AERA Open - A Culturally Responsive Disposition: How Professional Learning and Teachers’ Beliefs About and Self-Efficacy for Culturally Responsive Teaching Relate to Instruction

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam

Persistent social inequities in the United States create an imperative for culturally responsive (CR) teaching, which depends on teachers’ disposition, beliefs, and self-efficacy. Using survey data from 417 secondary teachers in seven urban districts participating in equity-oriented professional learning, the study tests relationships between CR beliefs, CR teaching self-efficacy, engagement in CR-focused professional learning, and teachers’ self-reported CR teaching practices. Findings show associations between self-efficacy, CR teaching, and CR-focused engagement, and suggest self-efficacy changes may drive changes in CR teaching.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Culturally responsive (CR) teaching and disposition

CR beliefs and CR teaching self-efficacy

CR-focused professional learning and study aims

AERA Open January-December 2023, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1–18 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584221140092 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2023. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) A Culturally Responsive Disposition: How Professional Learning and Teachers’ Beliefs About and Self-Efficacy for Culturally Responsive Teaching Relate to Instruction Meghan Comstock University of Pennsylvania Erica Litke University of Delaware Kirsten Lee Hill Kirsten Lee Hill Education Consulting, LLC Laura M. Desimone University of Delaware Persistent social inequities in the United States demand attention to culturally responsive (CR) teaching, which requires a specific disposition toward students and teaching. Using survey data of secondary teachers (N = 417) in seven urban districts across the country engaging in equity-oriented professional learning (PL) initiatives, we examine the relationship between teachers’ beliefs about, self-efficacy for, and engagement in PL around CR teaching and their self-reported CR teaching practices. We find correlational evidence that teacher-reported self-efficacy with CR teaching and engagement in PL focused on CR teaching are associated with higher self-reported frequency of CR teaching. We also find that teachers who have beliefs aligned with CR teaching have a stronger relationship between their CR teaching self-efficacy and self-reported CR teaching practices. Finally, we find evidence that changes in CR teaching self-efficacy are associated with changes in self-reported CR teaching—suggesting that CR teaching self-efficacy may drive changes in CR teaching. Keywords: correlational analysis, culturally responsive teaching, descriptive analysis, equity, fixed-effects models, instructional practices, longitudinal studies, multicultural education, professional development, regression analyses, self-efficacy, survey research, teacher beliefs, teacher characteristics Introduction Persistent social inequities and the increasingly diverse U.S. student population create an imperative for teachers to enact culturally responsive (CR) orientations toward instruction (Gay, 2010; Irwin et al., 2021) . CR teaching is instruction that leverages students’ cultural assets (Gay, 2010) . Although multiple frameworks for culturally relevant, responsive, and asset-based pedagogies exist (e.g., Banks & Banks, 1995; Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Paris, 2012), such teaching generally emphasizes three tenets: (a) supporting students’ academic success; (b) supporting students to understand, value, and sustain their own cultural identities; and (c) supporting students to critique social injustice (Gay, 2010) . Findings from a rich literature base suggest that CR teaching offers a holistic educational experience for all students, one that can enhance motivation, connectedness to school, and learning (e.g., Aronson & Laughter, 2016; Gay, 2010) . Importantly, CR teaching is not just a set of instructional practices but a teaching approach that requires a particular disposition toward students and teaching. Drawing on conceptual scholarship on CR teaching and teaching dispositions (e.g., Borkoetal., 2007; Howard & Rodriguez-Minkoff, 2017; Seriki & Brown, 2017), we argue that a CR disposition includes (a) teachers’ beliefs about students, teaching, and cultural diversity (Civitillo et al., 2019; Gay, 2010; Seriki & Brown, 2017) and (b) teachers’self-efficacy for CR Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https

FAQs

What is culturally responsive (CR) teaching in this study?

CR teaching is instruction that leverages students’ cultural assets. It is presented as an approach requiring a specific disposition, not only a set of practices.

How are teachers’ CR beliefs and CR teaching self-efficacy measured?

CR beliefs are operationalized as perceptions of the importance of CR teaching, cultural diversity, and race-consciousness. CR teaching self-efficacy is operationalized as teachers’ reported confidence in engaging in a range of CR teaching practices.

What relationships does the study find among self-efficacy, professional learning engagement, and CR teaching practices?

Teachers’ self-reported CR teaching self-efficacy and engagement in professional learning focused on CR teaching are associated with higher self-reported frequency of CR teaching. The alignment of teachers’ beliefs with CR teaching strengthens the relationship between self-efficacy and CR teaching practices.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam