Institute for Student Learning Assessment

They are not heroes, they are humans: Teachers’ implementation of culturally sensitive and relevant pedagogy in music classrooms

The purpose of this study is to locate and document pedagogical practices of nine music educators in the United States who maintain proportionate membership of minoritized populations in their classrooms and align their practices with the six prongs of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP). Using the methodology of collective case study, seven undergraduate music education majors join Dr. Gurgel as researchers who will each identify, observe and interview a qualified teacher participant (one case). Each undergraduate researcher will complete an analysis of one teacher’s practice, and write one chapter in the proposed book resulting from this study. Analysis will also take place across the cases. After transcribing and analyzing the collected data, each undergraduate student will write a narrative portrait that will become a book chapter in the resulting publication. This research paints multiple pictures of applications of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy inside the music classroom. We will provide models for educators with strategies, practices, and understandings that have guided Culturally Relevant music teachers in their classrooms. This collection of case studies will provide counterstories to the dominant discourse of music teaching, thereby challenging hidden pedagogies and white privilege. The book and presentations resulting from this research contribute to the body of knowledge in music education in a significant way: no current studies analyze and document music teachers’ practices as case studies through the lens of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.