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

Ronnie Hunter

Committee Member

Roslyn Doctorow

Committee Member

Kimberly Durham

Keywords

culturally relevant texts, culturally responsive teaching, differentiated instruction, instructional strategies, middle school students, minority learners, professional development, reading comprehension, reading instruction, student engagement, student learning, teaching practices

Abstract

This applied dissertation examined teachers' perceptions of instructional strategies used to support reading comprehension among minority middle school students. The purpose of the quantitative, non-experimental correlational study was to examine relationships among teacher-reported instructional strategies, differentiated instruction, culturally responsive teaching practices, and perceived student reading comprehension outcomes. Because the study relied on survey perception data rather than direct achievement data or experimental intervention, findings were interpreted as associations rather than causal evidence. Data were collected through a researcher-developed survey administered to middle school English Language Arts, ESOL, and reading teachers. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations) summarized demographics and responses, while Pearson correlation analysis examined relationships among variables.

The results indicated that teachers frequently used structured, differentiated, and culturally responsive strategies and generally perceived them as beneficial. A significant positive correlation was found between perceptions of culturally responsive teaching and connecting reading to students’ real-life experiences, r(21) = .675, p < .001. Another significant correlation was found between connecting texts to real-life experiences and including culturally reflective texts, r(21) = .496, p = .016. However, the relationship between culturally relevant texts alone and perceived reading outcomes was not statistically significant, r(21) = .359, p = .093.

The findings suggest culturally responsive practices are most effective when connected to students’ lived experiences. While culturally relevant texts alone may have limited impact, their effectiveness increases when paired with meaningful instructional connections. These results support continued use of structured, differentiated, and culturally responsive strategies, along with professional development to strengthen implementation and further research on effective practices for diverse learners.

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