CCLD has worked with scholars from Georgetown College and Western Kentucky University to develop a classroom observation tool to measure teachers' use of culturally responsive literacy practices. The Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol measures teachers' instruction along eight key pillars: assessment practices, teacher dispositions, classroom climate, planned curriculum activities, instructional discourse, family collaboration and involvement, instructional strategies/pedagogy, and sociocultural perspectives.
The CRIOP was initially developed to examine instruction in schools participating in the Read to Achieve (RTA) program to better understand achievement gaps in the context of that reading intervention initiative. In 2008-2009, CCLD used the CRIOP to conduct a study of culturally responsive literacy instruction in four RTA elementary schools serving students from diverse populations. The study utilized observations in primary classrooms and reading intervention settings to ascertain the level of culturally responsive instruction to which students were exposed. Results from this study will be available in July 2010.
Researchers: Elizabeth Rightmyer, Rebecca Powell, Susan Cantrell, Sherry Powers, Yoli Carter, & Angie Cox