Ripple Effects: How Teacher Action Research on Culturally Relevant Education Can Promote Systemic Change

ABSTRACT

Teacher action research has been shown to both promote professional growth in teachers as well as produce gains for students. However, to date, little research has examined how action research might contribute to systemic changes in schools and school districts. This qualitative study of six teachers from various districts, subject areas, and grade levels, illustrates how action research can have simultaneous impacts on teachers, their students, and their schools and districts. The teacher action research projects all focused on culturally relevant education and the pursuit of equity. Impacts included teachers’ deepened understandings of equity and inclusivity; students’ diversity awareness, positive self-identities, and access to wider opportunities; and schools’ adoption of equity-focused strategies. The findings suggest that action research on culturally relevant education serves not only as a powerful form of professional development but also as a means to potentially transform schools.

KEYWORDS:

• equity
• action research
• professional development
• culturally relevant education
• K12 teachers

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The two research team members who were also practicing teachers were invited to coauthor this paper. Both declined due to limited time availability but remain involved in the ongoing work resulting from this study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hillary Parkhouse

Hillary Parkhouse is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education. Her research focuses on how teacher education and professional development can support culturally sustaining, empowering, and sociopolitically conscious practices. Her other areas of research include immigration and education, global education and critical citizenship education. Her articles have appeared in Review of Educational Research, Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, and Theory & Research in Social Education. She is a former high school social studies and English as a Second Language teacher.Associate professor and chair of the Department of Learning and Instruction at the University atBuffalo, State University of New York. 

Julie Gorlewski

Julie Gorlewski is scholar educator who has New YorkState Certification in Secondary English Education and Elementary Education/Early Childhood(B-6). Her teaching experiences span PreK through graduate school, and includeinterdisciplinary initiatives such as instructional technology and STEM education. Gorlewski hasa wealth of knowledge about teacher education and development, and has led numerous researchinitiatives related to teacher development, curriculum and assessment, and student learning, aswell as educational conferences devoted to increasing equity and diversity in education. She haspublished 11 books, and authored over 20 peer reviewed manuscripts and 14 book chapters.From 2013-2018, Dr. Gorlewski served as editor of English Journal, the flagship publication ofthe National Council of Teachers of English. Current research projects involve professionaldevelopment for culturally diverse schools and cultivating critical dispositions with preserviceand practicing teachers.

Jesse Senechal

Jesse Senechal is the director of the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium. Through his work with MERC, Dr. Senechal has led a wide range of applied research and evaluation projects in close collaboration with surrounding Richmond-area school divisions, local non-profits, institutions of higher education, and state agencies including the Virginia Department of Education and the State Council for Higher Education. His current projects include a study of professional development for success in culturally diverse schools, teacher retention, and a study of new teacher preparation for an Urban Teacher Residency program. He has also led regional cohorts of teachers conducting action research in their schools. In 2016, Dr. Senechal served was the principal investigator of MERC’s Understanding Teacher Morale study, which explored the factors leading to demoralization and how to support teachers as professionals. Prior to his career as an educational researcher, Dr. Senechal spent 14 years teaching in public high schools in Chicago and Richmond.

Chu Yi Lu

Chu Yi Lu is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Foundations of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education. She holds a Master of Sociology from Brigham Young University. Her research lies at the intersection of sociology and education with a focus on educational attainment in promoting equitable education for all learners. To achieve this, her study examines what motivates high school students to pursue higher education using a person-centered approach to understanding how their pursuits change over time. Chu Yi also has a strong interest in expanding the scope of social science research by developing meaningful instruments, refining procedures for measurement, and advancing theoretical approaches to measurement, and making this knowledge accessible to applied practitioners.