At the Great Schools Partnership (GSP), we define educational equity as ensuring just outcomes for each student, raising marginalized voices, and challenging the imbalance of power and privilege. Historically, our schools have segregated and stratified students by a number of qualities including race, socio-economic status, and able-bodiedness. Modern day schooling is not all that different in a lot of ways. Students often need to fit into the mainstream and “playing the game” of school that has always served middle class, white, cis-het, Christian students. “Playing the game” means adapting and overcoming unnecessary barriers to success for so many students.
A better approach to education? Being the educators our students need. Our students deserve a system that is designed around them and is in tune with their sense of belonging and joy. One way that educators can work towards this lofty goal is through culturally responsive content and practices. Too often terms like equity, anti-racism, cultural responsiveness, and justice are included or excluded from the work because of external factors and should be the center of attention when creating better school experiences.
Talking With Clyde Cole
In conversation with Clyde Cole, a senior associate here at GSP, I better understood the role a community of practice (COP) can play in building better systems. Cole points out that it’s common for people to point out the systems they want to dismantle or get rid of and not necessarily speak of the world they want to bring into existence. Cole said, “You can say that you’re anti-bias or that you’re anti-racist, and that’s great. But that won’t completely heal. That’s only a step toward healing. Getting rid of the bad thing is only a step toward making something better. What do you want instead? What is the aspiration in education?”
I have been pondering this point for days now. Shifting our focus away from what we don’t want to what we do want is so important in building toward being the educators that our students need. We need to be more than not-racist or not-biased; we want to build a place of belonging and cultural responsiveness. What does a school building look like when it’s moved past dismantling? What are the systems and structures at the district level? Or more importantly, what is the mission and vision of education that is not merely tackling being anti-[insert buzzword]?
The Impact of Community
A community of practice like the one offered by GSP—Being the Educators Our Students Need: Culturally Responsive Content and Practices—could be a great place for educators to build their capacity. In focusing on GSP’s Indicators of Educational Equity and Gloria Ladson-Billings’s three pillars of culturally responsive and sustaining education, participants can expect to walk away from thought-provoking discussion with peers who have practical advice and action steps. Educators will be able to give and gain with fellow practitioners when thinking about systemic change. This community of practice, as Cole says, “Is not a passive experience.”
In a landscape filled with buzzwords that are either loved or hated, educators could use the support and help of this community of practice to navigate challenging paradigms in order to do the right thing. Are you wondering how your school can rewrite curriculum to be more culturally responsive? Do you think there may be better ways to address school culture and discipline? Are teacher or administrator attitudes getting in the way of better and more equitable outcomes? These and more are all part of what you may encounter as a part of this community of practice.
A Final Thought
I want to close with this quote by Zaretta Hammond, educator and the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students:
“In culturally responsive teaching, rapport is connected to the idea of affirmation. Affirmation simply means that we acknowledge the personhood of our students through words and actions that say to them, ‘I care about you.’ Too often, we confuse affirmation with building up a student’s self-esteem. As educators, we think it’s our job to make students of color, English learners, or poor students feel good about themselves. That’s a deficit view of affirmation. In reality, most parents of culturally and linguistically diverse students do a good job of helping their children develop positive self-esteem. It is when they come to school that many students of color begin to feel marginalized, unseen, and silenced.”
The work of our communities of practice is to help educators determine what type of education we want our students to experience. Perhaps affirmation for every student through acknowledgement of personhood is where we start as a replacement for current models?