Culturally responsive teaching practices at West Valley High School, Fairbanks North Star Borough School District

Abstract

This research examines the pedagogical model of Culturally Responsive Education and how it is implemented in urban Alaska (Fairbanks). The main objective is to document the voices, perspectives, and opinions of individuals and schools who are engaged and/or interested in Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices at a time when the interest in this topic is growing. As a result, this thesis allows for a better understanding of these practices, as well as of their applicability to existing curricula. The main research questions are (1) What is the current understanding of Culturally Responsive Education among global studies teachers at West Valley High School in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District? And (2) What are the specific teaching practices that are being developed and implemented by teachers in the classroom in conjunction with this understanding of Culturally Responsive Education? The ethnographic data for this research was produced during two months of fieldwork at West Valley High School in Fairbanks through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews with global studies teachers and student teachers, as well as members of the administrative personnel (principal and assistant principal). The themes that emerged through data analysis include: the value of “positive relationship building,” “community,” application-based learning, and the need to allocate more resources to address challenges faced by teachers impacting their ability to effectively implement Culturally Responsive Education in the classroom. From an anthropological standpoint, it becomes apparent that Culturally Responsive Education is a culturally grounded and therefore powerful set of tools that has the potential to simultaneously increase student engagement and decrease the systemic impact of stereotyped views of “student behaviors”.