Teaching Race in U.S. History: Examining Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in a Multicultural Urban High School

Abstract

In this interpretative case study, the researcher examined the beliefs and practices of three self-identifying culturally relevant social studies teachers related to their teaching of U.S. history at a racially and ethnically diverse urban high school. The teachers displayed beliefs and practices that were aligned with the core criteria of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), while also centering their U.S. history classrooms on race and racism. However, the teachers described and exhibited CRP through three different models: exchanging, discovering, and challenging. Despite these differences, the students reported a positive response to their teacher’s use of CRP.