Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Kim Fatata-Hall
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic achievement, academic outcomes, classroom management, committees, cultural awareness, cultural differences, cultural insensitivity, cultural pluralism, cultural sensitivity, discipline plans, discipline referrals, dropout rate, educational environment, educational institutions, high school students, high school teachers, implementation, mentoring program, new teachers, project evaluation, researcher, self efficacy, sociocultural factors, staff development, staff development workshops, stakeholders, student emotional development, teacher mentors, teacher mentoring, workshops
Abstract
The cultural insensitivity of the educational environment has become a primary topic of discussion recently. Many researchers have identified the lack of cultural sensitivity among high school teachers to be a leading cause of the increased dropout rate among high school students. The primary challenge of educational institutions is to provide meaningful staff development for their staff so that educators will become equipped with the necessary information to begin making educated decisions regarding all aspects of their students’ academic, emotional and sociocultural lives.
This applied dissertation addresses the problem of the lack of cultural awareness among high school teachers. The major goals of this project are to increase cultural awareness among high school teachers and to decrease the number of discipline referrals written as a result of cultural differences. Another goal of this applied dissertation is to increase self efficacy among students at the high school level.
To achieve these goals, a series of staff development workshops were provided to all staff on a variety of themes related to cultural pluralism. Initially, a number of meetings were held with different stakeholders to discuss the project, form committees, and identify those teachers in need of teacher mentors. Teacher mentors were assigned to the new teachers to aid in the adjustment period. Throughout the duration of the project, the researcher met with the different groups to evaluate, question, interview, and retrieve data that was used to evaluate the effectiveness of this project.
The results of this applied dissertation indicate that teachers became more culturally aware and were provided with a plethora of new techniques to use in the classroom and educational facility. The results indicate that the number of discipline referrals decreased due to teachers taking a more proactive approach to classroom management. The results indicate that new teachers became more effective more expediently due to the mentoring program established during the implementation of this project. It is recommended that further investigation into the lack of cultural awareness among high school teachers be conducted for a longer period of time to establish more accurate results.