Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2026
Unpacking the Evolving Understandings That STEM Teachers Have of Educating Students in “High Needs Districts”: An Examination of a Noyce Ambassadors Teacher Education Program
Teacher preparation programs are criticized for not fully preparing educators to teach in culturally responsive ways. In a federally funded Noyce program designed to train Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) educators for teaching in “high needs districts,” we conducted a longitudinal case study that examined teachers’ evolving understandings of educating students using culturally relevant pedagogy. We found that teachers’ ideas about their role in high needs districts either evolved over time to be more asset-based and culturally relevant or remained stagnant with deficit views being reinforced. Findings suggest that insufficient training was provided for teachers’ knowledge of what the high needs district label means for their role in the teaching process, and the development of racial literacies and sociopolitical consciousness could help fill that gap.
AronsonB. (2017). The white savior industrial complex: A cultural studies analysis of a teacher educator, savior film, and future teachers. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 6(3), 36–54. https://doi.org/10.31274/jctp-180810-83
2.
AronsonB.LaughterJ. (2016). The theory and practice of culturally relevant education: A synthesis of research across content areas. Review of Educational Research, 86(1), 163–206. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315582066
BrownB. A.BodaP.LemmiC.MonroeX. (2019). Moving culturally relevant pedagogy from theory to practice: Exploring teachers’ application of culturally relevant education in science and mathematics. Urban Education, 54(6), 775–803. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918794802
5.
Brown-JeffyS.CooperJ. E. (2011). Toward a conceptual framework of culturally relevant pedagogy: An overview of the conceptual and theoretical literature. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(1), 65–84.
6.
CammarotaJ. (2011). Blindsided by the avatar: White saviors and allies out of Hollywood and in education. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, 33(3), 242–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2011.585287
7.
CastagnoA.BrayboyB. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941–993. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308323036
8.
ChangW. C.ViescaK. M. (2022). Preparing teachers for culturally responsive/relevant pedagogy (CRP): A critical review of research. Teachers College Record, 124(2), 197–224. https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681221086676
9.
ChettyR.DobbieW. S.GoldmanB.PorterS.YangC. (2024). Changing opportunity: Sociological mechanisms underlying growing class gaps and shrinking race gaps in economic mobility (No. w32697). National Bureau of Economic Research.
DeCuirJ. T.DixsonA. D. (2004). “So when it comes out, they aren’t that surprised that it is there:” Using critical race theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education. American Educational Research Association, 33(5), 26–31. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X033005026
13.
EmdinC. (2009). Affiliation and alienation: Hip-hop, rap, and urban science education. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 42(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270903161118
14.
EmdinC. (2016). For White folks who teach in the hood . . . and the rest of y’all too: Reality pedagogy and urban education. Beacon Press.
GayG. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.). Teachers College Press.
17.
GereA. R.BuehlerJ.DallavisC.HavilandV. S. (2009). A visibility project: Learning to see how preservice teachers take up culturally responsive pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 46(3), 816–852. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831209333182
18.
Government Accountability Office. (2022). Student population has significantly diversified, but many schools remain divided along racial, ethnic, and economic lines (GAO-22-104737). https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-104737.pdf
19.
HammondZ. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Sage.
20.
HammondZ. (2020). Looking at SoLD through an equity lens: Will the science of learning and development be used to advance critical pedagogy or will it be used to maintain inequity by design?Applied Developmental Science, 24(2), 151–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2019.1609733
21.
HernándezL. E.Darling-HammondL. (2022). Creating identity-safe schools and classrooms. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/165.102
22.
HowardT. C.del RosarioC. D. (2000). Talking race in teacher education: The need for racial dialogue in teacher education programs. Action in Teacher Education, 21(4), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2000.10462986
23.
HussarW. J.BaileyT. M. (2019). Projections of education statistics to 2019 (NCES 2011-017). National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011017.pdf
24.
JohnsonC. C. (2011). The road to culturally relevant science: Exploring how teachers navigate change in pedagogy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 48, 170–198. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20405
25.
Ladson-BillingsG. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465
MatskoK. K.HammernessK. (2014). Unpacking the “urban” in urban teacher education: Making a case for context-specific preparation. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(2), 128–144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487113511645
29.
McIntoshP. (2001). White privilege and male privilege. In AndersenM. L.Hill CollinsP. (Eds.), Race, class, and gender (4th ed., pp. 95–105). Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
MerriamS. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley.
32.
MilnerH. R.IV. (2007). Race, culture, and researcher positionality: Working through dangers seen, unseen, and unforeseen. Educational Researcher, 36(7), 388–400. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X07309471
ParkhouseH.LuC. Y.MassaroV. R. (2019). Multicultural education professional development: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 89(3), 416–458. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654319840359
42.
RodaA.BareK.BarbourF. (2024). Realizing the solidarity dividend: A new story for educational leadership. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 1–21. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2024.2324457
43.
RodríguezN. (2018). From margins to center: Developing cultural citizenship education through the teaching of Asian American history. Theory & Research in Social Education, 46(4), 528–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2018.1432432
44.
SaldañaJ. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). Sage.
TempletonT.WhiteC. L.TranM.HornC. L. (2022). Understanding high need: Exploring school and district employment and retention patterns of Noyce Scholars in Texas. In MarinerL.YorkT. T.CalingerB. (Eds.), Research in practice: Preparing and retaining K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts. American Association for the Advancement of Science.
48.
U.S. National Science Foundation. (2024). The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. www.nsfnoyce.org
49.
WiltC. L.AnnammaS. A.WilmotJ. M.NyegenyeS. N.MillerA. L.JacksonE. E. (2022). Performing color-evasiveness: A DisCrit analysis of educators’ discourse in the U.S. Teaching and Teacher Education, 117, Article 103761. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103761
50.
YoungJ.YoungJ. (2023). A systematic review of culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy using confidence intervals. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 18(2), 251–280. https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2021-0011
51.
ZaccorK. M.ThurmanJ. C. (2021). “It is the innocence which constitutes the crime”: Interrogating Whiteness in a predominately White high school English classroom. Journal of Language & Literacy Education, 17(2), 1–25.
