Improving School Climate and Cultural Responsiveness for Students of Color. 5 views

Given the continued inequities that students of color face in schools, including poorer student-teacher relationships, higher rates of exclusionary discipline, and dominant norms exacerbated by cultural mismatch with a predominantly White teacher workforce, it is essential to understand the individual (e.g., teacher characteristics) and contextual (e.g., classroom and school racial composition) factors that influence teacher CRP. This three-paper dissertation examined several gaps in the literature related to measuring and promoting CRP in middle and high school settings to ultimately contribute to an equitable school climate for students of color. Because both students’ subjective experiences and objective metrics of school climate are salient predictors of student outcomes and well-being, it is critical to understand the perceptions of core school climate constructs of safety, engagement, and environment; and prevalence of negative school experiences such as bullying; across students of all backgrounds. More inclusive research is necessary to understand the school climate experiences and needs of historically underrepresented groups including, but not limited to, Asian Americans. Our findings indicate that high academic achievement is not indicative of uniformly positive school experiences; that a significant portion of Asian American students report negative perceptions of school climate suggests that future research should explore culturally responsive ways of improving school experiences for this and other underrepresented groups. This dissertation helps to bridge a gap between the theoretical research on culturally responsive pedagogy and successful implementation of CRPs in schools. Together, these studies may inform future endeavors to promote cultural responsiveness in schools by highlighting a link with positive school climate indicators (e.g., improved student-teacher connectedness). Results also indicate that White teachers who are responsible for educating students of different backgrounds from themselves could benefit from training and professional development to improve self-awareness; potentially inaccurate self-assessment could hinder efforts to successfully implement CRP. In addition, examining differences between the measures of culturally responsive self-efficacy and general teaching self-efficacy indicate key areas in which teachers could benefit from support and professional development. Greater training related to classroom management and specific instructional strategies may result in better educational outcomes. Moreover, teachers need coaching to equip them with tools to help them to translate their cultural knowledge into classroom practices.

PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)

school climate; culturally responsive practices; student teacher relationships

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2026-07-20