The Opportunity Gap at the Classroom Level: Validation of the Classroom Multicultural Competence Measure

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Purpose of study
The overall purpose of this dissertation is to validate the Classroom Multicultural Competence Measure (CMCM). The CMCM is a classroom observation instrument developed by the researcher that captures how equitably learning opportunities are distributed in a classroom. I call this construct classroom multicultural competence and operationalize it using the CMCM. The term classroom multicultural competence has been chosen to connect with two existing fields of study – classroom culture and multicultural competence. Classroom culture refers to the norms, values, and relationships within the classroom setting. Multicultural competence is the knowledge, awareness, and skills that an individual possesses in interacting with people across and within social identity categories, such as race, class, and gender. The goal is to bridge these ideas into a new, measureable construct, classroom multicultural competence.

The CMCM is an observational instrument that captures a set of classroom level multicultural processes in teacher-student and student-student interactions. The instrument is focused primarily on assessing multicultural pedagogy, not multicultural content. The focus of the measure is to examine how equitably opportunities for learning are distributed across students of various race and gender intersections. Because the equitable distribution of incompetent teaching is not of value, the notion of competence is embedded in the idea of opportunity as described in the CMCM Model (See Appendix A). Classrooms that score high on the CMCM have highly competent and highly equitable teachers.

The CMCM includes dimensions, such as frequency, willingness, and quality of participation in classroom activities. These dimensions are signified by behavioral indicators that include raising hands, asking questions, making comments, doing favors for a teacher, and interacting with peers. There are four types of notations included when using the measure – frequency counts of individual student behavioral indicators, individual student summary ratings, one global classroom rating, and one teacher rating of equitable distribution of learning opportunities, as well as qualitative field notes.

The impetus for this study rests on the following principles: optimization, multiculturalism, intersectionality, and the merging of theory and practice. As a dissertation in the Applied Developmental Psychology Program at Fordham University, the proposed study is focused on the improvement of educational contexts toward the end of optimizing the development of students. In this case, optimization means reducing the opportunity gap in the classroom. The present study explicitly rejects a deficit-based paradigm (Ladson-Billings, 2007). The CMCM is based on theories of multicultural education (Banks & Banks, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1998), and it is focused on equity pedagogy. Because much of the research on the persistence of opportunity gaps (Milner, 2010) is focused at a macro level, the CMCM fills a gap in the literature in understanding mechanisms of opportunity gaps in classrooms. This validation study of the CMCM is also intentionally intersectional. The impact of social identities, such as race and gender - or race and class, are experienced simultaneously; therefore, it is important to bring this intersectional knowledge into the research context (Cole, 2009). Frequently, educational research describes effects on black students and white students or on boys and girls. But, because students occupy their race and gender at the same time, these social identities are inextricable. This is why this study of the CMCM is focused on the intersection of race and gender, though the CMCM is designed flexibly enough to focus on other social identities in future studies. Finally, the CMCM exists at the nexus of theory and practice. The instrument itself was developed while doing research in classrooms drawing on both the research literature and the researcher’s many years of practical experience as a classroom teacher. The goal of the study is to validate the CMCM so that it can have utility among education researchers and practitioners, such as teachers and school leaders.

Study design and methods
This validation study of the CMCM includes Study 1 to check face validity of the instrument and Study 2 to examine various types of reliability and validity. Reliability is how consistent a measure is in assessing a concept. (Crano & Brewer, 2002). Validity is defined as the judgment about the extent to which the adequacy and appropriateness of a construct can be supported by theoretical evidence (Crano & Brewer, 2002; Messick, 1989). “This definition suggests that validity is not a thing, a feature of a measure, but rather an aspect of the interpretation of a measure. As such, validity is always open to question, review, and revision.” (Crano & Brewer, 2002, p. 46) The goal of the dissertation is to develop and assess the inter-rater and test-retest reliability and the criterion, discriminant, and convergent validity.

Utilizing the MET dataset, the dissertation will address the following questions using quantitative and qualitative analytic procedures.

Study 1 – Measure and Observer Procedure Refinements
What refinements are needed to allow the CMCM to best capture behavioral indicators related to the construct of classroom multicultural competence?

The measure will be tested for content validity and measure sensitivity. Observer procedures will be examined for accuracy, representation, and targeting. The goal of this study is to set acceptable standards to use for Study 2, the validation study.

Study 2 - Validation
A purposefully selected representative sample of 40 video recordings from the MET dataset will be utilized to answer the following questions about the various types of reliability and validity. The representativeness criteria include: 4th and 5th grade, both ELA and math video recordings must be available, multiple video recordings per year must be available, geographic location, and teacher race and gender. Inclusion criteria also include: clear audio and visual recording and demographically diverse students in the classroom.

1. How do classes score on the CMCM? (Tables1-2 in Appendix B.)

2. Is the CMCM a reliable and valid instrument?

2.1 Reliability
A. Stability. B. Test-retest reliability. C. Inter-rater reliability. (Tables 3-4 in Appendix B.)

2.2 Validity
A. Construct Validity. B. Content Validity. C. Criterion, Convergent, and Discriminant Validity. D. Predictive Validity. (Description in Appendix C.)

3. Can the opportunity gap be measured at the classroom level?
Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) will be used to analyze the data. (Description in Appendix D.)

Findings and policy implications
The study is currently at the proposal stage; however, the data analysis phase of the project is scheduled to begin in October. Therefore, there are no findings to report at this time.
The practical implication of the proposed study is to build the capacity of all teachers to work effectively with all students.

Author

• Tinia R. Merriweather, Ethical Culture Fieldston School / Fordham University