Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has become increasingly used within academe. There has not been much research, however, into how much CRP is being used within the public school system. I am particularly interested in the area of professional development. This report seeks to answer the questions, how have issues of diversity influenced professional development in the past, and how is the theoretical framework of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) used within professional development today? I begin with the reasoning behind my exploration of these questions and the problems that we are facing today within the educational system. I then provide an in-depth description of what I understand to be culturally relevant pedagogy. A historical survey of culturally-centered professional development is then presented, followed by a look at current research and writing on culturally relevant professional development. / text

Historical context of African Americans within agriculture has produced negative perceptions of agriculture within African American populations today. Furthermore, many minority youth who reside in urban areas are disconnected from agriculture because of lack of access, limiting contact to food production systems to consumption. In rural areas that are dedicated to agriculture and farming, youth can witness agricultural principles daily and many of them have lived experiences with agriculture. Non-formal educational programming such as 4-H is beneficial for exposing and including urban youth into agricultural educational programming. 4-H programs can connect with schools, after school programs and other youth organizations in urban areas to reach youth but the needs of this audience must be attended to. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand design principles that can be beneficial in increasing urban youth participation in 4-H agricultural programming while also utilizing culturally relevant pedagogy facets within 4-H programming. Seven 4-H agents were interviewed with individual and focus group interviews. Descriptive coding, in-vivo coding, and value coding methods were utilized during first cycle coding. Literature from Gloria Ladson-Billing's theory of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) was utilized to frame the research questions, a priori table, and interview guides in the study. Findings from the study indicated that CRP facets were emerging in 4-H programming and within 4-H agents. Although, CRP facets are emergent, design principles for 4-H programs must be developed to ensure issues such as equity, diversity, and inclusion is represented throughout all 4-H programs. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / Utilizing 4-H programming to connect urban youth to agriculture education is an important concern for 4-H agents. Urban youth are disconnected from agriculture unlike rural youth. Agricultural educational programs can be embedded into urban communities to expose youth to agriculture. Non-formal educational programs such as 4-H are intended to reach all youth, providing youth opportunities to participate in STEM, robotics, agricultural, and sport activities. Although 4-H is a national program it does not have strong presence in many urban communities. Design principles of 4-H programming can be challenged and examined to assess and develop strategies that are useful in engaging urban youth in programming. Acknowledging 4-H programs as non-traditional for urban youth because of the historical context of oppression between African Americans and agriculture is important for change. Educational spaces where youth cultures are considered when developing programming are important. Culturally relevant pedagogy is a framework that focuses on being culturally relevant in educational spaces by considering how teachers interact with students. The framework challenges teacher's ability to consider academic success, youth culture, and critical consciousness within instruction. This framework is important for youth being at the center of educational efforts for their success. Agents participated in two interviews one individual and one focus group. The interviews focused on agent experiences and opinions about 4-H programming efforts to successfully engage urban youth, agent strategies, and success and failures of processes within 4-H programming. Findings indicated that facets of CRP are emergent in 4-H programming, and agents discussed new design principles for successful engagement of urban youth.

The purpose of this dissertation study was two-fold. First, the study explored how personal and professional experiences shaped three Latina bilingual Maestras’ identities. Secondly, this qualitative study further explored how histories framed a meaning of pedagogy for the Maestras. Presented in case studies, there were four themes that emerged across the three case studies: First, taking on the role of advocate; second, becoming a leader through professional development; third, developing critical thinkers using relevant classroom practices; and fourth, reflexivity for critical consciousness. Data were manually coded, themed and analyzed to answer the following research questions: Theoretical lenses framing this dissertation study include figured worlds and situated identities, critical race theory/Latina critical theory and sociocultural theory to analyze the data gathered through interviews, narratives, classroom and field observations, classroom and teacher artifacts, lessons and informal conversations collected over nine months of study as this dissertation study attempted to understand the findings as complex componentes entrelazados (interwoven components). The data were gathered in the classrooms and school campuses of three elementary schools across two school districts in two South Central Texas cities. The results provided six findings and they are 1) Tracing the positioning of Maestras, 2) Identifying opportunities of autoring self, 3) ¿Qué es ser maestra? What does it mean to be a maestra?, 4) Identity, culture and language: Racialized notions, 5) Taking on the role of advocate and finally, 6) Learning from lived experiences. The research revealed how Maestras’ positionings challenged structures of oppression in school and education in general and how opportunities for critical dialogue can support development of a more critical concientización (consciousness) and perspective, viewed through a social justice lens. / text

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Application of the culturally responsive teaching (CRT) initiative to practice may be challenging because each school community is unique. The individualized nature of CRT renders that research on successful CRT practices is only mildly, if at all, applicable to practicing teachers. As a result of these barriers, little is known about the process of becoming culturally responsive. The purpose of this study was to document my process in seeking to become a culturally responsive music educator. Critical Race Theory shaped this study. The emphasis on white culture in public high school choir curricula does not reflect the diverse populations in music classrooms today. Many of these classrooms are led by white teachers like myself, requiring that we interrogate our race and how often it affects the learning environment in our classrooms. Autoethnographic methods were used in this study. Three sources of data were gathered: my journal, lesson plans, and other teaching artifacts including student work. The data were then condensed into three stories: a) the story of me; b) the story of my teaching; c) the story of my students. Self-reflection, self-assessment, and self-analysis took place through questioning which included: a) “How does my whiteness affect my teaching?” b) “How often were suggestions from scholarship used?” c) “How did my attempts at culturally responsive teaching affect my students?” Through this work, I found that developing awareness of my whiteness, my biases, and assumptions, and how they influence my instructional choices was the most important step towards CRT. I often observed myself in a self-imposed binary: either I was ‘successful’ or ‘a failure’ at being culturally responsive. My disposition about CRT has changed because now I understand that teaching responsively is not a binary but a continuum. Each day I may exist in a different place on the continuum. Therefore, I will always be becoming culturally responsive. An individual’s process of becoming culturally responsive can only be learned through autoethnographic techniques. Additional autoethnographies conducted by teachers who are attempting to become culturally responsive may assist in finding trends.

This hermeneutic phenomenological study emerged from concerns about the ways teachers’ pedagogical practices are affected by growing diversity in their classrooms and continuous education reform. Drawing on the perspectives of critical pedagogy and postcolonial literary theory, this study also explored the tension that exists between what students ought to learn in schools and what they actually learn. Data was gathered through two interviews and a classroom observation with each of eight high school language arts teachers in South Florida to gain an understanding of how they use their pedagogical practices to navigate changes that occur in the practice field and create spaces to utilize culturally responsive pedagogy in their implementation of the current secondary school English/Language Arts curriculum. Teachers’ reflections on their experiences, descriptions of the climate of their practice and how teachers create spaces for culturally responsive pedagogy were analyzed to consider how their pedagogical practices conform to or challenge the structural and normative assumptions of the practice field. Findings revealed that despite the constraints imposed on their pedagogy by education reform, including standardization of their practice, all teachers used culturally responsive pedagogy in their classrooms to achieve state mandated goals, albeit at a foundational level. While teachers unencumbered by standardized testing expressed higher levels of freedom to make pedagogical choices in their classrooms, all participants suggested that prescribed curriculum and resources could do more to represent students’ needs and growing diversity in schools rather than standardized assessments. Furthermore in their implementations of culturally responsive pedagogy, teachers continue to use students’ voices to represent standardized curriculum and universal literary themes rather than establishing them as curriculum in their own right. As such, this study’s findings extend discussions by educational and postcolonial literary theorists regarding whose knowledge has legitimacy as a part of curriculum especially in a practice field that emphasizes student performance at state mandated levels above all else. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has been a topic in education since 1995. Since Gloria Ladson-Billings presented her grounded theory, some teachers have adopted this approach in general education. According to limited data-based resources specifically about music education and CRP, it seems that music educators might have limited knowledge of what CRP is and how to implement its tenets effectively in their classrooms. This thesis is a critical analysis of CRP through a discussion of each of its three components: academic success, building cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness. After a brief history of multicultural education and some background on Gloria Ladson-Billings and her research projects that suggest effective ways to educate African Americans, the ideas of CRP are applied to a sixth grade general music setting. Recognition of teachers’ own biases, as well as their cultural values, is presented as an important part of building cultural competence for themselves and their students. Sociopolitical consciousness has the potential to empower students to address inequities and when music educators use CRP in their classrooms they help affirm and celebrate student culture. Applying the tenets of CRP, music standards and benchmarks are used to develop a unit on hip-hop music and culture. This model can be adapted to other contexts for music educators to use in their classrooms. Background information is provided of the art form to help guide understanding and explore its application to music education to suggest further research on this topic.

As a culturally relevant alternative to traditional public school environments, Independent African Centered schools feature a particular type of culturally relevant pedagogy. This study explored the teachers’ and administrator’s perceptions and applications of African Centered pedagogy in an African Centered school. Interviews, observations and a document review served as the source of data for this study. This basic interpretive study utilized a qualitative research design to explore the perceptions and application of African Centeredness among the participants. An analysis of the data revealed categories and themes related to the school’s mission and the participants’ perceptions and performance of African-centered pedagogy. Three general conclusions were drawn from the findings. Implications for theory, study limitations and recommendations for future research are provided.