Brittany Aronson

The Theory and Practice of Culturally Relevant Education A Synthesis of Research Across Content Areas

Many teachers and educational researchers have claimed to adopt tenets of culturally relevant education (CRE). However, recent work describes how standardized curricula and testing have marginalized CRE in educational reform discourses. In this synthesis of research, we sought examples of research connecting CRE to positive student outcomes across content areas. It is our hope that this synthesis will be a reference useful to educational researchers, parents, teachers, and education leaders wanting to reframe public debates in education away from neoliberal individualism, whether in a specific content classroom or in a broader educational community.

Culturally Relevant Education: Extending the Conversation to Religious Diversity

Culturally relevant education represents a wide collection of pedagogies of opposition to social injustice and holds a commitment to collective empowerment and social justice. By using culturally relevant education as a framework, we make the case to include religious diversity as a part of culturally relevant education intentionally. We believe that by opening the dialogue to include religious diversity, we are working together as educators to promote social justice in schools that benefits all children regardless of their religious backgrounds. We synthesize successful examples of culturally relevant education in connection to religion. Further, we argue for teacher educators to incorporate discussion of religious diversity as part of multicultural and social justice teacher education.

From Teacher Education to Practicing Teacher: What Does Culturally Relevant Praxis Look Like?

Despite reports of already practicing K-12 teachers’ attempts to teach for critical social justice in their classrooms, there is little connection between teacher education programs and/or the impact of teacher practice in the classroom. This article presents data collected over 3 years from one teacher enrolled in an urban-multicultural teacher education program who transitioned into her first years of teaching. Findings revealed that the teacher implemented culturally relevant education through (a) a caring community, (b) holding high expectations, (c) cultural competence, and (d) sociopolitical awareness as a teacher. Barriers the teacher faced as well as lessons for teacher educators are shared.

The theory and practice of culturally relevant education: expanding the conversation to include gender and sexuality equity

ABSTRACT Many teachers and educational researchers have claimed to adopt tenets of Culturally Relevant Education (CRE), but recent work describes how standardized curricula and testing have marginalized CRE in educational reform discourses. In this review, we synthesized literature moving beyond CRE in terms of race and ethnicity into the areas of gender and sexuality equity. Findings and implications offer a reference useful to educational researchers, parents, teacher educators, teachers, and education leaders wanting to reframe public debates in education away from neoliberal individualism.

What can we learn from the Atlanta cheating scandal

In April 2015, 11 educators were convicted for their roles in the cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public Schools. The authors examine the lessons that teachers, administrators, and policy makers can learn from the cheating scandal: Teachers and school leaders were not adequately prepared to navigate the school district’s environment; there were multiple indicators that cheating would likely occur in the district; and single-measure reward systems are problematic. The authors conclude with suggested reforms for teacher and principal preparation programs.