This paper is an ethnography, meaning the study of a group of people more closely related to the customs and culture of the group of people. This was done as part of the coursework to receive a Masters in Education and a Preliminary Multiple Subject teaching credential in California. I began by looking at how the varying experiences throughout my life have shaped me into wanting to become a teacher. This is a place in the ethnography where I evaluate my own schooling and look at who impacted my life academically. Through looking at these people, I was able to see the kind of learning style I flourish in, which lead me into how I plan on teaching. Once I wrote about how I plan on teaching I evaluated why I want to teach special education. The next phase of this writing is looking at three specific students in my classroom and is an analytical view of who the child is and why they are the way they are. We were told we needed to look at an English Learner, a student who had experienced a significant life experience, and a student on an IEP. This process was very helpful in being able to understand the child holistically because we needed to participate in a home visit. We also needed to look at the child’s personality, strengths, and weaknesses in and out of school. All of these steps helped me to better understand my students. As the research continued I looked at the community and my classroom. Looking at the history of the community through research and through a personal interview allowed me to see the community and be able to understand more. I was able to see how the community has evolved and how their passion for education has remained the same through it all. When looking at my classroom, I saw the growth my students had made over the course of the school year.

This study includes the experiences of six first-generation Latinx alumnae who attended three private, predominantly-White universities in Southern California. It applied a critical race theory (CRT) framework and an anti-deficit ideology to their experiences. Importantly, because the participants and the researcher are of different identities, the study employed principles of culturally responsive methodologies (CRM). Most quantitative research and existent theory concerning first-generation Latinx collegiate women excludes the voices of first-generation Latinx alumnae, so this study included the telling of their counter-stories concerning their undergraduate experiences. These experiences included identity-threat, microaggressions, and the enactment of White privilege. Additionally, their counter-stories contradict majoritarian stories concerning first-generation students and their families, as well as institutional values of fairness, meritocracy, colorblindness, and diversity. The methodology of the study was CRT counter-storytelling. Concepts of narrative inquiry informed the research design. Counter-stories of the participants were shared during conversations and interviews, then interpreted using the framework of CRT and a method of thematic analysis. All members of the study have graduated with a bachelor’s degree, and their experiences provide direction for additional research concerning first-generation theory as it applies to Latinx collegiate women, as well as implications for policy and praxis regarding the future experiences of Latinx students on U.S. higher education campuses.

The cultural and linguistic diversity of the United States is growing rapidly and early intervention service providers are very likely to work with families whose cultures differ from their own. Service providers must consider the multiple cultural factors of families which contribute to family dynamics and the potential for miscommunication is high when the cultural frameworks of early intervention providers differ from those of the families they serve. Culturally responsive practices have been put forth in the theoretical literature as a way to increase successful communication and service provision but there is limited research investigating the beliefs, experiences, and practices of early intervention providers regarding cultural responsiveness and the efficacy of specific practices. This study utilized an exploratory case study methodology with multiple case analyses to investigate the expressed beliefs and practices of in-service early intervention providers regarding culturally responsive practices and comparing them to the tenets of best practice set forth in the conceptual literature. Specifically, the study tested the theory that cultural responsiveness is an integral component of effective early intervention service provision.

The purpose of this research study was to explore how the significance of place serves as a part of Indigenous—specifically Diné (Navajo)—education cultural responsiveness in the art classroom. Further, objectives of the study included learning how North American art teacher educators can more effectively weave Indigenous understandings of place into pre-service art teacher education to benefit Indigenous learners' needs. I employed a qualitative approach to this study using multiple methodologies: ethnography, phenomenology, an Indigenous research methodology, and arts-based research. Through personal interviews with six participants—two Diné artists, two art teacher educators, and two unfamiliar art teachers new to reservation-serving schools—I sought to locate culturally situated perspectives and values. The goal of the interviews was to gather ideas about the significance of place, about relationships between place and art, and about art teacher preparation for teaching in Diné-serving schools. The design of the study also included new unfamiliar non-Diné art teacher preconceptions and in-situ learning experiences of teaching on the reservation. Beyond the participant interviews, I engaged an arts-based exploration of my experiences with Diné people as an outsider/insider member of the Diné community. The artwork I created also helped weave together data from participant interviews. Findings from the Diné artist participants suggested that places hold significance in Diné culture, art making, and the display or use of art. According to Diné epistemological perspective, place is more than just a physical location, and different from some mainstream ideas about place. For Diné interviewees, place is a container of aspects of life such as energies, nature, spirits, people, and a multitude of other significances, some tangible and some intangible. Findings from interviews with art teacher educators of other Indigenous groups also indicated that place is significant to many Native American peoples, and the idea of that significance is difficult to transmit to Euro-American pre-service teachers. Interviews also indicate that focusing teaching education on social justice theories and employing Native American art and artists can assist in the preparation of pre-service art teachers to teach in reservation or pueblo communities. However, there are deeply rooted cultural concepts that come into play once the new teacher reaches her/his teaching assignment community. Lastly, findings revealed that new unfamiliar art teachers experience a number of obstacles upon entering Diné communities when their prior understandings about the place is limited. Challenges include understanding acceptable cultural observances, student proclivities, and art making practices. Understanding significance of place, stereotyping concerns, and positionality challenges are among the themes that arose as a result of cross-participant analyses. The implications of this research study advocate for: a) building further knowledge about educating pre-service teachers about cultural relevance, stereotyping, and positionality in Native American-serving art classrooms; b) the need for continued cultural learning and mentoring in-situ; and c) the need for unfamiliar art teachers to develop culturally relevant teaching practices with the help of people in the community.

This critical ethnography focuses on the practice of an Indigenous-serving charter school in Arizona and how it created space to practice culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous youth in an era of school accountability and standardizing educational reforms. Urban Native Middle School (pseudonym) opened for four years before being closed under tremendous state pressure from high-stakes testing accountability measurements. This study uses data spanning two periods of data collection: archived data collected at the time of the school's operation, and follow-up data tracking educators', parents' and students' experiences after the school's closure. Careful examination of student, educator, and parent narratives about the school during its years in operation illuminate how adults and youth co-authored a unique reterritorializing both/and discourse, building a school community of practice around connections to mainstream standardized knowledge and local Indigenous knowledges. The transformational potential of the schools both/and approach offered students access to strength-based both/and identities. The second phase of the study, which followed educators', parents', and students' into new school environments, illuminates practices of educational negotiation on the part of participants within geographies of limited educational opportunity for Native youth, both urban and rural. With four years of data collection, this study expands understanding of how Indigenous families choose among available educational environments in landscapes of limited school options and policy labels which fail to address the on-the-ground realities of schooling in Indigenous communities. For the Indigenous educators and families in this study, navigating school choice in an era of high-stakes testing reflects an enduring struggle of American Indian education with educational policy. This study's findings suggest that the transformative potential of both/and schooling has positive and wide reaching implications on the school experience of Native youth, and further illuminates the persevering practices of Indigenous educational survivance in seeking access to more equitable, culturally sustaining educational experiences. With implications for practice and policy, this anthropologic case study of an Indigenous-serving charter school considers the powerful impacts of human relationships on student learning and critiques the injustice perpetuated by snapshot accountability measurements which deny students' spaces for cultivating bridges to access imagined futures.

Education and its associated resources continue to be unequally administered and delivered in the United States. All stakeholders in the education of the nation‘s children—parents, teachers, unions, school administrators, principals, community members and students, should be concerned with the inequities which abound in the country‘s education system African American male cohorts are particularly vulnerable in the US population as they face a series of challenges that continue to threaten their achievement, including those students who are academically gifted. The purpose of this study was to examine and interpret the philosophy, ideology, and educational practices of five teachers of African American males in gifted and talented programs in an urban secondary school. The following research questions guided the study: (a) How do teachers describe factors that promote achievement with African American males in Gifted and Talented Programs? (b) How do the life experiences of teachers influence their advocacy for African American males in Gifted and Talented Programs? (c) How do Gifted and Talented teachers of African American males participate in and influence identification and referrals of African American males in Gifted and Talented Programs? The naturalistic paradigm of inquiry guided the study to collect and analyze data. The participant sample consisted of five teachers of African American males in gifted and talented programs in an urban secondary school. In addition to a detailed review of the literature related to this population, data came from in-depth interviews and classroom observations. Data from the audio recorded and transcribed (verbatim) were analyzed using a thematic analysis. Some of the major findings reveal that the educational demographic landscape in the US and in Texas in particular highlights an underrepresentation of African Americans, and especially African American males in gifted and talented education. The themes that emerged from the study reveal that valuable insight can be gained from teachers of this cohort which can inform educational practice and policy. The teachers reported to be working hard for the success of all students and not just those from minoritized backgrounds. Nonetheless, all five teachers were committed to believing that all of their students had the potential to be successful, albeit some with more challenges than others. Their experiences and backgrounds frame their ideologies and in turn the way in which they teach and interact with these learners. It is important to note that despite these differences and diversity in their racial/ethnic backgrounds, each teacher reflects deep commitment and passion for these learners. The overall goal reported by the participants is to encourage creative problem solving, to develop content mastery, to serve as a role model for their students, regardless of racial or ethnic background. Ultimately, they believe that these are the keys to the success of all students, and particularly for African American male gifted and talented middle school students.

The beliefs that teachers have about teaching and learning have an influence on the practices that teachers implement. This is particularly relevant, although not exclusively, to teaching practices that meet the needs of Māori students in our bicultural learning environments of New Zealand. There is a growing amount of research to support the use of student voice data, the benefits of which can be seen at a school level, at the classroom teacher level as well as for the individual students themselves. This research project focused on exploring the impact of students sharing their thoughts and opinions about their learning, (i.e.: student voice data) on influencing teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. In doing so it explores effective facilitation of this process in a bicultural learning environment. In particular it investigates the potential of a combination of specific tools, notably student focus groups and coaching conversations with teachers to influence teachers’ beliefs. This study took place in two low decile schools in Christchurch. It involved focus groups of Māori and non-Māori primary-aged students, alongside teacher reflective interviews being conducted on repeated visits. Its findings identified approaches for accessing authentic student voice in a bicultural learning environment. The thoughts and opinions shared by Māori students highlighted a focus on their own learning as well as celebrating their culture. Teachers reacted to student voice by making connections to their classroom programmes, and by accepting or dismissing more provocative statements. These reactions by teachers helped emphasize the most helpful methods for reflecting on this data. Their reflections, used alongside a specially designed ‘Teacher Belief Gathering Tool’, ascertained that teachers’ beliefs were both reaffirmed and changed through guided reflection and coaching conversations on student voice data. Teachers’ knowledge of effective teaching and learning, their motivation for changing their teaching practices, as well as witnessing success were all considerable factors in teachers changing their beliefs.

Technology use in high-minority, low-income middle school ELA classrooms is defined by traditional instructional practices (Applebee & Langer, 2013; Attewell, 2001; Boser, 2013; Cuban, 2001; Lankshear & Knobel, 2008), barriers to access (O’Dwyer et al., 2005; Purcell et al., 2013; Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010), and inequalities in use (Banister & Reinhart, 2011; Beers, 2004; Gorski, 2009; Makinen, 2006; Powell, 2007; Reinhart et al., 2011; Dijk, 2003, 2006; Warschauer et al., 2004). This characterization, or grand narrative, of technology use is echoed and challenged by this narrative inquiry. Here the stories of two ELA teachers frequently using technology in instruction and working in a high-minority, low-income middle school are examined, guided by the following research puzzle: What might I learn about teaching with technology from two middle school ELA teachers utilizing technology in a high-minority, low-income school? In what ways might participants’ stories mirror or differ from the grand narrative of technology use in high-minority, low-income middle schools? In what ways might this inquiry expand general knowledge of technology use in high-minority, low-income, middle-level classrooms? The resulting narratives are considered in terms of culturally responsive teaching (Delpit, 1994, 1995; Gay, 2000; Irvine, 2002; 2003; Ladson-Billings, 2006), digital literacy (Gilster, 1997; Knobel & Lankshear, 2006; Martin, 2008), and stage-environment fit theory (Eccles & Midgely, 1989; Eccles et al., 1993; Eccles & Roeser, 2011). Findings from this inquiry suggest technology increases engagement and is a distraction, technology makes teaching easier, and barriers hinder technology use.

Too often teachers see mathematics as a culturally neutral subject. Teacher educators need to be aware of their own practice and how it impacts the facilitation of preservice teacher learning, in particular in relation to elementary mathematics and culturally responsive teaching. This qualitative self-study focused on understanding a teacher educator’s enactment of an espoused platform in an integrated instructional third space of an elementary field experience and an elementary mathematics methods course in relation to culturally responsive teaching and mathematics. The research questions guiding this self-study were: (1) In the context of the selfstudy, to what extent do I enact my espoused teacher education platform in the integrated instructional third space that exists at the intersection of an undergraduate elementary field experience and an undergraduate elementary mathematics methods course in relation to culturally responsive teaching and mathematics?; with one sub question (a) What facilitators and challenges do I face as I try to navigate living out my espoused platform within this third space?; (2) In the context of the self-study, how do I transform as a teacher educator while engaging in the process of framing and reframing my platform within this integrated instructional third space? The study took place in the unique context of an integrated instructional third space with the same person who served as the instructor of the mathematics methods course and field supervisor. Data collection included the researcher’s teacher education platform, field notes from observations, and field notes from pre and post conferences with preservice teachers, documents and artifacts from teaching, and a researcher’s journal. The findings pointed to a set of routines of practice for teacher educators to engage in while facilitating preservice teacher learning about culturally responsive teaching and mathematics knowledge for teaching. The routines of practice included: probing questions, utilizing personal connections, offering suggestions, modeling, and targeted activities. The findings also included facilitators and barriers to the process of working with preservice teachers in the integrated instructional third space in relation to their learning of culturally responsive teaching and mathematics; they include: relationships with preservice teachers, relationships with collaborating teachers, and critical conversations. This study has implications for teacher education program design, mathematics course development, field experience course development, and teacher educator professional development.

Current accountability measures require English language arts (ELA) teachers to teach literacy skills to all students. However, the population of mainstreamed students is becomingly increasingly diverse and includes students on the autism spectrum for whom literacy skills may lie in opposition to population characteristics. Further, educators are encouraged to respond to students in culturally responsive ways, and current teacher evaluation systems often require teachers to demonstrate cultural competence. However, a dearth of research provides insight into the ways secondary ELA teachers perceive their students on the autism spectrum, or how they interact with those students or support them in culturally responsive ways. This narrative multiple case study was undertaken to examine how five new ELA teachers perceived their students on the autism spectrum and if they enacted culturally responsive practices with them. Further, because the teachers were new to the profession with three years or fewer teaching experience, the study examined in what ways they constructed knowledge about how to teach the population. Themes emerged suggesting, among other things, that 1) ELA teachers perceive both strengths and challenges for their students on the autism spectrum within their content area, 2) ELA teachers rely primarily on other people to help them learn how to teach students on the autism spectrum because other resources are lacking, and 3) ELA teachers tend to demonstrate more culturally responsive practices over time with their students on the autism spectrum depending on the nature of their experiences. I propose a model to capture movement in culturally responsive practices for the autism spectrum utilizing Gay’s (2010) characteristics of culturally responsive pedagogy.