Responding to a need for greater cultural competence in the preparation and development of teachers in diverse public school settings, this book investigates the critical developmental and social processes mediating students’ academic identities in those settings posing the greatest challenges to their school achievement and personal development. It provides an accessible, practice-oriented culturally responsive framework for teachers in American schools.

Murrell proposes a situated-mediated identity theory that emphasizes examining not just the child, not just the school environment, but also the child in-context as the unit of analysis to understand how both mutually constitute each other in the social and cultural practices of schooling. He then develops this theory into an applied psychology of identity and agency development among children and youth as well as their teachers, striving together for academic achievement in diverse school settings.

For researchers, professionals, and students in multicultural education, educational and developmental psychology, social and cultural foundations of education, and teacher education, Murrell’s cultural practices approach builds on current thinking about multicultural teacher preparation and provides the practice component underpinning theories about cultural competence.