Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Tahseen Muhammad ED 7202 NET

Statement of the Problem  Hypothesis: Students’ who perceive their teachers to be culturally responsive would perceive a greater sense of teacher support and a greater sense of belonging within the school.  The purpose of the current study iss to develop a measure of students’ perceptions of culturally responsive teaching practices.  The increasing disparity between the cultural backgrounds of students and teachers in the public schools has prompted the need for teaching practices that are culturally sensitive and responsive (Gay, 2002).  The need for culturally responsive pedagogy is further exemplified by reports indicating that students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience academic achievement at significantly lower rates than others (U.S. Department of Education, 2005).  As our understanding of the importance of culturally responsive teaching continues to develop, it is important to have adequate measures of culturally responsive teaching practices.

Methods  Parental consent form  Pre-Test survey/questionnaire  Post-Test survey/questionnaire  2(45 minute) periods per week for 4 weeks

Details  School belonging. The Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (PSSM; Goodenow, 1993) is  18 Likert-type items that measure the extent to which students feel that they are accepted and belong within their school. Response ratings range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree).  Teacher support. The Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASS; Malecki, Demaray, Elliot, & Nolten, 1999)  a 60-item assessment of students’ perceived social support. Sample items include: “My teacher (s) care about me”; and “My teacher (s) makes it okay to ask questions.”  CASS provides five subscale scores of perceived support from teachers, parents, classmates, close friends, and the school.

Experimental Design  This Action Research Project uses the Quasi- Experimental Design known as Nonequivalent Control Group Design  The participants come from two groups (two separate classrooms).  The groups are randomly assigned.  Both groups will be pre-tested.  Only one group will be exposed to a treatment.  Both groups will be post-tested.

Threats of Validity Internal ValidityExternal Validity  Generalizable Conditions  It is likely that this study could be reproduced in another school setting and possibly improves literacy comprehension for students.  Experimental Effects  The interaction the experimenter will have with the teachers in the study will be passing out of the surveys and permission to access their classrooms during literacy lessons twice a week. The experimenter’s gender and age compared to the student’s teacher may have an impact on how students feel about the experimenter.  History  Historical events can cause an internal validity threat. is a possibility of natural disaster or bad weather that may cause schools in the area to close down, therefore delaying any progress in the research. Students may also lose focus if a change in weather occurs outside their windows during periods of research, therefore impacting their pre and post test treatments.  Testing/Pre-test Sensitization  Surveys will only be conducted once, therefore no threats are seen. Pretest can affect posttest if students become more familiar or comfortable with exams and their formats.  Instrumentation  There will be no instrumentation changes affecting the internal validity of the main conclusion.  Selection-Maturation Interaction  Participants in the study could mature and/or have a change of mind about their feelings towards their teachers due to their adjustment into normal classroom routine.

Survey Question: “I feel like my teacher cares about me”  Likert Scale  1. Strongly disagree  2. Disagree  3. Agree  4. Strongly agree

Correlation: Students’ knowledge with students’ comfort StudentKnowledgeComfort #122 #224 #333 #422 #522 #643 #733 #833 #923 #1033 rxy

Correlation: Students attitudes towards Social Studies Pre/Post Test StudentPrePost #134 #213 #322 #444 #533 #634 #722 #844 #934 #1023 rxy

References  O’Connor Petruso, S. (2008, February). Descriptive Statistics. Seminar in Applied Theory and Research II. Course at Brooklyn College Graduate School of Education, Brooklyn, New York, USA.  Gay, G. (2002). Culturally responsive teaching in special education for ethnically diverse students: Setting the stage. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 15(6), doi: /  U. S. Department of Education, NCES. (2005). The condition of education NCES , Washington, D.C., U. S. Government Printing Office.  Malecki, C., & Kilpatrick Demaray, M. (2002). Measuring perceived social support: Development of the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale. Psychology in the Schools, 39(1), doi: /pits.10004