Elementary Music Teachers’ Perspectives of Culturally Responsive Teaching

Abstract

In recent years, culturally responsive teaching (CRT) has emerged as a substantial theme in music education research. However, little data studied music educators’ perspectives of CRT. Therefore, the purpose of this quantitative study was to collect and analyze elementary music teachers’ perspectives of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices in South Carolina public elementary schools. The central question aimed to identify elementary teacher perspectives to answer the question as to whether elementary music teachers’ perspectives differ based on predetermined subgroups (age, race, gender, years of experience, and degree level), and how does each subgroup’s perspective compare to the sample mean. The study utilized a modified Culturally Responsive Education survey to better answer the research questions and was administered to fifty South Carolina elementary music teachers. Results were analyzed using ANOVA and findings indicated that, while there was no significant difference based on cumulative survey results, there are significant differences based on age, race, years of experience, and degree level for seven of twenty-six survey components.