Culturally Inclusive and Responsive Curricular Learning Environments: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study

• In Event: 47.031 - Mixed-Methods Research on Learning and Motivation in Social and Cultural Contexts

Abstract

Cultural inclusion, cross-cultural openness, and positive intergroup relationships are essential considerations as schools are becoming increasingly multicultural because of shifting demographic patterns in the U.S. To understand such shifting demographics and aid schools' responses to them, we proposed the Culturally Inclusive and Responsive Curricular Learning Environments (CIRCLEs) model based on culturally relevant/sustaining pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 2014; Paris & Alim, 2017), social identity and social categorization theories (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and intergroup contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954/1979; Pettigrew & Troop, 2006). We investigated this model using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. In the qualitative phase, we conducted focus-group interviews in culturally varying school contexts to capture students’ voices and to develop a questionnaire. We conducted 57 focus group interviews with students (114 Arab-Americans: ArA, 41 Chaldean: Chal, 48 African Americans: AfA, and 100 European Americans: EuA) who discussed their school experiences with respect to interactions with teachers and peers, the curriculum, and school policies. Analyses of the interviews revealed overarching themes that reflected CIRCLEs dimensions: (a) perceptions of teachers as prejudiced and culturally insensitive vs. respectful and culturally responsive, (b) classroom curriculum as culturally responsive and inclusive vs. unresponsive and exclusive, (c) intergroup and intercultural relationships in school, and (d) school policies and practices as inclusionary vs. exclusionary. Across the four themes (positive and negative codes within each theme) inter-rater reliability using Cohen’s Kappa ranged from substantial (.72, to .75) to almost perfect (.84, to .99) (Viera & Garrett, 2005).
In the follow-up quantitative strand, we developed an instrument to measure the CIRCLE features with survey items informed by students’ statements from the focus group interviews and examined the applicability and psychometric generalizability of the CIRCLE questionnaire across groups in 12 culturally diverse middle schools. The themes identified in the qualitative phase were aligned with the CIRCLE subscales in the subsequent quantitative phase (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). We conducted a multi-group second-order confirmatory factor analysis based on data from ArA (977), Chal (244), AfA (270), and EuA (1423) student groups. Nine models from least to most restrictive were tested (Bryne & Stewart, 2006; Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1998). A review of the CFI, CFI, TLI, and RMSEA fit indices indicated that while a completely restrictive model did not fit the data well, a more realistic model—in which factor loadings, intercepts, and variances were constrained to be equal—provided a good fit for the multi-group data. The integration of the interview data analysis and confirmatory factor analysis support the need for cultivating cultural self-other awareness and intercultural openness to multiple ways of thinking and being among teachers and students. This can be achieved through sensitively designed culturally inclusive curricula and by implementing school policies and programs responsive to student diversity. Accordingly, the assessment of CIRCLE constructs provides actionable information potentially usable for addressing student needs in multicultural school contexts.

Authors

• Jeffery Warnke, University of Toledo

• Revathy Kumar, University of Toledo

• Stuart A. Karabenick, University of Michigan

• Susan L. Hany, University of Toledo

• Nancy Seay, University of Toledo