Culturally Responsive Teaching in an Afterschool Literacy Program: Tutor Implementation and Experiences

How do educators meet the needs of our growing diverse K-12 population? Many use culturally responsive strategies in meaningful ways to ensure all students' cultures are acknowledged, celebrated, and considered (Gay, 2010, 2013; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Although a number of culturally responsive strategies are available, it is well documented that additional research is needed to understand their impact (Ladson-Billings, 1999; Sleeter, 2012) and specific to this study, their implementation in afterschool settings (Simpkins et al., 2017). Grounded in sociocultural and critical multiculturalism theories, the purpose of this second-year case study was to examine tutors' use of culturally responsive strategies during an elementary afterschool literacy program and was guided by these questions: (a) How did tutors implement culturally responsive strategies during tutoring sessions? (b) How did tutors experience culturally responsive strategies? This study suggests three variables affected tutors' implementation and experiences with culturally responsive pedagogy: proficiency, curriculum, and environment. The discussion considers three questions stemming from the study's findings and focuses on difficulties in implementing culturally responsive pedagogy, training tutors for effective use of culturally responsive pedagogy, and structuring lessons for a global perspective.