I Belong Here: How Culturally Responsive Learning Builds Community and Acceptance in the Dance Classroom of a Public School System

The purpose of this study was to gauge the impact of culturally responsive educational practices on a public school dance class through evaluations of students taking part in the class. This study aimed to see how a dance course written with culturally responsive learning practices positively impacts public school students from a behavioral and social-emotional aspect. Two essential questions were used in this thesis study. Q1 Why is the diversity of dance important in a diverse school district? Q2 How can the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education scale for culturally responsive learning be reframed for performing arts education to create educational communities that learn from, represent, and celebrate all the diversified cultures in our classrooms? This researcher analyzed how high school students who partook in a cultural studies style dance class over six weeks changed their feelings of belonging, acceptance of others, and acceptance of themselves. The research was conducted with five participants, both dance students and non-dance students, in a Massachusetts public high school. Three research instruments were used in this study: a pre-class survey to collect quantitative data, a post-class survey that collected both quantitative and qualitative data, and journal entries to collect qualitative data. The data suggested that teaching dance units aligned with students’ cultural backgrounds and interests improved their feelings of being accepted by others and made them more accepting of others of different backgrounds. Limitations of this study included time, number of participants, and other outside constraints such as weather impacting the school schedule.