The Use of Culturally Responsive Professional Development to Facilitate Practitioners from Deficit Thinking to Asset-Based Thinking

Deficit thinking in education is defined as an ideology which attributes the academic failure of students to their perceived internal (e.g., intelligence) and social (e.g., familial dysfunction) shortcomings (Patton Davis, et al., 2019). Deficit thinking holds students from historically oppressed and underserved populations responsible for the challenges and inequalities that they face (Patton Davis, et al., 2019). Deficit thinking claims that students who are of low income or a racial/ethnic minority background are unable to be successful in school because students and their families have what could be considered defects such as a limited educational background, a lack of motivation, or not enough family support. Instead of examining how school systems and organizations are structured in a way which prevents access and entry points into learning for all types of learning styles within children, deficit thinking blames the victim of the school system, our students. As such, the theory contends that poor schooling performance is rooted in the students' alleged cognitive and motivational deficits, whilst institutional structures and inequitable schooling arrangements that exclude students from learning are exculpatory (Valencia, 1997).

In this study, the question explored was: How can teachers or practitioners effectively facilitate the shift from deficit thinking to asset-based thinking through the implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices?

Using andragogy or adult learning theory and asset—based thinking theory, as well as culturally responsive pedagogical practices, the problem of practice takes a look at how deficit thinking shows up within schools and ways to disrupt it. With a focus on measuring the impact of culturally responsive data conferences on teacher attitudes towards data and their ability to improve student outcomes, the role of culturally responsive teaching practices and feedback within teacher practice, and experiences from stakeholders regarding experiences related to mindset within public school systems; the goal of this work was to determine if teacher mindset could be shifted through the use of professional development to empower teachers as well as improve student outcomes, using a prescribed protocol to provide asset based feedback.

The findings suggest that through the use of culturally responsive teaching strategies such as an Asset-Based Feedback Protocol, both teachers and students felt affirmed, cultivated a positive mindset, created a sense of self efficacy, increased intellective capacity, created a community learning environment, and improved student outcomes. Additionally, by providing an intervention (to teachers) using professional development as the vehicle for change, examining teacher surveys, conducting empathy interviews, and providing observation and feedback, there was a group of teachers whose mindset shifted to a more asset—based mindset, which could lead to improving students long term trajectory.