Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Ruby Burgess

Abstract

As the study site district became more diverse, providing educational opportunities that met all learners’ needs became more urgent in a large US school district. The local problem was that little is known about how teachers perceive their use of equity practices in diverse classrooms. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of their understanding and use of equity practices as well as suggestions for improvement. The study was grounded by Banks’ three dimensions of multicultural education: content integration, knowledge construction, and equity pedagogy. Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight full-time high school teachers with at least 4 years of teaching experience, who had attended equity professional development sessions, and who had participated in biweekly professional learning communities. Open and axial coding was used to categorize the data into more specific categories. The findings are that study participants could not distinguish between equity practices in general and the use of multicultural education content. In addition, none of the participants actively used multicultural content or strategies recommended by other theorists. When Banks’s dimensions were clarified, study participants implied they used content integration and equity pedagogy the most. A 3-day professional development project was designed to improve teachers’ understanding of the dimensions of multicultural education and their application in diverse classrooms to improve students’ academic outcomes across the district. The findings from the study can promote positive social change as teachers develop and strengthen their intra and intercultural capacities and use of research-based equity practices to facilitate student learning and academic progress.

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