CULTURALLY-RELEVANT BIOGRAPHIES AND PEER INFLUENCE AS
CATALYSTS OF CHANGE IN A PROFESSIONAL TEACHING
COMMUNITY
Teresa M. Burke
B.S., University of San Francisco, San Francisco, 1978
J.D., University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, 1983
THESIS
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
at
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
SPRING
2010
© 2010
Teresa M. Burke
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ii
CULTURALLY-RELEVANT BIOGRAPHIES AND PEER INFLUENCE AS
CATALYSTS OF CHANGE IN A PROFESSIONAL TEACHING COMMUNITY
A Thesis
by
Teresa M. Burke
Approved by:
____________________________________ , Committee Chair
Lisa William-White, Ph.D.
____________________________________, Second Reader
William T. Owens, Ph.D.
____________________________________
Date
iii
Student: Teresa M. Burke
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University
format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to
be awarded for this thesis.
______________________________________
Albert Lozano, Ph.D.
Department of Bilingual and Multicultural Education
iv
______________
Date
Abstract
of
CULTURALLY-RELEVANT BIOGRAPHIES AND PEER INFLUENCE AS
CATALYSTS OF CHANGE IN A PROFESSIONAL TEACHING COMMUNITY
by
Teresa M. Burke
Statement of the Problem:
The topic of the achievement gap is perceived to be a “taboo” topic at an elementary
school where the African American students have failed to meet their target goal on
standardized testing every year since measurements have been published.
Sources of Data:
Twenty-five teachers responded to a questionnaire about 40 historical African American
figures African American, all of whom were perceived to have left a lasting legacy of
relevance to all people regardless of race or culture. Following the survey, two focus
group sessions and two interviews were conducted.
v
Conclusions Reached:
Teachers and all those from the school’s professional teaching community, who
participated in the study, embraced the opportunity to engage in a discussion of race,
culture and achievement. Teachers welcomed the idea of a culturally-relevant pedagogy
and were observed to need support in grasping the broader scope of the concept.
Teachers found it difficult to discuss a single, marginalized group and generally targeted
language, vocabulary, and class as reasons for the achievement gap of African American
students.
_____________________________________ , Committee Chair
Lisa William-White, Ph.D.
______________________
Date
vi
DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to my husband, Patrick A. Smith, for his support, tolerance, and
unending patience with a multitude of diverse endeavors undertaken over the last thirty
years.
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply grateful to the professional teaching community for taking this journey with
me. It is an honor and privilege to work, serve and learn with them.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Dedication ............................................................................................................. vii
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………….…..viii
List of Tables ........................................................................................................ xii
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1
Background of the Study ............................................................................ 2
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................ 6
Research Questions ..................................................................................... 8
Limitations of the Study.............................................................................. 8
Definition of Terms................................................................................... 10
Organization of the Study ......................................................................... 12
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................... 13
The Achievement Gap .............................................................................. 13
Culturally-relevant Pedagogy ................................................................... 18
Education Debt.......................................................................................... 23
Transforming Teachers, Transforming the School Community ............... 25
3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 29
Research Goals.......................................................................................... 29
Setting & Background of the Investigation .............................................. 29
Research Design........................................................................................ 34
ix
Population ................................................................................................. 34
Procedure .................................................................................................. 35
Data Collection & Tabulation ................................................................... 36
4. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA ............................................................................ 39
Research Questions……………………………………………………………………….39
Themes…………………………………………………………………………………………39
Survey Results .......................................................................................... 40
Survey Anxiety ......................................................................................... 46
Teacher Knowledge .................................................................................. 48
Teachers and Curriculum .......................................................................... 52
Racism....................................................................................................... 54
High Stakes Testing .................................................................................. 58
Fear ........................................................................................................... 60
5. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. 61
Conclusions ............................................................................................... 61
Recommendations ..................................................................................... 65
Appendix A: Historical Figures Survey – Teachers/Student Teachers ............... 68
Appendix B: Consent to Participate in Research .................................................. 74
References ............................................................................................................. 76
x
LIST OF TABLES
1. Table 3.1: Teacher Demographics.……………………………………………..35
2. Table 4.1: Years of Teaching/Percent Correct………………………………….42
3. Table 4.2: Age/Percent Correct…………………………………………………43
4. Table 4.3: Grade Level/Percent Correct…………………………………………44
5. Table 4.4: Historical Figure/Percent Correct……………………………………45
xi
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
In many relationships there exist unspoken, taboo topics. Imagine a professional
teaching community, dedicated on many levels to the growth and development of a
diverse population of students living in poverty, where the achievement gap is a taboo
topic. Imagine further that the concept of multicultural education is never a discussion
topic and is not evidenced in the school curriculum or culture in any clear fashion. At the
K-5 elementary school where this research was conducted, this has been the case for
more than ten years. As a White, fifth grade teacher at the site, I set out to examine the
power of peer influence and its ability to alter the landscape of discourse at the school.
Rather than proceed through formal channels or attempt to begin informal discussions via
book studies, lesson studies, or committees which I deemed too time intensive, I searched
for a tool that would serve as a catalyst to stimulate discussion and new ways of thinking.
Ultimately, I undertook to explore, in depth, the biographies of African Americans,
whose stories were either partly or fully unknown to me, with the intent of sharing the
knowledge gained with my peers. Proceeding under the belief that my knowledge was
not too dissimilar from that of my peers, I selected forty biographies from my reading and
assembled a questionnaire that highlighted stereotypes and misconceptions, along with
actual facts, pertaining to these and other African Americans. Was it possible that the
questionnaire itself could stimulate thought, challenge beliefs, highlight gaps in the
adopted curriculum, and enlighten other teachers while they assessed their own
knowledge of historical, African American figures in the same way I had assessed myself
2
throughout my reading? I sought to determine whether a questionnaire, and the focus
group sessions that followed, could breech the taboo at the school and engage the
teachers and administrators in a discussion of the achievement gap as the first steps in
bringing culturally-relevant curriculum, in the form of African American biographies,
into the classrooms.
Background of the Study
After President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in January of
2002, state departments of education began calculating an Academic Performance Index
(API) for schools for the purpose of reporting compliance under NCLB and related state
laws. The calculation is based on the results of annual standardized testing of students in
grades two and up. Calculations for the elementary school, where this research was
undertaken, were first reported in 2004. Using that year as a base, the API for the school
was calculated at 624 for the first time. The growth target set by the state for the
following year was nine points. The target was not met, but rather the school dropped by
three points. In the subgroup of African American students, the base was 650 and the
growth target was seven points. The actual result for this subgroup was also a drop - of
19 points. There was very little discussion at the site regarding the discrepancy in the
numbers other than to identify them. It was disturbing and disappointing to me that a
concerted effort to begin addressing the discrepancy was not planned or even discussed.
In 2006, the target for the school was nine points, and the actual result was a drop
of five points. In the African American subgroup, the target was nine points, but the
actual result was also a drop of five points. In 2007, the school experienced its first real
3
success, raising its API by 30 points, 21 points higher than its target. However, it failed
to meet the overall API requirement, since a failure in any subcategory is a failure
overall. The African American subgroup that year failed to meet its growth target of nine
points, and in fact dropped four points. The discrepancy was now even harder to ignore,
but still no plans were made to engage in problem solving relevant to the needs of this
particular subgroup. Feeling ill-equipped to deal with the issue and understanding that
little if anything would be done when the topic could not be openly discussed due to the
culture of the community, I enrolled in a master’s program in multicultural education. I
felt compelled to achieve a level of personal comfort in discussing the needs of this
minority group of students, or at least to learn to appreciate, in a positive way, any
tension that such a conversation generated.
Finally, in 2008, the school exceeded its growth target by 28 points with an
overall growth of 35 points, achieving an API of 688. While many factors no doubt
contributed to the gain, one of them stood out. The African American subgroup for the
first time was considered numerically insignificant and the growth or drop of the
subgroup’s performance was not calculated at all, let alone included in the overall
numbers. The change in population did not come as a shock, as the decline in enrollment
of African Americans had been noted and the effect on the API calculations anticipated.
The overall school growth was repeated the following year, with the same consideration
given to the African American population (that is, it was considered numerically
insignificant.) The school continued to achieve growth in 2009, with a recent API of 708.
As with the prior two years, the African American subgroup was calculated as
4
numerically insignificant. The surprising development was not the change in population,
but the fact that the effect of the change on the API calculations was not a topic of
discussion at any gathering of teachers and/or staff. Even today, with a push to identify
factors leading to the school’s success, the effect of the declining enrollment of our
African American students on the overall calculations has never been part of the
discussion.
While NCLB targets subgroup performance to ensure that all students succeed, it
falls short when the subgroup is considered numerically insignificant. In this case, the
continued drop in performance of the African American subgroup on the standardized
testing over a three year period was suddenly no longer part of the equation due to a
decline in the number of African American students at the school. In 2007, 73/305 or
24% of the students tested were African American. In 2008, 46/287 or 16% of the
students tested were African American. The percent of students tested is slightly
different than the overall population percentages. The California Department of
Education web site reports that the population of African American students at the site in
2005 was 21% (California Department of Education, 2005). In 2006, it was 22%, and in
2007, it was 23%. In 2008, it dropped to 18%. One set of figures is based on enrolled
students, and the other is based on students tested. One factor accounting for the
difference is that students are not tested in kindergarten and first grade. Other factors
may include the presence of an IEP (individual education plan) exempting the student
from testing. Whether we look at 18% or 23%, we are still talking about a large number
5
of students whose performance on the standardized tests does not match that of the White
and Latino students at the school.
An additional fact that influenced my thinking was that African American
students have historically been overrepresented in special education and in disciplinary
referrals in education. These realities hold true in the district in which this school is
situated as well. Given this confluence of factors, I believed the school was ripe for a
meaningful discussion about the achievement gap; about racism; about culturally-relevant
pedagogy; about the needs of our students. As one administrator was known to quote, “If
a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn” (Ignacio
Estrada, 2010.)
The teachers at this school all had the choice to “opt out” and move to another site
of their choice when the school was being monitored by a School Assistance and
Intervention Team (SAIT) provider as part of the Program Improvement (PI) effort under
NCLB. As part of this process (the school was designated as a PI school in the 2003 –
2004 school year), teachers agreed to structured, weekly collaboration meetings; banked
minutes to allow early release on Thursdays for collaboration; a coaching model for both
language arts and math; peer observations; and several other significant structural
changes in the school schedule and norms. As numerous teachers have said, “I love this
school. I love our kids.” Given an unthreatening process to exit the community, the
current group of teachers made a conscious choice to stay. This did not appear to me to
be a group of teachers who would deliberately ignore “one of the most pressing education
6
policy challenges” facing us at the present time (National Governors Association, 2010.)
Maybe they just needed someone to open the door and give them – us – permission to
openly discuss a topic that had unwittingly become taboo at the school. I felt strongly
that the effect of the declining enrollment of African American students on the school’s
“success” needed to be placed before the community openly and honestly to unveil the
taboo and guide us to a position of cultural relevancy.
Statement of the Problem
According to the National Governors Association, “The “achievement gap” is a
matter of race and class. Across the U.S., a gap in academic achievement persists
between minority and disadvantaged students and their White counterparts. This is one of
the most pressing education-policy challenges that states currently face” (National
Governors Association, 2010.) As noted, the gap was identified at this elementary school
since 2005. It is a fact that has been known to the teaching and administrative staff for
more than six years. While measured since 2005 by standardized testing results and
complicated calculations, it is a gap that extends beyond achievement measured by
summative assessments. As researchers have documented, “It also exists when we
compare dropout rates and relative numbers of students who take advanced placement
examinations; enroll in honors, advanced placement, and “gifted” classes; and are
admitted to colleges and graduate and professional programs” (Ladson-Billings, 2006).
Throughout this time period, discussions in the school community seldom
included mention of the achievement gap. Whether at staff meetings, professional
develop meetings, curriculum planning sessions, or informal grade level collaborations,
7
little to nothing has been said about the failure of the school to address the achievement
of its African American students, as measured by standardized testing. In earlier years,
the discourse at curriculum conferences included references to “research” that “proved”
the problem was with the African American family that “did not value education.” The
clear inference was one of helplessness on the part of the school to address the
achievement gap and, on the other hand, a transfer of blame to “families who didn’t
care.” In hindsight, I believed this to be a reference to earlier research on the achievement
gap and African American student success or failure (Ogbu, 1981, 1983).
When professional communities develop patterns of discourse that neglect issues
affecting marginalized groups, the chasm between educational research and reality
widens, and the notion of education being an applied science becomes a farce. We must
engage teachers in “Courageous Conversations” and use what influence we have to
encourage them to join the discussion and work together toward a solution (Singleton &
Linton, 2006). “The persistent school failure of an increasing number of racially-diverse
students should prompt educators to ask the difficult, yet obvious question: What, if
anything, does race and culture have to do with the widespread underachievement of nonmainstream students” (Howard, 2003)? If the persistent failure does not prompt the
discussion, perhaps a tool that informs and intrigues highly qualified teachers would
spark the questions that need to be on the table. While the literature speaks to teacher
training and sometimes to professional development of teachers, it is not known how peer
influence can be used to spark a drive toward culturally-relevant pedagogy in a
professional community. In the age of peer observations, lesson studies, professional
8
learning communities, and possible peer evaluation activities, it is time we tested the
power of peer influence to bring change to a professional community on behalf of our
African American students.
Research Questions

Can a questionnaire, in which teachers self-assess knowledge of historical African
American figures, stimulate discussion to break cultural taboos within a professional
community, which prevents teacher discourse around the achievement gap?

Can a questionnaire and the focus groups that follow begin a dialogue within the
professional community around the achievement gap and culturally-relevant
pedagogy?

Can a questionnaire and the discussions that follow make inroads into hidden beliefs
about “deficiencies” as an explanation of the lack of academic success of African
American students? (Ladson-Billings, 1994).

Can such a questionnaire encourage a discussion about the cultural capital of students
and begin a journey that seeks to explore this asset?

Can such a questionnaire open a doorway into practices that may unwittingly
contribute to social/economic reproduction?

Can this inquiry commence a dialogue and ignite on some small level a
transformation in the learning community of this school?
Limitations of the Study
The questionnaire as a catalyst to break a taboo and ignite a discussion is
problematic on several levels. It can easily be misunderstood by the teachers as intended
9
to highlight a deficit in their own historical knowledge, and thereby construed as being
critical of their teaching practices. This limitation was addressed in the methodology as
the questionnaire was distributed. It can also be interpreted as a suggestion to focus on
heroes as part of the “contributions approach” to multicultural education, thus
“satisfying” a perceived need to engage in culturally-relevant pedagogy without really
doing so (Banks, 2008). The questions/answers were not distributed to the teachers after
the initial survey to avoid this pitfall and in the hopes that with commencement of a
dialogue, steps could be taken toward the “transformative approach” to multicultural
education (Banks, 2007).
The ability of teachers to influence a mandated curriculum is limited. However,
with the school’s “graduation” from the SAIT process in 2009 and new directional
leadership in the district in which the school is situated, the time is right for variation
from the mandated curriculum. Also, as noted by Ladson-Billings in 1994, “. . . in most
low-income communities and communities of color it is neither the national
commissions, the state boards, nor the local districts that affect the education of the
students, it is the teachers. Whether they exercise it or not, classroom teachers
(particularly in these communities) have great power in determining the official
curriculum” (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 80). At this particular site, these comments ring
true, especially in the area of “supplemental reading” where no curriculum is provided
and teachers are free to choose their own.
This effort does not design or even suggest curriculum. The study is limited to
the question of breaking a taboo, and commencing a dialogue, to carry the community in
10
a new direction. Should the process lead to the development of lessons, my hope is that
the community would engage students in a problem-posing curriculum and not adopt the
“banking” method of education articulated by Freire (Freire, 1970). Simply providing
students with facts about these historical figures was never my intent. The foundation for
any such lessons would ideally be a culturally-relevant pedagogy, rather than an additive
approach to historical fact gathering. While these frameworks are critical to the research
itself, the lesson development is beyond the scope of this work.
Finally, this work does not look at African-centered pedagogy and its related
research. The historical figures selected for the questionnaire were people whose
contributions I felt were important for all students as part of our shared American history.
Definition of Terms

No Child Left Behind: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (which reauthorized the
Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965), Pub. L. No. 107 – 110, §115 Stat. 1425,
enacted January 8, 2002.

Achievement gap: used here to refer specifically to the gap in standardized testing
results, as monitored by the National Center on Educational Statistics, between White
students and African American students, more specifically at the elementary school
level and in the area of reading achievement.

AYP: Annual Yearly Progress, as mandated and articulated in the federal law, No
Child Left Behind, a measurement used by the California Department of Education
and the U.S. Department of Education to measure school and district achievement
based on student performance on standardized tests
11

API: Academic Performance Index, a measurement used by the California
Department of Education to evaluate school performance based on standardized test
scores.

Standardized tests: Standardized achievement tests administered in all states and
used to calculate performance and growth by state and federal departments of
education

Mandated curriculum: Published content programs adopted by and approved for use
by schools by state departments of education and local boards of education.

Culturally-relevant pedagogy: First defined by Gloria Ladson-Billings in The
Dreamkeepers, 1994, culturally-relevant pedagogy consists of teaching practices that
have relevance and meaning to students’ social and cultural realities. More than that,
it seeks individual and collective empowerment (Ladson-Billings, 1995).

Critical theory: According to Campbell, critical theorists believe that individuals
have a responsibility to develop their own humanity and freedom. Current social and
political problems are subject to investigation and can be changed or influenced, and
we should work together to form a more democratic society (Campbell, 2010).

Multicultural education: As defined by Grant in 1994, multicultural education is a
process that takes place at schools and is founded on values of justice, freedom,
equity and equality. It provides knowledge to students of the diverse groups that have
shaped the United States, while at the same time encourages student investigation and
teaches critical thinking (Grant, 1994).

Cultural capital: Knowledge that is valued by society, cultural cues.
12

Social/economic reproduction: The concept that schools reproduce the social order.
Organization of the Study
Chapter 2 explores the literature relevant to the research questions. It is organized
based on the theoretical frameworks pertinent to the work. Chapter 3 explains the
methodology used in this effort, outlining the timeline of the fieldwork, and the nature of
the questionnaire that was developed. Chapter 4 analyzes the data gathered from the
teacher survey, the focus groups, and the individual interviews. It presents the findings
and provides a discussion of the results. Chapter 5 contains a summary of the work,
conclusions formed, and recommendations for further work in this area of inquiry.
13
Chapter 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The Achievement Gap
The National Center for Education Statistics reports on the Black/White
achievement gap for students in both reading and mathematics. In the most recent report,
test scores for 2007 are reported. There is a 26-point gap between scores of Black
students and those of White students in reading and a 27-point gap in mathematics. This
gap has existed since scores were first reported in 1992 (National Center for Education
Statistics, 2007). In California, the gap is 29 points in reading and 28 points in
mathematics. In July 2009, a full report was released by the National Center for
Education Statistics entitled, “Achievement Gaps” (NCES, 2009). It provides the details
of the testing, data collection and analysis as well as background information on various
theories regarding causes of the gap. It cites a study by NCES entitled, “Status and
Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities,” which undertook a broad
examination of the education of racial and ethnic groups and identified several factors
that correlate with the gap including the fact that more Black students come from families
living in poverty (NCES, 2007). This fact has long been association with lower
educational performance (NCES, 2009). Other factors cited include four home factors:
two parent households; hours spent watching television; time spent with an adult reading
to the child; and attendance rates (NCES, 2009). Others include school-based factors such
as curriculum and teacher quality; the availability of before and after school programs;
and broader social factors such as quality health care (NCES, 2009).
14
There is a plethora of research, commentary, and debate surrounding both the
achievement gap and the reasons behind it. Professionals, in an array of specialties
(including social psychologists, sociolinguists, education researchers, multicultural
education researchers, curriculum theorists, and teacher educators), have explored it and
proposed explanations for it (Ladson-Billings, 2006; Singham, 2003). Singham talks
about the explanations as myths, but acknowledges there is a bit of truth in each of them
(Singham, 2003). Teachers in the classroom witness the gap first hand and struggle with
the reality of differing achievements on standardized tests, knowing the issue of bias in
testing instruments is also part of the debate. “ . . .both the content and the administration
of the tests are problematic as indicators of quality education for diverse students” (Gay,
2007, p. 281).
The area of research that focuses on the pedagogical practices of teachers as a
contributing or ameliorating factor to the achievement gap is most relevant to this work.
In her seminal work on teaching practice, Ladson-Billings outlined the concept of
culturally-relevant teaching as one approach to closing the gap (Ladson-Billings, 1994).
In recent work that builds on this notion and speaks to teaching practices and the
achievement gap, Duncan-Andrade notes five pillars of teaching that are effective in
urban schools (Duncan-Andrade, 2007). In a professional community, we influence
each other – our thinking and our ways of teaching. When culturally-relevant pedagogy
speaks directly to the achievement of our students, we must open the door for each other
to examine effective teaching practices.
15
While pedagogy is neither the only factor influencing the achievement gap, nor
perhaps even the greatest factor, it is the one most susceptible to peer influence in a
school community. It is my personal belief that the role of the teacher, in helping
students from marginalized groups navigate the Eurocentric world that dominates us, is
critical. Along this line, some researchers have called teachers “cultural brokers” or
“cultural mediators” (Gay, 2000, p. 42).
Pedagogy . . . includes teachers’ awareness of their own culturally mediated
values and biases, as well as an understanding of how success and failure are
rooted in larger societal and institutional structures. Without this awareness,
teachers may develop what they think is good instruction that creates
opportunities for learning, when in fact they may be merely repackaging their
own worldview and cultural values (Murrell, 2002, p. xxiii).
Other researchers have looked at the nature of teachers’ perceptions in
relationship to the achievement gap. Uhlenberg and Brown examined Black and White
teachers’ perceptions of possible causes and potential solutions to the achievement gap
(Uhlenberg & Brown, 2002). They found that all teachers saw income and parenting
techniques as having an influence on the achievement gap, though White teachers placed
more importance on these points. (Uhlenberg & Brown, 2002, page 520). In fact,
research has shown that these two factors do make a difference (Phillips et al., 1998). At
the same time, White teachers perceived parent education to be a significant factor, but
Black teachers did not share this perception (Uhlenberg & Brown, 2002, page 521). The
16
study also looked at teachers’ perceptions of frequent misbehavior of Black students, lack
of effort by Black students, the numbers of Black teachers, and mentoring programs that
targeted Blacks. Most importantly, they found repeatedly throughout their research,
teachers were unwilling to rank items higher if blame was implied for them as teachers or
because of their race (Uhlenberg & Brown, 2002, page 522). The researchers concluded
that teachers must first be willing to “examine and move past their personal assumptions
and strive to understand the whole reality” (Uhlenberg & Brown, 2002).
Some research has focused on issues outside the school that involve broader
social and economic conditions. Richard Rothstein asserts that, “The characteristics that
define social class differences inevitably influence learning” (Rothstein, 2004, p. 42). He
points to research highlighting class differences in child rearing (volume of spoken
words), percent of vision impairments, absence of medical care and housing challenges as
explanations for the achievement gap. He argues that school reform is insufficient to
address the broader issues and makes strides in closing the achievement gap (Rothstein,
2004).
One veteran teacher writing about the achievement gap, discussed numerous
reasons and explanations, and noted that there was plenty of blame to go around
(Gardner, 2005). His comments about unintentional racism were very honest. “This is
not intentional racism; it is racism that we’re not even aware of practicing. It’s a
colleague who stands, smiles, and shakes hands with White parents at the start of a
parent/teacher conference but fails to show the same courtesies to Black parents at the
17
next conference” (Gardner, 2005, p. 545). He argues that everyone must be dedicated to
change and the drive to make it happen. In his own classroom, he pushes for excellence
and accepts failures.
I also challenge them to take risks. There are no wrong answers, I tell them. If
you give me a wrong answer, it tells me two good things about you. One, you’re
paying attention. And two, you’re thinking. If you’re doing those two things, you
can’t help but learn (Gardner, 2005, p. 546).
Recently, researchers looked at the achievement gap involving students in
kindergarten and first grade in the area of “general knowledge” (Chapin, 2006). The
Educational Testing Service, with the help of experts in the field, developed tests that
looked at three areas of learning. The general knowledge portion of them looked at
assessing social studies and science knowledge. The social studies component looked at:
“key events in American history, community resources, map-reading skills, different
cultures, reasons for rules/laws/government, and geography” (Chapin, 2006, p. 234). The
research found that the gap in knowledge between Black and White students begins
before kindergarten (Chapin, 2006, p. 236).
Solutions to this pervasive and enduring gap are elusive. As Ladson-Billings
noted recently:
The paradox is that education research has devoted a significant amount of its
enterprise toward the investigation of poor, African American, Latina/o,
American Indian, and Asian immigrant students, who represent an increasing
18
number of the students in major metropolitan school districts. We seem to study
them but rarely provide the kind of remedies that help them to solve their
problems (Ladson-Billings, 2006).
Culturally-relevant Pedagogy
Assigned reading in my master’s program resonated deeply with me in direct
contrast to the work referenced in our school discussions that took place prior to 2004
(Ogbu, 1981, 1983). I found the notion that, “Blacks don’t value education,” to be
contradictory to all my personal experiences as a teacher and completely contrary to the
behavior of my students in the classroom. Ladson-Billings criticizes this early work as
being ahistorical, and I would agree (Ladson-Billings, 1995). My lengthy explorations
into the African American biographies I used in the questionnaire cemented my
understanding of the long quest for literacy and educational equity, by and for African
Americans, that is a deeply rooted part of our shared history – and mostly or completely
missing in public education.
The notion that our mandated curriculum, along with mainstream thought in
general, was Eurocentric was not new to me. Having had the benefit of private school
taught by immigrant nuns (as well as four years of law school), I knew that much of the
history I had been taught neither appeared in our social studies curriculum, nor the
language arts curriculum. I searched for a definition of culturally-relevant pedagogy,
knowing it should be something beyond the facts missing in the curriculum. At the same
time, I was appalled by the absence of successful role models for African Americans in
19
the public school curriculum. While my own knowledge was severely outdated and even
limited, I knew enough to know that more than just a little bit of history was missing.
“Culturally-relevant pedagogy addresses student achievement and helps students
accept and affirm their cultural identify while developing critical perspectives that
challenge inequities that schools . . . perpetuate” (Ladson-Billings, 2005). As such, the
use of African American biographies in instruction would not, by itself, constitute
culturally-relevant pedagogy. Ladson-Billings named several propositions that serve as
the foundation for culturally-relevant pedagogy. Of interest to me were: a) all students
are capable of learning; b) culturally-relevant teaching creates a community of learners;
and c) knowledge can be viewed as shared. I believe that students learn best when they
believe they can learn. For students, a piece of this belief comes from the people that live
in their worldview. When historical role models are present for some in the classroom,
but limited or absent for others, a belief in learning is harder to develop. My experience
tells me the same applies to the idea of community. When a child perceives that he/she is
represented in a community, they feel connected to the community. When that
representation is absent, the sense of belonging is difficult to find. Finally, when
knowledge is shared, it is viewed critically. When students discover for themselves the
missing historical pieces in their language arts and social studies books, they become
thinkers, critiques of their world. Biographies that are inspiring, connected, and well
presented can do this (Fertig, 2008).
20
The first step in bringing a culturally-relevant pedagogy into the classroom is
being able to discuss race and culture within the professional teaching (and learning)
community. As one researcher recently concluded, “The findings of this study show that
the successful presentation of a culturally-relevant pedagogy requires teachers to become
concerned about their positionality as members of the dominant group (if indeed they
are)” (Hastie, Martin & Buchanan, 2006, p. 304). In 2002, Murrell spoke to the concept
of positionality and his belief that there were new opportunities for teachers to think
about their “position” (Murrell, 2002). Teachers must examine their position in society
in terms of power, inclusion/exclusion, and privilege. We must be willing to analyze our
positionality and openly discuss it. Otherwise, we can easily see culture as a category
into which we slot both ourselves and our students for easy management of the classroom
and instruction. In doing this, we risk defining the members of cultures other than our
own as just that – others (Murrell, 2002).
As critical theorists note, “Often the most significant learning results from the
disequilibrium that open confrontation with feelings and contradictory information can
generate” (Darder, 2003). I wanted to use the questionnaire as a way of creating
disequilibrium, while at the same time introducing the notion of culturally-relevant
pedagogy. I suspected that teachers were unaware of the number of successful African
American biographies available to them for use with their students, and would be both
surprised and bothered by the information. Because of their passion for the children, the
community, and their teaching, I was hopeful their reaction to the questionnaire would be
catalytic for adoption of a culturally-relevant pedagogy.
21
The experience of other teachers guided my thinking to some degree. In
searching for a culturally-relevant lesson in language arts, two teachers found success in
changing the text they used for their students (Hefflin, 2002). Success was defined in
terms of engagement, both oral and written, as demonstrated during and after the lesson.
More importantly, they concluded that the relevance of the text helped create more of an
integrated community of learners, “ . . . one that was integrated into and reaching beyond
the lives they know and live” (Hefflin, 2002, p. 248). This particular study seemed
limited to me in that it addressed engagement rather than achievement, and cultural
competency but not critical consciousness.
Another study involved two mathematics teachers who decided to use fast food
facts and research as the basis for mathematics instruction (Leonard, Napp, & Adeleke,
2009). The problem they experienced involved an assumption on their part about the
younger generation. Their ELL students turned out not to be part of the fast food craze.
However, their work served to stimulate their own thinking on a number of issues
including their own identity and that of their students (Leonard, Napp & Adeleke, 2009,
p. 19).
By far the most inspiring work is that of Duncan-Andrade in his three year study
with over 20 urban teachers, all of whom seemed to be on a personal quest for equity in
education – a term Duncan-Andrade uses to define culturally-relevant pedagogy
(Duncan-Andrade, 2007). His work identifies five pillars of effective practice. They are:
1) Critically conscious purpose; 2) Duty; 3) Preparation; 4) Socratic sensibility; and 5)
22
Trust. One of the elements of critically conscious purpose for teachers is to be able to
answer the question, “Why do we have to learn this” (Duncan-Andrade, 2007, p. 627)?
The easiest way to do this is to use material that is so captivating the question is not even
posed. Life stories (storytelling) are captivating to everyone. Many of us believe that the
best teachers are the best storytellers. The challenge is to take stories and use them to
teach the skills students will need for success on standardized testing. Biographies serve
this purpose.
Another pillar that speaks to this point is preparation. As one of the teachers in
the study noted, “The question, really, is will you take the time to make the things you
teach relevant to students” (Duncan-Andrade, 2007, p. 631)? Many teachers agree that
culturally-relevant teaching practices increase engagement; they simply do not know
where to start. If they were provided with inspiring life-stories, biographies, and the
lesson design to make them culturally-relevant, perhaps they would feel more
comfortable about addressing the achievement gap and even talking about the factors
affecting it. While this study does not go that far, my hope is that it would begin paving a
path in this direction.
The final element of culturally-relevant pedagogy that resonated strongly with me
was the recognition of the “explicit connection between culture and learning” and
acknowledgement that students’ cultural capitol is an asset, not a detriment to their school
success (Howard, 2003). I believe strongly that each student brings assets to the
classroom community in terms of their experiences, outlook, and skills. It is just these
23
assets that we have the opportunity to draw on for the good of the student as well as the
full classroom community. “The many different ways of learning found in a culturally
diverse student population can be assets, not liabilities, when incorporated into a wellconceived educational process” (Educational Research Service, 2003, p. 82).
Education Debt
In an important article published in Educational Researcher in 2006, LadsonBillings asserted a new paradigm:
I am arguing that our focus on the achievement gap is akin to a focus on the
budget deficit, but what is actually happening to African American and Latina/o
students is really more like the national debt. We do not have an achievement
gap; we have an education debt (Ladson-Billings, 2006).
A debt is an accumulation over time, sometimes days, sometimes years, sometimes
decades, but in this case, generations. She goes on to say, “I am arguing that the
historical, economic, sociopolitical, and moral decisions and policies that characterize our
society have created an education debt” (Ladson-Billings, 2006).
Her argument speaks to history and the evolution of debt over generations. A
belief that lies at the foundation of this research is that we must look to history first - the
historical debt, she calls it – to begin steps to pay the education debt (Ladson-Billings,
2006). Furthermore, we cannot look back and see only events that helped to build the
debt.
Although the historical debt is a heavy one, it is important not to overlook the
ways that communities of color always have worked to educate themselves.
24
Between 1865 and 1877, African Americans mobilized to bring public education
to the South for the first time. Carter G. Woodson (1933/1972) was a primary
critic of the kind of education that African Americans received, and he challenged
African Americans to develop schools and curricula that met the unique needs of
a population only a few generations out of chattel slavery (Ladson-Billings,
2006).
It is this history that I wanted to uncover and reveal to my peers: African
American history – American history – that is not seen in the adopted curriculum (both
social studies and language arts) because of the Eurocentric nature of our curriculum, and
the consistent failure to include the inspiring achievements of people of color throughout
our history. As one researcher noted, “The connections [students] make of an emotional
and personal nature will help them to revere U.S. history. Its story is theirs” (Hansen,
2009, p. 603). Hansen told of an African American student who researched Mildred
Hemmons Carter (unfortunately not included in my survey) and became excited about
this biography on a personal and emotional level (Hansen, 2009, page 602). This student
and others in her high school history class were in the third lowest of a four-track system,
yet they outperformed the higher tracks by almost 20 percentage points on the history
portion of the high school exit exam – a standardized test used to measure the
achievement gap. The teacher managed to make history relevant to the students’ culture
in a way that also prepared them for the required testing.
Why should students have to wait until high school to find the content relevant?
25
How much is lost if students do not find connections on a personal and emotional level
until they have been in school for over 10 years? If they spend 10 years seeing no
connection between themselves and the stories they study in the language arts and social
studies curriculum because of its Eurocentric bent, is it even possible to engage their
interest at that point? The 26-student class Hansen studied was primarily African
American (Hansen, 2009, page 604). Connecting with her students was the teacher’s
priority. She also had confidence that they would pass the state test, and she engaged
them in a way (writing) that allowed them to express their voice. They had choices in
both what they studied and how they learned it while still covering the history content
required for the test. The classroom seems a model of culturally-relevant pedagogy used
successfully in every sense of the word – and some of the work was done with
biographies of people the students chose and found they could relate to for their own
reasons.
Payment of the historical debt involves culturally-relevant teaching. Rather than
thinking of African American students as having low self-esteem (which leads to deficit
thinking, i.e. something is wrong with the student), we need to: “Provide an historical
overview of the U.S. nation-state, the continent, and the world – which accurately
represents the contributions of all ethnic groups to the storehouse of human knowledge”
(Shujaa, 1995; Lee, 1994, p. 308; Bartolomé, 2003, p. 414).
Transforming Teachers, Transforming the School Community
While the demographics of student populations reflect the growth of minority
groups and the changing human landscape of the United States (in the 2000 census, non-
26
whites made up 24.9% of the reported U.S. population), the percentage of White teachers
holds steady above 70%. (Unites States Census Bureau, 2001; U.S. Department of
Education, 2004) During the 2003/2004 school year, the U.S. Department of Education
reports that 82% of all teachers of elementary education were White. During the school
year 2005 – 2006 in California, 72.1% of the teachers in California were White and only
30% of the students were White. Short of drastic and immediate upheaval in the teaching
population, White teachers must step up and advocate for students of color and other
marginalized populations in whatever sphere of influence they possess. More of us need
to consider our ability to influence our peers and to pursue avenues that open the door to
changes in our schools.
“A major goal of multicultural education . . . is to reform the schools and other
educational institutions so that students from diverse racial, ethnic, and social-class
groups will experience educational equity” (Banks, 2001, p. 3). Given all the issues
facing education today and all the factors that arguably drive the achievement gap, the
time for a grass roots movement by teachers in urban schools like ours - is now. While
progress with multicultural education has been questionable since the advent of high
stakes testing, it has never been needed more than now. We must together make the
choice in the classroom to:
Use content from diverse groups when teaching concepts and skills, help students
to understand how knowledge in the various disciplines is constructed, help
students to develop positive intergroup attitudes and behaviors, and modify (our)
teaching strategies so that students from different racial, cultural, language, and
27
social-class groups will experience equal educational opportunities (Banks, 2000,
Forward to Gay, 2000, p. viii).
We must be at the forefront of good teaching, of multicultural education, of
culturally-relevant pedagogy. We must step outside of the classroom to engage each
other in these possibilities.
More teachers (usually White teachers) must ask pointed questions of themselves
and their peers. “Teachers knowing who they are as people, understanding the contexts
in which they teach, and questioning their knowledge and assumptions are as important
as the mastery of techniques for instructional effectiveness” (Gay & Kirkland, 2003).
Research has shown that multicultural education and equity and excellence in education
are intertwined (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994). We must be willing to talk about the
achievement gap and look honestly at all the factors, including our own knowledge and
beliefs, in connection with it.
We must start with a transformative discussion about our own knowledge, as it is
this knowledge that guides our understanding of who we are racially and culturally as
people (Shujaa, 1995). We must be willing to acknowledge there is much we don’t know
and be willing to learn it. While states, districts, and schools can mandate curriculum, it
is the teacher who delivers it. How we view ourselves and the world is what truly matters
for culturally-relevant teaching (Shujaa, 1995). I believe that Freire was right when he
said, “Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning” (Freire, 1970).
We must work together to revolutionize ourselves, to engage in teaching and learning,
28
and thereby revolutionize our classrooms and the students who enter them daily (Freire,
1970).
The term “White Allies” seems to have its genesis in Beverly Tatums’ college
classes at Mount Holyoake College. It is defined as a person engaged actively in
antiracist work in a way that is visible to people of color (Stokes Brown, 2002, p. 4). We
must be teachers of social justice and we must embrace change – even become change
agents. Traditional approaches do not offer us the opportunity to engage with social
justice issues and conflicts that are at the core of culturally-relevant teaching (Darder,
2003). The result is that we skim the surface and become less and less relevant to
students today who are more acutely aware of these issues than any generation before
them. I believe teachers themselves are best positioned to challenge the traditional
approaches to delivering instruction in their classrooms.
29
Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY
Research Goals
My desire, from the time I started the questionnaire design in December of 2008
until the last interview was completed in February 2010, was to break the pattern of
silence at our site about the achievement gap and the issues pertaining to it. A secondary
goal was to inspire teachers to give thought to the issue of culturally-relevant pedagogy
and make this part of a new pattern of discussion at the school. I wanted to open the door
to this new thought immediately without months of committee meetings, book studies
and so on. Ultimately, I wanted to test whether the questionnaire, in which teachers selfassessed knowledge of historical African American figures, could stimulate them to break
the cultural taboo within our professional community preventing discourse around the
achievement gap. I hoped that the questionnaire and the focus groups that followed
would begin a dialogue within our community around the achievement gap and
culturally-relevant pedagogy.
Setting & Background of the Investigation
For the past ten years, I have worked as a classroom teacher at the school. I have
actually worked at the school since the fall of 1999, since I completed much of my
student teaching experience at the site. All of my professional teaching experience has
been at this K-5 elementary school. The school is located directly on a busy street that is
a major traffic thoroughfare. It is located next to a county park and very near the largest
mall in the area. The area is served by regional transit and a light rail station is located
30
across the nearby freeway. The school is on the west-end border of the school district,
and is uniquely positioned in its location, demographics, and size within the district.
It has been an honor and a privilege working with the committed and dedicated
staff at the school. Teachers repeatedly demonstrate commitment to the growth and
development of the student population by attending extensive staff development sessions
each year, above and beyond what is contractually required. We put in extra minutes
each week to allow for an “early release” day and grade level collaboration each week.
We are committed to being a “Professional Development School” that trains student
teachers placed at the site from the local university. Many of us participate in lesson
study practice and professional learning teams. Some of us teach after school programs
on our own time as volunteers. Others are paid to be after school tutors. Many can be
found each day working after hours for one, two, three or more hours in the classroom.
The elementary school site where this research was conducted was designated as a
Program Improvement School under NCLB in the 2003-2004 school year (California
Department of Education, 2010). Before that, California established the Immediate
Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program (IIUSP) under the Public Schools
Accountability Act of 1999. Participating schools received $50,000 to set goals for
student performance and agreed to follow a program designed to achieve those goals
which included potentially large scale changes such as reorganization (CA Ed. Code, §
52053). Schools could choose (at this point) to forgo the funding and the attached
requirements. This school site participated in this state program starting in 2004. Under
this program, growth was measured using the Academic Performance Index (API.
31
Schools not participating in IIUSP were still measured under the API system, which is a
part of the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measurement used to measure growth under
NCLB.
The site participated in all available funding programs under these state and
federal laws, being designated an IIUSP school, a PI school, and, most recently, a
“SAIT” school. The last term refers to an option exercised by the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to require schools
or districts not meeting AYP goals to enter into a contract with a School Assistance and
Intervention Team (usually a county board of education.) As part of an extensive
reorganization under the program, teachers were able to “opt out” of teaching at the site
beginning in 2006. Those who chose to “opt out” selected their top three choices from
other available teaching sites and were placed at one of the choices for the next school
year. Teachers were not required to undergo an interview or acceptance process for this
placement. As this option continued through the SAIT years, several teachers chose to
move on to other sites in the District. The remaining staff all chose to work at the site
and remain committed to the students and work at the site.
The school has approximately 630 students. In 2009, 63% of the students were
Latino, 18% were African American, and 12% were Caucasian. The remaining student
population identified as Asian, Native American, Filipino, or Pacific Islander.
Approximately 55% of the students are second language learners – mostly Spanish
speaking, though there are over a dozen different languages spoken at the school. Of the
36 teachers, 100% are fully credentialed. Within the teaching staff, the overwhelming
32
majority is White, and there are no African American teachers at the site. There are a
handful of teachers who are bilingual: Spanish/English. The only African American
staff member is the head custodian.
For the first time in 2007, the school met its API growth target. Two years of
target attainment is required to exit the state SAIT program. In 2008, the school again
met its API growth target. As a result of its success, the school exited the SAIT program
in 2009, a rare feat inside the district and throughout the state of California. At the
present time, we are working to examine the reasons for our success, soliciting ideas from
the staff as to what actions contributed to the consistent increases in student achievement
as measured by standardized testing.
Part of the API calculation is based on achieving targeted goals overall and in
specifically named subgroups, such as African American students. Failure in any
numerically significant subcategory results in failure overall. In 2005, the school site
did not achieve its API growth target overall, nor did it reach the goal in the African
American subgroup. This was true in 2006 as well. In 2007, the school met and exceeded
its overall goal school wide by achieving an API growth of 30 points. However, it failed
to meet its goal in the African American subcategory, which showed a decline of four
points. As a result of failing to meet its goal in all numerically significant
subcategories, the school failed to meet its overall API growth target. In 2008, the
school met and exceeded its overall goal school wide by achieving an API growth of 35
points. In 2009, the school met and exceeded it overall goal school wide by achieving an
33
API growth of 19 points. In both of these last two reported years, the school met its API
growth target overall. However, for both of these years, the African American
subcategory was not considered numerically significant. Thus, results for this
subcategory of students were not reported, nor were they considered in the overall API
calculations.
African American students have made up about 20% of the population of the
school for the last 10 years. In 2006 and 2007, African American students made up 22%
and 23% of the population of the school respectively. In 2008, the percent of African
American students fell below 20% to 18%, thus making it statistically insignificant for
purposes of the API calculations. In 2009, this trend continued, with the percent of
African American students remaining at 18% and again being considered numerically
insignificant for purposes of the calculation. Had the population of African American
students remained over 20% of the total school population, and had the growth targets
for this subgroup not been met, the school would not have met its overall growth target
and would be subject to state takeover. Again, meeting the target for each numerically
significant subgroup is required as part of the state accountability program.
In the 2008 – 2009 school year, the percent of students at the school who tested
proficient on the CST’s was 36% overall. For White students, the percent was 67%. For
African American students, the percent was 32%. This “gap” has existed consistently for
many years. It mirrors the achievement gap revealed by the National Center for
Educational Statistics and discussed extensively in education research and other literature
34
(NCES, 2009).
Research Design
The research undertaken at the site was mainly qualitative in nature, though it
could be described as a mixed methodology. The teachers at the site completed a
questionnaire that generated statistical data, but the purpose behind the questionnaire was
not to assess knowledge. It was to trigger discussion and stimulate change. It was
presumed that the teachers would not be familiar with much of the information contained
in the questionnaire. While the responses were tabulated and will be discussed, the
analysis is more for the confirmation of the presumption rather than a gathering of
knowledge data.
The focus of the study was primarily on the teachers’ reaction to the questionnaire
and the information it contained. Reaction was documented in observations before,
during, and after the administration of the questionnaire, and again in focus group
sessions and interviews after the questionnaire was completed.
Population
The survey reached 25 teachers at the site, but counting those who attended the
focus group sessions who were not teachers, almost 30 people at the site were engaged
with the study. While the questionnaire did not gather gender information, 93% of the
teachers at the site are female. While 12% of the teachers declined to state ethnicity, 72%
of those who did identified as White. Sixteen percent identified as Latino/a (Table 3.1.)
35
3.1 Teacher Demographics
Age
< 30 Years:
20%
31 – 40 Years:
24%
41 – 50 Years:
24%
50+ Years:
20%
Declined to State: 12%
Years Teaching
≥ 5 Years:
24%
6 – 14 Years:
44%
15+ Years:
32%
Ethnicity
White:
72%
Latino/a:
12%
Declined to State: 12%
Teachers participated voluntarily, and they completed consent forms prior to
being involved in the research (Appendix B.) The request to participate was made at a
routine staff meeting, and the questionnaire was distributed during that meeting.
Teachers were asked to put the completed questionnaire in my mailbox at their
convenience. The questionnaire was introduced with the blunt statement that it was not
intended to prove what they did not know, but rather to prompt them to think about the
information and comment on it in a subsequent focus group or interview. All teachers at
the site were invited to attend the focus group sessions, which were announced via email
sent to the site distribution list.
The questionnaire was also distributed via email to a group of teachers at other
sites in the district. This group of teachers was a part of the district’s Teaching American
History Grant that I had worked with previously. It was hoped the information contained
in the questionnaire would be of interest to them, and may even find its way into their
teaching practices. No effort was made to assess the power of peer influence for teachers
who responded to the survey from other sites.
Procedure
I started the research by reading extensively numerous biographies of African
36
American historical figures. In the winter of 2008/2009, I developed a questionnaire
entitled “Historical Figures.” After many lengthy weeks of reading and research, I
selected 40 names of African Americans to include in the final questionnaire.
Information gleaned in my reading was used to develop the multiple choice answers, only
one of which was a true fact about the accomplishments of the person named. The
selection of the 40 names was painful. I looked for people that were not in the
entertainment field and whose life stories I would support using in my own classroom.
Mostly, I searched for people whose life stories were inspiring, interesting, and relevant
(in my judgment) to the students I teach every day. I did not deliberately include any
historical figures whose life stories have lived in obscurity, though it may appear to be
the case with some of them. I knew that some of the life stories had been included in
mandated curriculum, and some were well-known because of entertainment films made
about their lives. Some have garnered a great deal of public attention and others very
little. In hindsight, I realized that I also chose people whose life and work left a lasting
legacy, one that I deemed important to all people regardless of race or culture (Appendix
A.) Overall, I exercised my own judgment in choosing figures I felt it would behoove us,
as teachers, to know and teach to our students.
Data Collection & Tabulation
Data from the questionnaire was tabulated manually and entered into an Excel
worksheet. Each respondent was assigned a number to ensure confidentiality. Percent
correct for each question was calculated and averaged. Percent correct for each
respondent was also calculated and averaged. Demographic data collected included
37
ethnicity, age, current assignment, and years teaching. This information was tabulated
and included on the worksheet.
The questionnaire deliberately did not contain an “I don’t know” answer, as I felt
that greater thought would be given to each figure if teachers were forced to choose
between four answers. Some guessing would no doubt take place, and some right
answers would result from the guessing. This may skew the data slightly, but actually in
favor of knowledge. Since knowledge was not what was being measured, except
peripherally, I considered this to be insignificant.
Two focus group sessions took place, one in the spring and another in the fall of
2009. The scheduling over two separate school years was a logistical necessity, but it
brought different people to the sessions given scheduling differences at different times in
the school year. The interviews took place in the 2009/2010 school year. All focus
group participants and interviewees were given a copy of the questionnaire to review and
refer to during discussions. Both focus group sessions and interviews were fully
transcribed. Additionally, the focus group sessions were conducted with an interactive
whiteboard so that notes could be made during the discussion and were visible to the
participants throughout. The notes could then be saved as a computer file and later
printed in the manner in which they were written during the discussion.
Though some teachers attended both focus group sessions, there were people who
came to the second that were not present at the first. At the second focus group session,
there were several people who did not attend the first one. Also of interest is the fact that
non-classroom teachers attended. Support staff and administration were present for both
38
sessions. Not all focus group participants completed the questionnaire. In fact, only
classroom teachers completed it.
39
Chapter 4
ANALYSIS OF THE DATA
Research Questions

Can a questionnaire, in which teachers self-assess knowledge of historical African
American figures, stimulate discussion to break cultural taboos within a professional
community, which prevents teacher discourse around the achievement gap?

Can a questionnaire and the focus groups that follow begin a dialogue within the
professional community around the achievement gap and culturally-relevant
pedagogy?

Can a questionnaire and the discussions that follow make inroads into hidden beliefs
about “deficiencies” as an explanation of the lack of academic success of African
American students? (Ladson-Billings, 1994).

Can such a questionnaire encourage a discussion about the cultural capital of students
and begin a journey that seeks to explore this asset?

Can such a questionnaire open a doorway into practices that may unwittingly
contribute to social/economic reproduction?

Can this inquiry commence a dialogue and ignite on some small level a
transformation in the learning community of this school?
Themes
With respect to the data from the questionnaire, the findings were tabulated and
the data analyzed. Results by age, grade level, and years teaching are contained in Tables
4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. Results for each historical figure are set forth in Table 4.4. By far the
40
most interesting and useful information comes from the focus groups and interviews.
Several themes emerged during the discussions. The main ones were: 1) survey anxiety;
2) teacher knowledge; 3) teachers and curriculum; 4) racism; 5) high stakes testing; and
6) fear.
Survey Results
Twenty-five teachers completed the questionnaire. While the results are
interesting, the way teachers approached the questionnaire and the comments they made
when they took it were also informative. As discussed later, the majority of the remarks
made during the process involved an interest in gaining information about the figures; a
question as to why teachers did not have the knowledge of these figures; and a resolve to
conduct internet searches for the information.
No administrators or support staff turned in completed surveys, although some of
them attended the focus group sessions and used the questionnaire for reference
throughout the discussion. Not all teachers reported all demographic information. Some
left grade level blank; others left age and ethnicity blank. All teachers reported the
number of years taught. The average percent correct overall was 48.5%. Ninety-six
percent of teachers answered at least 1/3 of the questions correctly. The only teacher who
did not answer 1/3 of the questions correctly chose to answer only certain questions,
presumably those for which he/she was certain of the answer. This fact raised the
question of guessing as a strategy. Guessing by process of elimination and using
experienced test-taking strategies was a strategy confirmed by all participants of the focus
group discussions. A minor theme that was not explored here was the empathy
41
generated for the students who take similarly structured tests.
Three figures were identified correctly by 100% of the teachers. These were
Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Jackie Robinson. Martin Luther King Jr, was identified
correctly by all but one teacher. I did not consult the state social studies standards in
creating the document. In hindsight, I noted that seven of the names are listed in the
California state standards somewhere between kindergarten and fifth grade. The names
listed in the standards are; Martin Luther King, Jr., Booker T. Washington, Harriet
Tubman, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, Jackie Robinson, and Phyllis
Wheatley (California Department of Education, 2009.) If all seven of these figures were
identified correctly on the survey, the percent correct would have been 18%. All but one
teacher (the one who didn’t try to guess) did better than this.
Ninety percent of teachers answered correctly for George Washington Carver,
Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr. None of the teachers answered correctly
for Hiram Revels, who was the first African American U.S. Senator in history. His life
story has received little attention in the media and/or with historians. My assumption is
that the existence or absence of publicity surrounding different figures influenced the
teachers’ knowledge. This was born out in the focus group discussions where films such
as Ruby Bridges, My Friend Martin, Glory and so on were referenced.
42
4.1 Years of Teaching/ Percent Correct
Yrs. Teaching Avg. % Correct
1 to 5 years
6 to 10 years
11 to 15 years
16 – 20 years
20+
52%
55%
44%
41%
42%
Nine questions were answered correctly by more than 76% of the teachers. Nine
more were answered correctly by between 51 – 75% of the teachers. Twenty-two
questions were answered correctly by less than 50% of the teachers. Overall, one can
conclude that more than half of the names on the list were unfamiliar to all of the
teachers. The interesting aspect of this is that teacher knowledge was not consistent. As
discussed below, knowledge was not gained from any consistent source, and sometimes
teacher knowledge was gained via the teaching process, usually with children’s literature
as the source.
When the data was disaggregated based on demographics, the group with the
highest percent correct were those teachers who had six to ten years of teaching
experience. This was also the largest group. At least one of the other age groups did not
have a sample size large enough to be significant. The range was also an informative
piece with this group, as the range for the 20+ category was 55 points. This indicated to
me that there existed little consistency in teacher knowledge. Focus group discussions
confirmed this when teachers noted they did not receive any formal education in
elementary, high school, secondary school or even teacher education programs regarding
43
the life stories of most of these historical figures. Rather, their knowledge – our
knowledge - has been garnered over the years from personal experience, personal
interest, mandated and supplemented curriculum, children’s literature and film.
When I looked at age, the 31 – 40 age group had the highest percent correct.
Again, the range was telling, being in the 20-point range for all groups except the 41 – 50
age group where the range was 53 points. This again confirmed the random nature of the
teachers’ knowledge.
4.2 Age/Percent Correct
Age
20 to 30
Avg. % Correct
45%
31 to 40
41 to 50
51 to 60
59%
42%
47%
Looking at grade level revealed the same result. The intermediate teachers
showed a higher percent correct, but the number of teachers was so small, the
results are not significant. None of the teachers listed third grade in the
demographics, though it is likely that at least one of the teachers taught third grade.
4.3 Grade Level/Percent Correct
Grade Level
K
1
2
4
5
Avg. % Correct
41%
42%
48%
63%
60%
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One of the most interesting aspects of the survey was the behavior of the teachers
as it was completed. The questionnaire was distributed immediately before a normally
scheduled staff meeting. Teachers were asked to complete it at their convenience and
return it anonymously to my box. During breaks in the staff meeting and immediately
following, five different teachers asked me specifically when they should have learned
this information. One asked, “Is this high school history? What grade level is this?”
One group of teachers, all the same grade level, stayed in the staff room for over 30
minutes, taking the survey and discussing it together! Teachers also commented that the
answers were carefully designed, a fact which was also noted by the teachers in the focus
group sessions. As one teacher said, “There were not many negative choices, so it led me
to believe that they were positive influences from that time period.” There was a definite
bias on my part to create that impression. Their respect for and cooperation with my
efforts was impressive, and I took it as a sign of the trust and respect that is a part of our
professional learning community at this site.
The full results of the survey by figure are set forth in Table 4.4.
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4.4 Historical Figure/Percent Correct
Historical Figure
1. George Washington
Williams
2. Crispus Attucks
3. Olauduh Equiano
4. James Forten
5. Phyllis Wheatley
6. Elijah McCoy
% Correct
16%
Historical Figure
21. Richard Wright
% Correct
44%
60%
20%
20%
60%
40%
24%
44%
60%
0%
28%
7. Joseph Cinque
8. Frederick Douglass
40%
76%
9. Sojourner Truth
60%
10. Benjamin Banneker
16%
11. Robert Smalls
12. Percy Julian
13. Harriet Tubman
8%
12%
100%
14. Dred Scott
15. George Washington
Carver
16. Matthew Henson
44%
92%
17. W.E.B. DuBois
18. Booker T.
Washington
19. T. Thomas Fortune
72%
60%
22. Charles R. Drew
23. Garrett Morgan
24. Homer Plessy
25. Hiram Revels
26. A. Philip
Randolph
27. Ralph Bunche
28. Mary McLeod
Bethune
29. Thurgood
Marshall
30. Carter G.
Woodson
31. Rosa Parks
32. Ruby Bridges
33. Zora Neale
Hurston
34. Malcolm X
35. Charles Hamilton
Houston
36. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
37. Jackie Robinson
38. Berry Gordy Jr.
52%
20. Ida Wells Barnett
16%
39. Patricia Roberts
Harris
40. Vivien Thomas
28%
48%
4%
72%
92%
28%
100%
88%
32%
64%
24%
96%
100%
76%
24%
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Survey Anxiety
All of the teachers who attended the focus group sessions voiced surprise at their
lack of familiarity with the historical figures named in the questionnaire. One teacher
noted, “I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t recognize a lot of the names,” and also said she
felt, “Sort of guilty that I didn’t know more. Why not?” Many of those who could not
attend stopped me in the hallways at some point and said the same thing. The overall
reaction was surprise that there were so many historical figures with which they were not
familiar. Only one person asked if any the names were fabricated, but most teachers said
they trusted the survey instrument to contain a true historical figure and a true fact about
each one.
The second strongest reaction was that of embarrassment and guilt. As one said,
“My eyes went to certain others to see if they were struggling like I was, because I was
feeling very embarrassed.” Teachers, without exception, presumed these were names
they, as teachers, should know. One teacher summed it up by saying, “I was
disappointed in myself,” because of the number of figures she didn’t know. Many of the
teachers expressed the belief that the survey revealed for them a body of knowledge they
were unaware of not possessing. This alone made me feel the effort was successful. I
have found that the teachers I work with are mostly life-long learners. Once their interest
is stimulated, they will find opportunities to gain knowledge and experience. Their time
is limited; demands are numerous; and support is essential; but once the door is opened,
they will choose to walk down the path. Even before the focus group discussions,
teachers conducted their own research. One said, “I wanted to look them up and then
47
answer the questions!” Another went home and discussed the survey with her family,
testing them to see if they knew more than she did.
One of the patterns the teachers identified that helped many of them was that the
figures were listed in a time-line fashion: “From each of these answers, there were
different eras, different time frames.” This was identified readily during the focus group
discussions, and the teachers used this observation. Not all trusted that the answers were
valid though. As one teacher said, “I don’t know if they existed during that time. They
could be Black and have existed in that time, or they could be Black, but they were never
doing any of these particular things.” At the same time, they identified the different
historical time periods, finding in some cases the figures that were more recent were
more easily identified: “Some we know because they are more current,” or, “Because we
are into music.”
Many teachers recognized that some figures were not as recognizable due to the
lack of publicity from filmmakers, the media, and/or historians. Some said, “We have a
holiday for them,” or “We know the athletes; the sports heroes.” Some talked about
having name recognition, but then were unable to identify the accomplishments of the
individual: “I actually recognized a lot of names, but I couldn’t remember everything.”
As one teacher put it, “Many of the names were familiar to me, but I just had no idea why
I would know the names.” Another noted, “Schools are named for some of these people
and places like that.”
All of the teachers and support people, whether coaches or administrators,
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expressed a strong interest in learning more about each of the figures named. They were
very supportive of future efforts to gather information about each figure, and they
expressed trust in the choice of these figures as being inspirational to our student
population. Teachers felt they would be more empowered: “It would certainly help me
as a classroom teacher to give more background information for the children. I could use
more examples of these individuals, instead of just the traditional George Washington,
Lincoln, and so forth.” Another teacher agreed, “These individuals were at a time when
their culture, their race, was not valued at any point and they still succeeded. It gives
hope that, even though I’m in a difficult time, I have somebody – look at what they did.
It’s just very strong.”
Teacher Knowledge
Teachers were truly upset that they did not know such a large number of people:
“I think we’ve never hear of them – in any way!” One teacher noted that she was a
history major and still had not studied these figures: “I’m a history major, or my degree is
in history, so I should have known these people better, but I didn’t study them!” And one
of the interviewed teachers said, “I have a master’s degree, so it’s further along in
education than most people go, and I didn’t know most of the names here. I thought to
myself how sad that is.” Underlying this reaction was a presumption in the importance of
these figures, a presumption based on the teachers’ trust in my selection of the names.
When distributing the survey, I freely admitted not knowing all of these figures myself
and assured the teachers that their knowledge was not the reason for the questionnaire.
Rather, I explained that their reaction to it was the important aspect of my study. During
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the focus group sessions, I displayed many of the books I used in gathering the 40 names.
Some teachers had already asked for books about certain figures after taking the survey.
One person commented, “I hope you have some books or an idea of where we could get
books to get this right to the students.”
The outrage the teachers felt at their lack of knowledge had a target, though
perhaps an unknown one. At least a dozen teachers asked questions at some point that
pertained to the issue of “when.” More often than not, the questions were framed in
terms of, “Who should have taught us this?” and “When should this have been taught?”
Usually, this was phrased with the teacher as a recipient of knowledge, rather than a
seeker of knowledge: “What grade level was this? When was I supposed to have learned
this?” The absence of these historical figures in the teachers’ own public school
experience was identified as a major concern. One teacher was raised in Texas during
segregation, and she spoke freely of the Eurocentric nature of the curriculum at the time:
“We didn’t study that. We didn’t study Black history. We ignored it.”
Most teachers framed this dialogue as “Black history.” I never identified the
figures as such. In fact, the questionnaire is entitled, “Historical Figures.” Nonetheless,
the discussions in the focus group frequently came back to the mention of “Black
history.” They noted, “We didn’t really study Black history.” My selection of figures
was limited to African Americans, and the teachers knew that my focus was on African
American role models. However, my selection of the historical figures included a
personal judgment that the legacy of each person was relevant to all people regardless of
race or culture, and that the person be a figure important to our shared American history.
50
I did not reference this list of people as being part of “Black history,” as this felt like a
limitation and denial of the scope of their contributions.
This perspective was emphasized clearly in one of the follow up interviews. In
response to a question about where this biographical information was (or was not)
acquired, the interviewee replied, “I think we’ve come far enough where we should be
learning these (figures) in grade school, high school, and then more of it in college. I
think it should be part of the regular curriculum. These are great Americans, and we
should have information on them.” This same person predicted that the life stories of
these individuals would not be a part of the home culture of our students either, because –
like us – they would not have received information about these historical figures in public
schools or in the mainstream media.
Where did the teachers acquire the knowledge they had of these figures?
Most felt that what little knowledge they had of these figures did not come from formal
schooling experience. The one exception was a teacher who took a course in African
American Literature in college. Another recalled learning of African American figures
first in her credential programs: “I heard more about that kind of history when I was
going through my teaching credential.” Several other sources were mentioned during the
focus groups and interviews. These included teaching the standards; teaching from
children’s literature; movies and films; personal research for Black History Month;
mandated curriculum (though teachers noted the Eurocentric nature of most of the
curriculum they worked with); the names of various public schools; college courses; and
news/media and personal experiences. One teacher said with surprise, “There is one
51
name I know now that I didn’t know before, because I taught it last week!” It turned out
the mandated curriculum had some supplemental material that told the figure’s life story.
At the same time, a teacher commented, “We don’t have them in our curriculum. There’s
not enough support in there to bring out these unknown heroes of this race.” As someone
noted during the first focus group discussion, “I didn’t learn in school about Black
history. I learned in the movies.”
When asked about what percent of the mandated curriculum includes biographies
of people with connections to our student population, one teacher said, “Out of one
hundred percent, we have zero biographies.” Another agreed, “We have zero biographies
in first grade.” Another noted that the fourth grade curriculum had a section on American
Stories that included biographies, “but none of it is really relevant to our students. We
just talked about John Stetson and the hat. They had no idea what a Stetson hat looked
like.” She continued, “If it was biographies based on people that they maybe had heard
of, or if it was a little more culturally diverse, it would be a lot more interesting to them.”
Several teachers discussed the lessons they had developed in the past for Black
History Month as a source of their own knowledge. “We had this really huge bulletin
board we did in the library,” and “I made a Power Point for Martin Luther King, Jr. day. I
put music with it, and I showed lots of the different things he did.” Two other teachers
have shown a movie about Martin Luther King, Jr.: “One thing that I show my kids every
year is a Martin Luther King video. It’s kind of a cartoon.” At the same time, they noted
that even celebrating heroes and holidays has gone by the wayside with high stakes
testing. This was evidenced by constant reference to lessons done, “in the past.”
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Teachers and Curriculum
Each of the focus group sessions noted the fact that some of the figures are named
in the state standards. One teacher said, “The third grade standards . . . have a list of
names in there, and I can’t remember which ones are on that list and which ones aren’t.”
The state social studies standards for second grade note, “Students in grade two explore
the lives of actual people who make a difference in their everyday lives and learn the
stories of extraordinary people from history whose achievements have touched them,
directly or indirectly” (California Department of Education, 2009.)
All of the teachers also expressed a passion about life stories as the key to making
curriculum engaging. They pointed out the possibility of bringing in a famous
mathematician to make math engaging. One teacher knew of Benjamin Banneker for this
reason: “We talked about him, because he helped design Washington D.C. after the
French guy bailed out.” They felt biographies make excellent read-alouds in the teaching
of reading and writing, noting that they frequently exercise judgment in selecting texts for
this purpose: “Well, I have a lot of (biography) read-alouds I’ve done.” Using life stories
for literature studies, to teach events in history, and as research projects in teaching
writing were all mentioned by the teachers as more engaging than the standard
curriculum. As one noted, “If you read from the same history book about some sort of
time period, and then you read a biography about that time period, it’s almost like it
makes everything stick.” Another agreed, “Yes, it personalizes it.” An underlying
presumption seemed to be that life stories from the students’ culture would be
automatically engaging and the very definition of culturally-relevant. Leaving teachers
53
with this misimpression was a weakness inherent in this investigation
During one of the follow up interviews, the interviewee told of a personal
experience that highlights the power of studying the life story of someone who came
before us. Before telling of the experience, he said, “Having read biographies, I think it’s
very powerful, because it helps resonate . . . a biography really sinks in what a culture is
like.” He then told of a time in school when he was terrible with geography: “There was
only one geography proof that I ever did well on, and it was because I heard the story of
this man who created this proof. He was captured by the Nazis, and he was in a
concentration camp and sitting there with a stick in his hand writing in the dirt, he created
this logical proof.” We ask children to study the content in abstract without revealing the
narrative of the people behind it. Yet, as this memory reveals, it is the narrative of the
people involved that cements the understanding of the concept. As this teacher said, “I
will remember it forever.”
In the interviews, as well as the focus groups, teachers lamented the absence of
life stories in their curriculum growing up, and in the curriculum they are asked to teach.
Some teachers were very vocal in criticizing the mandated curriculum, especially the
selected literature and the social studies text: “The fourth grade social studies that they
have now is so watered down that it’s discriminatory, and it’s a lie.” All teachers
admitted that they frequently and aggressively supplemented the mandated curriculum.
They would all like help in bringing in life stories, especially if they are supported with
facts, connected to the standards, and points of relevancy for the students they teach. A
fifth grade teacher said, “Kids are interested in reading about people. And if they can
54
relate to them in a way because they’re in the same group, gender or anything, any little
piece.” Another noted, “It’s contrary to what you would think, but they love to know
about facts and real life.” Teachers talked about the fact that all of them bring in
supplemental material, and if biographies were provided to them by grade level,
connected to the standards and the topics they teach, it would be ideal. As one
commented, “It would be nice to expose them (students) to more than the traditional
ones. I think it would be nice for them.” Teachers specifically noted the need to counter
the racism and stereotypes they believe exist in the curriculum, movies, music, and
literature to which the students are exposed.
During one of the focus group discussions, one person noted, “I think teachers are
making the difference. When I look at the library requests you have made, everyone is
requesting more culture, more culture, more everything. Boom! More biographies about
cultural figures, more multicultural figures.” At our site, teachers have a great deal of
influence in book purchases, both for library use and instructional use. We have a 40minute block of time for supplemental reading where the curriculum is teacher-driven.
The comments reflect the choices teachers are making for the literature used in these
classes.
Racism
Teachers were asked why they chose to attend the first focus group session, which
was the liveliest of the two. While admitting they were doing it for a colleague, they also
admitted that the topic drew them in. One teacher began the discussion by explaining her
background, her family circumstances, and her interest in Black culture. She said, “My
55
mother always told me, she was from the Depression era, and they lived amongst Black
people because they didn’t have money. And she always told us that you don’t judge a
person by their color, but who they are and that they are good people.” This started a
discussion around poverty and whether the teachers equated being Black with being poor.
Many did, but others disagreed noting, “I’ve met a lot of Black people that aren’t poor.”
One person expressed the belief that, “It all starts with economics.” Historical
inequities in education funding were mentioned: “Education was very imbalanced
against people of low socio-economic, regardless of race. So it was a cycle you could
almost not get out of.” Two teachers were curious about the number of African
Americans presently living in poverty, some estimating as high as 75%. Many in the
group seemed to believe that economics alone drove the cycle.
At this point, the issue of language differences was raised. One teacher
mentioned, “Black English,” and told a story of a young, African American, who wanted
to study Government, who believed his speech needed to be altered to be successful. She
used this example to say that Black English, “Usually has a negative connotation to it.”
Pointed questions were raised about who decides what sound is ideal. Discrimination
around language and language use was a source of outrage and anger by some. The
teachers talked about Black English, Cockney English, accents, and colloquial language.
Twice, the question was asked, “What makes one way of talking better than another?”
Ultimately, the group agreed, “It’s based on class.”
Economics led to a discussion of power: “There’s a lot of assimilation into this
hierarchy of power.” When asked who had the power, the reply was, “White men.”
56
Furthermore, “I think any group that has power wants to maintain that power.” This
same person said that race and class were intrinsically connected because, “Those who
have power don’t want to lose power.” Only one teacher phrased it more in terms of
discrimination. She expressed it as, “Our country is getting more. . .if you’re not going to
fit into their mold, of what they believe, it seems like you’re an outsider.” Another one
summed up her thoughts as, “Politics is everything.”
Assimilation and gaining power continued to be discussed in terms of economics:
“If you’ve become successful as an African American, the first thing you do is move out
of your neighborhood and move into a more affluent neighborhood, which tends, in our
culture, to be more White.” This assessment of economics as the sole explanation for
exclusion from power was challenged only twice: “But are those White wealthy people
moving out of that area and creating a new wealthy area, and more Black people moving
in? Because that’s what I saw in my hometown.” A second teacher noted, “But I’m
saying if an African American moves into that, it’s the opposite. You’ve ‘moved up’
versed you’ve ‘moved over.’”
After talking extensively about poverty, power, and economics, I finally said, “It
sounds to me like you are talking about racism?” The teachers readily and unanimously
agreed. One person clarified it as, “Institutional racism.” Another commented, “It’s
more subtle than it used to be, but it’s there. Before, it was blatant.” One questioned,
“How many African American teachers do we have?” Another said, “What about our
literature?” The reply was, “Very little recognized cultural differences,” and, “It’s
patronizing.” One teacher remarked, “I think the media does the most damage of
57
anything, because the kids are so used to watching T.V. and movies.”
There was a brief discussion of the absence of African American and Latino/a
teachers in our district, and the strategic planning of the district to attempt to better mirror
the student population in hiring. This created some discomfort as teachers touched on the
topics of affirmative action and quotas: “That was that way in law enforcement and
everything like twenty years ago. Everybody had their quotas.” When the discussion was
guided back to the question of the racism in our literature, someone sought an immediate
clarification, “The institutional racism?”
There was a brief discussion in one focus group session about racism between
marginalized cultures. One teacher commented, “Everybody seems to think racism is
White against Blacks, but it works both ways. Some Blacks are racist against Whites,
and some Blacks are racist against Hispanics.” Another teacher talked about a meeting
with a parent who discovered, in the course of the conversation, that her son was playing
with a child from a different ethnic group. The teacher said, “And you could visually see
she didn’t like that.” She added, “And yet, the kids play wonderfully together.”
While discussing the influence parents and society have on the attitude of
children, none of us touched on individual racist attitudes or beliefs we may unwittingly
hold from such a source. Furthermore, we returned consistently to the issues of
economics and power. Additionally, there is a greater level of comfort when we identify
with a marginalized group, referencing our own mixed heritage, diverse associations, or
personal experiences with discrimination based on culture, gender, or language. The
closest we really came to identifying ourselves with the dominant culture was during the
58
discussion about teacher demographics in the district. In hindsight, I realized I had not
prepared questions, that directly addressed this subject, nor did I lead the discussion in
that direction.
Yet one teacher’s observations about racism are worth noting: “Racism is about
power. People are judged by the power they have. Giving students who are African
American, information about people – people who made a difference and had power in
some time in their life - in our history, you then give African American students power ultimately, in the beautiful world that we would live in someday, ending, in a sense,
racism.”
High Stakes Testing
Much of the discussion around testing touched on language and vocabulary.
While we focused on students’ life experiences (and thus the background knowledge they
bring to the classroom) as a means of improving test scores, we did not talk about it in
terms of exposure to the dominant culture and its vocabulary, nor in terms of testing bias
in favor of the dominant culture. Rather, the solution always seemed to define
assimilation: engage students in topics of interest and they will be better readers and
improve their test scores. One teacher noted, “If they are reading a biography about
something that’s interesting; if it’s written in the White English language, they will pick
it up.” This focus on assimilation may be connected with a misunderstanding of the
definition of culturally-relevant pedagogy. Simply reading something of interest does not
affirm a student’s cultural identity, nor does it help develop a critical perspective about
inequities in education.
59
There was a sense of resignation during the discussions in terms of the nature of
testing. When asked if the testing represented the dominant culture, the answer was,
“Absolutely.” At the same time, there seemed to be a presumption that assimilation with
the dominant culture was necessary, rather than a more critical approach. Many teachers
had stories to tell of their own sense of assimilation, whether it was based on language,
culture, or poverty. They talked of learning to understand Shakespeare and other
literature, such as Where the Red Fern Grows. One teacher noted, “I would look for the
unknown (people) . . . as far as how they have broken the barrier from theirs to the main
culture, or dominant culture. And what kind of assimilation they may have experienced,
or if they ever did assimilate into it, because it doesn’t guarantee assimilation because
you’re successful or recognized.”
The answers for high stakes testing always rested with the work of the students helped by us, teachers. Teachers felt they needed to get students interested in reading, so
students will read (in the language of the dominant culture.) If students read, they will do
better on the test. Without naming it, we identified the deficit as being with the student,
not the testing. Several times, the teachers said, “We need to make them feel better about
themselves, so they will do better.” We did not connect this argument about “selfesteem” to the earlier point that the testing was designed by the dominant culture - which
works at excluding marginalized groups and maintaining its own power. The irony of
trying to make students “feel better” about this was never raised, nor did I anticipate it.
These “deficit” and “self-esteem” paradigms are a far cry from the tenants of
multicultural education and critical pedagogy, whose concepts this group of teachers
60
would probably embrace given the nature of their earlier discussions.
The reliance on high stakes testing to measure achievement came up in the
follow-up interviews. One teacher believed that the achievement gap was purely an
economic issue, and that equity in educational funding was the complete answer. At the
same time, he commented, “Standardized testing is a limited measure of real education.”
He also noted, “If we don’t bring in culturally-relevant material . . .then we are going to
have a dominant culture that continues to be dominant.” This seems to be a reference to
social reproduction. He pointed to himself as an example of someone who went all the
way through college unaware of the numerous examples of African American historical
achievement, implying that such ignorance promotes the dominant social order.
Fear
“How did you like having this conversation?” This was the closing question. All
teachers agreed they liked it, some more so than others. One person suggested we should
hold monthly discussion groups. Another shared the experience of having similar
conversations in her home. Some were comforted by the extent of the conversation, but
many expressed fear: “I think having these conversations is frightening in a way, because
of the way that it’s going to be perceived by those who we are talking about. I think the
prejudice sometimes goes both way.” Discomfort wrapped around discussion of the
topic, word choice, stereotypes, perceptions, and hidden biases. Many were afraid of
giving offense or of being misunderstood. At the same time, all agreed that the best way
to break down barriers was to continue the conversation. As one teacher said, “Doesn’t
the fear dissipate the more you have this conversation?”
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Chapter 5
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
The questionnaire, during and after its completion, the focus group sessions, and
the interviews stimulated thought and discussion among the participants about race,
power and economics. Teachers, administrators, and support professionals clearly
wanted to discuss achievement and the effects of culturally-relevant pedagogy. While
acknowledging fear and discomfort around the topics, there seemed to be an underlying
belief in the use of culturally-relevant pedagogy and its power to engage students and
improve scores on standardized testing. Clearly, much work remains in terms of building
understanding of what culturally-relevant pedagogy is, and what it does and does not look
like. Affirmation of culture was strongly supported in the discussions, though it was
contradicted by an underlying assumption of assimilation as the goal.
In terms of the achievement gap, teachers seemed unwilling to focus the
discussion on the African American subgroup. When we did, the first issues raised were
those of language and vocabulary. Although issues of poverty, economics, and power
soon followed, the discussion often drifted into personal experiences and then to
marginalized groups with which individual teachers identified. The category of
“conquered peoples” resonated strongly, as did talk about the dominant culture. Yet, we
seemed to feel more at ease when we could extend the discussion to encompass groups
with which we identified and that we perceived as not being part of the dominant culture.
In other words, we were uncomfortable with the notion of ourselves as members of the
62
dominant culture. This speaks directly to the issue of “positionality” as discussed by
Murrell (Murrell, 2002). It is difficult for us to examine our position in society in terms
of power and privilege, or as members of the dominant culture.
Most of the teachers felt that race and class were intrinsically connected. As one
teacher put it, “Those people who have power don’t want to lose the power.” They
named institutional racism as the cause. Curriculum was considered to be part of the
problem, with some commenting that the few efforts to include people from marginalized
groups were patronizing. As one person noted, “I know that textbooks are trying to do a
better job of being inclusive . . .but our textbooks are not anywhere near representative of
what the population is . . .especially in California.” All of the teachers felt a compelling
need to counter the racism perceived in the mandated curriculum. At the same time, they
pointed to income and parenting as influencing the achievement gap, similar to the
teacher beliefs found by Uhlenberg & Brown in 2002. (Uhlenberg & Brown, 2002). Our
discussions never specifically articulated a connection between racism and the
achievement gap, and none of my questions addressed the issue.
The discussions seemed to identify causes of the achievement gap as language,
vocabulary, and class rather than racism. Despite the whole-hearted agreement about the
absence of knowledge of African American biographical achievement in our own lives
and that of our students, and the overwhelming evidence in literature available to all of us
that the achievement gap primarily references a gap in achievement between Blacks and
their White counterparts, we were unwilling or unable to make a connection in terms of
an education debt to African Americans. Rather, the need for these life stories in the
63
curriculum always came back to issues of student engagement, self-esteem, and
achievement in reading. Teachers talked of changing attitudes (the students’.) As one
teacher expressed it: “If we were to teach and have role models from a diverse group, I
do think we can change attitudes.” In hindsight, I realized that this represents a focus on
the student, rather than the institution: a focus that research has shown can and does lead
us to a view of difference as being deficit-based, something the teacher needs to “fix”
(Bartolomé, p.414, 2003).
While the process opened the door to a discussion of race and class, the
achievement gap itself still feels like a “taboo.” Focusing on a single, marginalized group
made us uncomfortable, as did any inference of individual racist attitudes or beliefs.
While racism was named, it was always clarified as “institutional.” I did not raise direct
questions on this point, and I did not address positionality in an open and unqualified
way. While I believe we made some progress, I feel that the “taboo” is still very strong
and extends farther than I realized. It clearly extends to our role, as teachers, in the
educational debt articulated by Ladson-Billings (Ladson-Billings, 2006). In hindsight, I
believe I was ineffective in the questioning process, probably reflecting my own
hesitancy and discomfort with the subject.
At the same time, teachers have a desire to give students the tools to counter the
dominant culture. Teachers talked about “breaking through” and giving students the
belief that they could achieve despite being marginalized. Historical figures, who created
a lasting legacy in the face of obstacles, were considered inspirational and empowering,
“Because these individuals were at a time in their culture, when their race was not valued
64
at any point and they still succeeded. It gives hope that even though I’m in a difficult
time, I have somebody – look at what they did – it’s just very strong.” Empowering
students in the face of institutional racism was a strong theme of all those who
participated. Power sharing was not an obstacle.
Actual changes have taken place at the site as a direct result of this effort. The
biggest one has been the purchasing of supplemental literature. There is a greater focus
on biographies by the reading coach, and more teachers at all grade levels have requested
that new book purchases include biographical studies. The librarian has targeted
biographies during library studies, and upper grade research projects have been geared
towards biographical research and writing. Requests have been made for biographical
summaries to be developed and posted around the school in connection with the monthly
character trait focus and assemblies. Administration has requested that focus group-type
discussions be continued on a regular basis, preferably monthly. Suggestions have been
made to bring an instrument that stimulates discussion to the parents and the monthly
parent meetings to expand the conversation around race and culture as a school
community, not just a professional learning community.
Questions have also been raised about whether such a tactic could be used to gain
greater participation in the school community by our African American parents. Some
teachers assumed the parents would know more of these figures than the teachers, but
others were uncertain. One person commented, “I think it would be interesting to give
this to people who are Black and see how many they know. Do they, as a culture, teach
their children about this? Do our children - do they even know? Who were the teachers
65
of this culture? Is it us, in school? Is it happening in the homes?” Another teacher said,
“Bringing that book home (a biography on one of the historical figures - taking it home to
read . . . the parents will be motivated . . .like they’ll recall some of those characters and
take interest, and then maybe read with them or encourage them to read. So, I think it
would stimulate interest overall, by parents and the students.”
There seems to be no doubt that a spark has been ignited, and those in authority
have made deliberate and pointed requests to find a way to continue it. The
administrators are not only supportive of these efforts, but are advocates for change.
Recommendations
There are several divergent courses for future investigation carved by this study.
All those who participated would like access to the knowledge they deem has been
hidden from them. One teacher suggested starting a web site, which would be easily
accessible to teachers and provided information and lesson plans with connections to the
standards. Such an effort would have the advantage of expanding thought in the area of
culturally-relevant pedagogy and helping to form a broader understanding and definition
of the term.
Another possible avenue for future work is a lesson study around the use of
African American biographical achievement in the classroom. How could it be used as
culturally-relevant pedagogy rather than just additive factual information? What would
this look like? Would it be effective? Would it increase student engagement or reading
achievement?
Teacher attitudes and beliefs around culturally-relevant pedagogy and
66
achievement could also be explored. Through professional development sessions, such
as those used by Duncan-Andrade, the evolution of teachers’ beliefs could be measured
and even examined for connection to student achievement (Duncan-Andrade, 2007).
Additional effort to counter a curriculum that is considered barren and biased
could be undertaken and measured in terms of achievement at any grade level. The use
of biographies to learn of the life story behind the concept could be explored in all or any
of the content areas. The one teacher’s example of the geography lesson could be used as
the guide.
Teachers suggested that parents be surveyed both in terms of their knowledge of
historical figures, but also to determine if these life stories are a part of the home culture,
and if so, where was the knowledge acquired? Also, if it is not, is there an interest in it?
This question counters my presumption that teachers all agreed students would have a
natural interest in the life stories of people from the same culture. My experience has
been otherwise – that students connect to the life story of another person for many
different reasons, and that sometimes, timing is more important than shared language and
culture. In other words, if a student is presently living an experience that matches that of
the person being studied, their interest attaches to that person in a way that regards
culture and language as irrelevant. This is another avenue for potential future
investigation.
The question of empowerment could be explored in a number of different ways.
Do efforts by teachers to counter a perceived Eurocentric curriculum result in students
having a sense of empowerment and does this change something? What would that
67
something be? Is it achievement on standardized tests? If not, how would we measure
it?
What is the power of including life stories in the curriculum? How could this be
tested and understood in a multicultural paradigm, rather than just a social studies
paradigm? Further work is needed to determine whether a connection exists between the
use of life stories in the classroom and the goals and tenants of multicultural education.
What does it mean to be a “White ally” and how does that manifest itself? This
question arose as a result of one teacher’s response in the plural, which other teachers
followed: “Those were lives that they’ve experienced and in the face of what they had to
experience, they still succeeded, and we can succeed today too.” This exploration could
encompass further discussion around positionality and the dominate culture.
Finally and most importantly to me, what is the power of peer influence to alter
the landscape at a particular school site? This study seems to have sparked a discussion
and prompted some minor changes in decisions made at the site. Only time will tell
whether this is the beginning of a change in the way the community talks about
achievement; in the way issues such as the achievement gap are addressed or ignored; in
the way teachers view culturally-relevant pedagogy; and in the way multicultural
education is present or absent at the site. The final hope is that this study gave back to
the community to the same extent it extracted data from the community according the
principal of “Carina” as outlined by Duncan-Andrade in 2007 (Duncan-Andrade, 2007).
68
APPENDIX A
Historical Figures Survey – Teachers/Student Teachers
© Teresa Burke, 2009
Date: ________________
Years Teaching: ______
Position: _______________
Age: _______________
Current Assignment: _____________
Ethnicity: ___________
1) George Washington Williams was:
a) an enslaved blacksmith who led a slave revolt
b) an attorney and author of The History of the Negro Race from 1619 - 1880
c) a British solicitor who wrote a famous expose of American slavery
d) the child slave of a famous American president
2) Crispus Attucks was:
a) a Native American who fought with George Washington
b) a runaway slave shot in the Boston Massacre
c) an Indian who fought in the French and Indian War
d) a leader of a slave rebellion off the coast of Florida
3) Olauduh Equiano was:
a) an ex-slave who published a famous book on slavery
b) a French captain in the French and Indian War
c) a colonist from Spain who fought for the British
d) a soldier who fought with George Washington
4) James Forten was:
a) a signer of the Declaration of Independence
b) a captain who fought with George Washington
c) a sail maker and abolitionist
d) an escaped slave who published a book
5) Phyllis Wheatley was:
a) a famous British writer
b) a suffragette with the NWSA in 1869
c) the first American to sing at the London Opera
d) a slave poet
6) Elijah McCoy was:
a) the first African American player in the NBA
b) a slave who led an unsuccessful revolt in Virginia in the 19th century
c) an inventor of mechanical parts for trains, including an automatic lubricator
d) an author who documented slavery in the 18th century
69
7) Joseph Cinque was:
a) a Spanish Explorer
b) a Spanish lawyer for Queen Isabella
c) a French General in the French and Indian War
d) an African American slave who led a ship rebellion
8) Frederick Douglass was:
a) an abolitionist and famous speaker against slavery
b) a U.S. Senator
c) an escaped slave who became a slave owner
d) an author who wrote about the battles of the Civil War
9) Sojourner Truth was:
a) a slave poet
b) an ex-slave who became a famous abolitionist speaker
c) an African American explorer
d) a famous medical relief worker in the Civil War
10) Benjamin Banneker was:
a) an ex-slave involved in a famous lawsuit
b) a soldier who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War
c) a homesteader who moved west and established a Black town
d) a scientist and planner who helped design the street layout of Washington D.C.
11)Robert Smalls was:
a) a Union war hero who later became a congressman
b) a teacher who established the first Black college
c) an inventor who helped design railroad parts
d) the first African American football player
12) Percy Julian was:
a) a scientist who invented synthetic medicines
b) a famous author who published several books despite being illiterate
c) the first African American army surgeon
d) an enslaved spy for the colonists in the American Revolution
13) Harriet Tubman was:
a) a prisoner of the Confederacy in the Civil War
b) a conductor on the Underground Railroad
c) a famous African American preacher
d) an ex-slave who moved to England and became wealthy as an author
14) Dred Scott was:
a) an escaped slave who led an army of 1,000
b) an African American hung by the KKK
c) a slave taken to a non-slave state who sued for his freedom
d) a lawyer who worked to abolish slavery before the Civil War
70
15) George Washington Carver was:
a) an agricultural professor who found over 320 uses for peanuts
b) a famous blacksmith in Boston
c) a general who fought in the American Revolution
d) a turn-of-the-century preacher who established a Black church in New York
16) Matthew Henson was:
a) a traveling minstrel who made famous a song of the 1920’s
b) a history professor who recorded the first slave histories
c) a professional baseball player in the Negro Leagues who hit 800 homeruns
d) a ship captain and explorer who spoke Inuit and helped explore the North Pole
17) W.E.B. Du Bois was:
a) an author and the first Black to get an advanced degree from Harvard
b) a fearless fighter with the Buffalo Soldiers who fought in the Civil War
c) a Black soldier who won France’s highest military award for bravery in WWII
d) a scientist and inventor who changed the way open heart surgery was performed
18) Booker T. Washington was:
a) a professional baseball player in the Negro Leagues
b) a famous preacher who challenged segregation
c) an educator who founded the Tuskegee Institute
d) a hero in the Civil War who spied on the Confederacy
19) T. Thomas Fortune was:
a) a lawyer who successfully argued a discrimination case before the Supreme Court
b) a journalist and author who established the first Black newspaper
c) an educator who taught agriculture at Tuskegee University
d) an African American boxer who won the heavyweight title despite segregation laws
20) Ida Wells Barnett was:
a) a nurse who risked her life amid the bullets of the front line in the Civil War
b) the first Black female judge on the Supreme Court
c) a famous opera singer who sang in the opera houses of Europe
d) a famous writer and speaker who helped establish the NAACP
21) Richard Wright was:
a) an assistant to Martin Luther King, Jr.
b) a professional baseball player who helped break the color barrier
c) a composer who wrote protest songs for the civil rights movement
d) a famous novelist who wrote the book, Native Son
22) Charles R. Drew was:
a) a scientist who discovered a safe way to store blood for transfusions
b) a lawyer famous for his persuasive oratory with White audiences
c) a slave who was lynched by the KKK
d) an educator who taught engineering at Howard University
71
23) Garrett Morgan was:
a) an indentured servant who was captured and sold as a slave
b) an inventor who created the first three-position traffic signal
c) a journalist and author who established the first Black newspaper
d) a famous singer who recorded nineteen albums with Motown Records
24) Homer Plessy was:
a) a Black Senator who was lynched by the KKK
b) a plaintiff who sued for being kicked off a “Whites Only” train car
c) the first Black general after the armed forces was desegregated
d) one of the famous Tuskegee Airmen
25) Hiram Revels was:
a) the first African American U.S. Senator
b) an African American track star who won four gold medals in 1936
c) a leader of the Black Panthers who advocated violence against Whites
d) a Black Civil War preacher who protested the war
26) A. Philip Randolph was:
a) a successful investment banker in New York City
b) an African American dancer who tapped his way to Hollywood stardom
c) the leader of the first Black labor union
d) an architect who helped design the Smithsonian
27) Ralph Bunche was:
a) an African American who represented America in a dance by the French Ballet
b) an army surgeon who received the Medal of Honor in WWI
c) the first African American member of the U.S. Congress in the 20th century
d) the recipient of the Nobel Peace prize for brokering peace between Israel and its Arab
neighbors
28) Mary McLeod Bethune was:
a) a teacher who started a school for Black women
b) the first female member of the U.S. Senate
c) an influential leader in the voter registration drives of the 1960’s
d) an anthropologist who documented the slave narratives in the 1930’s
29) Thurgood Marshall was:
a) an artist who created a 21-painting series about the overthrow of slavery in Haiti
b) a judge on the Supreme Court
c) a general in WWII
d) a legendary dancer who danced down Broadway backwards
30) Carter G. Woodson was:
a) the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association
b) the first African American pilot in the Air Force
c) an African American historian who received a doctorate in history from Harvard
d) a singer from the Harlem Renaissance who published 200 songs
72
31) Rosa Parks was:
a) a seamstress who refused to give up her seat on a bus
b) a teacher who fought for desegregation
c) a lawyer who argued before the Supreme Court
d) a famous singer known as “The Divine One”
32) Ruby Bridges was:
a) a pioneering Black woman in the sport of tennis
b) the author of Raisin in the Sun
c) a women who helped end school segregation as a child
d) a poet who inspired civil rights protest songs
33) Zora Neale Hurston was:
a) the first woman soldier in the army in WWI
b) a scientist who invented the microscope
c) a singer who starred in an all Black Broadway production during segregation
d) an anthropologist and author who was famous for writing for Black audiences
34) Malcolm X was:
a) a criminal who was sentenced to death row for first-degree murder
b) a Christian preacher who was assassinated during the Civil Rights Movement
c) a prophet of the Nation of Islam until his shift to traditional Muslim tenets
d) a Black Panther injured in riots in California in 1969.
35) Charles Hamilton Houston was:
a) the first chief legal counsel of the NAACP
b) the first African American solo pilot
c) the first Black actor to win an Academy Award
d) a surgeon who invented a method to diagnosis heart disease
36) Martin Luther King Jr. was:
a) the first African American president of the United States
b) a famous Senator from Alabama
c) a preacher who won a Nobel Peace Prize
d) a professor of political studies at Howard University
37) Jackie Robinson was:
a) the first African American astronaut
b) the first Black to play Major League Baseball
c) a track and field star who protested segregation at the Olympics
d) a writer who is famous for writing the history of baseball
38) Berry Gordy, Jr. was:
a) the founder of Motown Records
b) a Vice Presidential candidate in the 1970’s
c) a famous track star who broke the world record in the 100 yard dash
d) an inventor who designed the tri-color stoplight
73
39) Patricia Roberts Harris was:
a) a member of the Black Panther party who killed a judge
b) the inventor of the trumpet
c) the founder of the Junior League
d) the first Black women presidential cabinet member
40) Vivien Thomas was:
a) the first woman to cast a vote in 1920
b) a scientist who invented a device to cure heart defects
c) a sailor who piloted a Confederate ship as a Union spy in the Civil War
d) an ex-slave who became the most honored graduate of Harvard in 1880
74
APPENDIX B
Consent to Participate in Research
Teachers, Pre-Service Teachers, Parents
(Revised May 20, 2009)
You are being asked to participate in research conducted by Teresa Burke, a student in the
Bilingual Multicultural Education Department Graduate Program at California State
University, Sacramento. The study will investigate knowledge of historical African
American figures and the utility of this knowledge in children’s reading instruction.
You will be asked to complete a survey about your knowledge of historical African American
figures. The survey may require up to twenty or thirty minutes of your time. You may
choose to skip any question(s) you wish, and may withdraw from the activity at any point
without any consequences of any kind. If you agree to complete the survey, you may also be
asked to later participate in a focus group discussion (with other participants) or an
interview about these topics. The focus group discussions and/or interviews could last up
to one hour.
The survey may make you uncomfortable if you feel you do not know the correct answers.
No judgment is designed or intended with respect to your knowledge or lack thereof as to
the correct answers. The survey is intended to determine if participants know these
historical figures, not to evaluate or judge whether they should know them. The focus
group discussions and the interviews are also intended to explore the source of any such
knowledge and whether such knowledge is part of the participants’ personal life history.
You may gain additional insight into historical African American figures. It is also possible
that you will not benefit from participating in this research. It is hoped that the results of
the study will be beneficial for teachers and parents searching for ways to make literacy
development culturally-relevant.
To preserve confidentiality, your responses to the survey will be anonymous. While some
information is requested, no effort will be made to uncover a participant’s identity. The
information is collected solely for the purpose of assigning potential categories to levels of
knowledge assessed. Only first names will be used in the focus group discussions, and
fictional names will be chosen. With the permission of everyone in the group, the focus
group discussions may be recorded. Those tapes will be destroyed as soon as the
discussions have been transcribed. Until that time, they will be stored in a locked cabinet.
Interviews are purely voluntary. Only first names will be used, and fictional names will be
chosen. The interviews will be recorded only with permission. Those tapes will be
destroyed as soon as the interviews have been transcribed. Until that time, they will be
stored in a locked cabinet.
You will not receive any compensation for participating in this study.
If you have any questions about this research, you may contact Teresa Burke at 916-4021905 or by e-mail at tburke@sanjuan.edu.
75
Your participation in this research is entirely voluntary. Your signature below indicates
that you have read this page and agree to participate in the research.
__________________________________
Signature of Participant
___________________________
Date
76
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