Culturally Responsive Instruction:Session Objectives

• Awareness of need for culturally responsivity• Understand the impact of culture on individuals and

systems• Review your own cultural beliefs and behaviors so

you can broaden your own cultural responsivity to others’ (students’) cultures

• Develop culturally responsive pedagogy

“Unawareness of the need to adapt means failing to recognize the need to make personal and school changes in response to the cultural diversity of students with whom one interacts simply because it never occurred that there was a problem.”

Lindsey, R.B., Roberts, L.M., & Campbell Jones, F. (2005). The culturally proficient school: An implementation guide for school leaders. P. 71.

Terra Nova OPI Means and Standard Deviations by Ethnic GroupSubject Areas

Ethnic Group

Reading Language Mathematics

Science Social Studies

Total

White (n=121)

67.37*(14.19)

67.21*(16.93)

61.04*(15.32)

63.68*(14.78)

68.78*(13.08)

66.31*(18.10)

African-American (n=32)

54.66(14.90)

53.63(14.36)

47.22(12.52)

51.16(13.91)

53.84(12.47)

51.09(14.33)

Hispanic (n=34)

61.76(14.18)

63.44(20.47)

54.88(14.79)

64.50*(16.58)

63.68*(15.74)

61.09(17.97)

Asian (n=17)

57.24(11.36)

58.35(14.33)

54.29(13.84)

55.59(11.35)

58.88(9.80)

56.65(14.30)

Multiracial (n=14)

62.93(13.65)

60.43(14.48)

61.29*(11.15)

62.36(10.49)

65.07(14.79)

62.21(14.29)

* OPI mean is significantly higher than the OPI mean obtained by the African-American group.

•Males OPI mean is significantly higher than the OPI mean obtained by Females.

DoDEA NAEP Results

Terra Nova OPI Means and Standard Deviations of African American Students by Gender

Subject Areas

Gender Reading Language Mathematics Science Social Studies

Total

Male (n=17)

58.94(15.61)

53.82(13.74)

50.41(9.65)

55.53*(9.20)

56.65(10.32)

53.76(13.79)

Female (n=15)

49.80(12.88)

53.40(15.52)

43.60(14.64)

46.20(16.80)

50.67(14.23)

48.07(14.80)

According to research, African American students’ academic achievement scores can be increased through culturally responsive instruction. “Teachers must reflect on their own experiences and analyze their own cultural heritage to be able to understand varying cultural perspectives and make culturally responsive instructional decisions.”

Delpit, L. (2006). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom.

As an educator of diverse students, what can you do to make your classroom more culturally responsive?

Formative assessment, which focuses on continuously observing students’ interactions in class and thoughtfully examining students’ work, can help teachers adapt their instructional practices to meet the unique needs of students from diverse cultures.

http://www.nccrest.org/

Roy, J. (2009). Achieving cultural proficiency in schools (Doctoral dissertation).

Engage teachers in collaborative action research to improve their cultural awareness and help them identify culturally relevant topics and culturally responsive instructional strategies to “change the manner in which they work with students who are culturally different from themselves”.

Caro-Bruce, C., Flessner, R., Klehr, M., & Zeichner, K.M. (2007). Creating equitable classrooms through action research.