Date of Conferral

8-7-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

John Harrison

Abstract

The problem that was addressed throughout this study is that 53% of minority students do not reach proficiency on the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking test compared to the 42% of other student populations at Grover High School (GHS, a pseudonym), a large and diverse high school, despite targeted school improvement interventions each school year. Grounded in Ladson-Billings’s culturally relevant pedagogy, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to investigate ELA remedial teachers’ perspectives on reading strategies and instructional planning tools that might help minority students close the academic achievement gap. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 ELA remedial teachers. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase inductive thematic analysis process. The following themes were identified: ELA remedial teachers focused on (a) culturally relevant instruction; (b) direct and explicit instruction; (c) parental and community involvement to support classroom interventions; (d) small-group and individualized instruction; (e) use of assessment data; and (f) integration of technology. The findings indicate that ELA remedial teachers are using general strategies that have not shown to be successful for minority students. Therefore, a training project was developed to allow collaboration on additional strategies and approaches which might better support minority students. Positive social change might be promoted if strategies and approaches are developed and tested that could eventually help minority students to learn, which, in turn, would allow them the opportunity to be successful in their educational efforts.

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