African American, European American, or Does It Make A Difference?Teacher Perceptions of Care for African American Students Öffentlichkeit

Abstract

Abstract African American, European American, or Does It Make A Difference? Teacher Perceptions of Care for African American Students By Mari Ann Roberts

Growing research evidence on the ethic of care suggests that caring should be an integral part of the pedagogical methods implemented in schools. However, the colorblind "community of care" described in the literature (Ferreira, Smith, & Bosworth, 2002; Schussler & Collins, 2006; Thompson, 2004) does not disaggregate the lines of ethnicity, gender or SES. Moreover, only a paucity of research explores teacher perceptions of caring. The purpose of this study was to examine teacher care for Black students, by exploring the reported perceptions and behaviors of African American and European American teachers, using theoretical lenses of care theory, culturally relevant pedagogy, and critical race theory.

A phenomenological methodology was used to guide the design, implementation, and analysis of this study. Interviews were conducted with ten "successful" African American and seven "successful" European American teachers who taught in high schools with majority African American or European American student populations. Specifically, the following research questions guided this study:

How do "successful" African American and European American secondary teachers define teacher care for their African American students? What specific behaviors/attitudes/critical incidents do successful African American and European American secondary teachers share as examples of their care for African American students (if any)? What explanations do successful African American and European American teachers provide for their reported care behaviors? What is the relationship (if any) between teacher perceptions of care, culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory?

Findings suggest that overall, the phenomenon of teacher care specifically for, or on behalf of, Black students was acknowledged or implied somewhat equally across most emergent themes by teachers of both races. Nevertheless, findings also revealed racialized differences in teacher definitions and behaviors; caring rationale based on individualistic inspiration, altruistic inspiration, and influential inspiration; and an extant relationship between culturally relevant pedagogy, critical race theory, and the respondents' perceptions of their care for Black students.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...1 STATEMENT AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM...4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS...8 DEFINITION OF TERMS...9 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...10

CARE THEORY...10 CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY...16 CRITICAL RACE THEORY...18

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE...21

LITERATURE SEARCH STRATEGY...21 TEACHER CARE...22 TEACHER CARE AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS...29 AFRICAN AMERICAN TEACHER CARE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS...36 EUROPEAN AMERICAN TEACHER CARE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS...48 SUMMARY OF CARING LITERATURE...60

THE PILOT STUDY...61 METHODOLOGY...64

PARTICIPANTS...67 DATA SOURCES AND COLLECTION...72 DATA CODING AND ANALYSIS...74 VALIDITY...78

FINDINGS...79

SCHOOL SETTINGS...80 TEACHERS...87 TEACHER CARE DEFINITIONS AND BEHAVIORS...111

Theme Definitions...111 Overarching Themes...117 Differentiated Codes...120

EXPLANATIONS FOR TEACHER CARE...129

Theme Definitions...129 Overarching Themes...132 Differentiated Codes...134

CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN TEACHER CARE...141

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy...142 Critical Race Theory...150

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS...162

DISCUSSION...163

CARING RESPONSIBLY...164 CARING THROUGH RELATIONSHIP AND "REAL" RELATIONSHIP...169 CARING WITH RIGOR...172 CARING AND RACE...175 LIMITATIONS...181 IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND TEACHER EDUCATION...183 IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH...185

REFERENCES...190 APPENDICES...205

APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW GUIDE - INFORMATION GATHERING...206 APPENDIX: B INTERVIEW GUIDE - MEMBER CHECKING...210 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW GUIDE - CLARIFICATION...211 APPENDIX D: REVIEW OF LITERATURE TABLE...212 APPENDIX E: PARTICIPANT TABLE...219 APPENDIX F: ACCESS MEMO...221 APPENDIX G: SUMMARY OF QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS...222 APPENDIX H:CODES - TEMPERANCE, CLARITY AND CONSISTENCY, ENVIRONMENT, AND INDIVIDUALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION...223 APPENDIX I: CODES - INFLUENTIAL INSPIRATION - WITH DETAILS OF "OTHER" CATEGORY...225

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Educational Studies
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Education, General Education, Bilingual and Multicultural Education, Secondary
Stichwort	Teacher Care Critical Race Theory Multicultural Education European American Teachers African American Teachers
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Siddle Walker, Vanessa, Emory University
Committee Members	Cadray Jr., Joseph, Emory University Buras, Kristen, Emory University

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