Chapter five includes a summary and then a discussion of the results, including the implications for district and school leaders, recommendations for further research, and limitations. The purpose of this study was to examine White female novice teachers' attitudes towards their Black students and the Black/White achievement gap through qualitative methods. The research sought to understand the beliefs and experiences of White female novice teachers and how those experiences helped shape their perceptions about Black students. The researcher intended to produce a dialogue that will assist educators in understanding their roles in eliminating the Black-White achievement gap. This study sought to explore the stories of three White female novice
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. The Black-White opportunity gap continues to be the primary concern of educators when it comes to the lack of achievement and academic success of Black students in classrooms across the United States. This study highlights the fact that our teaching force continues to consist primarily of White females. According to Bergeron (2008), public school teachers continue to be mostly White which creates a cultural mismatch between the White teachers and Black students whereby, heavily impacting their academic success. This issue is believed to be one of the primary causes of the Opportunity gap (Bergeron, 2008) It was important to explore the backgrounds and experiences of these three White female teachers to discover if either had any impact on how they interact with Black students in the classroom. According to Dewey (1986) every experience a person has in life will live on in the future experiences of a person. This means that everything we encounter impacts us whether we realize it or not. Dewey (1986) also believes that every experience we have changes our beliefs and perspectives. Additionally, claiming that teacher knowledge is contingent on …show more content…
This section supports the research theory of Whiteness because, when these White female teachers get into situations where they were not sure what to do, they emulated the experiences they had with their White female teachers. Operating in this manner is a direct consequence of colorblindness and only helps to perpetuate the cultural mismatch between White female teachers and Black students (Bergeron, 2008). One aspect of colorblindness, according to Michael (2012), is that White female teachers expect Black students to learn and behave just like they themselves did when they were in school. As a result of this, White teachers continue to ignore students’ cultural identities and the differences in the circumstances in which the students are coming of age (Irvine,
. The Black-White opportunity gap continues to be the primary concern of educators when it comes to the lack of achievement and academic success of Black students in classrooms across the United States. This study highlights the fact that our teaching force continues to consist primarily of White females. According to Bergeron (2008), public school teachers continue to be mostly White which creates a cultural mismatch between the White teachers and Black students whereby, heavily impacting their academic success. This issue is believed to be one of the primary causes of the Opportunity gap (Bergeron, 2008) It was important to explore the backgrounds and experiences of these three White female teachers to discover if either had any impact on how they interact with Black students in the classroom. According to Dewey (1986) every experience a person has in life will live on in the future experiences of a person. This means that everything we encounter impacts us whether we realize it or not. Dewey (1986) also believes that every experience we have changes our beliefs and perspectives. Additionally, claiming that teacher knowledge is contingent on …show more content…
This section supports the research theory of Whiteness because, when these White female teachers get into situations where they were not sure what to do, they emulated the experiences they had with their White female teachers. Operating in this manner is a direct consequence of colorblindness and only helps to perpetuate the cultural mismatch between White female teachers and Black students (Bergeron, 2008). One aspect of colorblindness, according to Michael (2012), is that White female teachers expect Black students to learn and behave just like they themselves did when they were in school. As a result of this, White teachers continue to ignore students’ cultural identities and the differences in the circumstances in which the students are coming of age (Irvine,