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Do Your Homework! Investigating the Role of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Comprehensive School Reform Models Serving Diverse Student Populations

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Abstract

Like the African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, many educational researchers charge that it takes a comprehensive school reform to raise student achievement. With the passing of the No Child Left Behind legislation in 2002, national officials authorized the Comprehensive School Reform program to support low performing schools as they struggled to improve student achievement. As a result of this national effort, an increase in implementation of comprehensive school reforms is occurring in schools serving predominantly diverse student populations in urban areas. Therefore, this article explores the framework of comprehensive school reforms and challenges stakeholders to do their homework by investigating whether the school reform allows for the implementation of culturally responsive educational experiences for students.

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Acknowledgements

Ancestral blessings and gratitude to Dr. Asa Hilliard and Dr. Diane Truscott for inspiring and encouraging me to seek research and literature that both questions and affirms educational experiences for urban children.

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Correspondence to Tonia Durden.

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Durden, T. Do Your Homework! Investigating the Role of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Comprehensive School Reform Models Serving Diverse Student Populations. Urban Rev 40, 403–419 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-008-0086-x

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