Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Organizational Leadership
First Advisor
Phillip O Pendley
Second Advisor
Martinrex Kedziora
Third Advisor
LaFaye Platter
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to determine how expert fifth- to eighth-grade teachers who have demonstrated competence in the implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices for African American students identify and describe barriers they have observed that prevent the successful implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices, to rate the difficulty of overcoming those barriers, and to identify and describe strategies for overcoming the five most difficult barriers.
Methodology: This study is characterized as a Delphi normative study. An expert panel received three rounds of online surveys. The first round open-ended question asked, “How do expert teachers identify and describe barriers they have observed that prevent the successful implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices?” The second round involved a Likert scale survey. Teachers were asked to rate the barriers identified in the first round. The third round featured open-ended questions about the strategies that received the highest ratings in the second round. The panel was asked to “Identify and describe strategies to overcome the five most difficult barriers they observed that prevent the successful implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices.”
Findings: Twenty barriers were identified by expert teachers. Seventeen strategies were recommended to address the five most significant barriers for implementing culturally responsive strategies in the classroom for African American students. These strategies included (a) resistance to change, (b) lack of self-reflection, (c) unconscious bias and stereotyping, (d) racial and cultural misunderstanding, and (e) deficit mindset. Several strategies were recommended for each barrier.
Conclusions: The expert panel determines implicit bias and cultural awareness training is needed to address each barrier. In addition, five of the barriers rated the most significant are related to mindset shifts, cultural bias, and racial understandings. Ongoing, intentional professional development in these areas is essential for enhancing teachers’ capacity to provide culturally responsive instruction needed to alter the achievement gap for African American students.
Recommendations for Action: After analyzing various suggested actions, the researcher recommends six of the 17 strategies identified by the expert panel, based on the frequency of references in the data.
Recommended Citation
Loftis, Candra, "A Delphi Study of Effective Strategies for Addressing the Most Significant Barriers That Prevent the Successful Implementation of Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices as They Relate to Alleviating the Achievement Gap for African American Students" (2025). Dissertations. 610.
https://digitalcommons.umassglobal.edu/edd_dissertations/610
