An Exploration of U.S. School Librarians' Beliefs about and Implementation of Culturally Responsive Literacy Teaching

Fuente: ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rebekah Lynn Davis-Slade
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867181922497593344
author Rebekah Lynn Davis-Slade
author_facet Rebekah Lynn Davis-Slade
Rebekah Lynn Davis-Slade
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents An Exploration of U.S. School Librarians' Beliefs about and Implementation of Culturally Responsive Literacy Teaching Rebekah Lynn Davis-Slade Librarian Attitudes Beliefs Culturally Relevant Education Literacy Education Public Schools Educational Practices Teaching Methods Barriers School Libraries Social Justice Public-school student enrollment is ever changing. Therefore, school librarians must adapt their instructional practices to meet the needs of culturally diverse student populations. This study employed a survey to explore U.S. school librarians' beliefs about culturally responsive teaching (CRT), as well as the CRT practices used within their learning environments. Therefore, my research questions were: (1.) What do U.S. school librarians believe about culturally responsive teaching? (2.) In what ways do U.S. school librarians learn about culturally responsive teaching? (3.) What culturally responsive teaching practices are most frequently used by U.S. school librarians? (4.) Is there a relationship between what U.S. school librarians believe about culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and the frequency of implementation? (5.) How do U.S. school librarians implement culturally responsive literacy instruction in their school? (6.) What barriers do U.S. school librarians see for implementing culturally responsive literacy instruction in their library media center? The 159 U.S. school librarians were recruited through the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) ALA Connect forums and Facebook groups for school librarians. The structured survey instrument collected close-ended and two open-ended responses. The close-ended survey responses underwent descriptive and inferential data analysis. In addition to quantitative measures, the open-ended responses were analyzed qualitatively. The results suggest the participants endorsed the belief that culturally responsive school librarians challenge the everyday ways of knowing, promote social justice, validate diverse populations and learning styles, connect home and school knowledge, and maintain high academic expectations. While it can be assumed that a higher level of endorsement for these CRT tenets will be reflected in more frequent implementation, this was not always the case. Open-ended responses illuminated factors standing in the way of school librarians implementing culturally responsive literacy instructional practices, such as limited training, funding, and access to information about families and student home lives. The findings from this dissertation add to the growing body of empirical research focused on culturally responsive teaching within the context of school librarians and their role in literacy instruction. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_ED654216
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 2024
record_format eric
spellingShingle An Exploration of U.S. School Librarians' Beliefs about and Implementation of Culturally Responsive Literacy Teaching
Rebekah Lynn Davis-Slade
Librarian Attitudes
Beliefs
Culturally Relevant Education
Literacy Education
Public Schools
Educational Practices
Teaching Methods
Barriers
School Libraries
Social Justice
An Exploration of U.S. School Librarians' Beliefs about and Implementation of Culturally Responsive Literacy Teaching Rebekah Lynn Davis-Slade Librarian Attitudes Beliefs Culturally Relevant Education Literacy Education Public Schools Educational Practices Teaching Methods Barriers School Libraries Social Justice Public-school student enrollment is ever changing. Therefore, school librarians must adapt their instructional practices to meet the needs of culturally diverse student populations. This study employed a survey to explore U.S. school librarians' beliefs about culturally responsive teaching (CRT), as well as the CRT practices used within their learning environments. Therefore, my research questions were: (1.) What do U.S. school librarians believe about culturally responsive teaching? (2.) In what ways do U.S. school librarians learn about culturally responsive teaching? (3.) What culturally responsive teaching practices are most frequently used by U.S. school librarians? (4.) Is there a relationship between what U.S. school librarians believe about culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and the frequency of implementation? (5.) How do U.S. school librarians implement culturally responsive literacy instruction in their school? (6.) What barriers do U.S. school librarians see for implementing culturally responsive literacy instruction in their library media center? The 159 U.S. school librarians were recruited through the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) ALA Connect forums and Facebook groups for school librarians. The structured survey instrument collected close-ended and two open-ended responses. The close-ended survey responses underwent descriptive and inferential data analysis. In addition to quantitative measures, the open-ended responses were analyzed qualitatively. The results suggest the participants endorsed the belief that culturally responsive school librarians challenge the everyday ways of knowing, promote social justice, validate diverse populations and learning styles, connect home and school knowledge, and maintain high academic expectations. While it can be assumed that a higher level of endorsement for these CRT tenets will be reflected in more frequent implementation, this was not always the case. Open-ended responses illuminated factors standing in the way of school librarians implementing culturally responsive literacy instructional practices, such as limited training, funding, and access to information about families and student home lives. The findings from this dissertation add to the growing body of empirical research focused on culturally responsive teaching within the context of school librarians and their role in literacy instruction. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
title An Exploration of U.S. School Librarians' Beliefs about and Implementation of Culturally Responsive Literacy Teaching
topic Librarian Attitudes
Beliefs
Culturally Relevant Education
Literacy Education
Public Schools
Educational Practices
Teaching Methods
Barriers
School Libraries
Social Justice
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED654216