CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING
Paying the Education Debt: The New 30 Acres and a Mule
Achievement Gap or Education Debt?
Educators work feverishly throughout the year to implement strategies to close the achievement gap. Researchers argue against the term achievement gap as it may depict some student groups as academically superior to others, conceptualizing students of color from a deficit perspective, and not taking into account systemic racist & discriminatory practices that have contributed to the gap (Ladson-Billings (2006) and Milner (2012).
Instead, Irvine (2010) argues that other gaps contribute to this academic disparity including teacher quality gap, teacher training gap, the challenging curriculum gap; the school funding gap; the digital divide gap; the wealth and income gap; the employment opportunity gap; the affordable housing gap; the health care gap; the nutrition gap; the school integration gap; and the quality childcare gap” (p. xii).
Paying the education debt owed by providing engaging, rigorous, culturally responsive learning environments for students to learn would presumably address the achievement gap observed between students of color and their White and Asian peers.
Problem
Recent findings from a 2017 curriculum audit in Klein ISD reveal disparities between the academic performance of Hispanic and Black students compared to their White and Asian peers, underrepresentation of students of color in advanced courses, and overrepresentation of students of color receiving exclusionary disciplinary consequences such as ISS and OSS.
When We Say "ALL" Do We Really Mean It? A Closer Look at Klein Oak High School
Klein Oak is an increasingly diverse campus.
Demographics of the 9th-grade class:
430 are boys
455 are girls
121 are African American
303 are Hispanic
360 are White
Exclusionary Discipline Disproportionately Impacts Students of Color
Academic Performance Effected by Exclusionary Discipline Practices
The expected data indicated that all students would have an equal number of ISS and OSS, however, the observed data showed that students of color received a disproportionate amount of ISS and OSS compared to White or Asian students, particularly African American students. African American 9th grade students were more likely to have both ISS and OSS.
Plan
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Since most disciplinary referrals are subjective, teachers must engage in critical self-reflection about why they write up certain students more than others. As our country continues to grow more and more diverse, disproportionate disciplinary practices with these major shifts in demographics indicate a need for teachers to become culturally competent to better serve the learning needs of students of color.
Teachers who are culturally responsive are better able to engage, inspire and motivate students of color by valuing their cultural perspective and empowering them to critically engage in their learning experience. They teach using students' culture as a filter in which to learn. Students' cultural background is centered in the classroom and viewed as an asset to advance teaching and learning. By doing so, culturally responsive teachers avoid cultural miscommunication and disengaged learners that could result in disciplinary consequences and loss of instruction, thereby perpetuating the achievement gap.
Research has shown that no one teaching strategy will consistently engage all learners. The key is helping students relate lesson content to their own backgrounds.
REFERENCES
Irvine, J.J. (2010). Foreword. In H.R. Milner’s (Ed.). Culture, curriculum, and identity in education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.
Milner, H.R. (2012). Beyond a test score: Explaining opportunity gaps in educational practice. Journal of Black Studies 43(6), 693-718.