Preparation and The Real World of Education: How Prospective Teachers Grapple with Using Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices in the Age of Standardized Testing

Abstract

The most highlighted provision and consequence of the reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, is obsessive practices of assessing students across the United States (U.S.). Despite newly named policies, including Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA) of 2015, which governs current U.S. K-12 education standards, concerns over NCLB’s unprecedented fixation on high stakes testing remain acute for many school districts. This manuscript examines the struggles of four preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PMTs) who grappled with enacting culturally responsive teaching practices at schools that aimed to meet accountability standards.

Stories That Teachers Tell: Exploring Culturally Responsive Science Teaching

“…The tensions that emerge highlight the contrast between standardized testing and adopting a critical stance toward sociopolitical structures and processes and helping students to develop the same, a social justice component that recognizes and actively addresses issues of inequities and a tenet of CRE. In an age of accountability, the CRE PLG teachers are not alone in grappling with ways to reconcile and navigate culturally responsive teaching and high-stakes standardized assessments [81,82]; yet not much exists in science education research at this point. Thus, we flag this as an area for further work and support needed for both in-service and preservice teachers.…”

An Analysis of Education Reforms and Assessment in the Core Subjects Using an Adapted Maslow’s Hierarchy: Pre and Post COVID-19

“…For CLD students and those living in poverty, equitable access is vital if these students are to achieve their growth needs. A vast majority of CLD students have been resegregated, as SES determines school boundaries [7,11,32,[37][38][39]. Lewis et al argued that "the urban classroom environment is the evident expression of racism and separatism because of its geographically segregated arrangement and because it prevents African American learners from participating in mainstream opportunities" [40].…”

“…. [and] is arguably one of the major causes of race-based schooling disparities" [39]. With so much focus being placed on standardized practices and assessments, there has been a "shift away from culturally responsive practices such as using real-world, familiar curriculum representative of the language cultures present in the classroom" [10].…”

“…As students return to face-toface teaching, educators need to develop a better understanding of the contextual factors that are impacting their students. By utilizing culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP)recognized as an effective tool for improving student success in school as it involves incorporating the cultural experiences of students into teaching and learning-student engagement, motivation, and achievement are increased [39,47,71]. CRP is framed by academic achievement/student learning, cultural competence, and socio-political/critical consciousness, with student learning being at the heart of teaching [71].…”