Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine African American student pedagogical experiences in classrooms with White teachers at a community college in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The intent of the study was two-fold: (a) to search for evidence of how culture shapes African American students’ view of themselves, and (b) to explore how African American student pedagogical experiences with White teachers shape their attitude about school. The results of this study revealed that many of the White teachers experienced by the research participants demonstrated some aspect of colorblindness in their pedagogical practices. The results also found that the African American community college students in this study valued the use of culturally responsive pedagogy in the classroom.
Highlights
Background of the Study and ConceptualFrameworkEven though more than half of African American students are enrolled in community colleges (American Association of Community Colleges [AACC], 2014; Smith & Vellani, 1999), only 31% of public community college students go on to graduate with an associate degree in six years (Roach, 2009)
To address the research problem, the main research question was, what are the classroom experiences of African American community college students taught by White teachers? This study was conducted at a specific research site—a Mid-Atlantic two-year institution
CPE helped to facilitate an understanding of how the student participants felt when they did not believe they were supported and nurtured by White teachers
Summary
Even though more than half of African American students are enrolled in community colleges (American Association of Community Colleges [AACC], 2014; Smith & Vellani, 1999), only 31% of public community college students go on to graduate with an associate degree in six years (Roach, 2009). DMIS provided the framework for the CPE in creating the cognitive lenses through which to interpret White teachers’ perceived pedagogical practices, actions, and outlook towards cultural difference, as experienced by the African American students in this study. 46), minimization is characterized as “burying differences under the weight of cultural similarities” or when differences are minimized For this conceptual framework, “Minimization” is as follows: Minimization can be described as colorblindness because it correlates with White teachers, for example, who do not have substantive experiences, direct knowledge about, or minimal shared interactions with the diverse students they teach (Hodge, 2003). The ethnocentric stages within the CPE scale were used to interpret African American student experiences with White teacher classroom practices that may be categorized as expressing traditional teaching practices, or the “banking system.”. The CPE scale seems appropriate for interpreting, categorizing, describing, and understanding African American community college students’ perceived experiences with White teachers for this study. Because the CPE scale helped categorize and interpret African American students’ perceived experiences with White teachers’ classroom practices for this study, it was the most appropriate method by which to try to understand African American participant pedagogical experiences in White classrooms
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