The Distribution of Culturally Responsive Instructional Practices Among Middle and High School Mathematics Teachers

• In Event: Conditions and Effects of Professional Learning Partnerships Focused on Ambitious and Culturally Responsive Instruction

Abstract

Purpose
Despite CR instruction’s potential role in addressing the marginalization of various student groups (Howard & Rodriquez-Minkoff, 2017), few large-scale studies have examined mathematics teachers’ CR instruction (Comstock et al., 2022). Systematic information about mathematics teachers' CR instruction and beliefs may help educators and leaders by identifying areas where support is most needed. Thus, we explore the following research questions:
1. How are CR instructional practices distributed across teachers and schools? Specifically:
a. Which practices are more and less commonly used?
b. What are characteristics of teachers and schools where teachers are using more and less common CR practices?
c. How do colorblind racial attitudes influence teachers’ use of more and less common practices?

Theoretical Framework
To conceptualize CR instruction, we draw on the three core elements that both Ladson-Billings’ (1995) culturally relevant and Gay’s (2018) culturally responsive pedagogies emphasize: students’ academic achievement, cultural competence, and critical consciousness. We theorize that teachers may not attend to each of these elements equally (Young, 2010). Colorblind racial attitudes—beliefs that racism is not a problem today (Neville et al., 2000)—could be related to teachers’ use of these elements, as teachers need an understanding and appreciation of race in order to engage in CR instruction (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2011).

Data
We used mathematics teacher survey responses from spring 2021 (n=437), drawing on items that attended to the frequency with which teachers engaged in individual CR teaching practices, teachers’ endorsement of color-blind beliefs, and demographic information including race, teaching experience, and grade level. We used one colorblind attitude scale and two CR instruction scales, each of which showed acceptable reliability (Table 2).

Methods
We examined descriptive statistics to show how often teachers engaged in specific CR instructional practices. Then, we used structural equation modeling to analyze how colorblind racial attitudes influenced teachers’ CR instruction involving more and less common practices.

Results
We find that while teachers report overall low use of CR instruction, they vary in which of the specific practices they enact more and less frequently (Table 3). The most common CR practices we label “inclusivity practices.” They are related to leveraging student interests and cultural backgrounds for learning, attending to representation, stereotyping, and prejudice in materials, and using instructional methods and activities that increase the self-confidence of and meet the needs of diverse learners. The least common practices we label “critical practices.” These relate to identifying biases in materials and instruction, designing lessons that demonstrate how different cultural groups use mathematics, and integrating sociopolitical issues into instruction. Further, teachers report low levels of colorblindness—meaning they do recognize race and racial problems. We found no relationship between colorblindness and either critical or inclusive CR instruction.

Significance
Our findings have implications for identifying which CR instructional practices need more support to enact. Additionally, the low and non-predictive nature of colorblindness may indicate a mismatch between teachers' understanding of sociopolitical issues related to race and their ability or willingness to engage in more critical practices involved in CR instruction.

Authors

• Samantha Akridge, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author

• Nicholas S. Bell, University at Albany - SUNY
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura M. Desimone, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erica Litke, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author