Peer Equity Coaching to Increase Cultural Responsiveness in Teaching and Leading

Abstract

Race, culture, status, and power influence teacher, student, administrator, and parent interactions in schools every day, often without acknowledgement due to implicit bias, avoidance, and personal and systemic racism. While a direct link between this context and the documented gaps between White students and students from marginalized communities cannot be drawn, the question persists of whether a relationship gap exists and its subsequent influence on students’ learning. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the nature of a peer equity coaching program to increase teachers’ racial consciousness and cultural responsiveness in one Minnesota school district with approximately forty percent students of color and Native American students. In particular, this study examined whether transformative learning occurred that led to deeper cultural responsiveness of the adults; what leadership behaviors and actions contributed to its success; and what organizational learning or systemic change was influenced by the peer equity coaching program and supporting professional learning. Grounded theory and the constant comparative method were used to analyze the data gathered in conversational interviews with twenty participating teachers, eight peer equity coaches, seven school administrators, and four district administrators. The study found that significant transformative learning for individuals and for the organization occurred through peer equity coaching, that support for teachers of color increased as a result of organizational learning, and that culturally responsive administrative leadership substantially increased teacher involvement and development of cultural responsiveness. (Key words: Equity coaching, transformative adult learning, culturally responsive teaching, equity and education)