Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Bruce Boyles

Abstract

This dissertation was designed to study teacher perceptions about working with students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Twelve elementary schools were studied. Teachers completed the Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Self-Efficacy (CRCMSE) Scale. Data collected during this dissertation will be of use to school and district leaders as they plan professional opportunities for elementary teachers. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if an association exists between teacher ratings on the CRCMSE Scale and the years of experience of the teacher. A focus group discussion of 15 teachers was utilized to answer the following questions: How prepared do you feel to teach students from diverse cultural backgrounds? What experience, if any, was the most meaningful to prepare you to teach students from diverse cultural backgrounds? What experiences have made you culturally responsive? What professional development, if any, has been most helpful to you when working with culturally diverse students? These research questions were examined: Do teachers feel prepared to teach students from culturally diverse backgrounds? What professional development opportunities prepare school staff to work with students with cultural differences? Is there an association between the experience level of the teacher and the level of culturally responsive teaching practices? The CRCMSE data indicated a mean score of 81.55. This score indicated teachers feel confident in their abilities to work with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. The results of this study did not determine an association between teacher scores on the CRCMSE rating scale and years of teaching experience.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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