Using a Lab Model to Prepare and Empower Alternative School District Educators for Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Literacy Instruction

ABSTRACT This article provides an overview of a summer professional development (PD) for teachers working within an urban alternative educational school district. Engaging with a lab classroom with intensive coaching support, teacher participants observed and participated in 20 days of literacy instruction that centered culturally responsive-sustaining approaches. Data collected include transcriptions from focus groups and interviews, pre-and post-surveys, artifacts, and field notes. Further, during the subsequent school year, the authors conducted observations to determine the impact of the PD on the teacher participants’ dispositions and pedagogical strategies for literacy development. Analysis of findings reveal that professional development using a lab classroom that centers prolonged observation and modeling, constructivism, self-reflection, coaching, and collaboration leads to higher teacher expectations for students and increased use of culturally responsive-sustaining literacy practices.