<p> While many pre-service teachers successfully passed the state licensure test, a large percentage of students from diverse school districts continue to score below average on their ending standardized state test. Instruction in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) might diminish the discrepancy between student performance and teacher performance. The research question was: How do the three university teacher education programs prepare pre-service teachers to teach CRP? The purpose of this qualitative study was to compare three distinctive TEPs regarding how they prepare pre-service teachers to respond to the learning needs of culturally diverse student populations using CRP. Three distinct Midwest TEPs participated in this study: a Black urban and public university, a White private suburban university, and a White private rural university. The participants included three chairs/deans and 103 pre-service teachers. A qualitative case study design was selected because it can describe a real-life phenomenon. Data sources were triangulated and included interviews of chairs/deans, Culturally Relevant Teacher Self-Efficacy (CRTSE) survey results of pre-service teachers, and mission statements from the three universities. Results included ten interview themes: caring, respect, trust, relationship, student diversity, family values, sensitivity and cultural differences, student centeredness, vicarious experience, and infusion of CRP in TEP. </p><p> The results revealed that there were no important differences between the three TEPs and that they (a) comply with the state diversity standard in varying ways; (b) have chair/deans who understand CRP and are confident their TEPs prepare students to use CRP; and (c) have pre-service teachers who have above average self-confidence in all four categories of Culturally Relevant Teaching (CRT). The only mal-alignment was chair/deans confidence that they were developing pre-service teachers who are sensitive to cultural differences, but pre-service teachers lacked confidence (lowest scores, though still above average) in having the skill to create a culturally enriched environment. There appeared to be a discrepancy in what they believe they are doing and what they are actually doing. TEPs should realign the mal-alignment discovered in the interview and survey data by providing pre-service teachers the opportunity to develop skill in being sensitive to cultural differences (doing it) through cultural enrichment (having it).</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3668133 |
| Date | 24 January 2015 |
| Creators | Lawary, Yvette |
| Publisher | Lindenwood University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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