Challenges to Implementing Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in an Elementary School

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Thirteen
  In Roundtable Session: Challenges of Accountability, Activism, and Standards in Educative Spaces (Table 4)

Abstract

While culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) emerges from decades of theoretical and empirical research on culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy (Banks, 1995; Cazden & Leggett, 1976; Gay, 1994, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994, 1995; Villegas & Lucas, 2007), the field is still in its nascent stages in terms of identifying practical challenges to the implementation of CSP in U.S. public schools. This paper uses a descriptive qualitative case study methodology to examine the challenges teachers experienced while implementing CSP in their elementary classrooms. The findings indicate that teachers experienced challenges to implementing CSP in their classrooms because of a policy mandating the strict implementation of a new ELA curriculum and inconsistent school leadership with regard to CSP and the district-mandated curriculum.

Author

• Alison K. Munzer, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author