TPCK for Impact: Classroom Teaching Practices That Promote Social Justice and Narrow the Digital Divide in an Urban Middle School

Abstract

U.S. schools have long struggled with what has been identified as the “achievement gap.” While the debate ensues in regard to an explicit definition for this phenomenon, research overwhelmingly demonstrates that students of marginalized populations remain on the lower end of most measures of school success. Accordingly, advocates of social justice point to the disparities of resources, including quality teachers, for students in poverty. As a part of this movement, access to appropriate technological resources in schools has become an issue, commonly labeled the “digital divide.” This study reviews evidence of teaching for social justice and impacting the digital divide through the analysis of classroom observations in one year at an urban middle school participating in school reform efforts.