Teachers’ Evolving Thinking About Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education: Changes During a Professional Learning Program

• In Event: Supporting Teacher Growth: Pedagogy Rooted in Culture

Abstract

This embedded case study examines how teachers developed understanding of culturally responsive-sustaining education across a year-long professional learning program. Using cognitive flexibility theory, the researchers designed a professional learning community (PLC) grounded in analysis of video cases to help teachers develop deeper, more complex knowledge on using culturally responsive-sustaining practices to foster student engagement. Through analysis of recordings from ten PLC meetings and final interviews with teachers, this paper examines how teachers’ comments demonstrate changes in thinking over time and how PLC interactions appear to shape those changes. The study has implications for designing professional learning experiences that deepen teachers’ thinking on culturally responsive-sustaining practices in ways that can engage and support the learning of diverse students.

Authors

• Kristy Cooper Stein, Michigan State University

• Tara Miyoko Kintz, Michigan Assessment Consortium

• Joanne E. Marciano, Michigan State University

• Zhamilya Yessirkepova, Michigan State University