Benefits of Culturally Responsive Teaching
Value Students' Culture & Identity
Improves Academic Achievement
Build Relationships with Students, Family, and the Community
Value Students' Culture & Identity
Toppel (2015) emphasizes culturally responsive instruction and its influence on the experiences and backgrounds of students. The study was conducted as part of Toppel’s (2015) action research to investigate how cultural responsiveness can be achieved when teachers demonstrate care, incorporate student collaboration, and carefully use engagement strategies in conjunction with the reading program. The research used culturally and linguistically diverse students from the classroom as part of Toppel’s (2015) focal students for the study. Key components of Ladson-Billings (1994) culturally responsive pedagogy were used to assess how they would work with the reading program and focal students. The findings from the action research demonstrated that a students’ cultural identities inherently influence how they learn and process information. Toppel (2015) proposes that connecting to the lives and cultural experiences of ethnically and culturally diverse students makes content and knowledge accessible to them.
Valuing the funds of knowledge of culturally and linguistically diverse students is important because Toppel (2015) proposes it influenced how the focal students learned and communicated in the classroom. These findings from Toppel (2015) are similar to Roe’s (2019) analysis because they both found that the cultural experiences and affiliations of emergent bilingual students influenced their learning in the classroom. Integrating the cultural background, knowledge, and life experiences of emergent bilinguals help teachers to inform their instruction and enhance learning. In particular, using culturally responsive teaching helped create meaningful connections with the focal students because the practice “ensures that teachers are not simply teaching content but teaching students in ways that respect, promote, and incorporate diverse ways of thinking, learning, and communicating” (Toppel, 2015, p. 559).
Improves Academic Achievement
Findings of CRT improving the academic success of students was explored by Reyes and Garcia (2014) in a case study of turning around a failing school with English language learners. According to Reyes and Garcia (2014), the purpose of their study was to understand how demography, policy, and practices affected academic achievement of ELLs who live in poverty at James Elementary. Their research demonstrated that a culturally and linguistically professional leadership model turned around a historically low-performing elementary school in the United States. It was revealed that within two years of implementing culturally responsive leadership, the school transformed from being a low-performing school for three consecutive years into a school with the state’s highest achievement rating. In particular, the Texas Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS), the state assessment data, showed emergent bilingual students at James Elementary increased their reading scores from 80 to 92% and their math scores increased from 88 to 97% (Reyes and Garcia, 2014).
Based on this research study, it is evident that the culturally responsive practices and leadership improved the student achievement among the emergent bilingual students at James Elementary. Qualitative data from Reyes and Garica (2014) indicate these findings are due to the principal’s cultural and linguistic knowledge that were aligned with non-traditional leadership practices that do not focus on historical, social, or cultural frameworks. Another explanation for these findings is based on the cultural and linguistic practices the principal used from CRT to confirm the students’ cultural capital. Reyes and Garcia (2014) conclude that CRT can improve academic outcomes for emergent bilingual students because the pedagogical practices build on the social, cultural, and linguistic capital of students and increases their academic success.
Improving the Experiences of Diverse Learners
Research has also shown that culturally responsive pedagogy improves the experiences of diverse learners in the classroom. A case study from Orosco and O’Connor (2014) found that using culturally responsive teaching met the cultural and linguistic needs of students from a special education program. The study examined how one teacher’s knowledge of culturally responsive pedagogy affected her special education instruction and literacy development (Orosco and O’Connor, 2014). Three major themes emerged from using culturally responsive pedagogy in this teacher’s classroom with students in the special education program “cultural aspects, culturally relevant skills-based instruction, and collaborative agency time” (Orosco and O'Connor, 2014, p. 515). Specifically, the study found that these themes created a culturally responsive teaching model that promoted literacy development of students with learning disabilities by empowering, validating, and affirming their worth. According to Orosco and O’Connor’s (2014) interviews and data collection, the students responded positively to CRT because the teacher included elements from Ladson-Billings (1994) framework.
Their results and findings concluded that it was because of the teacher’s preparation and ability to integrate CRT, she could create curriculum and activities that were meaningful and centralized around the social and linguistic cultural experiences of her students (Orosco and O’Connor, 2014). The study reveals that students describe positive learning experiences from their teachers and school that foster a climate with culturally responsive pedagogy. In accordance with the previous research, affirming the identities and funds of knowledge of culturally and linguistically diverse students has shown to improve the learning outcomes of students because CRT views student’s from an asset-based approach (Roe, 2019).
Additional Resources
Supporting Schoolwide Culturally Responsive Practices