The Miseducation of Black Boys: The Impact of Leadership Support on the Implementation of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
Abstract
At Sankofa Preparatory Academy (SPA), a pseudonym, Black male students continued to trail behind their peers academically, especially in reading; only 16% of Black boys reached proficiency levels compared to 28% of all other students tested. SPA was located in a neighborhood characterized by high poverty, high unemployment, and low educational attainment. Students were entirely Black or Hispanic. Using an Improvement Science approach, three primary drivers were identified: engaging Black boys in reading, addressing teacher bias, and fostering collaborative professional learning. Two Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were employed: a book study and culturally responsive teaching focusing on lesson planning and teacher rounds. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed through the lens of three theoretical frameworks: adaptive leadership, adult development theory, and the dysfunctions of team. Instrumentation included exit tickets, the street data protocol, analytic memos, lesson planning templates, the CRIOP-2, and the Courageous Conversations tools. The study found five key leadership attributes supported the intervention: 1) building trust, 2) inviting teachers onto the balcony and showing them the future, 3) pacing the work: honoring people and process 4) distributed leadership and equity of voice, and 5) giving the work back, with trust.
Subject Area
Education Policy|Education|Educational leadership
Recommended Citation
Green-Martinez, Keisha, "The Miseducation of Black Boys: The Impact of Leadership Support on the Implementation of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy" (2023). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30573364.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30573364
