The Effects of Teachers' Cultural Beliefs on their Perceptions and Expectations of Lowincome Black Students' Reading Achievement

Abstract This dissertation reports the findings of a qualitative study of the effects of teachers' cultural beliefs on their perceptions and expectations of low-income Black students' reading achievement. The study took place in a large urban school district in New York City and explored the question from the perspectives of four participants, which were captured with audio recordings during individual interviews. The theories that framed the study were the self-fulfilling prophecy, school-based organizational habitus, and socioeconomic status and stereotyping theories. Data analysis revealed six key findings, which were: 1) Most of the data and emerging themes were aligned to the three theoretical frameworks. 2) The assumption that participants' cultural beliefs about students' achievement significantly affected their perceptions and expectations were verified by the data. 3) When students experienced early disengagement in class there could be positive results when teachers changed their perceptions about students' abilities. 4) Participants believed that students' ability to read was primarily the responsibility of parents and students. 5) The role of student motivation is essential to address failed reading achievement among low-income Black students. 6) The emergence of parental responsibility and socioeconomic status were common threads for students' ability to read. These findings are significant because they: 1) confirm that teachers' cultural beliefs do affect their perceptions and expectations since most participants believed that parents are ultimately responsible for students' ability to read; 2) suggests students achieve success when teachers change their perceptions about students' abilities; 3) imply that when students are motivated, they will be able to read; and 4) demonstrate that the socioeconomic status of students and their families are essential to the study.