This paper repots on a study exploring the experiences of Black high school educators in Toronto who employ culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) in classroom settings as means to engage Black students. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four Black Toronto teachers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using an inductive approach. Findings revealed that educators characterized Black student engagement in ways that differed from general definitions of engagement and maintaining high standards proved to be rather difficult as educators experienced resistance from Black students. This research has implications for the identification of ways to achieve
Black student engagement using CRP without compromising the central objectives of culturally responsive educators.

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2017

• Date of Conference: 26-29 June, 2017
• DOI: 10.2053/CICE.2017.0281
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-908320-83-4
• Conference Location: University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada