Leadership in literacy education reform: A constructivist learning and culturally responsive perspective

This research study explores the degree of relationship between teachers' instructional theories of beliefs with respect to constructivist learning (CL) versus traditional and eclectic instructional theories and teachers' perceptions to culturally responsive teaching (CRT) and students' reading achievement. The CLCRT model represents a change from the traditional and eclectic behaviorist teacher-centered environment to one of student-centered learning processes. The statistical technique of the point biserial correlation coefficient method was used to show the relationship between the pre- and post students' reading achievement score and teachers' instructional styles. The t test paired two sample for means (pre- and posttest scores) to determine they came from the same two underlying populations in the study. The ANOVA test was used to determine if the three teaching style methods (CL, traditional, and eclectic) produced different mean reading scores based on school location.;The Literacy Orientation Survey and the Culturally Responsive Teaching Survey Instrument were used to clarify teachers' beliefs and practices relating to the CLCRT environment. The clearest finding in this research study was no superiority of any one style of teaching (CLCRT, traditional, and eclectic) with regard to the standardized reading assessment tools; each model's performance varied from site to site.