There is a construct of collective responsibility which is evident when teachers believe that increased teacher efforts result in increased student learning. The group of teachers in a school that believe their efforts are crucial in the learning process, and are willing to take responsibility for all students, regardless of the students' aptitude or social characteristics, are engaging in collectively responsible efficacious behavior. What is missing from this literature however is how schools engage in critical cognitive evaluation of culture that guides the behavior of the organization.
The purpose of this study was to explore collective responsibility within a cultural framework, as an attribute of the work of teachers contributing to the academic success of African-American students in poverty. Information-rich, descriptive data gathered through interviews, observations, and document analysis, informed this inquiry about the relationship between culturally relevant pedagogy and collective responsibility, what it looks like in school culture, and how it influences the academic success of African-American students in poverty. This case study provided meaningful and insightful details into better understanding what is happening in a school that has achieved academic success for African-American students in poverty.
In a culturally relevant collectively responsible setting, all students, including African-American children in poverty, have equitable access to knowledge. Teachers' influence over student success contributes powerfully to their attitude and behavior, impacting their level of dialogue, their willingness to engage in deprivatized practice and collaboration, and their commitment to shared norms and values - all resulting in a school culture that supports success for all students. Culturally relevant reflective dialogue provides students with access to knowledge through the teachers' awareness of self and others about their work, and how they define their work. Culturally relevant collaboration facilitates the shared understanding and social interactions between the teacher and students that supports academic success for all students. Culturally relevant shared norms and values ensure equitable access to knowledge for all students by means of a culturally congruent approach to teaching and learning.
Through this case study, I found that teachers who work within this culturally relevant collective responsibility framework do whatever it takes to ensure academic success for all students based on their conception of self and others characterized by a sense of urgency, intensity, passion, and perseverance; engage in dialogue revealing their humanely equitable interconnectedness and interdependence based on their conception of social relations characterized by fluidity, connectedness, and collaborative responsibility; and focus their efforts on the goal of equitable distribution of knowledge to all students based on their conception of knowledge characterized by re-created knowledge, critical enthusiasm, and excellence in diversity. The merge of collective responsibility and cultural relevance as my contribution to the literature in this introductory case study pushes towards emancipatory work which could result in a change in the way we approach educating poor and minority students.