dc.contributor.author	Mathews, Kimberly Lynn
dc.coverage.spatial	United States	en_US
dc.coverage.temporal	2022-2024	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2024-05-15T14:55:33Z
dc.date.available	2024-05-15T14:55:33Z
dc.date.issued	2024-04-23
dc.identifier.other	9474BC70-25AE-F390-4B32-4EE42A2CF40B	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10428/7177
dc.description.abstract	A qualitative case study was used in this study to gain insight into six elementary school teachers’ use of culturally relevant pedagogy. The teachers self-identified as culturally relevant teachers who foster high academic achievement, cultivate cultural competence, and develop critical consciousness in students to help them understand and analyze the world’s social order. Through storytelling, interviews, classroom observations, student work, and the participants’ reflections on their practices, this study provides a way to describe how teachers use culturally relevant pedagogy in their elementary classrooms and the approaches they use when teaching African American elementary students. The guiding questions for the research are as follows: What are the experiences of six elementary teachers of African American students who self-identify as using culturally relevant pedagogy in urban elementary schools in the South? What practices do these teachers use to help African American students learn? How do teachers of African American students in urban elementary schools in the South implement culturally relevant pedagogy? The findings provide insight into the practices of those who use culturally relevant practices to improve learning for African American students. The findings showed that each participant provided a picture of how they intentionally built positive relationships in their classrooms by showing care, compassion, and affirmation of praise to students, having high expectations, and pushing their students beyond their comfort zone. Several participants shared their overall purpose and source of motivation for teaching. Each participant shared meaningful ways of engaging students and their home culture while cultivating critical thinking and social awareness through critical content. Provided also were commendations for teacher professional learning, aiming to make their practice of culturally relevant pedagogy more impactful. Keywords: academic achievement case study, cultural competence, culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), critical consciousness, descriptive sketches	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	Abstract i -- List of Tables vi -- List of Figures vii -- Acknowledgments viii -- Dedication ix -- CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 -- The Problem at Hand 3 -- Background of the Study 9 -- Rethinking the Achievement Gap 10 -- Blaming, Deficit Thinking, and the Birth of CRP 11 -- Concepts Related to CRP 13 -- My Personal Story 17 -- Purpose and Significance of the Study 20 -- Research Questions 23 -- Theoretical Framework 23 -- Cultural Difference Theory 25 -- Cultural Competence Theory 29 -- Validation Theory 32 -- Critical Race Theory 35 -- Definition of Terms 37 -- Summary 39 -- CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 40 -- Historical Context of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 41 -- Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Critical Race Theory 48 -- Multicultural Education and CRP 52 -- Educating African American Students 58 -- The Emergence of African American Schools 64 -- Disparities and African American Students 68 -- Teachers of African American Students 71 -- Summary 87 -- CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODS 89 -- Research Design: Case Study 89 -- Context 90 -- Research Questions 91 -- Participant Selection 92 -- Data Collection 99 -- Interviews 99 -- Observation of the Lessons 105 -- Researcher Memoing Journal 106 -- Artifacts 108 -- Data Analysis 109 -- Transcribing the Data 110 -- Coding 113 -- Pre-coding/Preliminary coding 114 -- The first cycle of coding 118 -- Second cycle coding: Pattern coding. 126 -- Theming the Data 129 -- Validity and Reliability 131 -- Researcher Subjectivity 132 -- Reactivity 136 -- Triangulation 139 -- Creating Biographical Sketches 141 -- Summary 142 -- CHAPTER IV: MEET THE PARTICIPANTS 143 -- Descriptive Sketches 144 -- Participant 1: Brianna 146 -- Participant 2: Nova 150 -- Participant 3: Alexis 155 -- Participant 4: Octavia 158 -- Participant 5: Regina 160 -- Participant 6: Evva 163 -- Summary 166 -- CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION OF MAJOR THEMES 168 -- Discussion of Primary Themes 169 -- Topic 1: Building Positive Relationships 169 -- Building relationships of care. 170 -- Using affirmation and praise to build positive relationships. 175 -- Topic 2: Establishing High Expectations 181 -- Topic 3: Having a Sense of Purpose and Connection 191 -- Topic 4: Using Critical Content Instruction 197 -- Topic 5: Using Unconscious Deficit Thinking and Bias Language 207 -- Topic 6: Lack of Formal Training on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 213 -- CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION 223 -- Research Questions Revisited 224 -- Assertions 226 -- Implications for Practice 228 -- Directions for Future Research 231 -- Limitations 232 -- Assumptions and Delimitations 234 -- Final Thoughts 234 -- Summary 235 -- REFERENCES 237	en_US
dc.format.extent	1 electronic document and derivatives, 296 pages. 3612114 bytes.	en_US
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copsyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.	en_US
dc.subject	Academic achievement	en_US
dc.subject	African American students	en_US
dc.subject	Case studies	en_US
dc.subject	Cultural competence	en_US
dc.subject	Culturally relevant pedagogy	en_US
dc.subject	Dissertations, Academic--United States	en_US
dc.subject	Education, Elementary	en_US
dc.subject	Education, Urban	en_US
dc.subject	Elementary schools	en_US
dc.subject	School children	en_US
dc.title	Case Study of Teachers Using Culturally Relevant Pedagogy with African American Elementary Students	en_US
dc.type	Dissertation	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department of Leadership, Technology, and Workforce Development of the Dewar College of Education and Human Services	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Schmertzing, Lorraine C.
dc.description.committee	Schmertzing, Richard W.
dc.description.committee	Suriel, Regina L.
dc.description.degree	Ed.D.	en_US
dc.description.major	Education in Curriculum and Instruction	en_US