The purpose of this study was to identify the link between culture and pedagogy through the implementation of the Common Core Standards with the goal of increasing the instructional outcomes of African-American students. This study investigated culturally relevant pedagogy implementing of Common Core Standards through the variables of teacher efficacy, instructional delivery of Common Core Standards, cultural synchronization, and cultural sensitivity. Furthermore, the research examined Ladson-Billings criterion for culturally relevant teaching and its application to the 21st century student as they encounter Common Core Standards. This research was conducted at a primary public school with a large minority population and located in the suburbs of Atlanta. The participants in this study were certified classroom teachers, support teachers, and instructional lead teachers. Data were collected in a triangulated fashion through surveys, interviews, observations, and attitude scales. The study findings manifested how the characteristics of culturally relevant teaching aligned with regulated standards could create a connection between culture and education for African-American students. The findings and conclusions of this study suggest that cultural characteristics of teachers have an impact of culturally relevant pedagogy implementing Common Core Standards. Teachers are cultural beings and utilize their own cultural backgrounds to identify differences between themselves and African-American students. These differences manifested themselves as teachers worked to implement new standards while using culturally relevant teaching practices. Practical implications and recommendations based on findings and conclusions are offered in this study.

The purpose of this study was to revise the Awareness of Privilege and Oppression Scale (Montross, 2003) and to improve upon the psychometric properties of the original instrument. The APOS-2 is a diversity training outcome measure that is designed to measure the social justice-related construct awareness of privilege and oppression. I retained 26 items from the original APOS (Montross, 2003) and utilized an expert focus group to generate new test items for the APOS-2. Feedback from an expert rater group was solicited and then incorporated into the APOS-2 to help reduce the number of items, improve item content, and evaluate content validity. The newly revised scale was then administered to a combined sample of 484 undergraduate students at a large public university through an internet-based survey. Item-analysis procedures and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with direct oblim oblique rotation were utilized to further reduce the number of items and then determine the psychometric properties of the final solution. The EFA of the APOS-2 data provided support for the theoretical four-factor solution. The observed Cronbach alpha reliability estimates for the final 40-item total score and subscale scores were as follows: Total score (.92), Awareness of Heterosexism (.84), Awareness of Sexism (.73), Awareness of Classism (.84), and Awareness of Racism (.86). The APOS-2 correlated low and positively (r = .29) with a measure of openness to diversity and negatively and close to zero (r = -.10) with a social desirability measure. These collective data suggest the APOS-2 may be a viable alternative to the original APOS with a stronger initial effort to link item content to the extant literature, improved subscale reliability estimates, continued support for the use of the theoretically derived subscales, and a predictable relationship with measures of convergent and discriminant validity.

In this study, I examine the factors that influence school districts’ commitment to implement ESL (English as a Second Language) education in compliance with the federal Bilingual Education Act of 1968. To explain variation in implementation effort, I focus on several features of the local implementation environment, including the role of Latino descriptive representation. Utilizing data on all public school districts in Texas, I employ a Heckman two-stage estimation procedure that accounts for factors that influence school districts’ decisions to implement bilingual education programs as well as factors that affect the amount of resources school districts are willing to allocate towards bilingual education. The results indicate that Latino school board and teacher representation play a positive and statistically significant role in determining: 1) whether school districts implement bilingual education programs; and 2) the level of expenditures and teacher positions allocated towards bilingual education. Thus, policy implementation outcomes translate into substantive representation.

The research question of the study asked "In the post 2010 earthquake, what are the conditions faced by Haitian immigrants in accessing primary public education in the Dominican Republic"? Within the context of primary education, the study takes place in the town of Comendador, the capital of the Elías Piña province in the Dominican Republic. Using a mixed methods approach, incorporating ethnographic methods and database analysis, the study documents the voices of Haitian and Dominican parents, Dominican school personnel, non-governmental organization (NGO) officials and community stakeholders. Within the construct of access, there are six areas of focus: educational policy, curriculum and instruction, professional development and resources, parent involvement, intercultural communications, and praxis. Data collection tools included field notes, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, analysis of the Latin American Opinion Project (LAPOP), and analysis of a household composition database. The findings of the study indicate six themes: (1) educational policy, Dominican law provides Haitian children with school registration, yet school officials are allowed the flexibility of adherence; (2) curriculum and instruction, using a national curriculum, teachers are not providing a comprehensible education to Haitian students; (3) professional development and resources, teachers recognized the need to make instruction meaningful for Haitian students; (4) parent involvement, undocumented Haitian parents did not feel safe at school sites; (5) intercultural communications (ICC), educators' behaviors towards Haitian immigrant children and parents demonstrated empathy, yet lacked more advanced levels of ICC and, (6) praxis, there was an absence of advocates for Haitian. In the case of stakeholders and educators in Elías Piña the study suggests that, for the most part, few had the experience and background to understand the complexity of Haitian immigrant students and families who expressed living in fear of the authorities, suspicion of who to trust, and despair with regards to living day to day. While education for their children was seen as a positive need for survival in the Dominican Republic, Haitians' lack of understanding of the Dominican educational system leads to the perception that Haitian immigrant parents were not engaged in the education of their children.

The natural hair movement has spread across communities of Black women from all parts of the nation. As a result, natural hair websites have provided women information about hair styling tips and products for naturally textured women to embrace their curls. In addition, natural hair sites provide information about toxins found within cosmetic products, including commercial hair relaxers, which have been positively associated with uterine fibroids in Black women. In this thesis, I recognize this as an environmental health issue and showcase how this movement has addressed these environmental injustices by providing information about cosmetic toxins through social media platforms dedicated to natural hair.

Goals 2000 and No Child Left behind have developed a new timeline for language acquisition, have promoted the practice of teaching to the test rather than the understanding of content, and High School Exit Exams have led to the widening of the achievement gap between ELL students and their Non-ELL counterparts. In additions, the policies’ narrow definition of success leads to federal sanctions that penalize schools with ELL student populations further contributing to the widening of the gap.

This narrative inquiry dissertation explores stories from three students over a two-year trajectory as they develop into language educators in diverse contexts. The study begins in a teacher education course focused on technology for language teaching in English as a second language (ESOL) and foreign language education (FLE) classrooms. As instructor, I implemented a digital storytelling (DS) project with the pedagogical goal of supporting the much-needed practice of reflexivity, and specifically, reflexivity of intercultural competence (IC) and culturally-responsive pedagogy (CRP). The DS, as an autoethnographic multimodal narrative activity, provided a creative outlet for undergraduate and master’s level students to explore their own cultural background or intercultural experiences. In this study, I re-story the experiences related to the DS project and follow my former students, now teachers, to explore how personal narratives promote or support reflexivity of critical multicultural concepts or practices. I combine and juxtapose multiple perspectives based on observations, data from the student-authored DS and reflections, and in-depth interviews. Using a critical-based autoethnographic approach, I add my own instructor-researcher narrative. The resulting descriptive and interpretive narrative inquiry accentuates complexities, invites conversation about the critical and reflexive potential of DS or personal narrative, and contributes pedagogical and methodological insights into teacher training via the “meaning-making” story process and the innate accessibility of learning through stories.

Latinos are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States and have higher dropout rates compared to other groups. Moreover, problem behaviors are common in preschool classrooms, and the incidence of these problems is higher for children from low-income families. The purpose of this study was to understand Latino children's problem behaviors in the context of peer play interactions and identify those variables that influence such behavior. 265 five and six-year-old Spanish-speaking children (53.6% female) attending Head Start or kindergarten participated in the study. Additionally, 198 mothers and 78 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten lead teachers participated in the study. Child level data were gathered through the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale, Teacher (PIPPS-T), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition (PPVT-4), and the Test de Vocabulario en Imágenes Peabody (TVIP). Maternal data were obtained from the Demographic Parent Interview, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Breve Inventario de Síntomas (BIS). Both correlations and the multilevel models showed play disconnection related negatively to the child’s English proficiency and positively to maternal depression. Results suggest that children with lower English proficiency tend to be more disconnected from their peers as compared to children with higher English proficiency. Similarly, mothers with higher levels of depression symptoms had children with higher levels of play disconnection (internalizing behaviors). The current findings are consistent with previous studies and relevant to both researchers and practitioners.

In U.S. schools, Black and Hispanic youth receive discipline in the form of office discipline referrals and out-of-school suspensions at a rate greater than their White peers. Contributing factors to this “discipline gap” may be found across a number of ecological variables. Therefore, multifaceted and systemic interventions such as school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) should be evaluated for their effectiveness in producing more equitable school discipline rates. In light of mixed evidence for the relationship of SWPBIS with discipline equity, the purpose of this study was to examine the merits of five critical elements of SWPBIS for reducing discipline rates for Black and Hispanic students and for closing the discipline gap. Among a sample of 322 Florida SWPBIS-implementing schools serving a total of 292,490 students, SWPBIS fidelity’s relationships with discipline rates and with disparities were investigated. The Benchmarks of Quality, a psychometrically sound measure of SWPBIS fidelity completed by a school-based team and an external coach, was completed at each school. Results of multiple linear regression analyses indicated that higher fidelity to SWPBIS Classroom Systems was related to decreased discipline risk for all students, including Black and Hispanic students, but not more equitable discipline practices. Higher fidelity to SWPBIS Expectations was related to higher suspension risk among Black students while higher levels of Recognition were related to more equitable suspension practices. No significant relationships were observed between Lessons and Data Analysis and disciplinary rates or equity. Implications for the research and practice of SWPBIS are discussed, along with connections to other lines of research addressing educational equity.

As a student enrolled in the Claremont Colleges, there are a variety of different ways in which I can engage with the greater Inland Empire community. The community-based programs, classes, and projects offered by the Colleges all have specific focuses, whether they be community service, community studies, or language improvement. This Media Studies Senior Thesis focuses on two community programs offered by the Claremont Colleges, the first being the Spanish Practicum program offered at Pitzer College. This half credit course places a group of three students with a “Promotora” (Promoter) or a Mexican immigrant residing in the Ontario community. Once a week, students are expected to travel to their Promotora’s house, speak with her only in Spanish, eat meals with her, and explore her Ontario community. Secondly, I will include a section about Huerta del Valle, a community garden in Ontario, California, which was created by a teacher of the Spanish Practicum program and a Pitzer alumnus. Even though this garden functions completely separately from the Claremont Colleges, Pitzer students have the opportunity to enroll in the Ontario Program and complete a semester studying urban garden, social engagement, and community planning alongside Huerta del Valle volunteers and organizers. This Media Studies project completed in conjunction with the Spanish Practicum Program and the Huerta del Valle program is a photographic essay about my personal experience as a student of the Spanish Practicum program, an article recounting the history of the Spanish Practicum program from the perspective of its creator, and a transcribed interview and series of photographs of the founder of Huerta del Valle as well as a student participant/leader/alumnus of the Pitzer Ontario program. These collections of writing and photographs are presented in the form of a webpage with multiple sections that I have coded as to experiment with visual storytelling, color, and design techniques. Furthermore, through this project I explore the communal significance of personal narratives, and the work they do to construct and contribute to a shared understanding of a program, event, or experience. These personal narratives that I have collected as oral histories will serve to give the community-based programs offered at the Claremont Colleges a human face, illuminating the tendency of dominant histories to discredit their intimate back stories.