Multicultural education

Discuss an issue of importance to education and working with diverse populations. Provide detail as to what the issue is and how we may see it operate within schools. Provide specific ways to deal with the issue.

Multicultural Education

Order Description
Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. M. (2009). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. John Wiley & Sons.

Please use the reference above to add to my research on Multicultural Education.

would like to use the book listed above and any other articles by James Banks.

Chapter 1: Introduction
The U.S. public school system has experienced many challenges in the wake of global and national development. One of these challenges is that the public school system is failing to prepare learners for the changing world by continuing to use traditional but stagnant methods of instruction. Researchers widely recognize the failure of public schools and traditional instructional practices (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2012; Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2005; Hopkins, 2002; Parker, 2013). Traditional instructional practices, which include teacher-centered approaches focused on rote learning and memorization, are not effective for the 21st century worker. The modern workforce will require more than just credentials; workers will need the ability to apply decision making and analytical and critical thinking skills to challenging situations (Williams, 2007). The job market is becoming more sophisticated as companies seek workers with specific skill sets. Technology and philosophy in the field of education have advanced to the point where classrooms and teaching approaches must evolve to keep pace or continue to encounter problems of student apathy and resistance (Williams, 2007). Therefore, the need for major changes in the education sector cannot be overlooked, especially for minority learners who continue to struggle academically in the public school system.
Minority students experience relatively limited success in an educational system originally designed from European ideologies. O’Nions (2012) defined the term minority to refer to all the nondominant groups in a certain population, which have and wish to preserve ethnicities, linguistic traditions, religions, and other characteristics that are different from those of other people in the same population. In this study, the term minority will be used to refer to African American students in U.S. public schools. According to Gay (2010), minority students have not been achieving at levels that represent their full potential. In addition, she asserted that minority students have various intellectual abilities and multiple intelligences that are not being accessed due to the lack of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) implemented in the classroom. Gay claimed that CRP will make curricula easier for minority students to master. CRP involves filtering content and teaching strategies through cultural frames of reference, making the learning experience more personal and meaningful for students. Teachers using CRP acknowledge cultural heritages, a process that directs the students’ dispositions and attitudes toward learning. Students view the content as worthy when it is related to their cultures. In addition, CRP bridges home and school experiences and uses multicultural resources and instructional strategies connected to a variety of learning styles (Gay, 2010). Culturally relevant pedagogy facilitates and supports achievement for all students. With this method, effective teaching and learning occur in a culturally supported environment. Teachers identify, nurture, and utilize the strengths that students bring to school to promote student achievement (Richards, Brown, & Forde, 2006).
In the early 1970s, educators and community activists advocated for educational strategies that better represented minority students (Ginwright, 2004). Multicultural education surfaced as a response to the lack of cultural histories, experiences, and learning styles for students of color. According to Ginwright, multicultural education was a development that came after the Civil Rights movement. Culturally relevant pedagogy is significant in multicultural education because it is viewed as a resource that could afford greater educational opportunities for minorities (Williams, 2007).
The education of minority students has long been a source of debate (Williams, 2007). While major scholars, such as Ladson-Billings (1995) and Gay (2000) support the need for culturally relevant pedagogy, there are several forces at work in education that stifle the implementation of these curricular strategies. Many teachers feel that their schools’ responses to accountability policies, such as NCLB in the United States, have impacted their ability to implement culturally relevant pedagogy (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011). Issues of systematic failure and reform are being addressed on multiple levels. Reforms in education include the federal No Child Left Behind Act, or NCLB. The NCLB is associated with practices that have required teachers to try to increase the amount of knowledge students can regurgitate for standardized high-stakes tests. According to the logic of NCLB policies, one might assume that the academic performance of students would improve inequalities in the achievements of students from different racial backgrounds if uniform curriculum standards were adopted, if standardized tests were implemented to ensure students attain grade level standards, and if school districts were held accountable for student performance on standardized tests (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011). Also, under considerable debate is the validity and authenticity of standardized tests that are being utilized in many cases as the only measure of school success, especially because research has indicated that many African American and Latino students do not feel connected to their schools (Williams, 2007).
Most scholars in the field affirm that NCLB has failed to close the achievement gap. Mueller (2002) defined the achievement gap as the persistent and predictable difference in the aggregated test performance of African Americans as compared to European Americans on standardized measures of achievement. NCLB has required that public schools foster accountability systems through assessment tests (Marx & Moss, 2011). As such, NCLB has caused a misalignment of interests among teachers and administrators, resulting in a counterproductive and narrow response to accountability policies. For instance, concerns regarding teaching for the test performance reflect the perspective that school educators are placing their instructional efforts on a number of cognitive skills targeted by the state assessments but ignoring the majority of cognitive points of achievements (Howard, 2003). As a result, school leaders tend to direct instructional efforts away from academic subjects that are not part of the state assessments and focus on molding the students in a manner that is advantageous to the school while at the same time ignoring the intellectual needs of these students (Esposito & Swain, 2009). This system discounts the personal strengths and weaknesses of most students, which continues to leave minority students behind academically (Durden, 2008).
The issue of providing a culturally relevant pedagogy has attracted the interest of many parents and educators. The attraction can be attributed to the evidence that culturally responsive pedagogical strategies have been shown to be effective in teaching in a multicultural classroom environment (Howard, 2003; Kea, Campbell-Whatley, & Richards, 2006; Lopez, 2011). While research supports the need for culturally relevant pedagogy, there are several forces at work in education that stifle the implementation of these curricular strategies. Many teachers feel that their schools’ responses to accountability policies such as NCLB in the United States have negatively affected their ability to implement culturally relevant pedagogy (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011).
Statement of Problem
Culture and diversity in the world has spread globally. Schools enroll students from diverse cultures and backgrounds. In the United States, records dating back to 2004 indicated that minority groups comprised 42% of the pre-kindergarten to secondary school public school population (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007). Howard (2003) pointed out that the United States has the largest influx of immigrants and ethnic minorities. In the education sector, the effects of this huge influx of immigrants are reflected in an increase in the numbers of ethnic minorities in classrooms. The increase of minority students in classrooms results in the need for instructional strategies that will promote academic achievement, such as culturally relevant pedagogy.
Although NCLB directly emphasizes closing the achievement gap between minorities and their counterparts, researchers have documented that the efforts to improve the quality of education have yielded few successes (Ginwright, 2004). In many urban school communities, school reform initiatives have had little impact on student achievement for minority students. According to Esposito (2009), teachers in urban schools struggle to motivate students who lag, not just academically, but also economically, socially, and politically.
Researchers suggest that accountability policies can produce unintended negative consequences for the instructional practices of teachers. For instance, high-stakes testing has contributed to educators narrowing the curriculum and de-emphasizing higher-order thinking (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011). In fact, Diamond and Spillane (2004) asserted that in low-performing schools that serve predominately minority populations, test-taking strategies are emphasized at the expense of deeper instruction, perpetuating inequalities. Other researchers have pointed out that accountability policies have contributed to a decrease in classroom autonomy and an increase in teacher turnover (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011). Empirical scholars have asserted that the huge disparities and inequalities in the public education system can be addressed by changing the perspectives and federal flaws or loopholes that allow discrimination in the education sector (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2012; Biddle & Berliner, 2002).
The U.S. public education system has been unsuccessful in its mandate to provide effective research-based instructional practices for minority groups. In this study, I will explore how teachers use culturally relevant practices in the public school system as a means to promote academic achievement for minority students. The study also addresses how school leaders can be on the front line of implementing culturally relevant pedagogy.
Theoretical Framework for the Study
The theoretical framework for this study is culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), viewed through the lens of critical race theory (CRT). Marx and Moss (2011) have advanced critical race theory as a means of understanding the interactions between culture, race, and the education system. The relationship between critical race theory and culturally relevant pedagogy is relevant for this study because both theories involve recognition of the value of marginalized groups’ lived experiences.
Culturally relevant pedagogy helps teachers teach diversity, which includes discussions of racism and multiculturalism. The use of culturally relevant pedagogy in teaching practices helps children confirm who they are, as well as to understand how the world perceives them and how they perceive the world (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). It is crucial to consider race and culture in the development of a learning system because one of the goals of the U.S. K-12 education system is to develop culturally relevant pedagogy as a method to respond to student hostility and alienation (Nieto, 2012). Research shows that the alienation and hostility students experience in the school system are related to historical racism, which has led to the labeling of some groups as culturally, biologically, and academically inferior (Marx & Moss 2011). Critical race theory prompts scholars to pay attention to the impacts of racism (Nieto, 2012). In addition, CRT provides a philosophy to challenge long-standing practices that promote the concept of white supremacy, practices that may hide behind a system of meritocracy. Therefore, culturally relevant pedagogy should involve a critical analysis of racism and race (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012).
Both theories provide benefits valuable for this study. Culturally relevant pedagogy provides a theoretical model and practical examples of instructional delivery (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). Critical race theory enhances CRP by providing a framework and an analytical tool for examination of racial components in educational structures. For example, critical race theory can serve as a lens to review curriculum design, instructional delivery and execution, class composition and grouping, assessment determination and processing, and school funding allocations. We acknowledge the centrality of race when we relate critical race theory to culturally relevant pedagogy. Because race makes up a significant part of the experience of different ethnic groups in American society, a consideration of teachers’ use of culturally relevant pedagogy in a study of middle school literacy classrooms would not be complete without including critical race theory.
The fact that students of ethnic or racial minority groups perceive themselves differently than do students from majority groups guides teachers who are willing to participate in culturally relevant pedagogy. This willingness to let CRP guide them helps teachers to judge fairly, as well as to contain their own biased perceptions concerning race and intelligence (Solorzano & Yosso, 2000). Critical race theory merges with culturally relevant pedagogy at a point where teachers recognize the legitimate influences of cultural heritage on students’ attitudes, dispositions, and approaches to learning (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). This convergence also supports culture as worthy for inclusion in the formal curriculum of the education system. Critical race theory is important, as it enables researchers to understand how students learn that their individual and collective voices matter, as well as how students learn to respect the value of their contributions to society. In addition, CRT provides a lens through which teachers can explore their own unique identities and locate the diversity of cultural heritages in the classroom (Solorzano & Yosso, 2000).
In the contemporary educational system, the reality of the classroom—especially, the K 12 literacy classroom—is that teachers are likely to have encountered and interacted with students who have different cultural identities compared to their own. The recognition of racism in the education system is an important action taken by teachers toward avoiding the social reproduction of racism. Indeed, teachers are required to acknowledge the historic contribution of White supremacy in the education sector to try to mitigate the effects of this concept on minority students. In addition, teachers’ recognition of racism helps students to rethink and review the entire cultural system, leading them toward recognizing the equality of all cultures. Teachers can use their experiences to connect with their own cultural backgrounds, helping to formulate a sound groundwork for students to reclaim their voices and histories (Young, 2010). In summary, critical race theory combines well with culturally relevant pedagogy to redefine the American education system (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to identify culturally relevant pedagogical practices utilized by public school teachers to promote academic success. Additionally, the study is intended to explore descriptions of the teachers’ use of culturally relevant pedagogy in his/her classroom.
Research Questions
The following questions will guide this qualitative study:
1. What are middle school teachers’ formal understandings regarding the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy in their classrooms?
2. How do classroom teachers describe their use of culturally relevant pedagogy in their classrooms?
Methodology
Qualitative researchers aim to understand the perspectives and reasoning that motivate individuals and the occurrence of various phenomena (Merriam, 2014). The emphasis on perspective prompted me to choose qualitative research as the design for my study. Although survey questions and other quantitative methods may identify the percentage of educators who employ a particular culturally relevant strategy or application, these methods do not explore the perspectives of individual people. Because teachers are at the frontlines of education, it would be remiss to exclude their perspectives and motivations regarding culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) implementations. Moreover, the theoretical foundations of CRP are centered on identifying, recognizing, and respecting multiple cultural perspectives, and thus the broad approach of qualitative research provided an in-depth exploration of the perspectives of educators. Finally, culture as a whole is complex, and the broad approach of qualitative research allowed my study to touch on the many factors—economic, social, political, and personal—that shape cultural perspectives.
Significance of the Study
This study is important because public schools continue to fail minority students. It is apparent that traditional forms of schooling may not be the best way to educate minority students. This study is part of educators’ continuing exploration into the use of culturally relevant instructional strategies to engage and motivate students to achieve academic success. Additionally, this study may motivate educators to consider teacher perspectives, as well as the role of the principal in the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy.
This study is also significant because it will advance knowledge about culturally relevant pedagogy. Previous research has focused on the current knowledge about culturally relevant pedagogy. In this study, my goal is to gain insight on the teacher’s perceptions and use of culturally relevant pedagogical practices in the classroom
The findings and conclusions of the research may be important to policymakers and educators who make decisions about curriculum. Additionally, school administrators and teachers can use the recommendations of this study to develop and implement strategies for teaching culturally diverse groups of learners. Finally, this study forms a basis for future research on CRP and related topics. Scholars may find relevant information that can be used for future research.
Definition of Terms
Achievement gap – a persistent and predictable difference in the aggregated test performance of African Americans as compared to European Americans on standardized measures of achievement (Mueller, 2002).
Critical race theory (CRT) – a theoretical perspective focusing on the connection between race, power, and racism (Delgado & Stefancic, 2000).
Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) – a method of teaching founded on the knowledge that learning is a process facilitated by the social structure and culture of the area. The implication of this definition is that no curriculum is free from culture and other forces such as political power (Irvine, 2010; Moore, 2000).
Organization of the Dissertation
Chapter 1 began with an introduction by orienting the reader to the problem that exists in public education. In addition, I introduced the purpose and major questions guiding the study. In this section, I also provided research findings that support my rationale and identified the significance and importance of the study.
Chapter 2 provides a review of literature related to culturally relevant pedagogy. Specifically, the chapter discusses theories of culturally relevant pedagogy, dimensions of culturally relevant pedagogy, the school’s role in the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy, and the significance of critical race theory as it relates to culturally relevant pedagogy.
Chapter 3 provides a description of the methodology planned for the study. The following are included in this chapter: research design, data collection, timeline, data analysis methods, and ethical considerations.
Chapter 4 presents the qualitative data analysis and interpretation. In this chapter, I present data from surveys and interviews. The data are analyzed and interpreted.
Chapter 5 provides a summary of the study, as well as a discussion of the findings and conclusions drawn from the study. Additionally, I will discuss implications for public schools and recommendations for further research.

Chapter 2: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
The United States public school system has experienced an unprecedented increase in the number of learners from ethnic minority groups (Howard, 2003). Racial and ethnic disparities in education remain a principal challenge in public schools (Irvine, 2010). In particular, African American students have struggled socially and emotionally in the United States school system (Howard, 2003). Teachers are expected to educate students from different cultures, abilities, and languages, a situation that has led to the development of the field known as culturally relevant pedagogy.
Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) is synonymous with terms such as “culturally responsive,” “culturally sensitive,” “culturally appropriate,” “culturally congruent,” or “culturally compatible” (Gay, 2000; Howard, 2003; Irvine, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995). Culturally relevant pedagogy involves the identification of effective pedagogical approaches in teaching students from a diverse background population. The need for culturally relevant pedagogy is imperative to improve academic achievement of students from culturally diverse backgrounds (Gay, 2000; Howard, 2003; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Nieto, 2001). According to leaders in multicultural education, culturally relevant pedagogy is intended to give all students a chance to succeed academically (Irvine, 1990; Nieto, 2002). Culturally relevant pedagogy is the most efficient integration technique that enhances equal distribution of resources and opportunities among students, irrespective of their diverse backgrounds (Irvine, 1990; Nieto, 2002).
This chapter provides an overview of relevant literature pertaining to culturally relevant pedagogy, divided into five thematic areas. The first area presents background information for CRP in relation to its historical development and application in schools. In the second theme, I discuss the benefits of CRP to students, teachers, families, and communities. The third focal area centers on the role that teachers and principals play in the implementation of CRP. The fourth theme addressed in this chapter is the notion of culturally sustaining pedagogy and its significance to CRP. Finally, in this chapter, I will expound on the theoretical framework (CRP), viewed through the lens of critical race theory (CRT). The chapter closes with a summary.
The Need for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
The education of minority students has long been a source of debate (Williams, 2007). While major scholars—such as Ladson-Billings (1995) and Gay (2000), for example—support the need for culturally relevant pedagogy, there are several forces at work in education that stifle the implementation of these curricular strategies. Issues of systematic failure and reform have received attention on multiple levels. For example, accountability reforms in education include the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). However, many teachers feel that their schools’ responses to such accountability policies have affected their ability to implement culturally relevant pedagogy (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011). According to the logic of NCLB policies, one might assume if uniform curriculum standards were adopted, that the students’ improved academic performance would mitigate achievement gaps between students from different racial backgrounds. Similarly, if standardized tests were implemented to ensure students attain grade level standards, and if school districts were held accountable for student performance on standardized tests, gaps in achievement would diminish (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2011). Also, under considerable debate is the validity and authenticity of standardized tests used in many cases as the only measure of school success, especially because research has indicated that many African American and Latino students do not feel connected to their schools (Williams, 2007). Howard (2003) contends that the U.S. has a large influx of immigrants in public schools. The increase of minority students in public school classrooms has resulted in a definite need for culturally relevant pedagogy to promote academic achievement.
The No Child Left Behind Act
NCLB has caused a misalignment of interests among teachers and administrators, resulting in some counterproductive and narrow responses to these accountability policies. In addition, concerns about teaching-to-the-test performance reflect the perspective that school leaders are aiming their schools’ instructional efforts toward the cognitive skills targeted by the state assessments and ignoring the majority of cognitive points of achievements (Howard, 2003). In other words, school leaders may tend to divert instructional efforts away from academic subjects that are not part of the state assessments, focusing on molding the students in a manner advantageous to school while at the same time ignoring the intellectual needs of these students (Esposito & Swain, 2009). In this system, educators ignore the personal strengths and weaknesses of most students as the emphasis centers on mathematics and science-oriented subjects to the exclusion of the arts and other humanities subjects (Durden, 2008).
The No Child Left Behind Act has prompted public schools to foster accountability systems through assessment tests (Marx & Moss, 2011). Researchers have argued that high-stakes testing programs may result in overstated and inauthentic outcomes. In this regard, the standardized assessment data reflect the negative and positive implications of high-stakes testing (Ladson-Billings, 1995a). Young (2010) showed that academic performance of students in mathematics and basic reading skills improved during the time of high-stakes testing. On the other hand, there were no significant gains, and in other cases, a decreasing trend was observed in other advanced skills performance. As a result, scholars have attributed such outcomes to the negative effects of the high-stakes tests on both learning and teaching programs (Young, 2010). Concerns regarding teaching for test performance reflect the perspective that school educators are placing their instructional efforts on the cognitive skills targeted by the state assessments but ignoring most cognitive points of achievements (Howard, 2003), a process which discounts the personal strengths and weaknesses of most students and leaves minority students behind academically (Durden, 2008).
The Achievement Gap
Many scholars in the field have affirmed that NCLB has failed to close the achievement gap. Although NCLB directly emphasizes closing the achievement gap between student minorities and their counterparts, the efforts to improve the quality of education have yielded few successes (Ginwright, 2004). Evidence supports the presence of an achievement gap between African American students and their White counterparts (Ladson-Billings, 2006). According to Mueller (2002), the achievement gap is the persistent and predictable difference in the aggregated standardized test performance of African American students as compared to European Americans. Scholars and experts in the field of culturally responsive teaching practices have cited many reasons for the existence of the achievement gap in the diverse modern society (Lubeck, Jessup, DeVries, & Post, 2005). The causes of the achievement gap can be broken into two groups entailing external and internal factors. The external factors are causes that are outside the influence of the district and classroom teacher. Internal causes are the ones that can be controlled by both the district and/or the classroom teacher (Durden, 2008). However, the achievement gap can also be defined based on the student group type and the nature of the performance outcome. The student group type entails such factors as race, socioeconomic background, ability level, and gender. Performance outcomes involve factors such as test scores, grades, and school dropout rates (Au, 2009).
Students from African American and Latino communities have received the majority of the attention with regard to the achievement gap (Swindler & Hill, 2006). The extreme gap between the achievement scores of African American and Latino students compared to the scores of their white and Asian counterparts is often blamed on external factors such as lack of parental support and insecurity due to community violence, as well as on the inability of minority students to learn among the majority population (Hall, Quinn, & Gollnick, 2013).
Durden (2008) showed that recognizing internal factors that lead to the development and existence of the achievement gap gives more control to educators. Educators realize that they can control, reduce, and possibly eliminate the achievement gap among students. Such educators learn how to manage the persistent influence of internal factors on the academic performance outcomes of the vulnerable group. These internal factors include threats of stereotypical thinking, low expectations among students from the minority groups, and the sense of cultural discontinuity that students experience between their homes and schools. Once these factors are analyzed and understood, the achievement gap can be eradicated (Esposito & Swain, 2009). This is because internal factors are the most significant causes of the achieving gap; these factors affect students at a personal level. Howard (2003) argued that minority students are aware of the negative stereotype perceptions that teachers and society in the dominant culture hold about minority students’ behavior, intelligence, and ability to succeed. As such, these minority students constantly fear the confirmation of such stereotypes. Research has indicated that such threats contribute to students’ decisions to live up to these negative perceptions. In addition, students may decide to become rebellious in an attempt to prove that they are strong and unaffected by these threats. As a result, such perceptions contribute to the development and persistence of the achievement gap (Howard, 2003).
Low income is a significant factor in the persistence of the achievement gap (Galman et al., 2010). Teachers’ expectations and students’ attitudes often emerge from perceived economic deficiencies among students. These perceived deficiencies may lead teachers to believe that the affected students lack the necessary financial support to allow them to utilize available resources, maintain good health, and concentrate on their studies (Galman et al., 2010). In addition, low-income students tend to feel disadvantaged; hence, rather than concentrating on their studies, they concentrate on other activities that may enable them to earn a living. These students are likely to be destructive in the classroom, to participate in criminal activities, or to develop a sense of self-pity and helplessness (Marx, & Moss 2011). Such outcomes deny students the cultural credibility that is necessary to excel on standardized tests, thus increasing the achievement gap among students (Ladson-Billings, 1995).
Cultural discontinuity has been a significant internal factor contributing to the existence of the achievement gap (Durden, 2008). American educators have defined a culturally acceptable norm in the form of language, behavior, and teaching style (Young, 2010). Students who are unable to relate to these norms face the risk of alienation. The mismatch between school culture and home culture creates disharmony among the minority group of students. The resulting long-term sense of discontinuity may lead students to experience feelings of desperation, defiance, and defeat, as well as to engage in withdrawal behaviors (Parsons, 2005).
Removing external factors that harm minority groups can reduce or even eliminate the achievement gap (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). These mitigation measures point toward the creation of a learning environment in which all students are given fair treatment in school and equal opportunity to achieve academic excellence regardless of social, cultural, and economic factors (Roberts, 2010). Approaches that are deemed effective in eliminating the achievement gap include facilitating communication between parents and teachers, establishing a partnership between schools and communities, and taking advantage of diversity training opportunities for professional development (Castex, 2010). These approaches promote collaboration between educators and the community in order to realize the optimal strategy for the elimination of the achievement gap. This optimal strategy is achieved through the provision of student-specific services that meet the needs of each student, thereby enhancing his or her academic performance (Bustamante, Nelson, & Onwuegbuzie, 2009).
Most principals recognize that an achievement gap exists between White students and students of color, and they strive to close this gap as much as possible. The most effective approach in the elimination of the achievement gap is the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy (Durden, 2008). The CRP approach presents instruction in a manner that produces explicit connections between literacy content, goals, and knowledge and connects these elements with experiences that students share with their peers, families, and the entire community.
Closing the achievement gap requires multiple actions, including hiring qualified teachers, continuously examining conditions that lead to achievement inequalities, and instituting culturally responsive strategies. Some of the other strategies that principals are using to address the closing of the achievement gap include (a) developing plans to close the gap; (b) encouraging staff to become champions of improvement efforts; (c) identifying individuals with an interest in engaging in culturally responsive teaching practices; (d) engaging these individuals in learning more about cultural issues; (e) forming a feedback channel about individual progress; (f) and engaging others to grow the circle (Durden, 2008). Effective principals encourage, challenge, and support their staff to attain high levels of competence in these areas (Danielson, 2006).
Background of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
The issue of providing a culturally relevant pedagogy has attracted the interest of many parents and educators (Scherff & Spector, 2011). The attraction has been attributed to the idea that culturally responsive pedagogical strategies have been proven to be effective teaching methods in multicultural classroom environments (Howard, 2003; Kea et al., 2006; Lopez, 2011).
Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994) coined the term culturally relevant pedagogy to describe “a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (p. 17). Culturally relevant teaching allows teachers to connect with students to make learning more relevant and effective. Effective culturally relevant teaching takes into account students’ skills and abilities and encourages the use of those skills in academics (Ladson-Billings, 1995).
Ladson-Billings (1995) is an educational researcher whose work has provided insight into how to define culturally relevant pedagogy. She identified three criteria to define CRP. These criteria are (a) all students must experience academic success; (b) cultural competence must be developed and maintained; and (c) students must develop critical consciousness. In reference to academic success, Ladson-Billings asserted that teachers must ensure students learn skills that include literacy, numeracy, and technology, as well as social and political skills. She contended that teachers would attend to the academic, emotional, and social needs of students. Pursuing academic excellence would be the choice of the students, not something forced upon them by teachers. Ladson-Billings included cultural competence in the definition of culturally relevant pedagogy. She expounded on the notion that culturally relevant teachers use culture as a springboard for learning. For example, students can perform songs and utilize popular culture such as rap music to discuss literal and figurative meanings. Third, Ladson-Billings described critical consciousness as a component necessary for culturally relevant pedagogy. She claimed that critical consciousness assists students in developing a broader sociopolitical consciousness. This broader consciousness allows students to analyze the cultural norms, values, and institutions that create and preserve social inequities. According to Ladson-Billings, in a culturally relevant pedagogy classroom, teachers expect to engage students in the world, in addition to promoting critical thinking. One example would be involving students in some form of social action within their communities.
Gay (2000) is another major scholar who has researched culturally relevant pedagogy. According to Gay, culturally relevant pedagogy encompasses cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of references, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students as a means to make learning effective and relevant for students. Moreover, a culturally relevant pedagogy supports learning for students with diverse cultural needs. Culturally responsive teaching would ensure that all students, regardless of their cultures, have equal opportunities to experience high academic performance (Gay, 2000). The art of teaching is complex. I believe that educators must implement culturally relevant teaching strategies to ensure the academic success of all students. In fact, CRP has been beneficial to students. In the next section, the benefits of CRP will be discussed.
CRP Benefits to Students
In this section, I will highlight three ways in which the implementation of CRP is beneficial for students. Students can benefit from implementation of CRP in the classroom. Some ways in which students can take advantage of CRP is through increased academic achievement, the promotion and infusion of their cultural backgrounds into the curriculum and the students’ self-esteem is boosted through CRP.
Increasing student achievement. According to McKinley (2010), CRP teachers have a strong belief in their ability to help students succeed regardless of racial and cultural backgrounds; hence they set high expectations. Minority students have not been achieving at levels that represent their full potential (Gay, 2010). In addition, Gay asserted that minority students have various intellectual abilities and multiple intelligences not being accessed due to the lack of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) implemented in the classroom. Minority students can attain high levels of academic achievement through CRP (Sleeter, 2008).
CRP mandates that teachers express high academic expectations for learners via the application of culturally pertinent pedagogy (Morrison, Robbins, & Rose, 2008). In response, CRP teachers provide intensive scaffolding, modeling, and clarification of the curriculum. For instance, teachers explicitly modeled unobservable or meta-cognitive tasks by reasoning aloud (Morrison et al., 2008).
Culturally relevant pedagogy is dependent on the ability of the schools to respond to the individual needs of students. In fact, culturally relevant pedagogy takes into account individual students’ weaknesses and strengths, rather than relying on the guidance provided from preconceived frameworks regarding the student’s group affiliation (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). A culturally responsive pedagogy focuses on the ability of teachers to capitalize on the strengths that learners bring to school (Fasching-Varner & Seriki, 2012). Students benefit from teachers applying student strengths as instructional starting points. This emphasis on students’ strengths implies that a culturally relevant pedagogy achieves its goals through the utilization of practices and images that are familiar to students. According to McKinley (2010), CRP teachers scaffold and transfer the responsibility of learning to the students. The students in a CRP classroom are aware of their role to master content and meet academic standards.
Focus on cultural heritage. Cultural heritage is an important component of CRP. Culturally relevant pedagogy centers on implementing classroom activities that are culturally supportive for all students. Culturally competent teachers help students feel attached to their individual culture, history, and language (McKinley, 2010).
Students benefit from teachers reshaping the curriculum in an effort to make it more relevant for children by linking student learning to students’ identities. Culturally relevant teaching affirms the, role of culture in students’ learning processes and underscores the significance of acknowledging students’ culture in the classroom in a meaningful and relevant manner (Esposito & Swain, 2009).
CRP capitalizes on the notion that the feeling of inclusion among students increases with the introduction of familiar instructional practices (Roberts, 2010). Clearly, the collective experience and the ability of teachers to familiarize themselves with different cultures enhance the ability of both students and teachers to appreciate various cultures. For example, Fasching-Varner and Seriki (2012) affirmed that the ability of teachers and students to familiarize themselves with different cultures enabled teachers to view matters from the students’ perspective, leading to mutual understanding among students and their teachers. Mutual practices, as well as the introduction of a collaborative effort and teamwork building among students, play a vital role in enhancing culturally relevant pedagogy in schools.
There are significant steps teachers can take to promote a culturally relevant pedagogy. For example, Fasching-Varner and Seriki (2012) stated that teachers should promote a culturally relevant pedagogy through assessing students’ ability as well as the validity of their achievement. A culturally sensitive environment should foster positive interrelationship between students, teachers, community, and students’ families (Fasching-Varner & Seriki, 2012).
Many scholars have supported the development of culturally relevant school environments (Howard, 2003; Kea et al., 2006; Scherff & Spector, 2011). For example, Scherff and Spector emphasized that teachers and school principals should provide a culturally relevant school environment because such an environment makes learners feel appreciated. Their argument concurred with findings from a study conducted by Howard (2003). Howard found that students who learned in schools that appreciated their cultures were more confident and achieved better results than did those who learned in schools that based their activities on the cultures of the majority.
Cultural competence is important for structuring the ideal social and academic interactions establishing cultural connections between home and school, and fostering cognitive, social development (McKinley, 2010).
CRP promotes self-esteem. Research by Sleeter and Cornbleth (2011) has shown that culturally responsive teaching boosts self-esteem in students, thereby helping students develop their cultural awareness. Bustamante et al. (2009) showed that students from the minority group tend to work hard, engage in class work, and possess a positive sense of self-esteem when they feel respected and establish a positive relationship with their teacher.
According to McKinley (2010), students with low performance can be attributed to student self-perception and motivation. In fact, the dynamics of the classroom and the teacher’s beliefs also play a role in the student performance. McKinley asserts that if a teacher has a negative attitude towards students, then it will have a devastating effect on student’s beliefs in their achievement capacity and diminish their self-esteem, motivation, and ultimately academic performance. Effective CRP classrooms have high social interaction, low friction, and large levels of civility with students and teachers exhibiting optimism and a sense of family and community (McKinley, 2010).
In addition, the establishment of positive student-teacher relationship eradicates stereotypes threats among students, producing hard-working students with positive attitudes toward school and who are able to tap their potential and realize academic excellence. Students not only believe in themselves, but also believe in their teachers’ ability to help them achieve desirable academic performance (Parsons, 2005).
Educational standards and curricula for minority students tend to lead to a focus on memorization, causing students to internalize their own perceived failures (Ladson-Billings, 1995b). Setting high standards for these students affirms their beliefs that they are capable of achieving excellence and overcoming challenges. This results in a sense of defined life focus and high self-esteem among students (Marx, & Moss 2011).
The Teacher’s Role in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Culturally relevant pedagogy has emerged as an effective means of teaching within contemporary classrooms that have students from diverse cultures (Lee & McCarty, 2004). At the core of CRP is the ability to develop teaching plans and methodologies in line with students’ backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge. Culturally relevant teaching requires that teachers be in tune with the various ways diverse students achieve academic success (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Gay (2006) proposed that culturally responsive teachers make a concerted effort to validate, facilitate, and liberate students by enriching their cultural integrity, ability to learn, and academic success. Gay stated that teachers’ awareness of the cultural values, society, and home environment of each student should be both a policy and necessity for comprehending each child’s distinct needs. For example, underlying factors (e.g., race or family background) may hinder a student from performing well in a group (Ladson-Billings, 1995b). Therefore, the teacher should explore the cultural and home environment perspective of the student in order to understand the cause of underlying issues (Scherff & Spector, 2011).
Developing student-teacher relationships. Practicing culturally relevant pedagogy also requires that teachers establish strong social bonds with their students, both within and outside the classrooms. As education is a continuous process, so is teaching. The attributes of respect, motivation, and teamwork within and outside the classrooms may be learned through various learning styles or at different paces. When teachers engage with their students beyond the curriculum level, they provide the opportunity for students to take risks. At this point in the relationship, teachers can construct a framework of values and expectations between the teacher and the student, which will not be curriculum-oriented, but relationship-oriented. Culturally driven classrooms should be like communities, where each member can participate and share his/her unique set of ideas, principles, and ideology (Gay, 2000). To accomplish this goal, teachers should create an open environment in their classrooms, where students act as information creators and distributors, rather than just information receivers (Gay, 2000). Scherff and Spector (2011) cited that the most important task in this method of education is to provide a teaching environment that demonstrates appreciation for diverse cultures. They argued that teachers and school principals should understand and facilitate an environment that caters to the needs of students from different cultures. Catering to the needs of students should continue to be at the forefront for educators.
Respect for culture. In effective CRP classrooms, teachers and student social interactions are respectful. Teachers are deemed fair and demonstrate concern and an interest in the students’ cultural backgrounds (McKinley, 2010). Culturally relevant pedagogy requires teachers to understand the individual differences among students as well as the significance of shared values and practices among students from all cultures and backgrounds (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). In addition, society expects teachers to understand that students’ behaviors and attitude may be attributed to their respective cultures (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). For instance, some cultures require children to stay silent while the adults talk. In such a context, a learner may appear to be defiant, but is actually practicing his or her culture. In fact, some studies have shown that prejudiced intentions guide some teachers. The teachers expect students to behave according to the rules of the teachers’ own cultures. This tendency subjects all students to the cultural practices deemed acceptable in schools (Parsons, 2005).
The globalized nature of the modern society requires teachers to be culturally competent. Teachers who are responsive and tolerant to cultural diversity ensure equity in learning (Achinstein & Ogawa, 2012). Students of different cultures and backgrounds have unique sets of needs; teachers must have competence in cultural aspects in order to address these needs (Marx & Moss 2011).
Ladson-Billings (2014) stated that it is not just a policy but also a necessity for teachers to be aware of the cultural values, society, and home environment of each student in order to comprehend each child’s distinct needs. For example, a student may not perform well in groups for a number of reasons. The student might consider himself or herself to be different compared to others because of skin color; or the student may be the only child in a family and thus lacking in adequate communication and social skills (Ladson-Billings, 2014). For this reason, solving each student’s behavioral or learning problem requires the teacher to explore the cultural and home environment perspective of the student in order to understand the root cause of the problem (Scherff & Spector, 2011).
Developing curriculum. Culturally relevant pedagogy centers on the premise that teachers should adopt culturally relevant or responsive pedagogies in their daily classroom activities and practices, as well as embed culturally relevant content in their teaching curricula (Winn & Johnson, 2011). Teachers hold the sole role of teaching the school curriculum, and therefore hold the primary responsibility for delivering culturally relevant pedagogy (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). Moreover, teachers must work with curriculum that may sometimes inefficiently address the needs of all students (Swindler & Hill, 2006). For example, teachers should demonstrate in-depth understanding and support in areas where the curriculum demonstrates linguistic and cultural insensitivity (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012). Brown-Jeffy and Cooper emphasized that learning processes must include instruction and materials that are rich in diversity. The premise of culturally relevant pedagogy supports the idea that classroom materials and instructions should be culturally sensitive, representing the cultures of individuals from varied backgrounds.
Scherff and Spector (2011) explained that when classroom teachers design a uniform curriculum that promises the academic growth of their students, one of the elements they often overlook involves the effects of cultural values and backgrounds on students’ learning styles and their motivations toward learning. Forcing the conventional style of learning into the learning mechanism of each student will fail unless culturally relevant pedagogy properly guides the learning style. Boykin, Tyler, and Miller (2005) clarified that culturally relevant pedagogy is not intended to design intricate teaching methods and formulas in order to convey instruction, but is actually aimed at simplifying the teaching methodology. Students of all ages, genders, and cultures learn effortlessly from their environment and their peers. The role of the teacher is to encourage this effortless learning and then direct learners toward specific goals and objectives.
Implementation of CRP. Students in CRP classrooms are treated equally and have equitable access to resources and learning (McKinley, 2010). The primary task of the teacher is to deliver the curriculum content to the students effectively (Fasching-Varnes & Seriki, 2012). Culturally relevant teaching requires that teachers be in tune with the various ways diverse students achieve academic success (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Instructors should learn the learners’ needs and flex their teaching styles in order equitably deliver high quality services (Kea et al., 2006).
According to Gay (2000), culturally responsive teachers will incorporate students’ knowledge of their cultures into learning experiences. Gay asserted that culture is a central component of learning. In addition, culture allows transmitted information to shape the learning process. Gay proposed that culturally responsive teachers make a concerted effort to validate, facilitate, and liberate students by enriching their cultural integrity, ability to learn, and academic success.
Learners in public schools come from all cultures, dominant and nondominant, making it vital to ensure that cultural aspects are considered when designing teaching strategies (Marx & Moss 2011). Apart from using culturally responsive practices, teacher can employ other evidence-based techniques, such as cooperative learning, differentiated learning, and student-centered approaches to learning. Even though some schools have implemented these methods, school leaders should do more to ensure that these methods are enforced effectively (Kea et al., 2006).
Critical teacher reflection. According to McKinely (2010), CRP teachers believed their capacity to increase student achievement and make a difference in the classroom is grounded in self- reflection. Culturally relevant teaching requires teachers to employ honest critical reflection on their own identities as individuals and professionals. Teachers should identify how their views can influence students academically, both adversely and positively. Critical teacher reflection is crucial to culturally relevant pedagogy because it can ultimately measure teachers’ levels of concern and care for their students. Critical reflection involves an examination of how race, cultures, and social class influence students’ thinking and learning (Sleeter, 2008). Teachers of minority students have to learn student cultures and reflect critically on their own culture to strike a balance in understanding of the needs of the students (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2011).
The Principal’s Role in Implementing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
School principals are essential in the education system. Principals hold an important responsibility in decision-making and problem-solving. Marx and Moss (2011) cited that leaders play a crucial role in ensuring that the system addresses the requirements of minority learners at the school level. For example, principals should encourage teachers to build on students’ knowledge and skills, thereby enabling students to achieve high performance by requiring them to use their culturally relevant experience in the learning process (Marx & Moss, 2011). As leaders, principals help to ensure that teachers are able to incorporate the cultural experiences of their students in the design of strategies and content. In addition, effective principals engage in a rigorous process of ensuring that teachers master the methods that address the requirements of all students in the classroom.
Clearly, leaders in schools should facilitate a system of education that appreciates students, regardless of their ethnic, racial, and tribal diversity. The introduction and application of an education system that is culturally informed is essential because students’ academic performance is highly dependent on intercultural factors which involve the representation of different cultures (Maynard & Martini, 2005).
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy – An Extension of CRP
Culturally relevant pedagogy initially emerged as an effective approach of facilitating learning for African American students (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Recent studies have broadened its scope into a teaching approach that can facilitate learning for any student, including those from dominant and marginalized groups or culture (Winn & Johnson, 2011). According to Paris (2012), teachers can respond to or be relevant to the cultural experiences and practices of the students without ensuring that such cultural experiences and practices are continuously present “in a student’s repertoire”—the stock of skills that students use habitually in the classrooms. Educators have sought to mitigate this gap in the administration of culturally relevant pedagogy-related practices. Paris (2012) asserted that culturally sustaining implies that pedagogies should be more than relevant or responsive to the learners’ cultural practices and experiences. In fact, culturally sustaining pedagogy requires practices that support learners in “sustaining the cultural and linguistic competence of their communities” while at the same time “offering access to dominant cultural competence” (p. 95). Thus, the primary goal and objective of culturally sustaining pedagogy is “to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling” (p. 95).
Culturally sustaining pedagogy facilitates and promotes literate, linguistic, and cultural pluralism, not only to fulfill the democratic purpose of education, but also to respond to social and demographic changes in the society (Paris & Alim, 2014). Thus, culturally sustaining pedagogy focuses on two essential tenets. First, culturally sustaining pedagogy is concerned with the plural and changing nature of students’ identities. Second, culturally sustaining pedagogy focuses on “a commitment to embracing youth culture’s counter-hegemonic potential while maintaining a clear-eyed critique of the ways in which youth culture can also reproduce systemic inequalities” (p. 85).
Perhaps the research described indicates there is no single pedagogical approach that is universally acceptable in education practice. Just as Ladson-Billings’ (1995) seminal work in this area ignited various research and studies, so too has research by Paris (2012) and Paris and Alim’s (2014). However, cultural relevant pedagogy and culturally sustaining pedagogy occupy central roles in the pedagogical practice as they continue to inspire new teaching approaches based on affirming racial, ethnic, and cultural identities of students. Indeed, the continued demographic changes that influence and define learners’ identities will continue to develop pedagogical approaches and practices that effectively respond to the dynamic realities in the interaction between culture and education.
Significance of Critical Race Theory in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
The theoretical framework that will guide this study is culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP). Under this framework, the theory called critical race theory serves as an analytical tool for the examination of educational structures. Legal scholars, lawyers, and activists developed critical race theories in the 1970s, perceiving the need for a critical perspective on race. According to Delgado and Stefancic (2000), some of the early researchers and writers of critical race theories were Derrick Bell, Alan Freeman, and Richard Delgado. Delgado and Stefancic defined critical race theory (CRT) as an academic theoretical viewp01oint that focuses on the relationship between racism and power. Critical race theory is used in the analysis of social inequities. One of the most effective definitions of critical race theory is by Solorzano and Yosso (2000), who defined the critical race theory as:
A framework or set of fundamental perspectives, pedagogy, and methods that seek to analyze, identify, and transform those cultural, interpersonal, and structural aspects of education that maintain the marginal position and subordination of (Latino and Black) students. Critical Race Theory asks such questions as: What roles do schools, school processes, and school structures play in the maintenance of ethnic, gender, and racial subordination. (pp. 40-42)

Scholars inspired by critical race theory are aware of the impacts of racism (Nieto, 2012). The notion that culture is closely associated with race and racism means that culturally relevant pedagogy is a practice that can be analyzed in detail using critical race theory (Parsons, 2005).
Marx and Moss (2011) have advanced critical race theory as a means of understanding the interactions among the education system, culture, and race. Applying critical race theory includes examining power, race, and racism. Since race and racism persist in American society, critical race theory is an effective framework for analyzing the evolution of culturally relevant pedagogy in the educational system, as well as other aspects of school relationships (Marzano & Pickering, 2003). The relationship between critical race theory and culturally relevant pedagogy centers on the fact that both theories focus on the value or relevance of lived experience by marginalized groups in society.
In the contemporary educational system, the reality of the classroom, especially the K-12 literacy classroom, is that teachers are likely to have encountered and interacted with diverse students with cultural identities different from their own. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2008), the race/ethnicity of teachers in the United States is as follows: 83.5% White, 6.7% Black, 0.5% American Indian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 6.9% Hispanic, and 0.9% two or more races. The recognition of racism in the education system is a huge step for teachers toward avoiding social reproduction of racism. Therefore, critical race theory works well with culturally relevant pedagogy in attempts to redefine the American education system (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2012).
Summary
Globalization has culturally diversified American societies. Consequently, the U.S. education system has experienced a myriad of challenges in meeting the diverse demands of learners. However, achievement gaps remain a major concern for scholars and researchers. Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994) introduced the concept of CRP as a strategy to respond effectively to cultural diversity in education. At the core of CRP is the incorporation of students’ diverse cultures and the teacher’s ability to develop teaching plans and methodologies in line with students’ backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge. Even though CRP has taken the forefront in academic discourses for decades, ethnic and racial minorities persist in the U.S. education system. Therefore, findings from this research will add value to ongoing discussions on how the education system can address cultural disparities in academic achievement. In the next chapter, I will discuss the methodologies used to answer the research questions.