Relationship Between Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices and Teacher Effectiveness

Culturally responsive teaching practices have started to gain traction as one instructional approach to closing the achievement gap. Teachers play a vital role in supporting student learning. To address the achievement disparity, there is a need to ensure that students of color and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds have access to quality and effective teachers. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to explore the relationship between teachers' knowledge, perceptions, and implementation of culturally responsive practices and their overall teacher effectiveness in the classroom. The quantitative study involved teachers working with Kindergarten through 12th-grade students who were evaluated using the Danielson Framework Teacher Evaluation rubric during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Participants completed a survey for the researcher to gain an understanding of their knowledge, perceptions, and implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices. Participants were also asked to upload their summative evaluation scores. The survey and evaluation scores were analyzed using the Pearson r correlational coefficient to understand the relationship between the teachers' knowledge, perceptions, and implementation and the evaluation scores on the Danielson Framework for Teaching. Although a correlation was not established between teacher effectiveness and teacher knowledge, perceptions, and implementation, it is significant that there were correlations between teachers' knowledge, perception, and implementation. This provides solid evidence of the importance for teachers to be better trained and supported in utilizing culturally responsive teaching practices in their classrooms. These results should inform legislators, policymakers, school and district administrators, and educational preparation programs to create better structures to support teachers in implementing these practices in order to best support student needs.