This qualitative study investigates the existence of cultural themes in classrooms serving low-income African American students. A classification scheme categorizing classroom dynamics that evidenced cultural themes is developed and used to record teachers and students'behaviors. Four hundred sixty classroom observations are specified to either a mainstream or Afrocultural ethos. Results support the home-school cultural misalignment argument. There are more observations of mainstream classroom behaviors than Afrocultural ones. Mainstream cultural themes emerge from teacher-initiated behaviors, whereas Afrocultural themes are most often recorded as student-initiated behaviors. Instrumentation limitations and implications of the observed cultural dissonance between teachers and students' behaviors are discussed.One response among researchers and educators to the continued academic failure of low-income African American elementary school students has been the proliferation of evidence-based edu-521
Education researchers have suggested that the academic challenges faced by many ethnic minority students are linked to perceived cultural discontinuity between students' home-and school-based experiences.However, there has been very little empirical inquiry into the existence and effects of cultural discontinuity for these students. The purpose of this article is to offer a definition and methodology to be used in the quantitative investigation of cultural discontinuity. A description of the cultural values and corresponding behaviors of African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American students, along with those values and behaviors salient in most public schools, is offered. Next, a method for investigating cultural discontinuity is proposed. Finally, future research directions to further examine cultural discontinuity are offered.
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