Teachers' Perception of How Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy Impacts Black Students’ Literacy Growth and Achievement

Background: Historically, Black students have often rejected their identity and culture to obtain academic success. Due to this deficit approach, Black students can be subjected to a mindset that suggests an underperforming academic profile, suggesting that they are falling behind in comparison to their White counterparts. History and research show that although there has been social progression for Black students, significant challenges are still prevalent as they aim to obtain academic success and educational opportunities. Therefore, asset-based approaches, such as Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, can help address systemic inequities and transform Black students' educational experiences. In addition, shifting the lens from a deficit approach to implementing asset-based pedagogy can eliminate the negative connotation often portrayed while discussing the learning capabilities of Black students. Purpose: This study explored English teachers' perceptions of how Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy instructional practices can improve Black students' literacy growth and achievement. The study used the following question: How do English teachers perceive how Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy can influence Black students' literacy growth and achievement? Method: This study used a narrative inquiry to uncover the experiences of three participants who were identified by using purposeful sampling. The study included the following in chronological order: (1) participants engaged in an entry survey to assess their knowledge and implementation of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy practices; (2) participants attended a virtual professional development session covering Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy practices and completed an exit survey to capture their key takeaways upon completion of the professional development session; and (3) each participant individually engaged in an interview to capture the necessary data to answer the research question. Member checking was used to allow the participants to check for content accuracy. The researcher analyzed and identified trends based on participants' responses to determine key themes. Results: The following three themes were discovered during the process of data analysis to address the research question: (1) Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: Affirming Student Identities, (2) Shifting The Narrative: Teacher Training and Development, (3) Exploring Beyond the Text: Real-World Connections and Influence on Literacy Learning. Conclusion: The insights from English teachers at the high school level demonstrated that Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy presents opportunities to positively impact Black students’ literacy growth and achievement, especially when students' identities are affirmed and they can make personal connections to the content.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Professional Leadership, Education

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Chriss, Kyla Nicole 1994-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hutchison, Laveria

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Thomas, Dustine
• Chung, Sheng
• Walker, Shontoria

• Educational leadership

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/20896

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/20896