Relationship between Teachers' Attitudes and Beliefs and Adoption of Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices

Abstract

Despite gains in student achievement in the South and nationwide, NCLB-defined achievement gaps for underrepresented populations persist. The need to address this gap is particularly important in Texas where 2015-2016 enrollment data indicated that racially, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse (RCELD) students represent 52.2% of enrollment. Research indicates that culturally responsive teaching practices (CRTP) in schools and classrooms can be an effective means of narrowing the gap, though widespread CRTP adoption is disappointing. Existing research linking the implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy and teaching practices to student achievement in RCELD students has not sufficiently motivated school wide and classroom adoption of CRTP. Despite growing awareness by administrators and teachers that CRTP adoption is beneficial, CRTP school wide and classroom adoption is slow. Borrowing from the field of technology, this study utilizes the sub dimensions of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology - performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions to understand the relationship between Texas K-12 teacher’s perceptions of CRTP and behavioral intent to adopt CRTP in classrooms and school wide. An online survey, the UTAUT-S, adapted from the UTAUT, was given to a sample of Texas K-12 teachers to measure teacher perceptions. Analysis of responses demonstrated that a strong correlation exists between the sub dimensions of facilitating conditions and social influence and teacher’s behavioral intent to adopt CRTP in classrooms and school wide. On this basis, it is recommended that school leaders place strong focus on professional development and teacher influencers when classroom and school wide adoption of CRTP is the desired outcome. Further research is necessary to determine if the results of this study would be consistent with teacher perceptions and behavioral intent to adopt CRTP in other regions of the United States.