At just 19-years-old, Patriann Smith began her teaching career in St. Lucia with little knowledge of the impact she was
having on her students and the community.
Today, nearly 25 years later, she’s focused on ensuring that educators in the Eastern
Caribbean avoid the same mistakes she made early in her teaching career.
“When I worked in the Caribbean as a teacher, I was oblivious to how curriculum emphasized
the perspectives of certain individuals or certain groups over others,” Smith, PhD,
an associate professor of literacy studies at the University of South Florida (USF), said. “I was completely unaware of how
students’ backgrounds needed to be foregrounded in the curriculum. All of this came
out of my thinking that whiteness was the appropriate standard for students, even
though I didn’t know it at the time.”
Patriann Smith, PhD
Smith’s research has found that teachers in Barbados and neighboring island countries
are often unaware of the Eurocentric standards that they have for students in their classrooms, an
issue that illustrates the need for research-informed practices, she says.
Smith’s efforts to help her home community have led to a local impact. She was recently
awarded a three-year, $3.6 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration
with the University of West Indies Cave Hill to launch an interdisciplinary research center in Barbados—a center that will use
evidence-based research to address the challenges faced by educators in Barbados and
the Eastern Caribbean.
“I see this work as sort of a redemptive pathway, going back to my peers in the Caribbean
to say, ‘here’s what I did as a teacher 25 years ago, and here’s what I know now,’”
Smith said. “In humility, just sharing with my people that we are damaging students
when we don’t rethink the way we focus on research, when we don’t rethink the way
we talk about curriculum or our teaching practice in the classroom.”
The Center, RISE Caribbean, which opened its doors on Sept. 15, was established to support educational decision making and policy development and
to create an online repository for educational research conducted across the region.
By including the work of doctoral students, experts and educational scholars in Barbados
and the eastern Caribbean in the database, existing research will become accessible
to educators, stakeholders and other constituents who are interested in learning about
the region’s educational system and what sets it apart from others.
This, Smith says, will set the stage for a research-driven culture and help tackle
common challenges in eastern Caribbean schools, such as low testing performance and
high school drop-out rates.
“We do have a situation where, in spite of all the data we tend to collect about students
and what they do in classrooms, teachers are often unable to use this data in a way
where it is consolidated to then inform practice,” Smith said. “So, we see the research
center providing an opportunity to harness this data, to inform what teachers are
doing in the classrooms and to also, partner with teachers who wish to examine their
practice.”
Dr. Smith and her younger brother, David Smith during a family visit to Soufriere, St. Lucia.
Just as USF partnered with the University of West Indies Cave Hill for this initiative,
Smith says the Center aims to position itself as a collaborative organization that
other higher education institutions could seek out for research projects.
USF’s involvement in this international partnership provides necessary funding for
research efforts, but also opportunities for mutual learning and knowledge sharing,
said Kiki Caruson, PhD, Interim Vice President of USF World.
“We’re looking forward to what we can learn from our colleagues at the University
of West Indies Cave Hill campus and from those who are a part of a broader effort
across the Caribbean,” Caruson said. “It goes without saying that today’s greatest
challenges cannot be solved by one institution or one country alone. These initiatives
broaden our perspective. They’re essential to what we do as a global research university.”
The RISE Caribbean initiative is supported by a $3.6 million grant from the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID). The grant is in partnership with
the University of the West Indies Cave Hill in Barbados to establish an interdisciplinary
educational research center to help support decision making and policy development
for educational innovation and expansion in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Learn more about RISE Caribbean on the US Embassy’s website.