Teacher-student relationships lie at the heart of the learning process. The culture of care created by positive teacher-student rapport has been associated with student outcomes, suggesting that putting relationship and responsibility before content and curriculum and over politics and prejudice is critical to student success. Over the last decade, considerable research has highlighted the essentiality of caring to maximize the potential for academic and personal growth and development of students of color, in particular. The surge of research in this area comes as America's student population grows increasingly diverse, yet the teacher pool remains more than eighty-percent White. The broad consensus within the literature is that given the demographics of the majority teacher in juxtaposition to the diversity of students, pre-service and veteran teachers alike, must learn to be culturally sensitive and develop the skills and behaviors that help them connect to their students, regardless of the cultural mismatch between the two. Researched in the tradition of narrative inquiry, my three-article dissertation examines the impact of a culture of care, or lack thereof, in the context of teaching and learning; especially as it relates to the academic and personal growth and development of Black and Brown students in U.S. public schools. The inquiries aid in unpacking, storying, and restorying the school related lived experiences of the study participants and of the researcher. The narrative exemplars that are illuminated reinforce the personal, relational, and professional significance of creating a school and classroom culture of care. Finally, the "truths" revealed may offer the majority teacher new knowledge that helps in developing behaviors and practices that lead to safe, productive, culturally solicitous learning environments.
