Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Gloria Ladson-Billings (2009) wrote, "No challenge has been more daunting than that of improving the academic achievement of African American students." African American students have needs falling outside of mainstream teaching. For teachers to assist African American students to become successful requires a unique set of specialized skills and approaches. Culturally relevant teaching emboldens students academically, politically, publicly, and psychologically through the usage of cultural references conveying intelligence, attitudes, and skills. The principles of culturally relevant teaching will be examined through a quantitative study and applied in developing an instrument measuring to what degree culturally relevant teaching practices are utilized in teaching. The intent is for the instrument to be employed in future studies to link the usage of strong, consistent, culturally relevant teaching to student achievement. In Chapter 1, I describe the importance of culturally relevant teaching practices relating to student success. The relationship between culturally relevant teaching practices and student academic success becomes apparent throughout the introduction. In subsequent segments, I examine the magnitude of culturally relevant teaching practices along with measuring the effects of teaching practices in classrooms on student achievement.

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