Mapping How Teachers Become Culturally Responsive

Research on how teachers become culturally responsive tends to focus on preservice teachers or on the professional development activities that are associated with change for inservice teachers. Little is known about how the various elements of culturally responsive teaching—including knowledge, skills, and fundamental orientations—interact with one another as teachers change. This case study followed 19 educators across four schools and over 2 years as they conducted action research to enhance their cultural responsiveness. We found four zones of development that characterized the teachers’ change: consciousness-raising, consciousness- and relationship-building, knowledge- and practice-building, and practice-refining. Within each zone, two or three elements of culturally responsive teaching appeared to change most dramatically and to mutually reinforce one another as teachers developed. Professional development experiences should attend to these different zones and to the gradual nature of this process.