Session: Measuring Equity and Culturally Responsive Practices: Multiple Informant Approaches (Society for Prevention Research 27th Annual Meeting)

SESSION INTRODUCTION: The goal of this symposium is to highlight measurement challenges that have stymied efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of school-based interventions designed to promote culturally responsive and equitable practices and close gaps in educational outcomes, including discipline (Bottiani et al., 2018). Each panelist will present in-progress solutions drawing on interdisciplinary and diverse institutional perspectives on the measurement of bias, culturally responsive instruction, and equity in classrooms and schools. This symposium supports the 2019 special conference theme of promoting health equity and decreasing disparities.

The first paper, “Understanding Teacher and Classroom Contextual Factors Associated with Observed Culturally Responsive Practices (CRP) in Predominantly Black, Urban Schools”, examined an emerging live classroom observational measure of CRP in relation to teacher self-reported CRP and race, as well as classroom size and racial composition. Teacher self-reported CRPs were significantly associated with observed CRPs, providing some support for convergent validity of the observational measure. Observed use of CRPs was higher in classrooms led by Black teachers, but lower in classrooms with primarily students of color.

The second paper, “Using Evidence from the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Data to Center Educators’ Ethnic-Racial Identity Development as a Pathway for Cultural Responsivity”, reports on observational coding of 68 MET classroom videos. Rates of CRPs were captured using a developing video observational measure based on Banks’ Levels of Integration of Multicultural Content framework. Results indicate that culturally responsive forms of instruction occurred at low rates overall and at low levels on the continuum of cultural responsivity.

The third paper, “Teacher-Student Incongruence in Perceptions of School Equity”, employs multilevel modeling with a large sample of students and teachers in 104 middle and high schools to examine congruence in teacher and student perceptions of school culture of equity as they relate to student report of school connectedness. Findings suggest the importance of creating a school culture that both students and teachers perceive as equitable to promote positive outcomes for youth.

The discussant has expertise in applying mixed methods to identify and operationalize malleable and discrete indicators of CRPs in classroom settings. He will synthesize the advances represented by the research presented in the symposium. He will also facilitate discussion between the presenters and attendees to explore continued challenges and future directions for measurement of equitable and culturally responsive school and classroom practices.