the schools. So, I’ve been
involved in that pursuit tangentially, reading a lot myself, whether that means reading, I
mean, not only reading the things that get posted on Facebook about different issues, but
then reading the comments, the comments is where you see the different points of view
within a culture, but also how to respond. So, I think it’s your own professional
responsibility, too. You can’t just wait for the school district to train you on everything. I
feel like I’ve had the first PD a few times in the last 15 years and the second PD only
once. And really, I have a small binder of things, but really the things I’ve gotten mostly
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are from the book, For White People Who Teach in the Hood. Ideas from there and then
other things I’ve read online, on different forums I’m on.
Ms. Langley knew what she needed to do on a personal and professional level to provide the
appropriate and necessary support for her students. She realized that the district/school was not
going to provide her with the information or training she needed to reach her students. It was
important to her to utilize any source of information that would connect her to her students. She
even went as far as to locate a book that could be valuable to her as she navigated through a
community and worked with students whose ethnic/racial background was different from hers.
While the other teachers concurred with her that professional development on CRP was limited,
Ms. Langley was the only teacher who went outside her school and district to find better ways to
interact and understand her students’ cultural backgrounds, and the issues they faced to make
their learning meaningful and appropriate.
In summary, based on the teachers’ responses, it was evident that they had the
conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge to implement DI. This was, in part, due to
the overabundance of support from the organization, whether school-based or district-offered
training and professional development opportunities. This support played a part in how
motivated the teachers were in implementing DI strategies according to their interview
responses. Interviewees expressed how they felt about the support they were receiving from their
perspective school site administrators and support personnel. Teachers acknowledged the
multiple professional development opportunities and training that were provided for them from
the district and their school sites. It can be determined that the school/district provided the
necessary materials and staffing support to meet their stakeholder goal. This may have been true
when referencing DI; however, when it came to CRP, the school/district fell short.
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Based on the teachers’ responses to the implementation of CRP, they did have
conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge but to the level where more support and
training was still needed. The fact that CRP was not an area of focus or as important according to
some teachers, no one mentioned that they brought the discussion to the forefront during staff
meetings. There were a few teachers that did recognize the need for additional support and
training by the district in order for school site personnel to properly facilitate their understanding
of CRP so that it could be implemented with as much intensity as DI. The limited support from
the organization made it difficult for teachers to be knowledgeable and motivated to implement
CRP. A few teachers expressed how they have to take additional personal time to bring various
realia, literature, activities, and special projects that focused on cultural relevance. Some
expressed their frustration for the lack of support. Therefore, when examining the research
questions to determine whether the school/district was moving in the right direction of assisting
stakeholders with meeting their goal, they fell short in CRP. In other words, they were doing an
exceptional job with DI support and implementation, but the teachers felt and knew that more
needed to be done in CRP.
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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study examined possible solutions to mitigate the overrepresentation and the
disproportionality of African American students in special education programs by incorporating
DI and CRP, and examining how the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
affect teachers’ abilities to incorporate DI and CRP into their classroom curriculum and lesson
planning. By examining the findings related to their knowledge and motivation, we can explore
how likely it is that teachers are meeting their goal, which, subsequently, would allow the
organization to meet its goal. The research questions were designed to answer those inquiries.
These questions guided the study:
1. What are teachers’ knowledge and motivation related to implementing differentiated
instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context and teachers’
knowledge and motivation to implement differentiated instruction and culturally relevant
pedagogy?
This chapter focuses on the suggestions that developed out of the findings related to the
knowledge and motivation teachers had about DI and CRP. The results lead and guide the
recommendations for what the schools/district need to do to ensure that appropriate and
meaningful PDs and support are provided to teachers to meet their goal and then future research
that could be developed that focused on other stakeholders’ influences.
Implication for Practice
This study analyzed the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that played
a role in teachers incorporating DI and CRP into their instruction. These findings were only
based on teachers’ responses from the three schools in the study and do not represent influences
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that may affect teachers at schools outside of this study. These findings are relevant only to the
participants in this study and have no connection with the other teachers at these schools. This
study may serve as a starting point for the school when offering support to teachers as well as an
opportunity for open dialogue about what schoolwide resources are needed in terms of CRP.
The implications for district/school leaders that arose out of the findings focused on how
teachers’ procedural and metacognitive knowledge was affected by the lack of resources and
support for CRP. If teachers do not get support from their organization to build their knowledge,
they cannot be expected to implement the strategies the literature deems effective. A clear
finding was the non-existent professional development opportunities related to CRP. A third
finding was the lack of focus on the topic of CRP by school and district personnel. A lack of
focus on this strategy meant that it was not a priority for teachers either.
The first implication addresses the impact of a lack of materials and staffing on teachers’
motivation to implement CRP consistently. Their level of procedural knowledge tended to allow
only a surface introduction into culturally relevant activities. The majority of the teachers could
introduce cultural content but did not have the tools make it meaningful for students. Only a few
teachers expressed their ability to bridge culturally relevant content across subject areas. Their
metacognitive knowledge was affected by the lack of staff support, such as teacher experts and
exposure to example lessons and modeling CRP.
Professional development was non-existent for CRP, and what they had was insufficient.
Teachers mentioned the inappropriateness of the content, the time since a professional
development opportunity was given, and the absence of support for CRP. They further indicated
that it had been years since the subject had been talked about in their schools and by the district.
This influenced how motivated they were to self-learn and to reach out to other professionals for
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support. This, in essence, affected the self-efficacy in those teachers with minimal understanding
of how to incorporate CRP beyond the surface. Clark and Estes (2008) and Eccles (2006) posited
the importance of having self-efficacy to complete a task. There were only two teachers who
exhibited the confidence to extend their students learning that focused on real-life societal issues
that pertained to their cultural background. Without the self-efficacy to extend beyond what the
district and the school provided, CRP didn’t get implemented.
The final finding was the lack of discussion and focus on the need and importance of
incorporating CRP into the curriculum. This led to the inappropriateness of the materials being
presented years ago during professional development sessions. A couple of teachers stated that
CRP was not a topic of importance at the time or that the “pendulum swung to the other side.”
The organization’s lack of focus on the importance of CRP made it easy for schools to ignore the
concept and not find it meaningful enough to implement. Again, there were some teachers who
recognized the importance and reacted accordingly by providing that content, but it depended on
them to make it work.
Recommendations for Practice
Knowledge Recommendations
According to Krathwohl (2002), conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive processes are
overlapping and an important factor when making improvements in the delivery of instruction
and curriculum planning. The findings showed that teachers were lacking the appropriate and
meaningful PDs in CRP, which had an impact on their knowledge base. In fact, they were not
receiving any support in this area at all. Tobin and McInnes (2008) expressed the importance of
seeing what something looks like to implement it. It is important for teachers to have access to
the current practices through professional development opportunities and teacher experts and
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coaches to better provide meaningful and useful content in their instruction. Schraw and
McCrudden (2006) state that information learned meaningfully and connected with prior
knowledge is stored more quickly and remembered more accurately because it is elaborated with
prior learning. The recommendation is to provide teachers with the opportunities to participate in
meaningful and appropriate PDs and trainings in CRP that is aligned with their grade level
content.
Motivation Recommendations
Teachers need to believe in their ability to implement DI and CRP for struggling
students. Pajares (2006) states that high self-efficacy can positively influence motivation. He
further stated that learning and motivation are enhanced when learners have positive expectations
of success. Pintrich (2003) posits that people who believe in their capabilities tend to be
motivated to try harder and do better when learning or accomplishing a given task. Bell and
Mladenovic (2005) stated that peers experience many benefits, such as, developing their
confidence in teaching, learning about different teaching strategies, and improving their teaching
practices by observing their colleagues. Observing teachers incorporating CRP into their daily
lessons could have a positive impact on seeing its usefulness. Thus, the recommendation to
improve teachers’ self-efficacy is to provide them time to observe others and properly instruct
them through experts in incorporating CRP into the curriculum.
Organization Recommendations
The organization needs to provide the necessary tools to teachers to reach their goal. The
organization needs to encourage teachers to change the way they implement instruction for
struggling students. Adults are more motivated to participate and learn when they see the
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relevance of information, a request, or task (the “why”) to their own circumstances. Teachers are
goal-oriented (Knowles, 1980).
According to Leithwood and Riehl (2003), leaders support student achievement and
enable teachers to instruct well by promoting the school’s vision and goals and providing
teachers with the necessary resources and processes to be successful. In other words, teachers
need to be equipped with the knowledge necessary to implement CRP, which, in turn, requires
the schools/district to provide the opportunities and support to do so. As a recommendation, the
organization needs to amass, mobilize and manage fiscal resources to meet their teachers’ needs.
Teachers and administrators staying current with the field’s research and practice is
correlated with increased student learning outcomes (Waters, Marzano, & McNulty, 2003). This
would allow teachers to obtain their stakeholder goal, which, in turn, facilitates obtaining the
organizational goal. Milner (2006) posits that exposing teachers to training courses and
professional development opportunities that focus on the political and social realities of
socioeconomic status, race, and culture allows them to be better prepared to teach a diverse
group of students. As a recommendation the organization needs to expose staff to new ideas;
systematically engage staff in discussions about current research and theory related to CRP.
Future Research
There are several approaches that one could take in future research based on the
organizational and stakeholder goals and the limitations and delimitations of this study. First, it
could be beneficial to interview other stakeholders, such as administrators, support personnel,
and teacher assistants. Having multiple perspectives on the topic and how each group supports
the organization and stakeholder goals would provide a holistic picture. Interviewing
administrators, for example, would shed some light on how they feel they support their teachers
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and what their strengths and weaknesses are in this area. This would be an opportunity for
administrators to receive the necessary training as well to support their teachers. This would be
beneficial in making decisions on what types of PDs are needed to support teachers’ growth and
student achievement. Support personnel, such as coordinators, coaches, and expert trainers,
would utilize the research findings to collaborate with administrators and teachers in determining
the appropriate professional development sessions and training needed to support teachers’
procedural knowledge in CRP.
Also beneficial would be a comparison of what teachers said and what they actually did
in the classroom. Oftentimes, a person communicates what they know to be appropriate but fail
to execute what they communicate in their students’ learning experiences. This is where my
findings fall short, because observations were not incorporated in the design. Extending the study
to 6 months and observing teachers in their classrooms would have strengthened this study.
Although interviews were essential in this study, observations would have provided another layer
of validity and real-time data to support interview responses regarding what was actually
implemented in the classrooms.
The recommendations set forth in this chapter would be appropriate subjects for future
research. Oftentimes, programs, trainings and additional support are not aligned with the needs
of stakeholders. Interviewing different stakeholders and observing implementation would
provide pertinent information on how to improve in the targeted areas.
Conclusion
The organizational problem I set out to address dealt was the disproportionality of
African Americans referred for special education programs. I chose teachers as my stakeholder
group to focus on because they had the responsibility to educate all students and provide support
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to those who were not meeting grade level standards. Moreover, how teachers interact and treat
students has a lifelong effect on students’ academic and behavioral growth. The knowledge,
motivation, and organization framework was designed to analyze areas that affect how teachers
do their jobs, how they relate to their students, and how they bridge their school and family
communities to address the whole student. This, in turn, facilitated how teachers implemented DI
and CRP in their classrooms. My hope is to shed light on the problem of not providing teachers
with adequate training in the areas that they have not mastered. In this study, that was CRP. If we
are to teach students to be culturally responsive, respect the cultures of others, and value what
they culturally contribute to their school, community, and society, then it is imperative to provide
teachers with the tools and resources to do so as well. This starts by giving them consistently
appropriate training in CRP so that students can effectively and proudly represent their culture.
Implementing these strategies at the elementary level could lower the number of referrals for
special education and give this population of students the opportunity to be part of their
educational community while achieving academic success.
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APPENDIX A
Interview Protocols
Introduction
I want to start by saying thank you for agreeing to participate in my research study. I appreciate
the time that you have set aside to answer my questions. There will be two interviews that I
would like to ask you to participate in. The first interview should take approximately and hour
and a half. The second interview will be conducted to ask any clarifying questions and allow you
to add additional information or to omit any comments or responses from the study. The second
interview will likely be shorter (no more than forty-five minutes) and can be conducted on the
phone if preferred.
Before we get started, I want to provide you with an overview of what we will be talking
about today and answer any questions you might have about participating. I will be interviewing
lower and upper grade classroom teachers to share their thoughts, ideas, and opinions on how
knowledge and skills, and motivation are influenced by what the organization provides to
support you in working with diverse learners who have academic challenges. I am a doctoral
student at the University of Southern California, and I am conducting the study as part of my
studies. I am not serving in my capacity as a district employee. Do you have any questions about
the study or the purpose of today’s conversation?
I want to assure you that everything said here today is strictly confidential. When I use an
actual quote from a teacher, I will indicate that it is from a “teacher” or “participant” or
“interviewee.” No names will ever be associated with the findings. I also want to assure you that
none of the data I collect will be shared with other teachers, the principal, or the district. Do you
have any questions for me?
If you have questions about your rights while taking part in this study, or you have
concerns or suggestions and you want to talk to someone other than the researcher about the
study, please call the OPRS at (213) 821-1154 or email oprs@usc.edu.
The last couple of things that I would like to cover include the logistics of the interview
process. I have brought a recorder with me today so that I can accurately capture what you share.
The recorder helps me focus on our conversation and not on taking notes and no one outside of
the research team will have access to it. If at any time you wish to turn off the recorder you can
push this button and you may make comments “off the record.” Your participation in all aspects
of data collection is completely voluntary. May I have your permission to record and get started?
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 112
Interview Protocol
I will start the interview. The Following questions will focus on demographic questions.
1. How many years have you been teaching?
2. What grade level do you have the most experience in teaching?
3. What is your favorite grade level to teach?
4. Which ethnicity student population do you have experience working with?
The following questions will focus on culturally relevant pedagogy (culturally responsive
teaching).
5. When you hear the words culturally relevant pedagogy, what do you think of?
6. How do you implement culturally relevant pedagogy into your daily lessons, if at all?
Tell me about the last time you taught a lesson where you implemented CRP.
7. In what ways can your students benefit from implementing culturally relevant pedagogy?
8. In your opinion, how does culturally relevant pedagogy improve student outcomes, if at
all?
9. What do you see as the drawbacks (for students) of culturally relevant pedagogy? In other
words, how does CRP negatively affect students, if at all?
10. What do you see as the challenges to implementing culturally relevant pedagogy?
11. What type of professional development or training have you had on culturally relevant
pedagogy?
12. Tell me about the PD your organization provides on how to use culturally relevant
pedagogy in the classroom? (please explain)
13. Tell me about the last time you implemented CRP and thought to yourself, “I know how
to do this!” (please explain)
14. Tell me about the last time you implemented CRP and thought to yourself, “I really need
to get better at this!”
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The next set of questions will focus on how students are supported in the classroom.
15. What types of strategies do you use in your classroom for Tier 1 support, if at all?
16. Can you provide an example of a time you recently used these strategies?
17. In what ways do you modify your teaching techniques to support students who are not at
grade level, if at all?
18. Can you provide a specific example of a time recently when you modified your teaching
techniques?
19. What does differentiated instruction mean to you?
20. How have you utilized differentiated instruction in your classroom, if at all?
21. What does differentiated instruction look like in your classroom? Please provide a
typical example.
22. What benefit does it have for your students, if at all?
23. What do you see as the drawbacks (for students) of differentiating instruction?
24. In what ways are you supported to differentiate instruction in your classroom?
a) Who provides the support?
b) In what ways do they provide the support?
25. What are the barriers that impede your ability to use differentiated instruction, if any?
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 114
Interview II Protocol
These set of questions will focus how you work with your students.
1. Tell me about how you work with students from racial and ethnic backgrounds that are
different from your own? How does how you work with them differ from how you work
with students from the same racial and ethnic background that you share?
2. Some people say that we, humans, all have biases towards people who are different from
us. What would you say to that statement?
3. How have you reflected on your own thoughts and feelings about your students, if at all?
(Probe for students with different racial/ethnic backgrounds).
4. Can you provide an example of the last time you reflected on your teaching and how it fit
with the needs of your students from diverse backgrounds?
5. What challenges do you face working with students from racial and ethnic backgrounds
different from your own?
6. Some people say that students’ cultures affect the way they learn and respond in class?
What would you say to that?
7. Tell me about a time when you realized you treated students differently based on their
race/ethnicity, if at all?
The next set of questions will focus on the supports that are provided in your
school/organization.
8. How does your school provide support to teachers with implementing differentiated
instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy that will support their students?
9. What types of resources are available for teachers to facilitate implementing
differentiated instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy? For example, workshops,
professional developments, etc.
10. What types of resources are available in your school to support teachers who work with
students that are below grade level? For example, workshops, professional developments,
etc.
11. What are some things your school is doing well when it comes to providing the necessary
resources to support student learning?
12. In what ways is there room for growth?
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 115
13. How does the availability of resources at your school affect your motivation?
14. How does your school leadership communicate the need to implement differentiated
instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy, if at all?
15. What changes, if any, would you like to see implemented in your school environment?
16. Is there anything else that you would like to add that I might not have asked about?
Closing & Follow-up
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me today! I really appreciate your time and
your willingness to share. Should I need to ask for clarification, would it be OK to contact you?
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 116
APPENDIX B
Consent Form
University of Southern California
Information Sheet for Research
The Disproportionality of African Americans Referred for Special Education Programs
You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Jerrilynn Miles in the
Organizational Change and Leadership Program at the University of Southern California. Please
read through this form and ask any questions you might have before deciding whether or not you
want to participate.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This research study aims to understand what factors contribute to the overrepresentation of
African American students being placed in special education programs and to what degree your
organization has contributed to the implementation of differentiated instruction and culturally
relevant pedagogy that will facilitate reducing the number of referrals for African American
students.
PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to participate in interviews and provide
any documents/artifacts by the researcher and asked permission to record during the interview
phase. Only participants who agree to be recorded will be able to participate in the study. The
purpose of recording the interview is to capture what you as the participant is saying in your own
words.
Interviews will be conducted after your work hours at a location of your choice and last
approximately an hour and a half. The first interview will consist of forty-five questions
pertaining to the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences as it relates to
culturally relevant pedagogy, differentiated instruction, teacher bias, and organizational support.
As the researcher, I am particularly interested in understanding how teachers use differentiated
instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy to improve the academic performances of the
students who require additional support. The second interview should be less than an hour and
will be conducted to clarifying any information given during the first interview, any questions
you may have as a participant, and any additional information you would like to include or delete
from the study.
CONFIDENTIALITY
If data are anonymous:
There will be no identifiable information obtained in connection with this study. At the
completion of the study, the anonymous data may be used for future research studies. If you do
not want your data used in future studies, you should not participate.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 117
If data are coded or identifiable:
Any identifiable information obtained in connection with this study will remain confidential. At
the completion of the study, direct identifiers will be destroyed, and the de-identified data may
be used for future research studies. If you do not want your data used in future studies, you
should not participate.
Required language for either condition:
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California’s Human Subjects
Protection Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors research
studies to protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.
INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Jerrilynn
Miles at (310) 766-4670, email jerrilym@usc.edu.
IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant or the
research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone
independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board
(UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION 118
APPENDIX C
Recruitment Letter
Hello,
You are invited to take part in a research study involving the views and opinions of general
education teachers who work with students from different ethnic/racial backgrounds, specifically
African American students. You were chosen for the study because you are a teacher and your
perspective is valuable to the study. If you choose to participate you will be asked to participate
in two one-on-one interviews. Your experience and input will benefit the likelihood of improving
the implementation of differentiated instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy that will
improve students’ educational opportunities.
Your participation in this study is voluntary. Your decision not to participate in this study will
be respected. If you choose to participate in this study, you will be provided an information
sheet describing the study and participate in two interviews. The interviews will take place on
different days. The first interview will be conducted after your work schedule and take no longer
than 2 hours. The second interview will last approximately forty-five minutes to clarify or
add/omit any information given in the first interview.
Thank you.
Jerrilynn R. Miles
Organizational Change & Leadership Ed.D. Candidate
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
Email: jerrilym@usc.edu
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to implement policies and procedures to prevent inappropriate and disproportionate representation of students by race and/or ethnicity. However, research shows that African American students aged 6 to 21 were 1.5 times more likely to receive special education services. The problem lies in educators’ inability to target specific areas of need using differentiated instruction and culturally relevant supplemental materials to address their academic needs of at-risk and diverse students. The current study explored special education teachers’ perspectives on what they do in the classroom to prevent overrepresentation of African Americans in referrals to special education programs and how differentiated instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy could address the problem of disproportionality. The results indicated that participants were well trained in differentiated instruction, but they lacked training and support in culturally relevant pedagogy. Potential implications and explanations along with recommendations for practice and future research are discussed.
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(author)
Core Title
The disproportionality of African Americans in special education programs: an exploratory study
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)
Publication Date
03/11/2019
Defense Date
01/22/2019
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
culturally relevant pedagogy,differentiated instruction,Knowledge,Motivation,OAI-PMH Harvest,organization,Special Education
Format
application/pdf
(imt)
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Samkian, Artineh (
committee chair
), Ott, Maria (
committee member
), Robles, Darline (
committee member
)
Creator Email
jerrilym@usc.edu
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-133052
Unique identifier
UC11675775
Identifier
etd-MilesJerri-7146.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-133052 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
etd-MilesJerri-7146.pdf
Dmrecord
133052
Document Type
Dissertation
Format
application/pdf (imt)
Rights
Miles, Jerrilynn Renee
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Access Conditions
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...
Repository Name
University of Southern California Digital Library
Repository Location
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA
Tags
culturally relevant pedagogy
differentiated instruction
organization