Where's the Race in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy?

Abstract

Background/Context

When Ladson-Billings described the pedagogical practices of successful teachers of African American children and consequently conceptualized culturally relevant pedagogy as an analytic resource to describe and make sense of pedagogical practices of teachers, her discussion was situated in a frame that examined instructional moves of teachers, especially with Black students. Since the introduction of this pedagogy, researchers and theorists have broadened Ladson-Billings's conceptualization to include various other factors. However, race is no longer as central as it was when the framework was introduced.

Purpose/Objective

I examine published literature on culturally relevant pedagogy in mathematics and English language arts that has considered race in some form. The purpose of this synthesis is to highlight patterns across the literature and to consider potential future areas of study to strengthen and encourage focused research on race and CRP.

Setting

I reviewed established literature to examine the intersections of race, culturally relevant pedagogy, and mathematics or English language arts.

Research Design

I analyzed research articles in the areas of mathematics and English language arts that examined race in some form between 2004–2014 to determine how race is situated and connected to the core of culturally relevant pedagogy.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Although race was a critical component of Ladson-Billings's conceptualization of culturally relevant pedagogy, research studies in the area demonstrate a marginal, at best, emphasis on race. Studies in the areas of mathematics and English language arts that do include race tend to focus on superficial aspects of race. Future studies should return to the root of the theory and include race as an essential component of empirical studies that draw from culturally relevant pedagogy as an analytic tool to describe pedagogical practices of teachers.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alexander

(2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press.

Anyon

(2005). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement. New York, NY: Routledge.

Aud

, Fox

, & KewalRamani

(2010). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups (NCES 2010-015). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

Baker

B. D.

, & Corcoran

S. P.

(2012). The stealth inequities of school funding: How state and local school finance systems perpetuate inequitable student spending. Washington, DC: Center for American Progress.

Bales

B. L.

, & Saffold

(2011). A new era in the preparation of teachers for urban schools: Linking multiculturalism, disciplinary-based content, and pedagogy. Urban Education, 46(5), 953—974.

Boutte

G. S.

, & Hill

E. L.

(2006). African American communities: Implications for culturally relevant teaching. New Educator, 2(4), 311—329.

Delpit

(1995). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York, NY: The New Press.

Delpit

(2012). Multiplication is for White people: Raising expectations for other people's children. New York, NY: The New Press.

Dillard

C. B.

, & Okpalaoka

C. L.

(2013). Engaging culture, race and spirituality in education: New visions. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

10.

Dyson

A. H.

, & Genishi

(1994). The need for story: Cultural diversity in classroom and community. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.

11.

Esmonde

(2009). Ideas and identities: Supporting equity in cooperative mathematics learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 1008—1043.

12.

Freire

(1998). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Continuum.

13.

Gay

(2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

14.

Gere

A. R.

, Buehler

, Dallavis

, & Haviland

V. S.

(2009). A visibility project: Learning to see how preservice teachers take up culturally responsive pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 46(3), 816—852.

15.

Gooden

M. A.

, & O'Doherty

(2015). Do you see what I see? Fostering aspiring leaders' racial awareness. Urban Education, 50(2), 225—255.

16.

Grooms

A. A.

, & Williams

S. M.

(2015). The reversed role of magnets in St. Louis: Implications for Black student outcomes. Urban Education, 50(4), 454—473.

17.

Guerra

(2013). The state of African American women in the United States. Retrieved from Center for American Progress website: http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/SOW-factsheet-AA.pdf

18.

Hastie

P. A.

, Martin

, & Buchanan

A. M.

(2006). Stepping out of the norm: An examination of praxis for a culturally-relevant pedagogy for African-American children. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38(3), 293—306.

19.

Hefflin

B. R.

(2002). Learning to develop culturally relevant pedagogy: A lesson about cornrowed lives. Urban Review, 34(3), 231—250.

20.

Hernandez

C. M.

, Morales

A. R.

, & Shroyer

M. G.

(2013). The development of a model of culturally responsive science and mathematics teaching. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 8, 803—820.

21.

Hill

K. D.

(2009). Code-switching pedagogies and African American student voices: Acceptance and resistance. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(2), 120—131.

22.

Howard

T. C.

(2001). Telling their side of the story: African American students' perceptions of culturally relevant pedagogy. Urban Review, 33(2), 131—149.

23.

Howard

T. C.

(2002). Hearing footsteps in the dark: African American students' descriptions of effective teachers. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 7, 425—444.

24.

Howard

T. C.

(2008). “Who really cares?”: The disenfranchisement of African American males in PreK–12 schools: A critical race theory perspective. Teachers College Record, 110(5), 954—985.

25.

Hubert

T. L.

(2014). Learners of mathematics: High school students' perspectives of culturally relevant mathematics pedagogy. Journal of African American Studies, 18, 324—336.

26.

Irvine

(1990). Black students and school failure: Politics, practices, and prescriptions. New York, NY: Greenwood.

27.

Irvine

J. J.

(2010). Foreword (xi-xv). In Milner

H. R.

(Ed.), Culture, curriculum, and identity in education. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

28.

Jackson

, Sealey-Ruiz

, & Watson

(2014). Reciprocal love: Mentoring Black and Latino males through an ethos of care. Urban Education, 49(4), 394—417.

29.

Ladson-Billings

(1992). Liberatory consequences of literacy: A case of culturally relevant instruction for African American students. Journal of Negro Education, 61(3), 378—391.

30.

Ladson-Billings

(1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African-American children. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

31.

Ladson-Billings

(1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 465—491.

32.

Ladson-Billings

(2006a). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3—12.

33.

Ladson-Billings

(2006b). Yes, but how do we do it? Practicing culturally relevant pedagogy. In Landsman

, & Lewis

(Eds.), White teachers/diverse classrooms: A guide to building inclusive schools, promoting high expectations, and eliminating racism (pp. 29—42). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

34.

Ladson-Billings

(2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

35.

Ladson-Billings

, & Tate

(1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47—67.

36.

Lee

C. D.

(2007). Culture, literacy, and learning: Taking bloom in the midst of the whirlwind. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

37.

Leonard

, Brooks

, Barnes-Johnson

, & Berry

R. Q.

III (2010). The nuances and complexities of teaching mathematics for cultural relevance and social justice. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(3), 261—270.

38.

Leonard

, Moore

C. M.

, & Brooks

(2014). Multicultural children's literature as a context for teaching mathematics for cultural relevance in urban schools. Urban Review, 46, 325—348.

39.

McCutcheon

(2002). Developing the curriculum: Solo and group deliberation. Troy, NY: Educator's International Press.

40.

McGee

E. O.

(2013). Threatened and placed at risk: High achieving African American males in urban high schools. Urban Review, 45(4), 448—471.

41.

McGee

E. O.

, & Pearman

F. A.

(2014). Risk and protective factors in mathematically talented Black male students: Snapshots from K through eighth grade. Urban Education, 49(4), 363—394.

42.

Milner

H. R.

, Iv (2010). Start where you are but don't stay there: Understanding diversity, opportunity gaps, and teaching in today's classrooms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

43.

Milner

H. R.

, Iv (2011). Culturally relevant pedagogy in a diverse urban classroom. The Urban Review, 43(1), 66—89.

44.

Milner

H. R.

, Iv (2013). Analyzing poverty, learning, and teaching through a critical race theory lens. Review of Research in Education, 37(1), 1—53.

45.

Milner

H. R.

, Iv (2014, June 4). Racial disparity starts early: A Black father's search for a diverse preschool. Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/06/04/33milner.h33.html

46.

Milner

H. R.

, Iv (2015). Rac(e)ing to class: Confronting poverty and race in schools and classrooms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

47.

Moll

, & Gonzalez

(2004). Engaging life: A funds-of-knowledge approach to multicultural education. In Banks

, & Banks

(Eds.), Handbook of research on multicultural education (2nd ed., pp. 699—715). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

48.

Monroe

C. R.

(2013). Colorizing educational research: African American life and schooling as an exemplar. Educational Researcher, 42(1), 9—19.

49.

Morrison

K. A.

, Robbins

H. H.

, & Rose

D. G.

(2008). Operationalizing culturally relevant pedagogy: A synthesis of classroom-based research. Equity & Excellence in Education, 41(4), 433—452.

50.

Nakkula

M. J.

, & Toshalis

(2006). Understanding youth: Adolescent development for educators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

51.

Nasir

N. S.

(2002). Identity, goals, and learning: Mathematics in cultural practices. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 4(2–3), 211—245.

52.

Paris

(2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93—97.

53.

Paris

, & Alim

H. S.

(2014). What are we seeking to sustain through culturally sustaining pedagogy? A loving critique forward. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 85—100.

54.

Payne

C. M.

(2008). So much reform, so little change: The persistence of failure in urban schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

55.

Peck

S. M.

(2010). Not on the same page but working together: Lessons from an award-winning urban elementary school. The Reading Teacher, 63(5), 394—403.

56.

Petchauer

(2015). Starting with style: Toward a second wave of hip-hop education research and practice. Urban Education, 50(1), 78—105.

57.

Pirbhai-Illich

(2010/2011). Aboriginal students engaging and struggling with critical multiliteracies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(4), 257—266.

58.

Rubel

L. H.

, & Chu

(2012). Reinscribing urban: Teaching high school mathematics in low income, urban communities of color. Journal of Math Teacher Education, 15, 39—52.

59.

Sampson

, & Garrison-Wade

D. F.

(2011). Cultural vibrancy: Exploring the preferences of African-American children toward culturally relevant and non-culturally relevant lessons. Urban Review, 43, 279—309.

60.

Schott Foundation for Public Education. (2012). The urgency of now: The Schott 50 state report on Black males and public education 2012. Cambridge, MA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.blackboysreport.org/bbreport.pdf

61.

Sharkey

(2009). Neighborhood and the black-white mobility gap. Washington, DC: The Economic Mobility Project (Pew Charitable Trusts).

62.

Siddle-Walker

(2000). Valued segregated schools for African American children in the South, 1935–1969: A review of common themes and characteristics. Review of Educational Research, 70(3), 253—285.

63.

Sleeter

, & Stillman

(2005). Standardizing knowledge in a multicultural society. Curriculum Inquiry, 35(1), 27—46.

64.

Spurlock

M. (Producer/director).

(2004). Super size me [Motion picture]. United States: Samuel Goldwyn Films.

65.

Tate

W. F.

(2008). “Geography of opportunity”: Poverty, place, and educational outcomes. Educational Researcher, 37(7), 397—411.

66.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010). The African-American labor force in the recovery. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor.

67.

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. (2009). Minorities in special education: A briefing before the United States Commission on Civil Rights held in Washington, DC, December 3, 2007. Retrieved from http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/MinoritiesinSpecialEducation.pdf

68.

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2014a). Civil rights data collection: Data snapshot: College and career readiness (3). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-college-and-career-readiness-snapshot.pdf

69.

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (2014b). Civil rights data collection: Data snapshot: School discipline (1). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-snapshot.pdf

70.

, Varelas

, & Guajardo

(2011). Subject-matter experts in urban schools: Journeys of enacted identities in science and mathematics classrooms. Urban Education, 46(4), 845—879.

71.

Young

(2010). Challenges to conceptualizing and actualizing culturally relevant pedagogy: How viable is the theory in classroom practices? Journal of Teacher Education, 61(3) 248—260.