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Description
The increased cultural diversity in the United States has resulted in school systems that serve many diverse communities. Research continually demonstrates the many differences that exist between the majority of teachers and the growingly diverse student population (Kyles & Olafson, 2008; Watson, 2012). The differences are evident due to cultural factors, worldviews and history of life experiences (Watson, 2012). A lack of appropriate responses to cultural differences has contributed to cultural gaps that due to race, ethnicity, gender, language and social class continue to impact on student achievement (Lindsey, Robins, Lindsey & Terrell, 2009). The purpose of this study was to contribute to the existing body of knowledge specific to cultural proficiency in the field of education. Of particular interest was to address how educators engaged in culturally proficient practices. Various studies address the importance of embedding multiculturalism and cultural diversity in the classroom. However, a need exists to understand the impact of culture in the classroom, specifically as it pertains to educators reflecting on their own culture, reflecting on their students' culture and the influence of culture on instructional practices. This mixed-methods study aimed to document self-perceived levels of cultural proficiency of elementary school teachers and how their self-perceived levels related to their instructional practices. Additionally, through an interview process, teacher reflective practices were examined in order to learn more about how educators make sense of how their own culture influenced their students, and how their students' culture influenced them as educators and influenced instruction. The first phase of the study consisted of gathering quantitative data using two surveys in order to measure elementary school teachers' selfperceived levels of cultural proficiency. Six elementary school teachers were then selected to participate in the second phase that consisted of personal interviews and classroom observations in order to examine culturally proficient instructional practices. Finally, an analysis was conducted to examine if there were significant differences between practices and behaviors of teachers who self-reported high levels of cultural proficiency, medium levels of cultural proficiency and low levels of cultural proficiency. Results demonstrated differences between the different levels of self-reported cultural proficiency.
