Voices From Urban Classrooms: Teachers’ Perceptions on Instructing Diverse Students and Using Culturally Responsive Teaching

Abstract

This study explored the perceptions of 430 P-12 urban teachers regarding the instruction of diverse students and their own ability to effectively implement culturally responsive teaching (CRT). Employing qualitative methodology, four open-ended sentence stems were used to capture teachers’ thoughts, beliefs, and experiences. Results reveal teachers’ strong commitment to CRT, an understanding of behaviors which constitute CRT, a strong sense of efficacy in teaching diverse students, and anticipation of positive outcomes through proactively addressing diverse students’ needs. This research provides valuable information for school districts and schools of education as they develop culturally responsive teachers for today’s diverse classrooms.