Education scholarship is unclear about what matters most to novice teachers' enactment of culturally responsive instructional practices. To better understand the factors that contribute to novice teachers' instructional decision-making, the authors used Role Theory as a framework for an in-depth analysis of three first-year urban teachers who completed the same teacher preparation program. Classroom observation data of the three teachers indicated that one of the teachers used culturally responsive instructional practices frequently, one used them occasionally, and one only rarely. To understand this range in use, surveys and interviews measured the school context and cognitive variables that influenced each teachers' perception of their professional role. Findings indicate that the key factor affecting use of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) was the degree to which each teacher experienced consistent or conflicting role demands between their school context and their personal beliefs about teaching. The role consensus experienced by one teacher supported her frequent use of CRP, while the role conflict experienced by the second teacher was attributed to her occasional use, and the role overload experienced by the third teacher explained her rare use of CRP. Implications for preparing teachers to deliver CRP in unfamiliar and complex environments are discussed.