Teaching Third Grade African American Children in Culturally Responsive Ways: Is Anybody Listening?

Abstract

African American and other students of color have continued to score lower than White students in many classrooms and on achievement tests in every subject, especially in reading. The purpose of this study was to explore if there is a relationship between a teacher's cultural responsiveness and their third grade African American students' achievement, especially in reading. An additional purpose was to determine if African American students' perceptions of their teachers as culturally responsive was linked to their achievement and if teachers of African American students are effective or highly effective based on their level of cultural responsiveness. When teachers use a culturally responsive pedagogy, it entails using the cultural background, previous experiences, frames of reference, and performance approaches of ethnically diverse students so that learning is more pertinent and effective for them.

This concurrent mixed method study, in which quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed within the same analytical framework, explored the research questions related to cultural responsiveness in teachers and African American students' academic achievement in reading, as well as whether the African American students' perception of their teachers as culturally responsive impacts their achievement.

The instruments used in this study were surveys, and district and state assessments. classroom observations and teacher interviews were also used to gather data.