Education Commons^™

A Time To Create Change: A Case Study Of Culturally Relevant Education, Colleen Kopay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An opportunity gap exists in the United States school system where students of color score lower on standardized tests and have fewer opportunities than their white counterparts. Culturally Relevant Education (CRE) theory attempts to close this gap, and is defined by Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) as

Pedagogy that rests on three criteria or propositions: (a) Students must experience academic success; (b) students must develop and/or maintain cultural competence; and (c) students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the current social order (p. 160).

In short, CRE is the use of culture, rigor, and critical …

Making The Invisible Visible: Redefining Giftedness To Include Ell Students’ Community Cultural Wealth And Funds Of Knowledge, Molly I. Pargas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study used improvement science methods to investigate a problem of practice surrounding the underrepresentation of ELL students in GT programming. This research addressed how teachers define giftedness using their underlying knowledge frameworks. The researcher conducted empathy interviews with parents of ELL students and a team of teachers to determine what the underlying issues are regarding the underrepresentation of ELL students in GT. The parent empathy interviews were coded using the combined conceptual framework of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005) and funds of knowledge (Moll et al, 1992). Through this process the types of capital and funds of knowledge were …

Culturally Familiar Texts To Improve Reading And Writing Outcomes For High School English Language Learners: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study, Taryn Courtney Robertson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that culturally relevant pedagogical strategies are essential for improving culturally and linguistically diverse student achievement. However, there is little research about which specific strategies provide the largest impacts. And there is even less research on which strategies help LatinX English Language Learners achieve academic success in the areas of reading and writing. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of utilizing culturally familiar text, as compared to culturally unfamiliar text, on reading comprehension and summary writing outcomes for secondary LatinX ELL students. This study sought to determine if there were statistically significant differences in reading …

Culture And The Classroom: Teachers' Perspectives Of Ethnic And Racial Culture In The Middle School Classroom, Rachel E. Heide

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public education has experienced an unprecedented growth of diversity within the student population and accompanying that growth are inequities that are present in our schools and communities. Many school teachers and administrators have a limited awareness of how their own class, gender, and race impact their work, and often, do not see how their views about others' class, gender, and race help to reproduce the social hierarchy. These limited or uneducated views may also contribute to the achievement gap that exists between students belonging to the minority and non-minority groups.

It is important to study these views and ask whether …