Abstract
Students’ access to literacy and holistic growth in academics begins with teachers and their own biases and understanding of the text in relationship to themselves. Failure to reflect and respond to lay beliefs in humanizing ways creates an inequitable teacher-student dynamic, as a teacher’s reluctance to relinquish power perpetuates inequities, especially among marginalized populations from worlds and experiences markedly different from the teacher. We posited that any student-centered instruction that is not the result of teachers first authentically centering themselves in their own lay beliefs and examining the ways through which those beliefs impact student achievement, feelings of belonging, and formation of identity, is student-centered in name only as the pedagogical decision-making occurs absent the student. A qualitative study was conducted using a Likert-scale survey with statements concerning teacher beliefs about planning, curriculum selection and instruction, focusing on how both middle school and high school teachers prepare and present materials, their perceptions regarding text selection in their classes and whether teachers reflect on their own beliefs in relationship to the unique students they serve. Responses were received from 79 of 92 interested participants. The data looked at descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages that resulted from each statement on the survey in order to gain verifiable research to inform our theorized framework of a Teacher Social-Cultural Theory of Literacies and Identity Formation. Data suggested that teachers’ perceptions of their efficacy was incongruent with student achievement data, inequities in access and opportunity prevail that are likely impacting students’ ability to form and negotiate identity, attempts to mitigate equity issues at the district and site levels are largely unsuccessful in that they push alignment over student-centered instructional practices, and a need exists for sustained professional learning opportunities that promote CRSH and power-balancing pedagogical practices.