Abstract
This qualitative study investigates the existence of cultural themes in classrooms serving low-income African American students. A classification scheme categorizing classroom dynamics that evidenced cultural themes is developed and used to record teachers and students' behaviors. Four hundred sixty classroom observations are specified to either a mainstream or Afrocultural ethos. Results support the home-school cultural misalignment argument. There are more observations of mainstream classroom behaviors than Afrocultural ones. Mainstream cultural themes emerge from teacher-initiated behaviors, whereas Afrocultural themes are most often recorded as student-initiated behaviors. Instrumentation limitations and implications of the observed cultural dissonance between teachers and students' behaviors are discussed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 521-549 |
Number of pages | 29 |
Journal | Urban Education |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2005 |
Keywords
- African American student achievement
- Culturally relevant pedagogy
- Culture
- School culture
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Urban Studies