In many classrooms, students were actively engaged—sharing ideas and explaining their math thinking—demonstrating how culturally responsive instruction can shape classroom experience and outcomes.
Status: Completed June 2025 (report in progress)
This study examines how teachers in a large U.S. urban district implement curricula and engage with related professional learning (PL) to support culturally responsive instruction. The study explores curriculum use and PL in practice using classroom observations across five schools and interviews with teachers, district leaders, and instructional coaches.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
- How were curriculum elements meant to be relevant to students, implemented by teachers, and received by students?
- What tensions did teachers manage in implementing the culturally relevant materials in the curriculum?
- To what extent did the curriculum create rigorous learning opportunities for students?
- What tensions did teachers manage in implementing the rigorous tasks and lessons in the curriculum?
key findings:
- Strong student engagement was observed in many classrooms, with students expressing mathematical ideas and reasoning.
- Many teachers pushed lesson work back on students, which is not typical in most U.S. elementary math classrooms.
- Teachers generally used the curriculum with fidelity, although tasks were sometimes omitted due to time constraints.