EDUC 6733: Action Research for Educators, Study notes of Advanced Education

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Part B: Literature Review and Revised Research Question(s) Stephen C. Smith, Sr. Walden University Dr. Tiffany DePriter EDUC 6733: Action Research for Educators July 22, 2018

Part B: Literature Review and Revised Research Question(s) In the literature review relative to my stated research question, the recurring overlap centered on the importance of a teacher’s level of cultural competency and its impact on their perceptions regarding the students they teach. Nelson & Guerra (2013) found that while the majority of teachers who participated in their study conducted in both Texas and Michigan had a general awareness of different cultures, only three percent were classified as culturally aware and one percent as culturally responsive. Overall, they noted that participants displayed deficit thinking, i.e., negative beliefs, regarding their students’ academic capabilities and home lives resulting in lowered expectations and blaming them for failing to see the value of education. Nelson & Guerra additionally call for everyone involved in the educational process to examine their own beliefs about diversity and cultural knowledge while attempting to obtain the requisite knowledge and skills through professional development to remove this roadblock to student achievement. However, cultural competence and a strong commitment to equity do not develop overnight and are part of a self-voluntary transformative process. Our current U.S. History curriculum, beginning during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War and extending into contemporary events, covers various demographic changes to our country as well as the nation’s ongoing quest to define what it means to be a U.S. citizen and whether we actually adhere to our founding credo that all men are created equal. In examining the stories and people behind these changes, it is important that a teacher ensure respect for all cultural differences in the material as it relates to the students expected to learn it. Li (2013) examined a three-stage approach for teachers; knowing ourselves and others, developing skills and competences to bridge differences, and becoming skilled cultural workers. Through this process, teachers move beyond their role of simply disseminating information and

embracing cultural differences, teachers avoid reserving a pedagogy of poverty, colored by low expectations and perceptions of lower capabilities, for some while simultaneously providing a pedagogy of plenty, emphasizing a richer curriculum and higher expectations, for others. In a learner-centered classroom, a teacher is consistently respectful of each student’s humanity, culture, and experiences, factoring all these elements into a formula for overall student success. The literature review, particularly the commonality of viewpoints concerning cultural competency, made it clear that my original research question, “how does a teacher’s portrayal of different cultures impact a student’s motivation to learn U.S. History?,” required revision. Therefore, my revised research question is, “how does a teacher’s level of cultural competency impact a student’s desire’s motivation to learn U.S. History?” The methodology based on my research question will include student interviews, classroom observations, and discussions within our Professional Learning Community (PLC) as well as an examination of test scores, discipline files, and attendance records. So while my endeavor is principally an individual action research project, it does have elements of collaboration in terms of integrating insights gained through conversations with members of my PLC. Getting the problem or issue into a commonly defined and articulated set of issues or questions requires understanding of the contextual issues at the student, school, and district level. (Mandinach, 2016). It is my hope that the results of my action research project shed a light on the impotance of cultural competency on the part of teachers to the overall success of students. In the simplest terms, our country and the world itself is changing. By 2055, the U.S. will not have a single racial or ethnic majority. Much of this change has been (and will be) driven by immigration. Nearly 59 million immigrants have arrived in the U.S. in the past 50 years, mostly from Latin

America and Asia (Cohn, 2016). Despite the level of discomfort displayed by our current administration in Washington, D.C., these changes will indeed occur and the every member of the educational community must be realistic enough to see that we all must change our thought processes along with them. In fact, whether we are willing or not, we need only watch the demographic compositions of our classrooms continue to change in order to arrive at the conclusion that we simply have no choice.