In 2017, in response to disproportionate non-completion and discipline rates among Black students, the Fresno Unified School District implemented the African American Academic Acceleration (A4) initiative. Grounded in a culturally responsive approach that leverages students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge as assets, the initiative offers programming that focuses on literacy, positive youth development, and academic achievement. Using a quasi-experimental design, the study will evaluate the implementation and impact of two focal programs of A4: a summer and afterschool literacy initiative and an academic advising program. The team plans to use a regression discontinuity approach to examine the student-level impacts of the literacy initiative and a difference-in-differences design to examine the school-level impacts of the advising program. They will also conduct semi-structured interviews and focus groups with program staff, teachers, students, and caregivers to contextualize quantitative findings. Findings will provide causal evidence on culturally responsive programming that could be adapted for urban and rural schools across the country.
Does culturally responsive programming in schools lead to better academic outcomes for Black students?
