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The authors examined the effects of a culturally responsive teacher's pedagogy on urban low-income African American and Latino high school students' interpretations of racial diversity, racism, and individual and collective agency in U. S. history. The authors found that students incorporated instruction about the diversity and agency of people of color and the changing forms and complexity of racism in U. S. history. Students were less responsive to instruction about the diversity of white people's historical experiences and particularly their roles as an oppressed group or as members of anti-racist movements. They also had difficulty conceptualizing the difficulty or "long arm" of change in history. The authors conclude by speculating on the potential and constraints of culturally responsive teaching, as well as areas for further research.
Researchers have examined how culturally responsive1 social studies teachers have organized instruction to teach students to think critically about concepts like race and power in U. S. history and society (Bolgatz, 2005; Grant, 2003; Gutiérrez, 2000; Howard, 2004; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Mam, 2005). Teachers have used a range of curricular and instructional strategies to connect students" understandings of race and power to historical and contemporary events and themes, build on students" limited knowledge and beliefs and enable students to recognize the role of individual and group agency in challenging inequality in historical and contemporary societies.
Whafs missing from the research, however, are studies which assess the effects of these practices on students" historical and contemporary understandings. We know little, for example, about how culturally responsive teaching practices influence students" views of the role of racial groups historically and today (Grant, 2003; Wills, 1996; Wills, Lintz & Mehan, 2004). There also isn't much written about how teachers have shaped adolescents" thinking about racism and the many means people have used historically to overcome it (Bolgatz, 2005; Fine, 1993; Gutiérrez, 2000). Knowledge of the effects of culturally responsive teaching on students" historical and contemporary views is an important element in crafting effective instructional practices.
While knowledge of the effects of culturally responsive teaching on all young people"s interpretations is important, it is particularly important for teachers of low-income students of color. Teachers who present people of color as subjects and not primarily as victims may enable marginalized youth to envision individuals...