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Teacher efforts in embedded honors for students of color
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Teacher efforts in embedded honors for students of color
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Content
Teacher Efforts in Embedded Honors for Students of Color
by
Jennifer R. Zinn
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education
December 2021
© Copyright by Jennifer R. Zinn 2021
All Rights Reserved
The Committee for Jennifer R. Zinn certifies the approval of this Dissertation
Mark Robison
Lawrence Picus
Briana Hinga, Committee Chair
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2021
iv
Abstract
Advanced academic courses and credits for secondary students in the United States can
provide immediate and long-term benefits. Students of color are not engaged in these courses or
earning the credits at the same rates as their White counterparts. Research shows this is
connected to historically racist structures that keep students out of the classes as well as the
mindsets and attitudes of school staff. Some schools have attempted to address this discrepancy
through systems shifts like the elimination of tracked classes through creating embedded honors
classes, thus ensuring all students are enrolled together and can earn the advanced credit through
completing select assignments at a high level. This study reports an intimate case study of two
teachers working within an embedded honors system at a large, public, urban high school.
Utilizing Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis model, this study interrogated the influences of
teachers’ knowledge, motivation, and organization as they strive to increase the number of
students of color earning honors credits in their classes and in their school. Leveraging the
instructional framework of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) this study also
investigated how these teachers might best meet the needs of the students of color in their
embedded honors classes. Findings demonstrated that the teachers are compassionate, driven,
and understand the context of the school-wide efforts, but gaps exist within their planning and
instruction as well as across school departments and systems. The study concludes with
recommendations for the school and district with implementation and evaluation plans.
!
v
Table of Contents
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ vii
Chapter One: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
Background of the Problem .................................................................................................3
Importance of Addressing the Problem ...............................................................................7
Organizational Context and Mission ...................................................................................8
Description of Stakeholder Groups ....................................................................................11
Stakeholder Performance Goals .........................................................................................12
Stakeholder Group for the Study .......................................................................................13
Purpose of the Project and Questions ................................................................................13
Conceptual and Methodological Framework .....................................................................14
Definitions ..........................................................................................................................15
Organization of the Project ................................................................................................15
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature .........................................................................................17
Participation in High School Advanced Academics by Students of Color ........................17
Implications and Impact of Exclusion from Advanced Academics ...................................21
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy as a Strategy to Teach Students of Color ..........................24
Attempted Solutions to Advanced Academics Enrollment Disparities .............................29
Teachers’ Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences ..................................31
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................43
Chapter Three: Methods ................................................................................................................44
Participating Stakeholders .................................................................................................44
Interview and Observation Sampling Strategy ..................................................................44
Data Collection and Instrumentation .................................................................................46
vi
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................51
Credibility and Trustworthiness .........................................................................................52
Ethics ..................................................................................................................................53
Limitations and Delimitations ............................................................................................55
Chapter Four: Findings ..................................................................................................................57
Participant Profile ..............................................................................................................58
Knowledge Findings ..........................................................................................................60
Motivation Findings ...........................................................................................................67
Organizational Findings .....................................................................................................75
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................82
Chapter Five: Recommendations ...................................................................................................84
Solutions ............................................................................................................................84
Implementation Plan ..........................................................................................................89
Evaluation Plan ..................................................................................................................94
Future Research .................................................................................................................97
Conclusion .........................................................................................................................98
References ....................................................................................................................................100
Appendix A: Recruiting Information Sheet .................................................................................109
Appendix B: Interview Protocol ..................................................................................................111
Appendix C: Observation Guidelines ..........................................................................................113
Appendix D: Document Review Protocol ...................................................................................114
Appendix E: Levels of Evaluation for Proposed Interventions ...................................................115
vii
List of Tables
Table 1: Organizational Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goals 12
Table 2: Assumed Knowledge Influences 35
Table 3: Assumed Motivation Influences 39
Table 4: Assumed Organizational Influences 43
Table 5: Participant Characteristics 59
Table 6: Assumed Knowledge Influences and Data Sources 60
Table 7: Assumed Motivation Influences and Data Sources 68
Table 8: Assumed Organizational Influences and Data Sources 75
Table 9: Justification of Proposed Solution: Prioritize Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 86
Table 10: Justification of Proposed Solution: Schoolwide Collaboration 88
1
Chapter One: Introduction
Across the United States, Black and Hispanic students earn approximately half the
advanced academic credits as their White peers (Black et al., 2016). The student population is
approximately 56 million students in elementary and secondary schools, and at least 39% of
those students are Black or Hispanic (EducationData, 2019), so 22 million students have less
success earning credit in gifted programing and honors courses as part of their academic
programing. In particular, these students do not have the same access to advanced coursework,
such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses, that their peers enjoy as part of their high school
experience (Archbald & Farley-Ripple, 2012). The discrepancy exists for students who cannot
get into advanced academic courses as well as for students of color who are in those courses but
cannot successfully earn the credit and leads to performance, achievement, and opportunity gaps
between those students and White students in the same schools and across the country (Mayer et
al., 2018). In Denver, Colorado, students of color make up 75% of the student population across
all school levels (Denver Public Schools, 2020), and therefore the academic opportunities and
achievement of this demographic group are relevant to most of the students in the community.
Within the city’s public school system, children who identify as Black, Indigenous People of
Color (BIPOC) are described as students of color, which is the term used throughout this study.
This study took place in a school where one year, the honors classes had 65% White students and
35% students of color while the student population was 16% White and 84% students of color.
This stark disparity highlights why the teacher actions and attitudes that impact students of color
and their ability to learn and earn advanced academic credit are worthy of study.
The International Baccalaureate program offers curricula and assessments that some
colleges accept as university credit for work completed in high school. International
2
Baccalaureate (2014) reported that 59% of students enrolled in their program in the United States
were White, 15% Asian, 12% Hispanic, 10% Black, and 4% other. When reporting on credits,
the College Board’s Report (2018) stated that White students are almost twice as likely as
underrepresented ethnic groups to earn a score of three or higher on at least one AP exam while
in high school (54% of White students compared with 28% of underrepresented ethnic groups for
the class of 2018). The U.S. Department of Education (2014) found that across the United States,
only 27% of Black and Latino students enrolled in AP courses while they made up 37% of the
students in high schools. At Denver-based Central High School (pseudonym), students of color
made up 87% of the student population, but only 40% of the students enrolled in advanced
academic classes in 2018. When students of color do not earn advanced academic credit, it
negatively impacts their high school coursework and attitudes because of missed opportunities
for advancement in addition to losing the potential for post-secondary programing and financial
opportunities (Rodriguez & McGuire, 2019). School systems are reinforcing the barriers students
of color face by limiting their opportunity for rigorous courses of study and the benefits that
might follow in terms of successful high school participation and graduation as well as post-
secondary activities (Siegle et al., 2016). Organizational change is only one part of a solution to
the issue of access. Schools must also ensure students of color receive instruction that enables
them to learn the material and pass advanced academic courses in order to receive the benefits,
which is the focus of this study.
Whether students of color are in advanced academic courses or other classes, the level of
instruction does not always meet their needs and set them up for success (Milner, 2017). Efforts
to create equitable opportunities for students of color in Denver and across the United States
require addressing systemic factors such as institutional traditions around testing and teacher
3
attitudes toward abilities brought to classrooms by students of color (Ladson-Billings, 2014).
Culturally relevant pedagogy is one framework that can increase the success of students of color
who participate in systems where they do have programmatic access to advanced academic
courses but might otherwise not have authentic access to earning the advanced academic credits.
It calls on teachers to implement high academic expectations, to maximize student cultures, and
to promote social action (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Whether teachers can implement such
practices to ensure students of color are learning in their classrooms and have access to advanced
academic credits requires investigation. This study explored the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational structures of teachers at an urban high school as they strive to implement
culturally relevant pedagogy in an embedded honors program to increase the number of students
of color earning advanced academic credit.
Background of the Problem
Various studies have explored the current challenges in advanced academic credits for
students of color, the implications of those challenges, and possible solutions. Existing school
structures and practices contribute to an education debt that is failing students of color and their
families and holding them back from success (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Lack of access to rigorous
coursework harms ethnic minorities who do not otherwise get experience with grade-level or
advanced materials (Beard, 2019; Henfield et al., 2016). The US Department of Education Office
for Civil Rights (2014) reported that schools with the highest percentage of students of color
offer few advanced academic courses. The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights
report in 2018 highlighted that in the highest minority schools, 38% of students have access to
AP courses, 3% have access to International Baccalaureate, and 31% have access to Dual
Enrollment credits. Siegle et al. (2016) found that 57% of students of color had full access to
4
advanced math and science courses, while 81% of White students were able to enroll in
advanced courses. In 2018, Ford et al. found that there were at least 500,000 Black and Hispanic
gifted students in the United States that lacked access to advanced academic programs, which
includes honors-level courses in secondary settings. Beard (2019) suggested that African
American students make up the largest population in lower track, or regular courses and that
access to the higher quality track with higher quality instruction is difficult. The opportunity to
participate in the classes goes beyond access to the curriculum. Mayer et al. (2018) concluded
that students experience different cultures when participating in separate courses, including
access to higher performing peers as well as the curricula. How teachers prepare for and execute
their practice to support students of color to earn advanced academic credit and be successful
learners is the focus of this study.
The problem of how to offer rigorous, honors-level instruction to all students has
implications for the achievement scores and college readiness for secondary students.
Discrepancies in how students are enrolled or not enrolled in honors classes extend to impact
high school success, including attendance, behavior, motivation, and attitude, as well as post-
secondary readiness (Archbald & Fairley-Ripple, 2012; Davis et al., 2015; Swanson & Nagy,
2014). A lower level of work being assigned to students in any course is a key factor in students
of color under-performing their White peers on standardized assessments (TNTP, 2018). Judson
(2017), Stambaugh and Ford (2015), and Levario (2017) also saw evidence that students in the
lower level courses, where students of color are disproportionally enrolled, receive instruction
based more on rote memorization and mechanics, as opposed to critical thinking and problem-
solving in the advanced academic classes. Werblow et al. (2013) concluded that the courses in
which students are placed are tied with different results for students as they complete high
5
school, specifically connected to graduation and post-secondary readiness. In addition, the
experience of schooling changes for students based on these academic courses and the earning of
advanced academic credits, including pride, participation, and effort (Legette, 2018). The
limitations also affect opportunities for and access to higher education (Beard, 2019) and
achievement in college, as measured by GPA and graduation (Arce-Trigatti, 2018) as well as
college passing rates (Woods et al., 2018). These implications highlight the importance of
ensuring teachers are setting students of color up for success in earning advanced academic
credits when they are enrolled in courses affording the opportunity.
Different organizations have worked to address the lack of access to advanced academics
for students of color in several ways. School systems have attempted improvements in
communicating with families and students to increase the voluntary participation of students of
color in advanced coursework (College Board, 2018). In addition, one school in Chicago has
seen increased student achievement scores after eliminating separate tracks for all ninth-grade
students (Bavis, 2016). Other schools work to closely monitor the enrollment and achievement of
students of color in advanced academic courses while working to ensure genuine access to the
advanced curriculum and to provide scaffolding (Mayer & Tucker, 2010). Flores and Gomez
(2011) studied one school that worked to recruit traditionally underserved students, rearrange the
school’s master schedule, and improve training for teachers. Arce-Trigatti (2018) found that
when there is a mandate to offer AP programs to all public high school students, there is an
increase in the graduation rate. Perna et al. (2015) researched the impact of eliminating tracking
and found an increase in International Baccalaureate (IB) participation rates. Card and Giuliano
(2016) confirmed that using universal screening changed the ethnicity of students identified as
gifted, which is often a prerequisite to advanced academic courses in high school. These
6
investigations highlight that many different strategies have been employed to try and even the
playing field so that students of color can have equal access to enrollment and the benefits that
come for those students who participate in advanced academic courses in high school. Various
attempts at solutions address the core issue: students of color do not have the same opportunities
as their White peers to pursue advanced academics. While individual schools and districts have
put strategies in place to address the enrollment discrepancies, gaps remain related to enrollment
in advanced academics for students of color (Mayer & Tucker, 2010). Once access to the classes
exists, instruction within the advanced academic courses determines whether students of color
will pass the class, earn the credit, and benefit in the same way as their White peers. The
available research does not include studies into this level of access to credits for students of
color.
Ladson-Billings (1992) created the framework of culturally relevant pedagogy and
describes it as an approach to instruction that “empowers students intellectually, socially,
emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes”
(p. 382). Since its inception this framework articulates strategies for teachers who are working
with students of color (Milner, 2017). The core tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy call for
teachers to promote academic rigor and cultural competence in addition to supporting students’
abilities to critically analyze inequities in society (Ladson-Billings, 1995). The framework
provides a lens through which to investigate the problem that exists in the lack of advanced
academic success for students of color and how teachers can affect that problem.
This study investigated one urban high school’s effort to improve access to advanced
academics for students of color by implementing strong teaching practices, like culturally
relevant pedagogy, into core classes with embedded honors. The school has historically served a
7
large population of students of color, 84% in 2018, but only 37% earned honors credit in 2018–
19 as opposed to 65% of White students. In 2019 the school schedule shifted to ensure all
students have the opportunity to earn advanced credits through the embedded honors classes.
Students now choose whether they will complete the advanced academic coursework within their
core classes. The barrier to access is now rooted in the instruction, not the course selection.
Students of color with access to the curriculum and materials and who are empowered to succeed
in the rigorous coursework through mastery of the content and completion of the assessments
will be the ones who earn the advanced academic credits. This can be accomplished through
access to culturally relevant pedagogy in addition to enrollment in advanced academic classes.
Importance of Addressing the Problem
The problem of students of color not having authentic access to advanced academic
credits is important to solve for a variety of reasons. Pike et al. (2014) named that citizens with
the least education have a high rate of unemployment. The education debt, as described by
Ladson-Billings (2006), will continue to negatively impact the economy, community
capabilities, and family relationships. This education debt is lived out as students of color
experience education at a level less than that of their White peers and perpetuate cycles of
poverty in their communities (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Pike et al. cited Bosworth (2010) when
they reported that a shift in educational success does lead to financial benefits. If this problem is
addressed, the United States’ school system will provide opportunities for students of color to
perform, earn, and contribute on the same level as their peers and thereby increase productivity
and advancement for the whole country. In particular, if this challenge is not addressed in
Denver, Colorado, the growing population of students of color will miss out on the described
financial and post-secondary benefits of high school advanced academics. As the state and the
8
city continue to grow in population, the percentage of people of color is growing (Forces, 2015)
and requires an education system that supports all students. Ensuring students of color have
access to culturally responsive pedagogy and therefore to the same learning and advanced
academic credits as their White peers will be part of that evolved system.
Organizational Context and Mission
Central High School, a pseudonym, is an urban, comprehensive school serving more than
one thousand students in Denver, the capital of Colorado. In 2018 the population was 70%
Hispanic, 16% White, 7% Black, 3% multiple races, 2% Native American, and 1% Asian. All
data regarding the school was obtained from the school’s Team Lead for Equity of Outcomes
and from the school’s website. This school is an appropriate setting for this study because all
teachers work with at least some students of color, so their skills and strategies to implement
culturally relevant pedagogy are pertinent.
The school is part of the portfolio of high schools in Denver Public Schools and has been
open for more than 100 years. The school system underwent a political and publicized
desegregation of students that started with a School Board resolution in 1968 and was enforced
after a judge’s court decision in 1973 (Gardner, 2018). Schools were not providing equal
opportunities for students of color, and busing was implemented to move students around to
different schools so that resources would be shared among all students more equally (Gardner,
2018). The formal program to bus students in order to integrate them ended in 1995 but the
current choice and enrollment system is intended to provide families with opportunities to send
their children to schools with diverse communities and that they have a voice in their student’s
schooling (About School Choice, n.d.). Central High School is one of these schools of choice,
and families apply to attend as part of the enrollment process.
9
In 2018 the ninth grade core classes (English I, Integrated Math, Biology, and
Geography) were divided into sections of honors and traditional instruction, as they had been in
previous years. Historically students were assigned based on middle school coursework and
grades, family requests, and Gifted and Talented labels based on elementary school testing,
which is historically determined by selective cognitive ability testing for a select group of
primary grade students. As previously stated, that year, the honors classes had 65% White
students and 35% students of color, which highlights the fact that the population in honors
classes did not reflect the student population (16% White and 84% students of color). In an effort
to address this challenge, the school leadership implemented a new programming strategy in
August 2019, in which the master schedule does not separate the honors and traditional classes.
All students are assigned to core class sections of science, social studies, and English regardless
of typical predictive information, such as eighth-grade grades or Gifted and Talented testing.
Within these classes, teachers provide instruction, assignments, and assessment options at the
honors level for all students to supplement or as an alternative to the traditional coursework.
Now every student has the opportunity to complete the advanced-level work, and the aim is to
increase the percentage of students who earn the honors credit by completing at least the
minimum amount of advanced work. The shift has eliminated the enrollment barrier for students
of color. This program is designed to ensure all students at Central have access to the rigorous
academic coursework and programming that leads to success in high school, to graduation, and
promotes college- and career-readiness. This program provides all students the opportunity to
earn advanced academic credits as a choice in each of their core classes. This study sought to
learn whether or not teachers are effectively leveraging the programmatic shift and setting up
students of color to take advantage of this opportunity through culturally relevant pedagogy.
10
Teachers meet with instructional coaches at least bi-weekly and get support in their
curriculum design and instructional execution, which can include skills aligned with culturally
relevant pedagogy. Teachers also participate in content-specific department team meetings that
include professional development regarding teaching strategies as well as data analysis and, in
some cases, common planning. School-wide professional development sometimes includes
training on practices that support students of color. How these teacher supports, along with
teachers’ attitudes and skills, affect students of color attempting to earn advanced honors credit
requires investigation. Teacher mindsets and actions, as well as how the school structures
support their efforts, will directly impact the next level of access to advanced academics for
students of color: instruction.
In response to the Covid-19 global health pandemic, Central High School teachers
worked with all students remotely through an online forum called Schoology for most of the year
this study took place. Some students elected to return to campus in the second semester, but all
classes continued to be offered online. Teachers across the district were offered only minimal
professional development on the skills of online instruction, while students and families were put
in the position of making the best of things throughout the crisis. This context adds a layer of
nuance to the study and is important to consider. The embedded honors scheduling remained
intact but the pandemic added limitations to how teachers worked to set up students of color for
success in the online classroom.
11
Description of Stakeholder Groups
A study of this problem includes multiple stakeholder groups. Students are at the core of
the organizational goal to increase the percentage of students of color earning honors credit in
core classes by 25% from the previous school year. The students of color who have not yet
earned an honors credit, approximately 60% of the students of color, need to complete the
appropriate coursework in order to earn the advanced academic credit and take advantage of
previously unavailable opportunities. Related, the families of the students of color are sometimes
asked to select advanced coursework for their children and provide support for the rigorous
academic needs of high school college-preparatory courses. In the embedded honors program,
families must support students of color to ensure they work to earn advanced academic credit
within their core content classes. This includes support of study habits, completion of
assignments, and successful participation in required assessments.
The primary stakeholder group is 24 core content teachers who deliver the advanced
academics material to all students and provide opportunities to students of color in their
classrooms. Teachers are the focus of the study because they are in the position to implement the
tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy and thereby support students of color to earn advanced
academic credits. All English, science, and social studies teachers for grades nine and ten are
tasked with offering instruction that invites and supports all students to earn the advanced credit.
This stakeholder group is ethnically diverse, though more White than the student body, and
comprised of a mix of veteran teachers along with novice teachers, female and male teachers,
some bilingual teachers, and some who are new to the Denver area as well as those who have
lived here for many years. The leadership team, comprised of the Principal and Assistant
Principals, makes decisions about programming, teacher support and evaluation, and student
12
support through academic counseling and interventions. This team works with the instructional
leadership team, which includes senior team leads and other teacher leaders, to ensure the
teachers and students are set up for success in their work to increase student participation in
honors-level work. Consideration for all stakeholder groups is key to addressing how culturally
relevant pedagogy is implemented to ensure a fair chance at advanced academic credits for
students of color.
Stakeholder Performance Goals
Table 1
Organizational Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goals
Organizational goal
By June 2022, Central High School will increase the percentage of students of color earning
honors credit in core classes by 25% (from 37% earned at least one honors credit to 46%
earning at least one honors credit).
Students of Color
By June 2022, students of color who
did not previously earn honors
credit will complete at least five
more honors-level assignments than
they did in the previous year in at
least two core classes.
Core content teachers
By January 2022, core
classroom teachers
will implement
culturally relevant
pedagogy into at
least one whole-class
unit for an embedded
honors class.
Leadership team
By September 2021, the
leadership team will
establish and
communicate a vision that
all students will complete
honors-level work in core
classes.
13
Stakeholder Group for the Study
A complete analysis of the problem of practice would address all stakeholder groups.
However, this study focused on the core subject teachers in grades 9 and 10, who had students of
color assigned to their courses and eligible to earn honors credit. This stakeholder group is
critical to the organizational goal because the teachers must provide rigorous, honors-level
instruction and implement the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy in order for the school to
increase the students of color earning the honors credit. Based on discussion with members of the
school’s instructional leadership team, it is clear that every teacher can be expected to design and
implement at least one unit of study that sets up all students of color to earn the advanced
academic credit. The stakeholder goal is crucial so that students of color who previously did not
have access to honors-level curriculum and culturally relevant pedagogy complete the necessary
work and earn the credit. Failure to accomplish this goal will perpetuate the education debt for
students of color at Central High School by limiting their ability to earn advanced academic
credits and pursue additional advanced programs at a later time.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this study was to examine the teacher knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences on achieving a 25% increase in the number of students of color earning
honors credit at Central High School by June 2022. The analysis identified a list of possible or
assumed influences of the current state that were examined systematically to focus on actual or
validated influences on performance. While a complete evaluation would focus on all
stakeholders, for practical purposes, the stakeholder focused on in this analysis was core content
teachers.
The questions guiding this study were
14
1. What are the teacher knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs required to achieve a
25% increase in the students of color earning advanced academic credits?
2. What are the teacher knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs necessary to
implement the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy as a means of supporting students of
color working to earn advanced academic credit in embedded honors classes?
3. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organization solutions?
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis, a systematic, analytical method that helps to
clarify organizational goals and identify the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences on performance, was adapted to an evaluation model and implemented as the
conceptual framework for this study. This was paired with the pedagogical framework of
culturally relevant pedagogy as it identifies aspects of instructional practice that support students
of color. The methodological framework was a qualitative case study with descriptive statistics.
This study used this gap analysis to investigate the need for students of color to have equal
opportunity to earn advanced academic credits like their White peers. This study used culturally
relevant pedagogy to examine the work teachers are doing in embedded honors classrooms to
potentially set up students of color to earn advanced academic credits. The present influences on
knowledge, motivation, and organization decisions at Central High School were generated based
on personal knowledge and related literature. These influences were assessed by using
interviews, observations, literature review, and content analysis. The current strategy for
addressing the problem was evaluated, and research-based solutions are recommended in the
final chapter.
15
Definitions
Students of Color: Students with an ethnic identity that has historically been
underrepresented in advanced academics, including American Indian/Alaska Native,
Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander groups.
(College Board, 2018).
Honors Credit: Coursework that qualifies a student for future programming with
additional credits toward graduation and post-secondary credit (e.g., AP) with deeper content
exploration, rigorous expectations (from Central High School).
Advanced Academics: Programing that is targeted to accelerate learning and reflect
performance beyond the traditional (e.g., AP or IB; Kettler & Hurst, 2017).
Tracking: Separating students into different courses based on ability or expected
outcomes beyond coursework. (Lance Rowland & Shircliffe, 2016).
Curriculum Unit: Section of instruction and assessment designed around a theme that
provides a resource for learning. (Mayer et al., 2018).
Embedded Honors: Advanced academic coursework provided within the same class,
section, and period as traditional coursework such that all students have the opportunity to earn
the honors credit. (from Central High School).
Organization of the Project
Five chapters organize this study. Chapter One has provided the key concepts and
terminology commonly found in a discussion about access to advanced academics for high
school students of color. The organization’s mission, goals, and stakeholders and the framework
for the project were introduced. Chapter Two provides a review of current literature surrounding
the scope of the study around access to advanced academics. Topics of historical access to
16
advanced academics, differentiation of instruction for honors-level work, and the impact of
limitations on access for students of color will be addressed. Chapter Three details the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences to be examined as well as methodology
when it comes to choice of participants, data collection, and analysis. In Chapter Four, the data
and results are assessed and analyzed. Chapter Five provides recommendations, based on data
and literature, for increasing the number of students of color earning honors credit as well as
recommendations for an implementation and evaluation plan for the proposed solutions.
17
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
This chapter reviews existing literature regarding the participation of students of color in
high school advanced academics, the implications of their exclusion from those courses, how
culturally relevant pedagogy is used as a framework to teach students of color, and attempts at
increasing the opportunities to earn advanced academic credits for students of color. Students of
color are more likely to participate in low-track courses with no access to advanced academics
(Beard, 2019). The fact of this discrepancy is the provocation for this literature review, which
investigates the historical causes as well as attempted solutions to this issue of inequity.
Participation in High School Advanced Academics by Students of Color
The current study is grounded in the disparity of awarded honors credits for students of
color, and it is important to understand the context of that difference. Recent studies have
addressed both the causes and implications of the dissimilarity in advanced course completion
for White students and students of color. One must understand the state of participation in order
to address the difference in advanced academic credits for students of color, as described below.
Trends Reflecting Students of Color in Advanced Academics
Across the United States, students of color participate at a lower rate than their White
counterparts in high school advanced academics courses, including AP, IB, honors courses, and
gifted programs. Several studies have investigated the discrepancy in participation in advanced
academics by students of color compared to their White peers. Siegle et al. (2016) found that
only 57% of Black students had access, based on course offerings, to a full range of math and
science courses as compared to 81% of White students. Perna et al. (2015) assessed changes in
academic success within IB schools and found that a limited number of schools offer IB to Black
students, finding that on average, between 28% and 32% of Black students had access to an IB
18
program from 1995 to 2008. The greatest change Perna et al. identified was an increase in
schools providing IB programs to Hispanic students, moving from 8% to 15%. In both cases, less
than a third of students of color have access to the rigor and benefits of an IB program.
Rodriguez and McGuire (2019) found a similar pattern in the number of schools offering AP
courses to students of color, with one instance in which 20% of White students enrolled in AP
courses but only 5% of Black students. Kettler and Hurst (2017) also concluded that the existing
racial gap in AP and IB participation rates has not changed significantly over time. These studies
identify evidence of the disproportionality in enrollment in advanced academics.
Students of color are more likely to attend schools with limited advanced academic
course offerings, and an increase in course offerings does not guarantee an increase in
participation or preparedness (Rodriguez & McGuire, 2019). In fact, students of color might not
be placed in advanced academic courses that do exist because they are perceived to be
inadequately prepared (Archbald & Farley-Ripple, 2012). Students’ access to advanced
academics is based on tracking systems, some of which are tied to gifted testing that takes place
in elementary schools and which provide limited opportunities for students of color to be
identified (Siegle et al., 2016). In addition to labeling students as gifted, academic tracking can
be based on test scores, prior achievement, and teacher recommendations, all of which can
perpetuate the racial gap in participation (Legette, 2018). Oakes’s (1990) research on tracking
identified that minority students make up a disproportionately high percentage of lower track
courses and that access to advanced academics is limited for Black and Hispanic students. In
2005, Oakes shared an update that tracking-based disparities persist for racial minority students
and that efforts among some institutions to address the education debt manifested by access to
advanced academics without eliminating tracking have been ineffective.
19
Within tracked systems, Black students are more likely to enroll in lower track courses
than their White peers (Beard, 2019; Legette, 2018; Mayer et al., 2018; Warne, 2017). Henfield
et al. (2016) named that enrollment by students of color in advanced academic courses is low in
comparison to White students. Werblow et al. (2013) concluded that tracking disadvantages
students across racial lines by reinforcing inequities of color. Witenko et al. (2017) found that
Hispanic students are 1.9 times less likely than White students to be enrolled in advanced
academic courses. These studies confirmed and investigated the trend of unequal access to and
participation in advanced academic courses for students of color. The data demonstrate a distinct
difference in enrollment, attributed to a variety of factors, as discussed below.
Causes of and Influences on Disparities in Enrollment by Race
Historical barriers hold back students of color when schools and systems separate
students into tracks of honors-level and “regular” academic programs for a variety of reasons.
The reasons can be characterized as teacher-based or institution-based. Researchers have
explored how teachers influence enrollment and success for students in advanced academics as
well as how organizational structures have an impact on students who participate once enrolled
in those classes.
Teacher Behaviors and Mindsets
Teachers often have influence over how students of color experience advanced academics
(Mayer & Tucker, 2010). Peters and Engerrand (2016) argued that teacher bias limited
opportunities for students of color when teachers are called on to complete referrals for gifted
academic programming. Low numbers of referrals to advanced programs by counselors and
teachers support the lack of access for students of color (Card & Giuliano, 2016b; Olszewski-
Kubilius & Corwith, 2018). Archbald and Farley-Ripple (2012) identified that the subjectivity in
20
students’ placement perpetuates the disproportionality of enrollment in advanced courses based
on ethnicity and that tracking decisions are based on cultural stereotypes that support the
perpetuation. The outsized influence of the biases and stereotypes is possible because teachers
often do not have sufficient training or expect that students of color can perform at the advanced
academic level (Swanson & Nagy, 2014). Teachers who maintain low expectations for what
students of color can and cannot achieve limit what students can access (Siegle et al., 2016).
Beard (2019) added that teachers need to see students as likeable in addition to capable before
they will recommend them for advanced academics, which happens less for students of color
than it does for their White peers. Card and Giuliano (2016a) named that in addition to low
teacher expectations, negative peer pressure is a barrier to students entering gifted academic
programs in early grades. These studies name teacher actions and biases as having an influence
on the lack of access to advanced academics for students of color.
Institutional Behaviors and Systems
Schools leverage educational testing and other systems to determine which students can
access different academic options, including gifted programs and honors courses (Mayer &
Tucker, 2010). The use of standardized tests is a detriment to students of color because many of
the tests have been tied to segregation and White supremacy and yield scores that are strongly
correlated with race (Knoester & Au, 2017). Olszewski-Kubilius and Corwith (2018) concluded
that the difference in access to gifted programs for students of color is due to differences in test
scores. In particular, the tests leveraged for enrollment in advanced academic programs include
tests of cognitive abilities and non-verbal abilities, on which students of color score lower (Peters
& Engerrand, 2016). Mayer and Tucker (2010) reported that students of color who are not able to
access advanced academics early in their schooling are in subsequent years under-prepared for
21
rigorous academic tests and therefore continue to get placed in lower track classes as they age.
Studies have identified these reasons why students of color are not participating in advanced
academics at the same rate as their White peers. This enrollment disparity leads to myriad
outcomes that are very different for these students when compared to their White peers, as
explored below.
Implications and Impact of Exclusion from Advanced Academics
This literature review includes studies that reveal consequences for high school students
who are not able to participate in advanced academics. Teachers plan instruction and lead
classroom sessions differently, which leads to different levels of learning and confidence in the
material (Judson, 2017). In addition, there are tangible differences in programs and accessibility
beyond the advanced academics classrooms (Kettler & Hurst, 2017). The results of the lack of
access for students of color require further investigation.
Effects in High School of Lacking Advanced Academics
When students of color do not participate in advanced academics as part of their high
school program, it limits opportunities and changes the course of various aspects of their high
school experience. Students’ academic expectations are linked to their academic attainment
(Karlson, 2015). Since lower track students learn less than those students in advanced academic
courses, they have reduced expectations of what they might gain academically (Karlson, 2015).
Karlson also noted changes in motivation, behaviors, and decisions based on the students’
academic track. Beard (2019) observed that lower track students move more slowly through the
curriculum and have a negative self-concept. These changes in the students’ attitudes and
aspirations shift what they get out of the high school experience (Werblow et al., 2013). The
negative impact can also take a toll on the social-emotional wellness of the students in the lower
22
track courses (Nurenberg, 2016). Legette (2018) studied self-perception and found that track
placement does harm students’ self-perception and that it is also tied to racial identity in terms of
how students perceive the abilities of their racial peer group. Self-esteem also suffers for those
students who persist in the lower track academic courses (Levario, 2017). Karlson (2015)
concluded that academic tracking is tied to the perceived value of the person, thus leaving
students without access to advanced academics with less worth in the eyes of community
members. This difference in attitude is also evident in the way the peer group in advanced
academic tracks talks about going to college, which is not the norm for lower track classes
(Karlson, 2015).
In addition to changes in attitudes, behaviors also differ for students in lower versus
higher academic tracks, including higher drop-out rates (Werblow et al., 2013). The opposite is
true for students who participate in advanced academic courses, who see an increase in
attendance and reduced suspensions (Card & Giuliano, 2016a). Stambaugh and Ford (2015)
articulated that students who are placed in a lower level class when they are capable of advanced
academic work act out and have increased instances of discipline problems. The behaviors of
teachers are also different, and they name that they enjoy teaching advanced academic classes
(Nurenberg, 2016). The attitudes and behaviors of teachers and students in the advanced
academic track lead to higher grades and academic achievement (Legette, 2018).
The lived experience of students in lower tracked classes is different than what students
experience in advanced courses (Mayer et al., 2018). Instruction in honors and other advanced
courses often includes high student engagement; depth of understanding; experience with open-
ended questions; engaging, rigorous lessons; higher-order thinking objectives; and hands-on
learning opportunities (Judson, 2017; Mayer et al., 2018; Stambaugh & Ford, 2015). In contrast,
23
lower level courses often leverage instructional strategies like rote memorization, mechanics, and
basic skills (Judson, 2017; Levario, 2017; Mayer et al., 2018). Researchers have identified
immediate implications for students who do not have access to advanced academics through their
high school careers. No matter the reason a student does not participate in advanced academics,
the effects of that programming change the prospects and pathways for students after high
school, as detailed below.
Impact of Missing Advanced Academics After High School
Students without success or participation in advanced academics in high school have
different experiences after graduating high school. Whether they chose not to engage in
advanced courses or were not able to enroll, a student’s academic track is connected to academic
success and future goals (Witenko et al., 2017). Kettler and Hurst (2017) found that advanced
academics have a positive impact on college admissions, scholarship money for college, college
success as measured by grade point average, and college completion. Levario (2017) named the
inverse: labels associated with lower track academic programs steer students away from post-
secondary plans that include college. Those students without an advanced academic background
who do matriculate often struggle to persist and to graduate (Henfield et al., 2016). Opportunities
for education beyond high school are limited without access to and successful completion of high
school advanced academics, which extends to limitations on prospective higher wages in future
careers (Beard, 2019; Lance Rowland & Shircliffe, 2016; Perna et al., 2015). Lack of
participation and success in advanced academics in high school immediately affects student
aspirations and expectations and eventually college and income success (Witenko et al., 2017).
Several studies have addressed the particular post-secondary benefits of completion of
AP and IB coursework in high school. Warne (2017) cited College Board research that names
24
AP students have higher scores on standardized tests, higher college attendance, stronger college
grades, lower college dropout rates, higher college graduation rates, and a positive attitude
toward academic material in general. Warne also stated that there is a financial benefit for AP
students after high school in the form of associated scholarships. Arce-Trigatti (2018) named
evidence of higher college GPAs for students who participate in AP as well as higher college
preparation and completion. AP participation increases college readiness and enrollment; post-
secondary persistence, achievement, and completion; and career success (Davis et al., 2015;
Rodriguez & McGuire, 2019). IB participation also leads to an increase in college-related
outcomes (Perna et al., 2015). These successes are attributable to the experience with rigorous
academic content in high school that sets students up for post-secondary academics (Lance
Rowland & Shircliffe, 2016). When students of color are not able to access advanced academics
in high school, it can also negatively affect their college and professional careers. The impact for
students who do not earn advanced academic credit due to a lack of programmatic offerings or
access through culturally relevant pedagogy reaches beyond their high school careers unequally
for students of color, so a variety of attempts has been made to ensure all students have a fair
chance at earning the credits, as outlined below.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy as a Strategy to Teach Students of Color
The components of culturally relevant pedagogy as they relate to the efforts of study
participants to teach students of color in advanced academics courses will be explored below. In
addition to its usefulness as a framework for instruction, this literature review explores how it
has been used as a tool to measure the quality of teaching students of color. The framework
provides insight into how a teacher might meet the needs of students of color, and though it is
25
not written as a checklist for teachers to copy and implement, it can be used to determine how
well teachers are doing in teaching students of color (Milner, 2017), as discussed below.
Elements of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Any implementation of a conceptual framework must consider the original design and
components. Culturally relevant pedagogy articulates three core tenets that teachers must address
in order to be effective in teaching students of color: academic achievement, cultural
competence, and sociopolitical consciousness (Ladson-Billings, 1992). All three must be
considered together in order to engage students of color in rich academic work while honoring
their culture and empowering them to act as members of their community (Milner, 2017).
Ladson-Billings (1995) restated that the core components must address academic success that is
tied to cultural identity, cultural acceptance as well as awareness, and collective action around
issues of power, authority, and agency. These three elements executed in balance and with
personalization to the students and the cultural setting can set up any teacher to positively impact
students of color (Ladson-Billings, 1995). All three components align with what parents told
Ladson-Billings (1994) they needed for their students: educational self-determination, respect for
the students’ home culture, and an understanding of the world and their ability to improve it.
Academic achievement means more than satisfactory test scores and must be connected
with a cultural connection between home and school (Ladson-Billings, 1995). She also named
the challenge of helping students maintain cultural integrity while succeeding academically, but
that allowing and encouraging students to be themselves often leads to both personal and
academic success. It is important to maintain high expectations and to avoid teaching to a lower
level in an attempt to reach all students (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Part of the element of cultural
competence is to recognize each student’s culture as an asset (Milner, 2017). Making student
26
culture relevant requires addressing the dynamic relationship that exists between the culture of
school and what students experience outside of school (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Moving fluidly
between different aspects of student culture is the purpose of the effort to value individual
cultures and people and to avoid broad strokes and stereotypes (Ladson-Billings, 2014). Teachers
who do this work well honor the students’ cultures by cajoling and cheering for students at the
same time (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Milner (2011) highlighted that enacting culturally relevant
pedagogy means preparing students to recognize and fight inequities. They must also be prepared
to affect change in their communities and in society (Ladson-Billings, 1992). The practice is to
set up questions and questioning so that structural inequalities, racism, and injustice are
addressed explicitly by the students (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Addressing all three tenets of the
framework is necessary for successful implementation and efforts to improve teaching for
students of color (Milner, 2017). These elements can help an individual who observes a
classroom to describe and interpret what they see in practice, as discussed below.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to Analyze Teaching
The tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy can help assess whether a teacher is effectively
teaching students of color, but Ladson-Billings (1992) emphasized that the framework cannot
measure the actions of a teacher, so any attempt to analyze a teacher’s practice must take into
consideration fluidity within teacher implementation. Milner (2017) named that the framework
can be used as a tool to interpret and understand a teacher’s actions. Some teachers never receive
training, in pre-service preparation or as part of professional development, on the framework or
how to put the theory into practice (Brown et al., 2019; Ladson-Billings, 1994, 2000). The
practice of implementing the tenets of the framework requires careful attention to the individual
27
application to students and schools without taking a one-size-fits-all approach (Ladson-Billings,
1995).
Some researchers have explored what culturally relevant pedagogy looks like in practice.
Milner (2011) studied an urban science classroom and found that the teacher had strong
relationships, recognized identity while confronting race, and viewed teaching as a community
activity. These characteristics of one culturally relevant teacher illuminate how one might see the
theory in action. Martell (2018) observed three teachers at work with students of color and
concluded that they all exchange through discussions, discover different cultures, and challenge
students to develop their own critical lenses. Another observable trait is a teacher’s persistence
with students, no matter their background or circumstances, and a firm belief that all students can
succeed in academics and within their culture (Milner, 2011). Teachers must recognize the value
of the rich culture their students bring to the classroom and avoid feelings of pity that can
dampen progress (Jacobs, 2019).
Outcomes are observable when teachers implement the tenets of the framework. In
addition to academic success on standardized tests and grades, these outcomes can include
empowerment of the students as evidenced by their words and actions in and out of the
classroom (Milner, 2011). Milner (2011) also described that students will see their culture in the
curriculum and instruction and gain an understanding of the sociopolitical nature of society, thus
preparing themselves to fight inequities. As teachers strive to effectively teach students of color
there will also be evidence that they are addressing their own culture and, in particular, events
that highlight the differences among understood, assumed, and actual culture (Jacobs, 2019).
Martell (2018) investigated social studies classes of self-described culturally relevant teachers
and concluded that a commitment to all three tenets of the framework is necessary (and
28
observable): high standards for student performance, understanding of cultural perspectives, and
students questioning power structures while faced with hard truths. In terms of the desired
outcome, successful implementation of practices aligned to this theoretical framework can lead
to social, political, emotional, and intellectual empowerment for students of color (Ladson-
Billings, 1992).
Teachers struggle to maintain both cultural competence and academic rigor as part of
culturally relevant teaching (Jacobs, 2019). Martell (2018) observed three effective teachers and
found that the practices of culturally relevant pedagogy included discussions, addressing
perspectives, and developing a critical lens. A list of observable features in culturally relevant
teaching can include a learner lens, self-examination, and making the culture of power explicit
(Milner, 2017). Anderson et al. (2017) cited Ladson-Billings (2001), who described a teacher
who executes on the three tenets of the framework: assume all students can learn and encourage
academic achievement as a complex task; understand culture and its role in the work of teaching
students of color and use culture as a basis for learning; invest in the public good and execute
experiences to connect students to the world. Ladson-Billings (1995) described that culturally
relevant teachers have a strong concept of self and others, seeing themselves as members of the
community who are teaching in order to give back; have strong social relationships that are fluid
and develop a community of learners; and adopt beliefs that knowledge is not static, that it must
be viewed critically, and that teachers must scaffold and facilitate learning. These characteristics
serve as a platform for teacher observation and support when working to improve outcomes for
students of color. Implementing these practices is one among many potential strategies to ensure
students of color have authentic opportunities to earn advanced academic credits, as discussed
below.
29
Attempted Solutions to Advanced Academics Enrollment Disparities
Students of color have had different, limited access to advanced academic credits which
results in system-wide disparities for schools, districts, cities, and states (Mayer et al., 2018).
Learning about changes to the systems that create these inequities requires an exploration of
solutions that have already been attempted. The debt owed to students of color in terms of
missing the opportunity for advanced academic credits has prompted some efforts at redress
through policies, programs, and other strategies, as discussed below.
State, District, and School Policy Solutions
States, districts, and schools have implemented policies designed to shift student
participation in advanced academics in high schools, to varying degrees of success. A few
schools altered the structure of their gifted programs to a model for all students rather than only
selected students (Henfield et al., 2016). Some of the attempted solutions, like offering advanced
courses to a larger portion of the population, are able to elevate the culture for students to one in
which rigor and high expectations become the norm (Wilcox & Angelis, 2011). Werblow et al.
(2013) named that a shift in attitudes is also necessary to ensure success for students of color in
advanced academics. In addition to elevating the culture of rigor, close monitoring of student
performance, use of peer groups, and opportunities for social-emotional growth increase the
success of students in de-tracked programs (Mayer & Tucker, 2010).
Specific programs that have been effective include placing high-achieving students in
classes with students labeled as gifted because it produces an increase in test scores for students
of color (Card & Giuliano, 2016a). Perna et al. (2015) reported an increase in participation in IB
programing after tracking was eliminated in the course offerings at the high school level.
Offering universal screening for gifted programs leads to increased equity of participation (Card
30
& Giuliano, 2016b). Flores and Gomez (2011) described a school that shifted structures to
increase participation, including active recruiting into advanced courses, a shift to the master
schedule, and training for teachers. De-tracking is sometimes positive for students who would
already have been in the higher tracked classes (Wilcox & Angelis, 2011). These systems have
implemented policies to address the enrollment challenges for students of color in advanced
academic courses with some examples of success. Implementing policies at the state, district, or
school level is one way to approach increased access for students of color. Researchers have also
investigated other programs and practices that might benefit advanced academic enrollment and
credits.
Programmatic Solutions
States, districts, and schools have implemented policies designed to increase the
participation and efficacy of students of color in advanced academics in high schools, to varying
success. Nurenberg (2016) examined embedded honors programs in English Language Arts and
found that the curriculum effectively served low-income as well as affluent students. One
component to setting students of color up for success in advanced academics courses is a culture
of connectedness and culturally responsive curriculum and instruction (Siegle et al., 2016).
Mayer et al. (2018) identified examples of high-quality instruction in low-track classes as
evidence of what is possible for students of color across academic levels. Some programs have
been found to have a positive impact on access to advanced academics for students of color,
including universal screening, domain-specific assessments, and challenging curriculum, as
reviewed by Olszewski-Kubilius and Corwith (2018). Specialized school programs, like AP
Academy, studied by Swanson and Nagy (2014), also have success in promoting students of
color through advanced academics. Educators have tried various strategies to eliminate the
31
enrollment and performance gaps for students of color in advanced academics, to varying
degrees of effectiveness.
The review of the literature demonstrates that students of color are over-represented in
low-track classes (Beard, 2019) and underrepresented in advanced academic classes (Witenko et
al., 2017). This data trend represents tangible as well as emotional consequences for students of
color both in high school (Karlson, 2015), and beyond high school (Kettler & Hurst, 2017).
While various solutions have been attempted, and culturally relevant pedagogy identifies
characteristics of teachers that reach students of color effectively, there is not yet an identified,
successful intervention to address the discrepancy in earning credits even when the enrollment
challenge is eliminated. This study will explore how teachers can directly impact students of
color in an advanced academic setting, as described in the following section.
Teachers’ Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Clark and Estes (2008) highlighted the importance of addressing three areas when
completing a gap analysis: knowledge (and skills), motivation, and organizational influences. All
three areas are taken into consideration for this study. The following sections present influences
that were assumed to impact the primary stakeholder group, core content teachers, and their
ability to implement culturally relevant pedagogy in units of study for embedded honors classes.
Knowledge and Skills
A focus on the knowledge and skills that teachers bring to their work in embedded honors
classrooms is important toward increasing the number of students of color earning advanced
academic credit. Teacher knowledge, as outlined below, must address the three core tenets of
culturally relevant pedagogy: student learning, sociopolitical consciousness, and cultural
competence (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Mayer and Tucker (2010) highlighted that low teacher
32
knowledge in the content areas and low sense of efficacy are factors in the disparity in
participation and performance between students of color and White students in advanced honors
courses. Lack of teacher training limits the students of color who find success in advanced
academics because teachers are not able to support the students, and in many cases, this limits
participation as well (Beard, 2019; Swanson & Nagy, 2014). Evaluating the stakeholder
knowledge is a necessary step in gap analysis (Clark & Estes, 2008), and so this study includes
an analysis of the skills teachers bring to the work of instruction in advanced academics.
Four different types of knowledge merit consideration, as identified by Krathwohl and
Anderson (2010). Factual and conceptual knowledge are both considered declarative knowledge,
while procedural knowledge goes beyond rote understanding and to application (Krathwohl &
Anderson, 2010). Metacognition, including aspects of self-reflection, planning, and evaluation, is
relevant to learning and performance (Ambrose et al., 2010). In order to develop a thorough
understanding of the teachers’ capacity to implement culturally relevant pedagogy into
embedded honors, whole-class units of study, all types of knowledge will be addressed.
Teacher Knowledge of the Challenges Facing Students of Color and Historical Barriers That
Keep Them From Earning Advanced Academic Credit
In order to be effective in implementing culturally relevant pedagogy into at least one
whole-class unit for an embedded honors class, teachers must understand that the work of
empowering students of color to earn advanced academic credit requires overcoming obstacles
that are rooted in educational institutions and systems (Knoester & Au, 2017; Siegle et al., 2016).
This knowledge directly connects to the culturally responsive pedagogy tenets of cultural
competence and sociopolitical consciousness. Teachers who have the needed knowledge will be
able to articulate that students of color have historically been kept out of advanced academic
33
classes (Beard, 2019) and that students of color are more often enrolled in lower track classes
than their peers (Legette, 2018). Teachers implementing culturally relevant pedagogy will also
have knowledge about the culture of their students, the strengths of the students’ communities,
the fact that all the students are capable of success, and that their role is to bring out the
knowledge and wisdom the students bring to the classroom (Ladson-Billings, 1995).
Understanding these facts is essential to being able to enact changes to the systematic barriers
based on assumptions about the potential and ability of students of color (Card & Giuliano,
2016b). Teachers must have background information about the causes of the education debt
owed to students of color. This knowledge influence is declarative, particularly conceptual
knowledge, defining something they need to be able to articulate. This study will explore how
teachers working to implement culturally relevant pedagogy leverage their conceptual
knowledge in their practice with students of color every day.
Teacher Knowledge of How to Ensure Rigor for Students of Color Is Maintained Throughout
Unit Design
Teachers must be able to write lessons and units of study that provide students of color
with the same level of rigor required of all students in the advanced academics course (TNTP,
2018). This knowledge is tied to the culturally relevant pedagogy tenet of student learning.
Access to appropriate academic material is not equal for students of color, and teachers must
actively work to shift their instruction to address this issue (TNTP, 2018). Only when students of
color have access to the rigorous material often available only to wealthier, White students will
equity in advanced academics be possible (Swanson & Nagy, 2014). This might mean changing
policies around access to advanced courses or providing access to advanced credits within
embedded honors courses. Milner (2011) described the nuances of implementing culturally
34
relevant pedagogy as critical to success, including the implementation of high academic
expectations for students of color. Recognizing the rigor of advanced academics and including it
in instructional units in a way that is accessible to students of color is an essential step in setting
up students to earn honors credit. This knowledge influence is procedural, articulating how the
teachers can implement the skill.
Teacher Self-Reflection About Their Ability to Critique Their Curriculum so That It
Ensures Students of Color Will Have Increased Access to Earning Advanced Academic
Credits
Metacognition is an important aspect of performance (Ambrose et al., 2010). Teachers
must be metacognitively engaged in their work to design a curriculum that supports students of
color in order to achieve the organizational goal. All three tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy
are connected to this knowledge because Ladson-Billings (1994) stated that they must all be
integrated into the curriculum and daily instruction. Teachers must be able to assess their own
instructional materials and practices (Beard, 2019), in order to know how likely their instruction
is going to be effective in the effort to increase the number of students of color earning advanced
academic credit. The expectations teachers bring to the classroom through their curriculum
design, such as text selection and activity formatting, impact whether students can demonstrate
mastery and earn advanced credits (Swanson & Nagy, 2014). Teachers who are not reflective
will not recognize flaws in their practice, including when their instruction does not reach
students of color. Culturally relevant pedagogy requires teachers to empower students to social
action and to maintain rigorous standards for all students in order to set them up for success
(Ladson-Billings, 1994). Teachers who do not reflect on the quality of their curricular plans can
also miss the influence of their own biases and the fact that they offer low-rigor tasks to students
35
who could potentially be doing more challenging work (TNTP, 2018). Rattan et al. (2012)
named that teachers can lower expectations for students through acts they consider sympathetic,
an action that teachers who are not reflecting might perpetuate instead of correct. This
knowledge influence is metacognition, specifically tied to the teachers’ reflection on their own
ability.
Table 2 presents the three knowledge influences for the core content teachers as the
primary stakeholder group for this study aligned to the associated knowledge types. These
influences represent the different types of knowledge to be explored in the study that are directly
linked to the work of implementing culturally relevant pedagogy into instruction for embedded
honors classes.
Table 2
Assumed Knowledge Influences
Knowledge type Assumed knowledge influence
Declarative
(Conceptual)
Teacher knowledge of the challenges facing students of color and historical
barriers that keep them from earning advanced academic credit. (Cultural
competence)
Procedural
Teacher knowledge of how to ensure rigor for students of color is
maintained throughout unit design. (Student learning)
Metacognitive
Teacher self-reflection of their ability to critique their curriculum so that it
ensures students of color will have increased access to earning advanced
academic credits. (Culturally relevant pedagogy)
36
Motivation-Related Influences
In addition to knowledge, motivation is an influence on performance (Clark & Estes,
2008). This section presents a review of literature focused on the motivation-related influences
that are assumed to affect the work of implementing rigorous curricula to ensure students of
color earn advanced academic credit. Different considerations pertaining to motivation include
interest, belief, attributions, goals, and partnership (Mayer & Tucker, 2010). This study
incorporated Expectancy value theory by acknowledging that participant motivations are
influenced by the value they place on a task as well as the success expectations they have related
to the task (Ambrose et al., 2010). How those motivations are demonstrated through behaviors is
connected to the elements of choice at the onset of engagement, the persistence in the behavior
over time, and the mental effort put into completing the task (Clark & Estes, 2008). Dembo and
Seli (2016) cited the work of Bandura (1982) and identified that an exploration of these
behaviors and the hope participants have for themselves to be able to effectively complete a task
requires a look at self-efficacy. This study explored how these motivational influences impact the
teachers’ capacity to implement culturally relevant pedagogy in curriculum units for embedded
honors classes.
Teachers’ Attainment Value for Creating a Rigorous Curriculum for Students of Color
Ambrose et al. (2010) reviewed the value an individual places on an activity or task as it
relates to the success of the task completion. This includes different types of value: attainment,
intrinsic, and instrumental (utility). Dembo and Seli (2016) cited Eccles (2009) and identified
that the perceived value one assigns, or does not assign, to a task indicates the level of
motivation and predicts performance on that task. An analysis of the stakeholder group’s
perceived value of the task will reveal the level of motivation they bring to the work.
37
In the context of this study, teachers’ attainment value is the importance they place on
supporting students of color as they work to earn advanced academic credit, which can be
connected to an interest in teaching all students and helping them to be successful. Ambrose et
al. (2010) articulated that attainment value is aligned to behavior and performance. Ladson-
Billings (1995) stated that teachers must believe all students can learn in order to effectively
teach students of color. It is also important that teachers believe all students are capable of
learning, of growing, and of outperforming their own academic history (Rattan et al., 2012). This
study investigates whether teachers strive to help students of color overcome limitations both
systematic and individual. Teachers’ concept of self and purpose in teaching is tied to teacher
performance (Yeung et al., 2014), and the desire to ensure students of color earn advanced
academic credit is tied to that goal. In the context of this study, the attainment value will be
evidenced by whether teachers acknowledge the importance of working to ensure students of
color earn advanced academic credit.
Teachers’ Utility Value for Creating A Rigorous Curriculum for Students of Color
Closely related to attainment value is teacher utility value. Teachers must actively work
to overcome the institutionalized obstacles that are in place for students of color (Lance Rowland
& Shircliffe, 2016). The level to which teachers see as important the work of designing and
implementing instruction that sets up students of color to earn advanced academic credit will
reflect what Ambrose et al. (2010) described as utility value. Opportunities for advanced
academics during high school are limited when early access is denied (Legette, 2018). Students
of color also have limited access to post-secondary programs, including admission to colleges
and universities as well as specific programs of study, because they do not have the opportunity
to earn advanced academic credit at the same rate as their White peers (Perna et al., 2015). The
38
value of advanced academic credit for students can also include monetary value in the form of
scholarships and other financial aid when pursuing post-secondary schooling (Kettler & Hurst,
2017). This study will address how much teachers are invested in addressing these disparities.
Teachers’ Self-Efficacy for Creating Rigorous Curriculum for Students of Color Using Tenets
of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
One’s ability to successfully complete a task is reliably predicted by their task-specific
self-efficacy (Dembo & Seli, 2016). A person’s understanding of their own ability is influenced
by their previous experiences, relatable models they have seen of others doing similar work, and
social feedback (Dembo & Seli, 2016). This can include the potential negative influences of
stereotypes and biases. In order to execute on a task, it is essential that one believe they are
capable of effectively completing the task (Ambrose et al., 2010), and a study of self-perception
can provide insight into the motivation of the primary stakeholder group.
Teachers implementing culturally relevant pedagogy must have confidence that they are
capable of focusing on student learning, sociopolitical consciousness, and cultural competence.
Teacher preparation programs often neglect to provide tools for teachers in the areas of
community understanding and cultural knowledge (Jacobs, 2019), so teachers might not feel
competent in these areas without support. Swanson and Nagy (2014) identified a lack of teacher
training as a key element in the lack of access students of color have to advanced academic
credit. This lack of training directly influences teacher self-efficacy as it informs their experience
and perception of their ability to effectively teach rigorous curricula to students of color. Clark
and Estes (2008) named that seeing models is critical to motivation and performance. Beard
(2019) articulated that teachers do not have models of success in teaching advanced academics to
students of color. This study explores the degree to which teachers feel efficacious in order to
39
understand how likely they are to persist and invest mental effort in the work of implementing
culturally relevant pedagogy in curricular units for embedded honors classes.
Table 3 presents the assumed motivation influences for the core content teachers as the
primary stakeholder group for this study aligned with the associated motivation constructs. These
influences represent the different types of motivation to be addressed in the study that are
connected to the work to increase the number of students earning advanced academic credit.
Table 3
Assumed Motivation Influences
Motivation construct Assumed motivation influence
Attainment Value
Teachers’ desire to increase the number of students of color
earning advanced academic credit
Utility Value
Teachers’ perception of the importance of assisting students of
color in earning advanced academic credit
Self-Efficacy
Teachers’ confidence in their ability to effectively teach honors-
level curriculum to students of color using tenets of culturally
relevant pedagogy
40
Organizational Influences
In addition to knowledge and motivation, Clark and Estes (2008) described that
organizational influences impact performance and an individual’s efforts toward achieving goals.
Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) described two categories of organizational influences: cultural
models and cultural influences. Cultural models are the beliefs that are acted out in the norms
and routines of the organization, frequently evidenced through interactions between individuals
and in team or group settings, while cultural settings are the systems and structures that set up
how an organization executes core tasks (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). This study addresses
both types of organizational influences in terms of students of color in advanced academics. This
section provides a review of the literature for the organizational influences in the context of this
study, focused on whether or not the organization is set up to ensure students of color earn
advanced academic credits.
School’s Willingness to Design Specific Supports for Students of Color
School culture will reflect whether the staff is prepared to create resources and programs
intended to support students of color. In the context of any organization, how people behave
toward each other and toward tasks is a manifestation of the cultural model and the beliefs
adopted by the organization (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). The behaviors of the members of
the organization demonstrate the values more exactly than any stated rules or expectations
(Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). Whether staff members say it is acceptable to shift resource
allocation or actually execute a shift in resource allocation will be a window into what Gallimore
and Goldenberg describe as the cultural model.
In the context of this study, the staff might demonstrate an interest in ensuring all school
programing is designed for the good of the entire student body. Such a willingness to treat all
41
students as equal members of the academic community would reflect a lack of understanding of
the historical obstacles that keep students of color from accessing programs such as advanced
academic classes (Beard, 2019; Mayer et al., 2018). Teachers who ignore the needs and
experiences of their students of color often perpetuate barriers and diminish the cultural value
and individuality of their students of color (Cobb, 2017). An understanding of the need to
address students of color appropriately and not as part of a collective identity is necessary to
ensure success for students of color in educational organizations (Ladson-Billings, 2014). The
school staff members and community might enact commonly adopted attitudes around advanced
academics, which leave out students of color at a disproportional rate (Witenko et al., 2017).
Commonly enacted beliefs reflect that students of color are not capable of completing advanced
academic work and therefore should not benefit from resources that might help them to do so
(Legette, 2018). This study will investigate how members of the school community approach the
work of treating students of color as distinct from the entire student body and to understand and
then address the school’s lived out beliefs and actions regarding access to resources for this
stakeholder group.
School’s Provision of Coaching Support, Models, and Training for Teachers Working to
Implement Culturally Relevant Pedagogy for Embedded Honors Core Classes
In order to implement strategies to address the education debt and lead toward
improvement, an organization must address the systems and structures in place (Clark & Estes,
2008). Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) identified an organization’s cultural setting as the
structures in which members execute their tasks. In order to address a needed change in
behavior, it is important to attend to the supports, processes, and rituals of the organization
42
(Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). A change to these visible systems can affect change in
individuals and in the performance of the organization (Clark & Estes, 2008).
In the context of this study, the school must ensure teachers are set up to effectively
implement strategies that will support students of color in earning advanced academic credit. In
order to successfully design and implement units of study for embedded honors classes, the
teachers must be trained in the skills of culturally relevant pedagogy so that their instruction
meets the needs of the students of color, as described by Ladson-Billings (2014). Teachers must
also be trained in the skills and procedures of ensuring rigorous instruction to avoid reducing the
challenge for students and thereby minimizing achievement (TNTP, 2018). The school must
adjust systems of teacher preparation and professional development to include these necessary
skills and then ensure the teachers are implementing the practices in their classrooms (TNTP,
2018). In addition to addressing student learning, instruction must also honor the culture each
student brings to the classroom and empower the students to impact their community (Ladson-
Billings, 1995). Existing systems for teacher management, including coaching and support, will
need to shift to address what is being expected of teachers.
Table 4 presents the assumed organizational influences to be addressed by the study
organized into categories. These influences represent the context and culture of the school to be
studied and how the stakeholders will benefit as they work to increase the number of students of
color who earn advanced academic credit.
43
Table 4
Assumed Organizational Influences
Organizational influence category Assumed organizational influence
Cultural Model Influence School’s willingness to design specific supports for
students of color.
Cultural Setting Influence The school’s provision of coaching support, models, and
training for teachers working to implement culturally
relevant pedagogy for embedded honors core classes.
Conclusion
This literature review reflects the current trends in advanced academics for students of
color as well as the implications of those trends. As discussed in this chapter, students of color
have less access through enrollment and culturally relevant pedagogy than their White peers and
are missing out on high school and post-secondary opportunities as a result. This study will
address the teacher knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences identified in the
literature as relevant to the efforts of high school teachers to support students of color earning
advanced academic credits.
44
Chapter Three: Methods
This study investigated the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on
teachers working to create and implement rigorous, culturally relevant pedagogy in units of study
in embedded honors classes. The study used a qualitative approach to address the question of
which knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs are required to increase the number of
students of color earning advanced academic credit. This chapter presented the research design
and methods for sampling, data collection, and analysis. The following sections describe how the
study was conducted in an ethical manner to maximize the credibility of the findings as well as
limitations and delimitations of the proposed study.
Participating Stakeholders
The primary stakeholder group for this study consisted of 24 English, science, and social
studies teachers in grades nine and ten at Central High School. Studying this group ensures a
focus on the teachers who are leading the classrooms with advanced academic options for all
students, called embedded honors classes. Observations followed by interviews will be the data
collection methods for a portion of this stakeholder group. This is the appropriate strategy for
data collection because it provides access to the teachers’ classroom practice as well as their
perception of the work of teaching embedded honors to students of color.
Interview and Observation Sampling Strategy
The study proceeded with data collection using a paired interview and observation
approach, aiming first to observe and then interview the same teachers three times each. All
observations and interviews took place online due to the use of remote learning at the school in
response to the current health guidelines.
45
There were 24 teachers in the population, all of whom were working through a pandemic
and were learning how to teach online for the first time. Due to the circumstances, I included two
teachers to ensure I would get at least some variation but also work only with participants who
believed they had the capacity to participate at the time. It was reasonable to plan for at least two
teachers to volunteer to participate and still include a variety of characteristics that will be
available among the population because of the representation two teachers could provide into the
whole subset of embedded honors teachers. Three rounds of observation followed by interviews
with two participants totaled six classroom observations and six teacher interviews. All English,
science, and social studies teachers who have at least one embedded honors class will have the
opportunity to volunteer. The primary stakeholder group is somewhat diverse in ethnicity,
gender, years of experience, tenure at the school, and dedication to culturally relevant pedagogy.
All but teachers who have worked in the building prior to the 2020–21 school year have had at
least some training in some elements of culturally relevant pedagogy. Teachers are expected to
implement strategies to support students of color as part of their daily practice.
As part of the recruitment process, I communicated to all eligible teachers my desire to
include participants with a variety of experience and interest in the embedded honors program.
This was intended to mitigate some of the self-selection bias that might have limited the field of
participants based on their understanding of the purpose of the study. Due to safety ristrictions
and my inability to see teachers in person, all recruitment communication took place over email
after the start of the fall semester of online instruction during the pandemic. In that email, I
communicated to all eligible teachers that only some classrooms could be observed and only
some teachers could be interviewed in order to maintain an honest relationship with the
participants. Glesne (2011) stated that a partnership between researcher and participant is vital
46
and based on honest sharing of information. At the time, several teachers responded that the
uncertainty of plans to move back to in-person instruction and the challenges of pandemic
teaching left them unable to volunteer for the study. Because a small percentage of eligible
teachers volunteered, I reached out to the whole stakeholder group for a second round of
volunteering. In total, four teachers initially volunteered but during the follow-up communication
to set up the first round of observation and interview, two of them decided they didn’t have the
capacity to participate. I proceeded with the two volunteers who represented some diversity
among the stakeholder group.
Interview and Observation Sampling Criteria and Rationale
Criterion 1
Teachers who teach at least one embedded honors class and were at Central in the 2019–
2020 school year. Only these classes will be observed for the purpose of the study.
Criterion 2
Based on these criteria, eligible teachers received invitations by email. I accessed the
teachers’ email addresses directly through the organization’s master directory and in
communication with the Senior Team Lead overseeing embedded honors. This email was drafted
to outline the purpose of the study and solicit volunteers to participate. The invitation clearly
stated there was no reward for participation and no punishment for electing not to participate.
Several follow-up emails were sent to eligible participants to ensure all eligible teachers had the
opportunity to volunteer.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
This study included two types of data collection. By completing observations of and
interviews with teachers of embedded honors classrooms the aim was to understand what the
47
implementation of embedded honors looks like, sounds like, and feels like in the classroom. By
setting up the interviews to happen after observing a teacher’s classroom, the interview questions
will focus on the specific classroom experience and provide insight into the lived experience of
the embedded honors program for the teachers. Observing classroom practices will provide
insight into the teacher’s application of knowledge and how their motivation to implement
instruction for students of color in embedded honors classes is manifested. Interviews will be an
opportunity to understand teachers’ perspectives on the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational structures in place to support the work of implementing instructional strategies to
support students of color in embedded honors classes. It is crucial to have this balance of data
collection strategies to learn about both the teachers’ perceptions and their actions.
Interviews
Teachers learned about the interviews and observations for data collection through a
series of emails and an information sheet designed to inform potential participants about the
purpose of the study (see Appendix A). Interviews are structured conversations with participants
designed to gather perspective data on the target topic (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Individual
interviews were scheduled at a time convenient for the teachers and not outside the teachers’
scheduled workday. ). Because all school activities were required to take place remotely,
interviews took place through the online meeting rooms in Zoom. This platform allows for
privacy and recording the content of the interview, and therefore granted no access to
administrators or other teachers listening or seeing the interview take place. Privacy is necessary
for participants to maintain confidentiality and the element of choice (Glesne, 2011).
The first interview with each participant concluded with a reminder of the repeated cycle
of observation and interviewing so participants were reminded that they would be observed and
48
interviewed again for a total of three observations and three interviews per teacher. Second and
third interviews always took place after the observation of the teacher in their classroom for at an
additional class period. I completed three formal, scheduled interviews with two participants,
totaling six interviews, spaced out with at least two weeks between each round. Each separate
interview addressed different parts of the interview protocol, included as Appendix B, while
leaving room for some repeated questions as appropriate based on the ongoing observations as
well as member checking. The designated questions were used in each round of interviews in an
effort to control variability. A few informal interviews at the conclusion of observations also
took place, when it was possible.
Formal interviews followed a semi-structured protocol based on questions aligned to the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences identified in Chapter Two. This approach
was appropriate because it ensured the interview was grounded in the conceptual frameworks of
the study but allowed room for probing questions and other follow-ups based on the content of
the interview. The interviews were designed to feel like a conversation with the participant to
maximize comfort and authenticity (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). All interviews were conducted
online using Zoom and recorded. During each interview, notes were also taken to ensure
appropriate probing questions and to track responses in real time. The data collected through
interviews provided stakeholder perspective on the assumed knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences.
Observation
Participants’ classrooms were observed during 60- to 80-minute periods of embedded
honors classes. Observations are intentionally designed to reveal authentic experiences in the
target setting and provide the researcher with first-hand evidence (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
49
Two teachers were observed for three class periods for a total of more than five hours of
classroom observation. The setting for each observation was the classroom for the selected
teacher during the class period of one (or more) embedded honors classes. Because classroom
instruction was required to take place remotely, observations took place through the school’s
online learning platform, Schoology. This platform allowed students and the teacher to be
together in a virtual space that can be observed in place of a classroom observation. The
observations were repeated for the exact same section of the class in the first semester and almost
the same class in the third round during the second semester. This allowed me to gather data
from the same classroom setting multiple times. Bogdan and Biklen (2007) described the
importance of extended fieldwork to ensure the observer is comfortable and welcomed in the
setting in order to obtain authentic data. It is also important to adjust data collection based on
what is found in initial observations, so repeated data collection is key (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). This observation setting was appropriate based on the research question for the study
because the study seeks to learn about the implementation of the embedded honors program.
In order to gain access to classrooms for observations, I worked with each teacher to
coordinate a non-intrusive schedule (that avoids testing days, for example). This strategy was
appropriate because of my existing relationship with the instructional leadership team members
and my previous role as a support partner for the school. Central has a standing practice of
welcoming visitors into classrooms for a variety of purposes so there were no obstacles to
successful completion of the observations.
Each classroom observation focused on the implementation of rigorous instructional
strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. The observations were based on low-inference
documentation of what the teacher said and did over the course of the lesson in line with the
50
tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy (see Appendix C). Particular attention was paid to
interactions with students of color, as possible based on the online format where only student
names were visible unless they were asked to come off mute or turn on their cameras to address
the teacher or the class. Fieldnotes were written down during each observation and recorded in
chronological order to best organize the material, as suggested by Bogdan and Biklen (2007).
The observation notes recorded teacher-to-student questions, whole-class instruction, and
directions as well as conversations in the online chat and one-on-one interactions when it was
possible. Some teacher-student interactions happened in breakout rooms to which I was not
invited for observation. The data collected during observations were later analyzed to further
understand the teachers’ procedural knowledge regarding rigorous instruction for students of
color. The data illuminated manifestations of teachers’ motivations through their actions,
including the number of interactions with students of color and the content of those interactions.
Documents
Lesson plans and unit plans were collected as documents from teachers to inform the
study. Documents provide an unobtrusive insight into the setting of the research without the need
for the creation of new evidence (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In order to collect these documents,
teachers were asked to share them electronically. Available lesson plans and unit plans were
reviewed using a protocol aligned to the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, included as
Appendix D, and provided insight into where teachers have planned to provide rigorous
instruction and implement culturally relevant pedagogy. This informed an understanding of the
teachers’ declarative and procedural knowledge based on criteria established through the review
of literature. The need to collect data from existing documents can become clearer as themes
emerge based on analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). These lesson plan materials, including
51
student tasks and presentation materials were existing documents that the teachers produced for
their own practice. Bowen (2009) argued that documents can be used to provide context for the
researcher to understand the perspective of the participants as well as to inspire additional
questions and next steps in the study. The documents collected in this study served both
purposes.
Data Analysis
The data collected through interviews and observations were processed through
qualitative coding. Both a priori and emergent codes were used. A priori codes were developed
in advance of the study based on the conceptual frameworks and literature review. Emergent
codes were developed as data were collected and analyzed in iterative cycles, starting with the
content of the data and based on patterns and themes that become evident. All interviews were
recorded on Zoom and transcripts created to assist with data analysis. Notes taken during and
immediately after observations were also used for analysis. As suggested by Harding (2013),
analysis included identifying initial categories; writing codes on the collected notes; reviewing
the list of codes and categories to refine, adjust, and revise; and identifying the findings. Once
initial data had been collected, various analytic tools were applied to enhance the process and to
identify emergent codes. Corbin and Strauss (2008) identified that analytic tools help the
researcher to maintain an appropriate distance from the data and the literature, to avoid common
thinking, and to encourage discovery of emergent themes. In this study, questioning and
comparisons were utilized as analytic tools. In addition, tables were used to track numerical data
such as the number of interactions with students of color during a classroom observation and the
frequency of a priori and emergent codes among all data collection methods.
52
Documents that were collected from teachers after classroom observations were
cataloged based on the chronology of the observations. Bowen (2009) asserted that documents
must be reviewed to make sense of the included data and then connected to other collected data
to contribute to the findings. In this study, lesson plans and unit plans were coded with a priori
codes based on the knowledge influences identified through the conceptual frameworks for the
study, the same codes as used to analyze other data. Additional emergent codes were determined
as appropriate based on themes and patterns evident in the documents. The codes were reviewed
along with data from observations and interviews to name the findings based on evidence of
rigorous instruction and culturally relevant pedagogy in embedded honors classes.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Throughout the collection and analysis of data, I worked to maintain the credibility and
trustworthiness of the study through some triangulation and member checking. Maxwell (2013)
stated that to ensure credibility, a study must pass tests like triangulation and respondent
validation. Triangulation of data, including the observations, interviews, and documents, ensured
the findings are grounded in multiple data points. Member checking the coding and patterns that
emerge during analysis with the participants ensured accurate representation of their
perspectives. Member checking took place during the second and third interviews with both
participants.
Researcher bias is an unavoidable aspect of qualitative research (Maxwell, 2013). It is
important that I acknowledge how my own selection of instrument, participants, methodology,
and analysis influenced the findings. My possible biases regarding the importance of teachers
meeting the needs of students of color and my frustration at the historical marginalization of
those students must be addressed. Maxwell (2013) also articulated the dangers of ignoring
53
reflexivity, acknowledging that the researcher is part of the world being studied, which will be
considered in this study as well. In order to minimize these biases affecting the findings, data
analysis started with a priori coding based on the review of literature. All data were analyzed to
look for saturation of themes to ensure the findings were based on the data and not rooted in my
biases. Member checking also served to ensure researcher bias did not have an extraordinary
influence on the reporting of themes.
Ethics
In gathering data for this study I considered the need to ensure the participants come to
no harm as a result of the study, that there is no deceit on my part as the researcher, and that the
participants are treated with respect, three necessary elements of an ethical study as suggested by
Rubin and Rubin (2012). I will also ensure the participants know that their participation is
voluntary and that since the experience will be at least somewhat personal, as is true for all
qualitative studies (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), I will work to treat every participant as an
individual and honor the perspective they bring to the study. I will ensure participants understand
the scope and purpose of the study by providing information sheets as part of the email
invitations in addition to securing permission to record from all participants. Choice is important
and can influence the ethics of the study (Glesne, 2011), so only teachers who volunteer will be
observed and interviewed, and they will have the right to leave at any time during the study.
Maintaining confidentiality is crucial (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), especially since all participants
work together at the same school, so all observation, interview, and focus group notes will be
stored on a password-protected computer, and participants will be assigned random numbers to
preserve confidentiality. All aspects of data collection will be approved by the Institutional
54
Review Board and participants will be made aware through information sheets provided as part
of recruiting.
Honesty about my role as the researcher and my background are also important to share
with participants because it is ethical to be transparent about my purpose and my position
(Glesne, 2011). I will communicate with all participants that I have previously worked as an
instructional leadership partner for the school and have visited several times since 2017 to
observe team meetings and classes in addition to coaching members of the instructional
leadership team individually. I will also include information about my current status as a
specialist in the district but make clear that this study is not connected to my work in that role.
The information sheet provided will include this information about my role as the researcher in
addition to the purpose of the study, an overview of the methodology, and details about how
participant confidentiality will be maintained. Participants must be clear that there is no planned
reward for their participation but also that there is no chance their professional rating will be
impacted by what they say because what they say will not be attached to their name at any time,
as recommended by Glesne (2011). I will confirm that their voluntary participation is not
connected to their formal evaluation and that I will not be sharing any of the raw data with team
members at the school because only aggregated results or quotations with identifiers removed
will be recorded. A collaborative and respectful partnership with participants is necessary for the
success of the study (Rubin & Rubin, 2012), so I will be an attentive listener and be honest and
straightforward in all our interactions.
My role as a student researcher will be different from my role as a coach and advisor in
previous work at the school. As I prepare to collect data in the school, I will avoid using any of
the formal evaluation tools used in classroom observations as well as all school-based
55
observation protocols. I will ensure my prior history working with the school does not influence
the data collection for this study so that I can honestly focus on the current efforts around
embedded honors programing. I will honor the current culture of the school, including the spirit
of improvement, and that of the district as I work with participants, as suggested by Glesne
(2011). To build trust and maintain a partnership with the participants (Rubin & Rubin, 2012), I
must also acknowledge that my exploration of White privilege has influenced my interest in this
problem of practice and all areas in which education perpetuates advantage for White students in
order to mitigate biased research or reporting. The implicit agenda to ensure the teachers in the
study are doing everything they can to provide equitable instruction for students of color might
influence my interactions with participants, especially when I ask follow-up questions in
interviews and focus groups, as well as in my data analysis where bias and intention can
influence what I see as trends (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Limitations and Delimitations
Some limitations of the study exist. From the onset of the research, participants were
required to volunteer to be part of the study based on their interest in the topic or at least their
willingness to be part of a study on the topic of pedagogy in embedded honors classes while
navigating the challenges of teaching remotely for the first time during a global pandemic with
uncertainty surrounding the possible return to in-person teaching every other week. These
conditions limits the participants to a subset of the eligible pool. Observations took place through
the online learning platform, which will increase the ability to hear what is happening across the
class and to see what students post in the chat as well as what teachers present through
presentation materials and other student materials available through the online learning platform,
Schoology. The online forum eliminated the possibility of observing physical movement and the
56
nature of some of the instructional moves teachers implemented. Limitations also include the
truthfulness of participants during interviews, which might have been mitigated by strategies to
ensure the participant felt respected and comfortable during each interview. The narrow focus of
a small case study on two teachers is also a limitation, as one must recognize other perspectives
exist beyond the small participant subset. Access to lesson plans and unit plans is also a
limitation, as these are not documents that are shared in the public domain and therefore were
only available when the participants chose to share them. A limitation of the application of the
findings is the organizational structure of Central’s master schedule. Other schools that have not
yet adopted the embedded honors programming strategy will not be able to apply the findings
from this study.
Delimitations also exist, including the questions I choose to include in the interview
protocol and the number of observations I was able to complete. One significant delimitation is
the choice not to include student perspectives in the study by focusing on the primary
stakeholder group of teachers. In addition, this study does not include formal student
performance data, including whether students of color in the observed classes are able to earn
advanced academic credit except for informal self-reporting by both teachers in the final
interview. This data could provide insight into the effectiveness of the teachers’ efforts in
embedded honors instruction. By identifying the assumed knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences the study also restricts what other influences might impact the
stakeholder goal.
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Chapter Four: Findings
This study was designed to explore the experiences of teacher practitioners as they lead
embedded honors classes with an aim to increase the number of students of color earning
advanced academic credits. As discussed in Chapters One and Two, access to and success in
advanced academic courses is limited for students of color, which can have an outsized, lasting
impact on their academic success. Any effort to address the inequities currently present in
advanced academics for high school students of color will rely upon the implementation and
practices of the teachers working with those students. Central High School has implemented a
structural change by implementing embedded honors courses so that every student has the
opportunity to earn the advanced credit. A continued focus on the implementation of the program
and culturally relevant pedagogy to meet the needs of students of color is still necessary.
Three research questions were developed as part of this study. Each question targets
nuances to be learned through an inquiry into the experiences of teacher participants. Multiple
aspects of the teacher perspective were investigated to address teacher knowledge, motivation,
and organizational needs. Data were collected through classroom observation, teacher
interviews, and data analysis to address these research questions.
1. What are the teacher knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs required to
achieve a 25% increase in the students of color earning advanced academic credits?
2. What are the teacher knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs necessary to
implement the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy as a means of supporting students of
color working to earn advanced academic credit in embedded honors classes?
3. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organization solutions?
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This chapter will provide details of the findings of the data analysis in each of the explored
categories.
Participant Profile
The participants for the study were teachers of embedded honors classes at Central High
School. Two participants volunteered from the pool of eligible teachers. A pseudonym has been
assigned to each participant to protect their identity. The two participants both identify as White
and female, and they work in different content areas: Humanities and Sciences. The pool of
eligible participants included mostly teachers who identify as White and teachers who work only
in these two areas, so the participants are representative of the stakeholder group. The teachers
provided access to their classrooms for observations as well as the lesson materials, including
presentation materials and student tasks. Both teachers have several years’ experience at Central
High School and additional years of teaching experience at other schools, which is also
representative of the eligible stakeholder group. Both have experience teaching advanced
academics but have not had extensive training in instruction for doing that work. Neither has had
training in virtual teaching though 100% of the observed lessons were taught online through the
district’s adopted learning management system, Schoology. Michelle has been rated
Distinguished, the highest possible rating, on the district’s teacher evaluation system, while Dana
has been rated effective, the second-highest. Table 5 presents all demographic data collected
about the two participants. Exact figures have been replaced with ranges to protect the identities
of both participants.
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Table 5
Participant Characteristics
Pseudonym
Degree
earned Years of Teaching Content
Overall At Central Advanced academics
Michelle M.A. 5–10 5–10 5–10 Science
Dana M.A. 10–15 0–5 0–5 Humanities
Pseudonym Gender Race/Ethnicity Age
Michelle Female White 30–35
Dana Female White 40–45
Through multiple rounds of observation, interview, and document analysis, each
participant was able to share her personal experience and perspective on the work of embedded
honors. Both were put in the position in August 2020 of shifting their instruction to an online
platform. The school had been using the online resource as a supplementary tool for several
years but had never completed all instruction and assessment virtually. Both teachers had been in
the school before the adoption of embedded honors and are members of teacher teams with
whom they have the opportunity to co-plan as they all prepare to teach the same courses in
different sections. Each of them is teaching the class that was observed for this study for the first
time this year. The balance of experience, time at the school, and content area provided some
unique insights in the knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs they each demonstrated.
The data analysis served as a miniature case study into the lives of these two teachers and their
work teaching embedded honors to serve students of color.
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Knowledge Findings
The investigation into knowledge through this study focused on the extent of teachers’
background and understanding of the core tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy and the
importance of helping students of color battle historical barriers to earn advanced academic
credits. The three knowledge influences were identified as conceptual, procedural, and
metacognitive using the framework from Krathwohl and Anderson (2010). Table 6 presents the
assumed knowledge influences and where the data collection provided insight based on the
practices of the two participants.
Table 6
Assumed Knowledge Influences and Data Sources
Knowledge type Assumed knowledge influence Data source
Declarative
(Conceptual)
Teacher knowledge of the challenges facing
students of color and historical barriers that
keep them from earning advanced academic
credit. (Cultural competence)
Interviews
Procedural
Teacher knowledge of how to ensure rigor for
students of color is maintained throughout
unit design. (Student learning)
Interviews, observation,
documents
Metacognitive
Teacher self-reflection of their ability to
critique their curriculum so that it ensures
students of color will have increased access
to earning advanced academic credits.
(Culturally relevant pedagogy)
Interviews
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The interviews and other data collection reveal three conclusions about teacher
knowledge for these two participants. All areas of the knowledge assessment based on the
experiences of these teachers are in line with each other and offer few discrepancies. The
findings reflect the assumed knowledge influences as well as the core tenants of culturally
relevant pedagogy. The three conclusions align to the original assumed influences and support
the assumptions aligned to the literature, as outlined below.
Teacher Knowledge of the Challenges Facing Students of Color and Historical Barriers
That Keep Them From Earning Advanced Academic Credit
Both teachers articulated their understanding of challenges that face students of color in
their school and in their community, but neither referenced wide-spread historical barriers to
advanced academics for students of color. They each shared that the school staff has discussed
the fact that enrollment in advanced academic courses at Central High School has been
imbalanced and not representative of the school’s population and are confident the whole team
understands that was part of the motivation to shift many subjects to embedded honors. Michelle
talked about her classes before the embedded honors shift as “very segregated.” Dana shared the
difference in how White the honors classes were when separated from the non-honors courses as,
“I had one Black students in my honors class.” Throughout the data collection, it was clear these
two teachers are aware of and focused on the local context of the inequities for students of color.
Enrollment in advanced academic courses has been a challenge for students of color as
described by both teachers, and they both feel it has been addressed in some subject areas, but
not all. Michelle described her own work to have conversations with teachers and leaders at
some feeder middle schools where future ninth graders receive starkly different opportunities and
limited access. When talking about how enrollment might impact students of color in particular,
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named, “My concern is that I want more kids as a whole earning honors credit, which would
mean more students of color.” Both teachers expressed the work to address the challenge of
enrollment and the need to motivate students to seek out the optional honors credit through
embedded honors should involve more talking with students and families than it does. Dana
named that she would “get kids to think on the front end, sell them on it, and then [continue to]
encourage them towards it.” The two teachers agree that the shift to embedded honors is part of
the work to address the issue of enrollment, but that there is still the challenge presented by the
fact that math does not use the strategy and the geography courses include an AP Human
Geography class in which not every ninth grader is enrolled. For students of color at Central
High School, there has been some progress, but the barriers around enrollment have not yet been
eliminated.
Self-selection within embedded honors also presented a challenge that was made more
difficult to overcome because of the pandemic. Both teachers named the limited opportunities
they had to push students to do a little more than they initially might. They each identified they
gave fewer assignments and had fewer class meetings than would have taken place during in-
person instruction, and therefore, students had fewer chances to earn honors credit. The students
who otherwise might have been motivated or seized one of multiple opportunities to earn the
advanced credits simply did not make the attempt. Michelle had fewer students of color than
White students earn honors credit in the fall semester, which she named was not reflective of the
student population. She shared, “It was a lot less than we would want.” Dana had more students
of color than White but only nine out of 58 total students, which is far lower than what she had
hoped. She reiterated Michelle’s sentiment, “It was fewer students of color than I would have
liked.” Both teachers reflected that failure rates reflect another gap as more students of color
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failed their courses and did not earn any credit than did White students, which was in line with
the data across all courses for the school in fall 2020.
Teacher Knowledge of How to Ensure Rigor for Students of Color Is Maintained
Throughout Unit Design
In both classrooms, there was evidence that the teachers held high expectations for
students through the content and process for each lesson. This knowledge aligns exactly to the
culturally relevant pedagogy framework and specifically the core tenet that calls for teachers to
promote academic rigor (Ladson-Billings, 1995). A review of the teachers’ presentation
materials and student tasks confirms that the level of rigor for all observed classes is in line with
the academic standards for the courses, though each participant identified at least one example of
reducing the rigor to adapt to the virtual environment. Dana asked students to analyze scenes for
character development with citations from the text, including questions like “What motivates
every character? To what extent do characters’ duties to family, friends, or society influence their
actions?” Michelle had students completing increasingly complex problems independently after
completing at least one model along with the whole class. In addition to the assignments
completed as part of the classwork or asynchronous independent work time, the study included
work toward formal assessments in the form of essays and exams. In both classrooms, students
were given rigorous work to complete and, in some cases, the opportunity to complete extended
work that would count towards the honors credit at the end of the term. Dana asked students to
provide evidence and a counterclaim as a challenge prompt in addition to the evidence-based
claim they made based on the text and named in an interview that it is critical to “[have] a clear
picture of excellence.” Michelle celebrated students who provided more than one answer to a
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specific prompt. Both teachers demonstrated the ability to maintain rigor in the unit design and
implementation through online instruction.
Another element of rigor and academic achievement in culturally relevant pedagogy is
the expectation that all students complete all the tasks and the accountability teachers leverage to
ensure no student opts out of the work. In this study, both teachers called on students by name
during class when they had not yet completed a portion of the interactive slide deck or other
assignment, which they were able to track through the online systems for students to share their
work. Michelle leveraged phrases like, “I’d love to hear from everyone” and “I haven’t heard
from you yet,” to remind students of the expectation to complete all classwork. She also
frequently made time for students to go back and correct errors after hearing a peer walk through
the correct response, demonstrating the value of the right answer. Acknowledging the pandemic-
based challenge of ensuring completion of tasks, Michelle named that “non-White honors
[students] cruise through the [task]; if I was doing the lesson in person, it would look so
different.” Dana showed her class the jar of names from which she would frequently draw and
call on a student to share their answer, thereby ensuring students knew they always needed to be
ready to respond. She also reviewed student work during class time and gave feedback to student
answers and their writing through the online platform. Students in both these classes are held
accountable for doing the rigorous work.
The two teachers described different strategies for unit design that include careful
decisions around materials that might ensure rigorous academics and the implementation of
culturally relevant pedagogy. Michelle described that the team develops the curriculum and
materials and does not rely on the antiquated district textbook. She works with the team of
teachers to ensure all lessons are aligned to what students will need to know when they get to the
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next level science course. She named that the “influence on planning [in the remote setting] is
outsized” and that they have had to judiciously select which materials to cut in order to maintain
the integrity of the course during the pandemic. Dana shared that she chose to move away from
the district curriculum in some areas to include more diverse authors in text-based instruction
while working to ensure the academic level of the course remains intact. She and the team of
teachers rely heavily on the requirements for graduation and college admission as criteria for
their planning of assessments and lessons. Dana shared, “Embedded honors pushes me to really
be explicit in my planning for a higher level of differentiation,” and how that elevated planning
helps her to keep the rigorous expectations in place throughout her units of study.
Teacher Self-Reflection of Their Ability to Critique Their Curriculum so That It Ensures
Students of Color Will Have Increased Access to Earning Advanced Academic Credits
Both participants reflected on their own strengths and weaknesses regarding the
curriculum and how it impacts students of color earning advanced academic credits, some of
which connect to the core tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy. The self-critique includes
acknowledging missed opportunities to do something more or different in the execution of the
unit or lesson plan. Dana described working with one student of color who was finding success
in her class but who was not getting pushed beyond what she was able to do prior to the lesson.
She said, “I don't think I accomplished getting students who from an academic standpoint are
less strong to take on that challenge and the support to get it.” This example highlights a missed
opportunity to ensure the advanced academics of culturally relevant pedagogy. Michelle referred
frequently to the shifts necessitated by the pandemic, specifically teaching online, and described
one of the observed lessons as a true struggle because she could not execute the entire lesson
plan due to the confusion and misunderstandings demonstrated by the students. “We’re definitely
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just having to cut so much [due to] remote learning,” she said. She shared that these shifts risk
lowering the rigorous expectations of the coursework. This is also a limitation on culturally
relevant pedagogy.
Both teachers shared other reflections about whether their unit design and
implementation were best setting up students of color to earn the advanced academic credits
available to them. Michelle described that she and her team of teachers “aren’t really doing
[anything],” and that in some ways, they are currently serving students of color even less so than
before embedded honors. Although she described the logistical success of working with her
peers to develop four different versions of every lesson plan and at least two versions of every
assessment, she recognized that the work has not yet demonstrated a shift in the results for
students of color. She also shared that some of the students currently successful in earning
honors credit likely would have done so with embedded honors and that the instructional
methods are not what makes the system work for those students. Dana named that while the
district curriculum calls for use of a traditional, classical text written by a White man, she might
prefer to use something different as she had done in the first semester when every text was
written by an author of color. She also shared that there were missed opportunities to address
“social justice issues in the text; an opportunity where we could have [done so] and right now
students are primed to talk about these issues.” She identified this gap in the curriculum and her
planning as one reason students of color might not be as engaged in her course as possible.
Both teachers demonstrated their knowledge of the barriers, the need for rigorous
instruction, and the importance of critical thinking around curriculum and instructional decisions.
Most assumptions were validated based on a review of the data, though there is room for
additional follow-up.
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Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Knowledge
Culturally relevant pedagogy is present throughout the knowledge findings. The teachers
both expressed interest in wanting to learn more. Michelle named that she talks with her teacher
team about it, “All the time and we try to do that in our planning.” In the same interview, she
noted the lack of formal training and accountability to the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy
and shared gaps in the implementation of those tenets in her classroom and across her
department. Dana named, “I do think that I somewhat get at these competencies,” when asked
whether she implements culturally relevant pedagogy in her classroom. Both teachers are
informed of the practices and take advantage of opportunities to learn more and expand on their
toolkits but recognize the need to do more in their classes and in the school. The gaps in teacher
knowledge are present but are in some ways outweighed by their dedication to providing rich
opportunities for students of color in their embedded honors classes, as detailed in the following
section.
Motivation Findings
The exploration of teacher motivation through learning about these two teachers was
aimed at understanding whether the teachers are driven to effect change in the number of
students of color earning advanced academic credit as well as their view of the importance of and
confidence in doing such work. The assumed influences are categorized under attainment value,
utility value, and self-efficacy to address the various aspects of the motivation required to
approach and accomplish new, difficult tasks (Ambrose et al., 2010; Mayer & Tucker, 2010).
Table 7 reviews the assumed influences and the use of interviews to learn from the participants.
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Table 7
Assumed Motivation Influences and Data Sources
Motivation construct Assumed motivation influence Data sources
Attainment Value Teachers’ desire to increase the number of
students of color earning advanced
academic credit.
Interviews
Utility Value
Teachers’ perception of the importance of
assisting students of color in earning
advanced academic credit.
Interviews
Self-Efficacy
Teachers’ confidence in their ability to
effectively teach honors-level
curriculum to students of color using
tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy.
Interviews
The interviews with both participants provide insight into all three areas of motivation.
Both teachers shared an interest in increasing the number of students of color earning advanced
academic credits in their classes and in their school. They also articulated several ways they
believe they play an important role in achieving that goal as well as confidence in their ability to
do so through culturally relevant pedagogy.
Teachers’ Desire to Increase the Number of Students of Color Earning Advanced
Academic Credit
Interviews with both participants revealed their shared interest in having more students
earn honors credits through their embedded honors courses and across the school. This mindset
mirrors what Ladson-Billings (1995) named as a critical foundation to effective culturally
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relevant pedagogy: a sincere interest in setting students of color up for success. The final round
of observation and interview for both teachers took place after the end of the fall semester. This
provided the opportunity to discuss the results each teacher saw in student performance over the
course of the first term, and both described participating in team meetings where they reviewed
the school-wide honors and passing rates. Both admitted disappointment in the results for their
classes and for the school and named that not enough students of color earned the credit.
Michelle said, “It doesn’t represent our student body well… more White students than students
of color.” Dana articulated, “It was fewer students of color than I would have liked,” and shared
details about her team’s commitment to changing the process for how students might earn the
advanced academic credit and named the intention to increase the number of students,
specifically students of color, who will find success in the spring term.
Both teachers articulated their belief that students of color can and should be earning
honors credits more in their school. They each expressed their full support of the school’s drive
toward equity for all students through advanced academics, the embedded honors program, and
professional learning that has been aligned to ensuring all students are successful. Michelle
explained, “We switched to embedded honors because then our classes became way more
diverse” and named several teammates who also supported the shift for the school. Both
participants shared their perceptions of the staff-wide discussion about failure rates from the first
semester and named an interest in sharing school-wide data about which students are and are not
earning honors credits through embedded honors. Dana described her expectation that students
of color ought to earn advanced credits in her course and her frustration that they had not done so
yet this year. She added, “I need to name really explicitly for students: here’s where I stand.”
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When asked about an ideal state for embedded honors and whether all students can earn
the advanced credits, both teachers agreed that it is possible, and the goal is for most students to
do so. Michelle expressed, “Why couldn’t you just offer it [to all students]?” and added that
honors credits are attainable to all students with unlimited resources. Each participant named
more than three examples of students of color and other traditionally underserved students who
have had success in advanced academics as evidence of what is possible. Dana described an ideal
classroom where the class demographics are truly heterogeneous, where she would be able to
challenge every student appropriately, and students of color who traditionally perform near the
average student benefit from the embedded honors class. She named that in this embedded
honors classroom, there would be “multiple, ongoing, and different opportunities to work at a
variety of levels [frequently],” and that no one would self-identify as an honors or non-honors
student.
Teachers’ Perception of the Importance of Assisting Students of Color in Earning
Advanced Academic Credit
In addition to the personal drive to change the number of students earning advanced
academic credits, both teachers viewed the work as critical for themselves and their schools and
framed some of the possible actions as well as challenges. This also connects to the critical
foundational mindset of teachers implementing culturally relevant pedagogy. When discussing
whether it is appropriate to offer advanced academic courses to students of color, Michelle said,
“Whatever it takes. Support all students. Anything is possible.” Although both referenced the
challenges of teaching online and during a pandemic, they also presented passionate arguments
for why the school needs to ensure everything possible is being done. This includes
reconsiderations around communication. Dana noted, “We want this to be something that is
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representative of all students,” but described the disconnect with what students might describe as
the purpose of embedded honors. Michelle also identified the teacher mindset as a critical
element of the important work toward changing the number of students of color finding success
in advanced academics.
Authentic student understanding of the value of pursuing advanced academic credit was
named as a challenge. Michelle stated that increased communication about the possibilities
within the classes and the benefits beyond the classroom will be part of the important work of
increasing student success. She referred to an “individual conversation with [the student] and
encourage [the student] to do [honors] and tell you what you need to do.” Dana referenced in
several instances her question about the value of the honors credit on a transcript and whether it
was something that appropriately motivates her students to do the necessary work. She said, “Is
this a transcript thing?” and named that because the honors credits are valued externally it is
difficult to tap into motivation for some of the students who do not understand the benefits.
The teachers identified that they want to overcome one of the challenges to achieving this
goal: student interest. In both classes, the students have the option of completing honors-level
work over the course of the term to earn the credit, and if they choose not to do so, they will earn
the regular credit as if they had never been enrolled in an honors course. Michelle shared, “A lot
of kids were like, ‘I do not want honors.’” In both classes, there are several students whom the
teachers perceive as capable of earning the advanced credits but who did not choose to do so. In
contrast, a couple of students did earn the honors credit by working hard and surpassing the
teachers’ expectations, which demonstrates what both teachers described as what is possible for
all students.
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Teachers’ Confidence in Their Ability to Effectively Teach Honors-Level Curriculum to
Students of Color Using Tenets of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Both teachers were reflective about their practice, the missed opportunities they
perceived in their instruction, and the successes they have identified as White teachers working
with students of color. Although each is teaching an embedded honors class for the first time this
year, they named that they leverage experience from previous years of teaching when planning
for and teaching classes. Both teachers spoke with confidence about what they believe is
necessary to plan effectively for embedded honors. Michelle spoke with pride of the system the
teacher team uses to ensure they provide options and choice to students for every lesson and
every assessment. Dana was glad to have found alternative texts for the class to use that would
ensure students read authors of color.
In addition to the confidence that comes from years of teaching, each participant shared
specific aspects of the work of teaching embedded honors in which they know they are doing
well. Dana named,
I feel decent about the representation of kids who are on track to earn honors. I think I do
have the skills … I feel capable, qualified to [teach the course]. I have the skills… I have
a clear picture of what excellence on a standard level should look like, and what
excellence in an honors level should look like.
The specific skills required to effectively teach embedded honors have not been addressed in
professional development sessions for either teacher or across the school, but neither named that
as a factor holding back their success. Michelle talked about a new bi-weekly, optional meeting
of embedded honors teachers that might be designed for professional development around those
skills, but she had not yet attended and did not see it as critical to her success. She named that her
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biggest learning challenge as a teacher this year was virtual instruction, though she said, “I feel
fine in my ability to do all the things in remote learning.”
When speaking directly about the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, both teachers
offered varied levels of comfort and expressed a lack of training in these areas. Michelle said she
had received“no training” when asked about culturally responsive education, the district’s
adaptation of culturally relevant pedagogy. Both participants spoke with an understanding of the
need to value the culture of their students, but neither named it as a tenet of the pedagogical
framework and could not provide examples of how they had been set up to implement the
strategy effectively. As discussed above, the knowledge both teachers have around the
importance of rigor as one way to increase success for students of color, both are well-versed in
maintaining high expectations for all students but did not identify rigor as an aspect of culturally
relevant pedagogy. Michelle named that in the sciences, it is sometimes difficult to incorporate
social justice principles into the curriculum but shared an example of a colleague working with
students on the clean water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and demonstrated an understanding of the
value of such activist connections. Dana said, “The exploration of culture is always about social
justice,” when reflecting on text selection in her English course but named she had not made
explicit the work of social justice in her lessons.
While both teachers have confidence in their ability as teachers of embedded honors and
are motivated to increase the number of students of color earning the advanced credits in their
classes, they did not demonstrate self-efficacy around the culturally relevant pedagogical
framework that might be critical to achieving that change. Overall, the two participants
demonstrated strong motivation to do the work of supporting students of color toward earning
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advanced academic credit and have some confidence in their ability to do so, validating the
assumptions of the study.
Culturally relevant pedagogy and motivation
The teachers’ interest in supporting students of color in their embedded honors classes is
evident in how they talk about the potential in the students and in how they work to reach them
through instruction. Because they are so motivated, both teachers have experienced some success
in the intersection of culturally relevant pedagogy and embedded honors. They each named that
one way to incorporate culturally relevant pedagogy into embedded honors is through student
choice. Empowering students to decide which assessment to complete, which text to read,
whether to work independently or with the teacher, or how they would like to receive feedback
sets the students up to be valued for who they are and meet the rigorous expectations of the class.
Dana shared that her efforts to consistently differentiate opportunities for students is critical to
her ability to set up students of color for success. She said there is great struggle in “the broader
issue of how to differentiate effectively.” She added that she found success in selecting texts by
authors of color and saw some students of color. She also shared the example of asking students
to share their personal values and how they came to be while developing some common values
for the class at the beginning of the term. Michelle talked about efforts to make science
curriculum relevant to students and seizing opportunities to connect to social justice, like the
Flint water crisis study. She also described other opportunities for cultural connections around
scientists of color and addressing those scientists whose behavior was not in line with anti-racism
and valuing all cultures. She shared “baking cakes with stoichiometry, indigenous cultures and
polarity, the periodic table in multiple languages.” Her examples supplement the discussion on
rigor as a core tenet of culturally relevant pedagogy and something both teachers strive to
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maintain in all their lessons as they stay aligned to the standards and implement their units of
study.
Organizational Findings
The study included considerations for the systems and structures provided by the district
and school that might support teachers working to design and implement units of study designed
to increase the number of students of color earning advanced academic credits. Gallimore and
Goldenberg (2001) argued that cultural models and cultural settings impact individual
performance and effort. Table 8 articulates the assumed organizational influences of this study
and the data sources for learning about the organization.
Table 8
Assumed Organizational Influences and Data Sources
Organizational influence
category
Assumed organizational influence
Data sources
Cultural Model Influence School’s willingness to design
specific supports for students of
color.
Interviews, Observations,
Documents
Cultural Setting Influence The school’s provision of coaching
support, models, and training for
teachers working to implement
culturally relevant pedagogy for
embedded honors core classes.
Interviews
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The information provided by each participant reflected a common understanding of the
existing district supports as well as school structures when discussing embedded honors and
culturally relevant pedagogy. The differences that came out based on their work in two different
content area departments were minimal but worthy of exploration. These findings are organized
in the cultural model and cultural setting assumptions below.
School’s Willingness to Design Specific Supports for Students of Color
In addition to teacher mindsets, a strong commitment to implementing practices that will
support students of color is an important foundation for culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-
Billings, 1995). Both teachers believe that Central High School is tackling issues of racism and
working to support students of color, though not specifically using the framework of culturally
relevant pedagogy. They describe meetings, professional development sessions, both whole-staff
and optional sessions, and conversations with leaders in which priority is placed on students of
color and providing best-possible opportunities for them. Michelle named, “school-wide
recommendations – that’s when [diversity] has been done really, really well.” Both teachers
shared mid-year conversations with their teaching teams where they reviewed pass/fail data and
focused on students of color as a subset of the whole school. This allowed for a focus on
providing the specific supports those students might need to be successful, like office hours that
are offered by every teacher and provide the opportunity for individual instruction.
Both classrooms included actions designed to forge strong relationships with students,
which is critical to students feeling they have and can access available support. This included
activities to connect in the online platform, calling on students by name and greeting them
individually, allowing space for personal connections to the material and personalized follow-up.
Dana, for example, stayed after class with one student to talk about previous assignments, to
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discuss feedback on the writing assignment, and included a conversation about upcoming honors
choice assignments. School teams prioritize relationships with students as one of the supports
they provide. While many systems in place do directly support students of color, the teachers
also named that the school-wide goals, published as part of the school’s Unified Improvement
Plan, do not articulate work in embedded honors or provide training for all teachers in the tenets
of culturally relevant pedagogy. Michelle said, “If you want this to work well, [it] needs to be
systematized. [Right now, there are] pockets of things happening.” A willingness to focus on and
speak about the students of color is present but does not yet live in every aspect of the school’s
culture.
One of the systems identified by both teachers that might be limiting the number of
students of color earning honors credits is the way all students are automatically assigned to the
traditional credit and must opt-in to pursuing the advanced credit. In each course, teacher teams
set up the grading system with a series of tasks that can earn honors points throughout the
semester, and only if a student earns the minimum number of points will they have the advanced
honors credit. Dana was observed telling her students about the change in their gradebook for
second semester to provide more opportunities for earning honors points, as only five
assessments had been available in the fall. In the following interview Dana named, “Kids can
sort of have more opportunities to show that mastery and also do some of the smaller pieces
before they do the bigger ones.” Michelle was observed naming multiple opportunities for
earning points through explaining reasoning, quick responses, and sharing with peers. But, as she
pointed out, “... every single embedded honors gradebook looks different. Expectations are
different… let’s have more consistency.” Students are experiencing different grading strategies
and must choose to complete the work required for honors credit. Both teachers named this as an
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obstacle to increasing participation. Michelle added that though embedded honors as a structure
has ensured they are enrolled in the right course, the system has put the onus back on the
individual student to name whether they are interested, motivated, or potentially capable of
earning the advanced academic credit.
In addition to challenges around the choice system within class and the communication
challenges outlined above, both teachers named the fact that not all classes are truly
heterogeneous. They both named one benefit of the embedded honors program is that students of
color are working with White students, and everyone benefits from the experience of working
and learning together. But because math classes at Central High School are still tracked, as
students are assigned to Integrated 1, Integrated 2, or Integrated 3 based on their performance in
eighth grade at the feeder middle school, the whole system remains, in effect, tracked. Students
of color who are in the lower level math classes are therefore attending classes with other
students in the lower level classes and are separated from those in the advanced math class. A
similar challenge is created by enrollment in AP Human Geography, which is a ninth-grade class
for students who get recommended by their eighth-grade teacher or school leader. The limitation
of size and enrollment lead to only a few sections of each class being offered which perpetuates
the tracking. The challenges of scheduling during the pandemic, with restrictions on class size
and student interaction, have further separated students who might otherwise be working
together. And so, while the school is supporting students of color explicitly in some ways, the
implications of a de facto tracking system based on math course enrollment are still affecting
students of color in all classes.
As previously mentioned, both teachers also name the lack of communication as an area
for improvement around embedded honors. All students and families receive common messaging
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around course enrollment, and in class, the students hear about multiple opportunities to earn the
honors credit. But both teachers described the missing element of personalized outreach and
conversations with students and families about the purpose of advanced academic credit, the
belief in each child that they can complete the work, and it would be worth the attempt, and the
ongoing encouragement that might be necessary to keep some students going throughout the
semester. Dana proposed a review of the data that would include looking at “a list of all students
to identify ‘Have we reached out the students [to discuss honors]? To the family?’” Michelle
described other systems where these active discussions happened with students and families and
mentioned honors points in every observed class. Dana named that the system assumes someone
is going to hold these students accountable to trying for the honors credit and herself did not
mention honors credits in one of the observed classes. This inconsistency and lack of proactive
communication is one part of the school’s cultural model that might limit any change in the
number of students of color earning advanced academic credit.
The School’s Provision of Coaching Support, Models, and Training for Teachers Working
to Implement Culturally Relevant Pedagogy for Embedded Honors Core Classes
Each participant described multiple sources of support and professional development
included in the school’s systems. As referenced above, the teachers named they have not
received professional development specifically on culturally relevant pedagogy or working with
students of color and have limited support with the nuances of teaching embedded honors. Dana
named that there is “not [training] on differentiation for students of color.” Both teachers named
that they received limited training on remote teaching and that this skill gap has consumed a lot
of their professional inquiry and learning throughout the pandemic. Although these trainings are
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limited, they described various resources they have that help them in their work as well as some
things they still need.
Both teachers work on teams with others who teach the same course. This allows for
collaboration in unit design, lesson planning, creation of materials and assessments, and
problem-solving as needed. Each participant named this as an invaluable asset. Dana shared,
“We tend to talk most about embedded honors on the unit planning level,” and explained that she
wants to work with her team to ensure she can share samples of honors-level work with students
for all major assessments. She said she works on “an awesome team!” Both teachers described
how they work with their teams to design units, internalize the resources, make the most of the
available materials and get great ideas from each other. Michelle described her work with the
team as the source of the most support for her teaching. She said, “We talk about [embedded
honors planning] weekly.” These teams are an integral part of the school’s structure and are
positively impacting these two teachers and their instruction.
Each participant also discussed their work with a coach or manager. The two have had
different experiences and believe their one-on-one work has been impacted by the pandemic.
They both talked about the school’s teacher leader assigned to support embedded honors but had
limited examples of supports that specifically address the skills needed to effectively teach
students of color or to increase the number of students earning honors credits. Dana named that
she has been able to talk through strategies for individual lessons and problem-solve with her
coach. She described, “Talking [the planning question] through with him and making sure [it] fit
the goal. He’s a very useful partner.” Michelle says she has not gotten support from her coach
this year. She said, “Embedded honors is … a backburner thing,” when describing her coaching
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conversations. This system of teacher support is inconsistent for these participants during the
pandemic.
These two teachers have also had different experiences with available materials and have
ideas for what could be provided to support them. The district provides some curricular
resources, but the teacher teams decide, to some extent, what materials to use and where they
need to supplement additional resources. Both teachers named that their teams do not rely on the
provided materials and end up modifying and enhancing the existing materials before
implementation. Michelle said they intentionally don’t use “textbooks that the district ordered 15
years ago.” They also had ideas for what they need to be better set up for success. She also
named that it would be helpful to have some systematized support for how to do grading for
embedded honors so that teachers and teams are not starting from scratch every time they
administer an assessment. Dana similarly named that the work of creating rubrics and other
assessment materials does not need to be redone every time and that some centralized support or
at least sharing across schools also doing embedded honors would be helpful. Although neither
participant named a lack of materials as the reason they did not increase the number of students
of color earning honors credits, they did describe feeling alone in the work of ensuring the just-
right curriculum and resources are presented to their students. Assumptions about the cultural
model and cultural setting were partially validated but leave room for further exploration.
Culturally relevant pedagogy and organization
The teachers’ perspective on the organization in terms of culturally relevant pedagogy
reveals some disconnects across the school systems. For both teachers, the work of authentically
incorporating a social justice mindset and empowering students as activists in their communities
is largely absent, at least in part due to curriculum and instruction expectations across the school.
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They both articulate awareness of what is missing, but based on their context or content area,
they do not see a path to a solution. Limitations of the academic standards, the school’s
expectations, or the curricular materials, as well as those imposed by changes to the systems and
timing based on the pandemic, have left them both feeling incapable of leveraging this tenet
well. In addition, they acknowledge that they are working on the outskirts of genuinely valuing
the cultures of the students with whom they work. Their relationships are meaningful and
provide a strong foundation for asking students to work hard, try new things, take risks, and be
vulnerable. But neither participant was able to name an authentic cultural connection beyond
surface-level sharing that had taken place in their classes. Michelle named that cultural
connections are different between the life and physical sciences and that “content culture
connections are less forced in biology than in chemistry or physics.” Dana shared, “There’s a
question around culture-building in the classroom,” that is tied to embedded honors, the
pandemic, and the school culture. When taken with the other areas of overlap between the two
organizational frameworks, this study highlights the need for culturally relevant pedagogy to be
part of a successful embedded honors program aimed at changing results for students of color.
The overall balance of successes and struggles with culturally relevant pedagogy goes across
knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs and has a potentially outsized impact on the
lived experiences of these two teachers.
Conclusion
This chapter presented findings from the miniature case study of the two participants
based on analysis of the data collected through classroom observations, interviews, and
document analysis. These findings validated the assumed knowledge, motivation, and
organization influences identified in Chapter Two. In addition to the assumed influences, an
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overview of the theme of culturally relevant pedagogy was included. Chapter 5 will review
recommendations in the form of system revisions and potential action steps that will help Central
High School move toward their goal of increasing the number of students of color earning
advanced academic credits.
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Chapter Five: Recommendations
This study targeted the teacher perception of the current state of embedded honors at
Central High School and whether students of color are earning more advanced academic credits.
As named in previous chapters, students of color traditionally earn those credits at a
disproportionally lower rate than their White peers, and the negative impact can be immediate or
long-term, financial and emotional. Chapters Three and Four present the methodology and
results of the miniature case study through the lens of two teachers who worked through remote
learning during the Covid-19 pandemic to engage students in embedded honors classes. The
study was executed to seek answers to three research questions.
1. What are the teacher knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs required to
achieve a 25% increase in the students of color earning advanced academic credits?
2. What are the teacher knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs necessary to
implement the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy as a means of supporting students of
color working to earn advanced academic credit in embedded honors classes?
3. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organization solutions?
The answers to the first two research questions come from an understanding of the teachers’
experiences and are included in the results shared in Chapter Four. This chapter will answer the
final research question and provide two recommendations for Central High School and the
school district to consider based on the experiences of these teachers within the context of
culturally relevant pedagogy and the embedded honors structure.
Solutions
The review of literature in Chapter Two reflects the current state of advanced academics
for students of color as well as some examples of attempted solutions. The experience of the two
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participants in this study leads to a specific focus on potential solutions for Central High School
and the school district. An analysis of all the available data yields potential solutions: one aimed
at teacher skill sets and actions and the second aimed at a school-wide systematic approach to
advanced academics. Both solutions articulate what Central High School can immediately do and
reflect potential actions for the district to consider across all high schools. With two shifts to
priorities and systems, the leadership team could effect change for students of color in the school
and district both in the immediate future and in their lives after graduation.
Teacher Mastery of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
First, the school can prioritize the development and implementation of the skills of
culturally relevant pedagogy for all embedded honors teachers. This stems from the initial
hypothesis that teachers might not be leveraging the tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy to
reach students of color, through the review of existing literature on the framework and how it can
be used to support teacher effectiveness, and in the findings were both teachers clearly articulate
that they are not currently supported to teach students of color well. Table 9 presents the
connections within the study that yield this potential solution.
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Table 9
Justification of Proposed Solution: Prioritize Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Study reference Connection to proposed solution
Hypotheses in
Chapter One
Teachers are not implementing the tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy
which might increase the number of students of color earning advanced
academic credits.
Existing research
in Chapter Two
Culturally relevant pedagogy can be used to increase academic achievement
for students of color.
Findings in
Chapter Four
Teachers at Central High School are not effectively implementing culturally
relevant pedagogy and see lower-than-targeted academic performance for
students of color in embedded honors courses.
Recommendation
in Chapter Five
Central High School can provide the training and support to insist teachers
implement the core tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy and
potentiatlly increase the academic, embedded honors performance for
students of color.
The proposed solution builds on the existing research that adequate training is necessary
for culturally relevant teaching to be effective (Brown et al., 1994, 2000). To increase the
number of students of color earning advanced academic credits, the teachers need to leverage all
three tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy and will need training and practice to be able to do
so effectively. Milner (2017) named the importance of implementing all three components in
order to improve teaching for students of color. The findings in Chapter Four articulate the need
for this broad focus on the framework to set up students of color to succeed in advanced
academics. The teacher experience as related to the knowledge of the challenges facing students
of color and the self-reflection on their inability to increase access to advanced credits both point
toward the need for an increase in professional development. The teachers know the system
needs to do more, but they are not confident that they know exactly how to make that happen.
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This aligns with Jacobs (2019) and the struggle as teachers do the work of balancing the tenants
of culturally relevant pedagogy. The participant motivations reflect that they are dedicated to
increasing the number of students of color earning the credits and therefore will make the most
of the new professional learning and follow-up. They also understand the importance of doing
the work but again do not have self-efficacy around their ability to do it with the tenants of
culturally relevant pedagogy as of yet. This adds to the existing research around teachers not
having the skills or confidence to implement culturally relevant pedagogy effectively (Milner,
2011). The organizational findings demonstrate that the school has not yet provided the coaching
support, models, and training the teachers need to successfully implement culturally relevant
pedagogy. The proposed solution to ensure all teachers master the tenants of the instructional
framework will address the findings in the areas of knowledge, motivation, organization, and
culturally relevant pedagogy itself.
School-Wide Practices to Increase Advanced Academics Credits
Second, the administration could adopt some school-wide practices designed to ensure
more students of color understand, feel comfortable with, and take advantage of the opportunity
to earn advanced academic credits. This stems from the initial hypothesis that teachers might not
be leveraging the tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy to reach students of color, through the
review of existing literature on the framework and how it can be used to support teacher
effectiveness, and in the findings where both teachers clearly articulate that they are not currently
supported to teach students of color well. Table 10 presents the elements of the study that lead to
this proposed action.
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Table 10
Justification of Proposed Solution: Schoolwide Collaboration
Study Reference Connection to proposed solution
Hypotheses in
Chapter One
The school has made a structural change through student scheduling but not
other changes that might increase the number of students of color earning
advanced academic credits.
Existing research
in Chapter Two
School systems have historically held students of color back from earning
advanced credits and organizations who change those systems effectively
do so through concerted efforts across departments and teams.
Findings in
Chapter Four
Teacher perceive at least some inconsistencies across teams and
departments as hindering progress toward increasing the number of
students attempting and therefore potentially earning advanced academic
credits.
Recommendation
in Chapter Five
By bringing together multiple stakeholders, including affected students,
Central High School can bridge gaps in knowledge, motivation, and
practices to elevate the embedded honors program.
The proposed effort aligns with the need for changes to institutional behaviors to increase
the number of students named in the existing literature (Mayer & Tucker, 2010; Peters &
Engerrand, 2016). A school-wide focus might include changing communication efforts to
families, adopting the same grading and assessment practices in all subject areas, and frequent
counseling for students on their decisions regarding honors credits assignments. These actions
will ensure students and families are informed on the costs of missing out on advanced academic
credits, like those named in the existing literature (Beard, 2019; Karlson, 2015; Kettler & Hurst,
2017; Legette, 2018).
The findings in the assumed knowledge and motivation influences demonstrate a lack of
coherence across the teachers and their departments, which could be mitigated by the proposed
school-wide focus. A shift toward alignment is supported by the examples of school-based
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solutions outlined by Henfield et al. (2016) and Wilcox and Angelis (2011). Both participants
celebrated the school’s willingness to design specific supports for students of color but
acknowledged that the school is not yet providing the supports that are needed for teachers,
students, and families. This adds to what Siegle et al. (2016) named the need for a culture of
connectedness that these school-wide supports can provide. The participants also described that
the school does not yet have a coherent system for providing teachers across department teams
with what they need to successfully execute on the vision for embedded honors. To support the
execution, the school can elevate the culture of rigor, monitor student performance, use peer
groups, and promote social-emotional wellness (Mayer & Tucker, 2010). The proposed solution
to champion a committee across teams addresses these findings.
Implementation Plan
The adoption of these two solutions will require careful integration into the existing
strategic plan at the school and district level. The strategies and action steps associated with each
proposed solution are inspired by the lived experiences of the study participants and therefore
might resonate with staff members when the strategies are shared with the whole team. This
study offers a possible implementation plan that can take place within one school year with
appropriate progress monitoring benchmarks. Multiple stakeholders will be engaged in execution
of this implementation, and additional community members will benefit from the solutions, so
this proposed plan affects a large part of the school. The strategies and action steps for each
proposed solution are designed to be completed simultaneously, though they could happen
independently of each other as well. As previously stated, both solutions can apply to the district
as they consider the next steps for high schools across the city.
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Teacher Development Action Steps
The school’s instructional leadership team will take several actions to effectively prepare
teachers to implement the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy. The creation of the professional
development calendar for the whole school will include information about and practice with the
three tenets so that embedded honors teachers, and possibly the whole staff, develop the tools
necessary for implementation in the classroom. The protocol for planning units and lessons will
be modified to ensure embedded honors teachers are incorporating the tenets into their
instruction, and a system of reviewing unit and lesson plans will allow coaches to monitor and
support that work. This will increase personal accountability for the embedded honors teachers
and celebrate what the participants highlighted as a strength in their work: the power of their
planning teams. The observation and feedback cycle will then be changed so that embedded
honors teachers are getting feedback and coaching on their efforts to implement the tenets in
their classroom practice, ideally on cycles at least once every two weeks. This feedback will be
part of the evaluation for embedded honors teachers and will incorporate student perception of
the teachers’ efforts. Once assessments begin, then the embedded honors teachers will complete
data analysis protocols that focus on students of color and ensure the teachers name the
instructional moves they will implement to increase the number of students of color earning
advanced credits. When all four of these levers, professional development, planning, observation
with feedback, and data analysis, are shifted to set up the teachers for success in the
implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy, practice will shift and students of color will
benefit.
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Consistent Actions Across School Departments
The administration will work to change school-wide practices around embedded honors
in several steps to elevate the importance and success of the program for students of color. The
principal will create a diverse team to drive the work across different departments. This will
include representation from students of color enrolled in embedded honors courses to ensure the
audience of the targeted improvement had a voice in the project; the front office, to focus on
communication; the counseling team, to focus on academic advice to students and families; the
instructional leadership team, to focus on communication with teachers about the status of
students; and social workers, to focus on the social-emotional health and needs of the students of
color. This team will meet at least monthly and report to the whole school on the current state of
embedded honors. The committee meetings will ensure all voices are included and invite
students of color on the committee to share their experience and perspective as a key element of
the committee’s reflection and self-evaluation. Participating students of color will earn elective
credit for their time and contributions of energy, insight, and time.
The first action for the team will be to increase communication with students and families
about the purpose and benefits of earning advanced academic credits. This will include an
immediate communication strategy that extends throughout the school year. The team will also
coordinate with leaders from all academic departments to create common grading practices for
all embedded honors courses. These will be vetted by all embedded honors teachers to ensure
buy-in and will be designed to increase transparency and opportunity for advanced credits.
Finally, the team will implement frequent counseling conversations with students of color who
are enrolled in embedded honors classes so that the students can have intentional, focused
conversations with adults who care about their success to encourage decisions that will lead to
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the honors credits. Students will be asked to reflect on the success of the conversations and other
actions through these frequent conversations and will therefore influence the ongoing
implementation. The team will review the purpose and timeline for the work frequently so they
can adjust based on real-time data and evidence of the success of their work.
Capacity and Resource Requirements
The school and district already have the human capital necessary to implement all three
proposed solutions. The action steps outlined above require at most a reallocation of time and the
development of new skills for some existing staff members. The instructional leadership team
has access to materials and the knowledge capital to promote the tenets of culturally relevant
pedagogy though they might choose to allocate budgeted funds to acquire additional resources
on coaching and instruction. The school has access to a regional specialist for culturally
responsive education, the district’s language for practices, including the core tenets of culturally
relevant pedagogy, and can ask that specialist to be part of the solution implementation. The
school can invite current students of color who are enrolled in embedded honors and have
already completed at least one embedded honors class to participate in the school-wide
committee within the schedule of the student school day. The school has existing tools for
communication with families and can increase the frequency of counseling with students of color
and their families. All action plans will require careful consideration of the capacity for all
actors. It is possible that the leadership team will need to support every participant to identify
what they need to stop doing to allocate time and energy for these new focused action steps. The
school and the district will not need to address any financial challenges to implement the
proposed solutions.
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Timeframe for Implementation
The proposed solutions can all take place within one school year. The case study revealed
the purpose of a focus on culturally relevant pedagogy and advanced academics for students of
color is already clear to all staff members. Therefore, a change management strategy that ensures
quick implementation of the solutions is warranted. Strategic planning for each school year
happens in the spring and summer so that actions are implemented when teachers return in
August. Both solutions will start in the summer and continue through the school year with
interim benchmarks every quarter in line with the district’s Continuous Improvement Process
timeline, which happens approximately every quarter.
Constraints and Challenges: Key Indicators or Measures of Success
The potential challenges to the implementation of these proposed solutions are in the
areas of resource management and sustainability. The administration will need to carefully
monitor all elements of the action plans on a frequent basis to ensure the people carrying out the
work are well supported and effective in their work. Only by ensuring the actors can sustain the
implementation plan will the solutions be effective.
The school and district will know the proposed solutions have been successful based on
several indicators. The overarching target is that the number of students of color earning
advanced academic credits through embedded honors courses will increase. Ratings and other
feedback for embedded honors teachers through the district’s teacher evaluation system will
reflect an increase in proficiency of the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy. Teachers will
describe teamwork and coaching aligned to the instructional strategies needed to support students
of color toward earning advanced academic credits. Families will articulate an understanding of
and support for the embedded honors program through district-wide surveys and in end-of-year
94
meetings, which will ensure the benefits of these solutions will last year-over-year. These
indicators will reflect the success of the solutions at the school or district level.
Evaluation Plan
It is critical to evaluate the implementation of policies and programs to assess their
effectiveness. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2006) articulated a framework that outlines the four
levels of training programs that can be applied to many implementation settings. The evaluation
of the solutions suggested in this study will leverage an adaptation of these four levels: reaction,
learning, behavior, and results. The evaluation plan included in this study describes potential
strategies for gathering data in all four levels of the suggested actions. A summary of the
recommended evaluation plan is included in Appendix E.
Consideration for both proposed solutions requires a preview of how leaders will monitor
the implementation action steps. Working through the four levels of this evaluation plan will
ensure the solutions lead to a change in behavior, for teachers and for the team members for
committee members, which can lead to a change in the number of students of color earning
advanced academic credits. Evaluation at each level is described in the following sections and
taken together will help the leadership team know whether the school is on track to increase the
number of students of color earning honors credits.
Level 1: Reaction
Reaction is the first level of evaluation in the framework by Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick
(2006). This evaluation measures the immediate perception of the recipients of the training or
information rollout. In this study, the reaction level will be measured for the teachers who will
participate in professional development on culturally relevant pedagogy and for the members of
the diverse committee who will participate in monthly collaborative meetings to promote the
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culture of embedded honors. The instructional leadership team will be able to drive toward
positive reactions by ensuring the professional development design is based in best practices and
aligned to existing teacher skills and interests. Satisfaction can be measured using a scale at the
end of each session in addition to observation of teacher engagement and attendance. The
principal will supervise the committee meetings and action steps and can personalize the work to
meet the needs of all participants. Committee members will share their perceptions at the end of
each meeting in addition to ongoing conversations, including students of color who participate in
the meetings and name their perspectives in the meetings as well as in individual follow-up
sessions.
Level 2: Evaluation
Learning is the second level of evaluation in the framework by Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick (2006). This evaluation measures the adoption of new skills, new knowledge, and
new mindsets. Learning in this context is aimed at increasing advanced academic credits for
students of color. In this study, as the instructional leadership team drives professional learning
for all teachers to adopt the strategies of culturally relevant pedagogy, they will ask teachers to
reflect on what they have learned after each session. Once participants have the time to reflect on
new information and consider the application of the skills, they are able to articulate what they
have learned and their confidence in the new material (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006). In
addition, at existing performance review meetings at the end of each semester, the teachers will
have the opportunity to articulate what they learned in the sessions and applied to their practice.
In the other proposed intervention, committee members will also reflect on their learning and the
confidence in their new work as part of committee meetings and conversations with the
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principal. The learning might also present through a change in committee members’ actions or
attitudes toward work with students and families of color in support of embedded honors credits.
Level 3: Behavior
Behavior is the third level of evaluation in the framework by Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick
(2006). A change in behavior signals the authentic acquisition and application of new skills and
knowledge and requires participants to demonstrate persistently in multiple contexts (Kirkpatrick
& Kirkpatrick 2006). In this study, the target is to change behaviors across the school community
to ensure more students of color earn advanced academic credits. Students of color will behave
differently as they experience different supports from social workers, counselors, and teachers in
their classrooms. This will include completion of optional honors assignments and eventually
earning advanced academic credits. Teachers will have ongoing opportunities to demonstrate
new behaviors through classroom instruction. Instructional leadership team members will
observe classroom practices as part of the existing system of evaluation and coaching. Students
in these classes will be asked to reflect on the actions of the teacher as they align to the core
tenants so the coaches will understand the impact on students. A specific focus on the strategies
of culturally relevant pedagogy during these observations, the coaching conversations between
classroom observations, and the unit and lesson planning conversations among teacher teams
will provide insight into how teacher behaviors are changing through the adoption of the
pedagogical practices. Through school-wide actions that will be repeated throughout the school
year, the principal will also be able to see how behaviors for committee members and other
stakeholders are changed. The behavioral changes will be evident in the documentation of
increased meetings with new, different language to talk with students of color and their families
about advanced academics.
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Level 4: Results
Results are the fourth and final level of evaluation in the framework by Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick (2006). It is possible for a program to meet the criteria for success in the first three
levels of evaluation and not have the desired impact. The outcome of a successful training
requires that the changed behavior, as measured in level three, leads to a change that measures
how conditions are different (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006). In the context of this study, both
proposed interventions are designed to increase the number of students of color earning
advanced academic credits through the embedded honors program. This result will be measured
through course credits at the end of every semester and can be predicted based on grades
assigned throughout each course. Other indicators of a change in outcomes will include the
number of students of color completing honors-eligible assignments and passing embedded
honors courses. Student Perception Survey results as rated by students of color for teachers
participating in the culturally relevant pedagogy training should also reflect a high level of
satisfaction and connection, which gives the students of color a voice in this effort designed to
affect them. Through these results, the school team will know the effectiveness of their efforts
through training and the school-wide committee work. At the end of the program
implementation, the number of students of color earning advanced academic credit will be the
ultimate program evaluation.
Future Research
The foundation of this literature review and study design are grounded in one context and
therefore leave room for additional research. This study serves as a case study into the
experiences of two embedded honors teachers at one comprehensive high school in an urban
school district executing on remote learning strategies during a pandemic. Future studies might
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address in-person instruction and the potential difference in teacher experience in implementing
the tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy. The structure of embedded honors scheduling was
already in place in some departments at Central High School for this study, but additional
research could focus on schools with broader or more limited scheduling opportunities to invite
students of color to earn the advanced credits. In addition, as this study focused on the teacher
perspective some future research might address the experience of students of color in embedded
honors classes to learn more about what is effective in setting them up to earn the advanced
academic credits or whether they are interested and motivated to do so. Additional research on
family perceptions and dedication to the rigorous course credits might also contribute to a broad
understanding of the context within which school systems might work to even the playing field
for students of color in advanced academics.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to investigate the teacher experience within an embedded
honors classroom as part of an effort to increase the number of students of color earning
advanced academic credits. The study used the case study model to investigate through the
lenses of knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences (Clark & Estes, 2008) as well as
the core tenants of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995). These frameworks
informed the design of a series of classroom observations, document analysis, and interviews
with the two participants to understand how they are moving through the work of leading
embedded honors. The findings combined with a review of existing literature led to two
recommendations for change in the school and potentially in all high schools across the district.
Students of color are being underserved in opportunities for success in advanced
academics because of systematic and human flaws in identification and access (Archbald &
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Farley-Ripple, 2012; Henfield et al., 2016; Siegle et al., 2016). The ramifications include
immediate and long-term impacts on intellectual and emotional success (Mayer & Tucker, 2010;
Werblow et al., 2013). Schools and districts must recognize the ability they have to effect change
for students of color by adjusting historically racist structures and then provide stakeholders with
the skills and knowledge necessary to ensure those students succeed. The negative implications
of maintaining the existing levels of instruction for students of color are a call to school leaders
begging a shift to provide better instruction and engagement for students of color towards
earning advanced academic credits. Culturally relevant pedagogy and the core tenants of
instruction can empower students of color to elevated success in embedded honors classes
(Ladson-Billings, 1995). This level of instruction can ensure all students of color rise up and earn
advanced academic credits on a level more in line with their White counterparts. All parts of the
school or district system must support any effort to make such a change for all stakeholders and
work together to ensure it happens. No education system will serve students of color better until
they direct a foundational change to the practices serving those students in classrooms and across
the school.
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Appendix A: Recruiting Information Sheet
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education / Waite Phillips Hall
3470 Trousdale Parkway / Los Angeles, CA 90089
Information / Facts Sheet for Exempt Non‐Medical Research
Teacher Efforts in Embedded Honors for All Students
You are invited to participate in a research study. Research studies include only people who
voluntarily choose to take part. This document explains information about this study. You
should ask questions about anything that is unclear to you.
Purpose of the Study
This study seeks to learn from the work teachers at this school are doing to elevate academics for
students of color through the embedded honors program.
Participant Involvement
If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to welcome me as an observer to your
classroom (in person or online) and to participate in interviews (by Zoom). These will take place
in three rounds (observe, interview, repeat). You do not have to answer any questions you do not
want to, and if you do not want to be recorded, handwritten notes will be taken. All observations
and interviews will take place at a time selected with you in advance.
Alternatives to Participation
Your alternative is to not participate. Your relationship with your school and with members of
the leadership team at the school will not be affected by your participation or choice not to
participate.
Confidentiality
Any identifiable information obtained in connection with this study will remain confidential.
Your responses will be coded with a false name (pseudonym) and maintained separately. No one
at your school will know whether or not you have elected to participate in the study. The
interview recordings will be destroyed once they have been transcribed. The data will be stored
on a password-protected computer in the researcher’s home office for three years after the study
has been completed and then destroyed.
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. When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no
identifiable information will be used.
Investigator Contact Information
Principal Investigator, Jennifer Zinn, via email: jzinn@usc.edu
110
IRB Contact Information
University Park Institutional Review Board (UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los
Angeles, CA 90089‐0702, (213) 821‐5272 or upirb@usc.edu
Would you like to participate in the study?
If you agree to participate in the study, please email the investigator (jzinn@usc.edu) to set up
the first round of observation and interview.
111
Appendix B: Interview Protocol
Introduction:
Thank you for volunteering to be part of this research study. I was grateful for the opportunity to
observe your embedded honors classroom and I am glad we have the opportunity now to talk
about your practice together. I have brought a series of questions that will help me get to know
your perspective on the work of embedded honors, though I know some follow-up questions
might come up as you’re talking as well. I will be taking notes and would also like to record the
conversation to ensure I have an accurate record of your responses. Are you comfortable with me
recording the interview?
First Interview:
Question
Conceptual
Framework
link (KMO)
Tell me about teaching moves you made during the lesson I observed. Specifically,
what did you do to support students of color to earn the honors credit?
K
Suppose I was a new student of color in your class. What would you tell me about
your approach to help me earn honors credit?
K
How confident are you in your ability to teach honors-level material, if at all?
! How confident are you in your ability to teach the material to students of
color, if at all?
M
What do you do well in your embedded honors classes? Please share a specific
example of a time you did that.
M
What is challenging for you in your embedded honors classes? Please share details. M
Tell me about the last coaching conversation you had with your manager about
planning to reach students of color in your embedded honors class(es), if at all.
O
Tell me about the process this school uses for planning curriculum for embedded
honors to reach students of color.
! What supports are you provided with?
! What supports are missing?
O
How many years have you been teaching honors credits (embedded or otherwise)? O
112
Second Interview:
Question
Conceptual
Framework
link (KMO)
How did you feel about the execution of the lesson? Specifically, how effective was
your work with the students of color? And White students?
K
How would you describe your understanding of maintaining high academic
expectations, if any? Please share specific examples of where it is lived out in your
practice, if at all.
• And cultural competence?
• And social justice?
K
• Some people say that offering honors credit to all students isn’t
possible. What would you tell them?
M
Please describe what you think the ideal setting for students of color to earn honors
credit would be (classroom, school, etc.)?
M
What does the school do well to support you in helping students of color earn honors
credit? What could they do better?
O
Third Interview:
Question
Conceptual
Framework
link (KMO)
Would you describe what you think an ideal embedded honors class would be like? K
What training, if any, have you been given around strategies for teaching students of
color?
O
Tell me your understanding of why the school has moved to embedded honors
classes.
• How do you feel about this decision?
M
What is your opinion about the number of students of color earning honors credit at
this school?
• Some say honors credits are available to all who are capable. What do you
think about that?
M
Tell me about a time you asked your manager for support in your embedded honors
class and helping students of color earn honors credit. What did you say? What did
they say?
O
113
Appendix C: Observation Guidelines
This document will be used to record low-inference notes of what happens during the class. The
table serves to organize observations based on the three tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy.
Academic Achievement
(rigor, abilities, challenge,
engagement)
Sociopolitical Consciousness
(drive to action, application
outside of classroom,
betterment and leadership)
Cultural Competence
(leveraging strengths of
student background and
experience, connections)
114
Appendix D: Document Review Protocol
Every lesson plan and unit plan collected from participants will be analyzed with the six probes
outlined below, aligned to the core tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy. This is not intended to
be a checklist but a series of lenses through which to analyze the teachers’ plans.
Academic Achievement:
Rigorous learning objective
Academic Achievement:
Activity to tap into the wisdom the students
bring to the work
Sociopolitical Consciousness:
Transparent connection to world outside of
classroom
Sociopolitical Consciousness:
Articulation of potential action tied to the
desired learning outcome
Cultural Competence:
Identified relevance to students’ culture
Cultural Competence:
Opportunity for students to share their
perspective, experience, and understanding
115
Appendix E: Levels of Evaluation for Proposed Interventions
Intervention
proposed
Assessment of
engagements and
satisfaction (Level 1)
Assessment of learning and
confidence
(Level 2)
Assessment of change in
behavior and
implementation
(Level 3)
Assessment of impact
(Level 4)
1. Teacher
mastery of
culturally
relevant
pedagogy
• Use “smile” sheets at
the end of each
professional
development session
• Track teacher
participation in each
session
• Instructional
Leadership Team
members will observe
teacher engagement
during each session
• Pre/post-survey on the
tenets of CRP and
implementation in
classroom practices
• Mid- and End-of-Year
evaluation
conversations for all
teachers will include a
self-assessment on
confidence in what has
been learned and
implemented from CRP
learning
• Classroom observations
reflect increase in CRP
practices present in all
classrooms (in district
observation tracker),
including student
perception of teacher
actions.
• Coaching conversation
notes and professional
development session
materials will reflect
instructional leadership
team’s supervision of
teacher learning of CRP
tenets and practices.
• Unit and lesson
planning materials
reflect increase in
presence of core tenets
of CRP in all classes
(reviewed by
department team
leaders).
• Increased number of
students of color
earning Honors credit
through embedded
honors courses.
• Increased pass rates in
all courses for students
of color.
• Increased student
ratings of teachers by
students of color (on
district student
perception survey).
116
2. School-
wide
systems
driving
advanced
academics
• Every committee
meeting will end with
an online assessment
(“smile” sheet)
• Supervisors will ask
committee members
about their satisfaction
with the committee
meetings and work in
at-least-monthly one-
on-ones.
• Students of color on
the committee will
share with counselors
their satisfaction with
committee meetings in
weekly meetings.
• All committee members
will report in monthly
surveys on confidence
in and commitment to
completing action steps
and reflection on
previously completed
work.
• Counseling team will
now hold ongoing
conversations
promoting embedded
honors with students
and families of color.
• Instructional
Leadership Team will
now align planning and
grading practices to
promote embedded
honors.
• Social workers will
now hold frequent
sessions with students
of color in embedded
honors classes.
• Students and families of
color who participate in
sessions will identify
new/different actions
toward advanced
academics.
• Increased number of
students of color
completing assignments
to be eligible for honors
credit in embedded
honors classes.
• Increased pass rates in
all courses for students
of color.
• Increased number of
students of color
earning honors credit
through embedded
honors courses.
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
Advanced academic courses and credits for secondary students in the United States can provide immediate and long-term benefits. Students of color are not engaged in these courses or earning the credits at the same rates as their White counterparts. Research shows this is connected to historically racist structures that keep students out of the classes as well as the mindsets and attitudes of school staff. Some schools have attempted to address this discrepancy through systems shifts like the elimination of tracked classes through creating embedded honors classes, thus ensuring all students are enrolled together and can earn the advanced credit through completing select assignments at a high level. This study reports an intimate case study of two teachers working within an embedded honors system at a large, public, urban high school. Utilizing Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis model, this study interrogated the influences of teachers’ knowledge, motivation, and organization as they strive to increase the number of students of color earning honors credits in their classes and in their school. Leveraging the instructional framework of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) this study also investigated how these teachers might best meet the needs of the students of color in their embedded honors classes. Findings demonstrated that the teachers are compassionate, driven, and understand the context of the school-wide efforts, but gaps exist within their planning and instruction as well as across school departments and systems. The study concludes with recommendations for the school and district with implementation and evaluation plans.
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Zinn, Jennifer Rose
(author)
Core Title
Teacher efforts in embedded honors for students of color
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Global Executive
Degree Conferral Date
2021-12
Publication Date
08/28/2021
Defense Date
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committee chair
), Picus, Lawrence (
committee member
), Robison, Mark (
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)
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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
Repository Email
cisadmin@lib.usc.edu
Tags
advanced academics
culturally relevant pedagogy
equity