Theses and Dissertations
Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice
Advisor
Jo Campbell
Committee Member
Ashley Russom
Committee Member
Kimberly Durham
Keywords
academic achievement, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, inclusion, individualized learning, pedagogy, standardized tests
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to highlight the importance of pedagogy for cultural responsiveness, and to explore the relationship between such pedagogy and middle school students’ performance on state or standardized tests. Therefore, this study explores the educational or academic values that students will gain from being engaged in a learning environment that recognizes their culture and uses it as a tool to maximizing their educational outcomes.
This research employed convergent parallel mixed method design. Therefore, it implemented the qualitative and quantitative approach at the same time and placed equivalent worth to the information collected by each approach. Therefore, the rationale of this approach was to triangulate the participants’ perception of the implementation of CRP, and its academic achievement benefits. The results were interpreted and used to make decisions regarding the alignment between teachers’ perceptions of implementing CRP and students’ performance on state tests.
The results indicate that middle school teachers implement CRP and see its impact on students’ test scores. They stated that they believe culturally responsive teaching can positively impact students’ standardized tests performance. The majority of the participants strongly believed that CRP is being utilized in diverse learning communities, and they also self-reported a strong degree of confidence in their preparedness to utilize CRP. The results show that this is strongly supported by the participants and that CRP is valued and practiced in diverse learning communities. Furthermore, the overall result of the research is that the participants shared the view that culturally responsive pedagogy can maximize learning outcomes in diverse communities.
NSUWorks Citation
Keisha Ricketts-Martin. 2026. Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Its Role in Maximizing Students’ Performance on Standardized Tests. Doctoral dissertation. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice. (1117)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/fse_etd/1117.