Perspectives on caring in the classroom: do they vary according to ethnicity or grade level?

Abstract

Research shows that students can articulate a definition of caring and identify specific behaviors of caring teachers. Some of this research also indicates that White students perceive caring differently from African American students. The purpose of this study was to examine what students from different cultural backgrounds and different grade levels identify as the practices teachers use to create a caring classroom. Sixth- and ninth-grade students from an ethnically diverse urban middle and high school completed a qualitative questionnaire on their teachers' classroom practices. Results indicate, although there were little differences in the categories and themes that emerged across ethnic groups and grade levels, when analyzing how the response percentages for each category were distributed within ethnic group and across grade levels, several differences were apparent.