Culturally responsive and equity-driven differentiated STEM pedagogy and assessment in diverse classrooms in Ghana

Persistent assessment inequities in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms necessitate contextually grounded frameworks that advance both academic excellence and educational justice. The study developed, implemented, and evaluated a culturally responsive, equity-driven, and differentiated pedagogical-assessment framework for STEM learning in multilingual and socioeconomically diverse classrooms in Ghana. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design integrated qualitative data (interviews, observations, focus groups) with quantitative measures (pre-post-tests, subscale gains, ANCOVA, and Bayesian analyses).

The study involved 210 participants 24 STEM teachers, 6 headteachers, and 180 Primary 4-6 pupils from six public basic schools in Ghana. Quantitative findings revealed statistically significant learning gains across schools and domains. Mean post-test scores increased by 13.96 points (29.12%), with a large overall effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.68; Hedges’ g = 1.89; η² = 0.79; p 1.5).

ANCOVA results confirmed significant effects of the intervention across all domains while controlling for pre-test performance, including inquiry-based STEM practices (F = 26.03, p