Educational Equity: Cultural and Ethnic Diversity in Schools

Dear Colleagues,

In the past decade, education research has taken a turn toward culturally responsive pedagogy and critical race theory (CRT). Culturally responsive pedagogy, also known as culturally relevant or culturally sustaining (CRP/CSP), together with critical race theory (CRT), now occupy a prominent place in education research. CRP/CSP and CRT exist on a continuum with potential overlap between the two poles. 

CRP/CSP drive educators to challenge the institutional structures and cultural practices that underlie knowledge construction and opportunities to learn in schools and society (Ladson-Billings, 2021). In this pedagogical model, cultural strengths are built upon and nurtured to promote student achievement and a sense of well-being about students’ cultural place in the world. Culturally sustaining pedagogy’s “urgency comes not only from the clear social justice and democratic impetus to create classrooms where the curriculum includes practices and content that are inclusive of the students found in them, but as a means of addressing the widening chasm of cultural differences between teachers and their students” (Foster et al, 2019). Although much of the culturally responsive literature focuses on teacher practice, according to Lynch, culturally responsive pedagogy can occur at the institutional, personal, and instructional levels: The institutional emphasizes the need for reform of the cultural factors affecting the organization of schools, school policies and procedures (including allocation of funds and resources), and community involvement. The personal centers on the processes by which teachers learn to become culturally responsive and the instructional focuses on the practices and challenges associated with implementing cultural responsiveness in the classroom (Lynch, 2016).

CRT is a framework that enables us to examine and transform the foundations of race, racism, and power (Delgado and Stefancic, 2017) in and beyond educational institutions, enacted at both institutional and interpersonal levels. CRT posits that “race” and racism permeate every one of society’s institutions. This idea is echoed in the words of Toni Morrison, who saw “race” as having become “metaphorical” (1992). She suggests that race’s metaphorical state allows it to stand in for and to disguise, “forces, events, classes, and expressions of social decay and economic division far more threatening to the body politic than biological race ever was” and made it “completely embedded in daily discourse” (Morrison, 1992, p.63). As such, CRT provides a valuable way to explore issues of race in educational settings, where both forms of racism occur. Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991), a key aspect of CRT, explores how different forms of inequality and identity—race, class, gender, language—are interconnected, and how institutional structures interact with these identities to produce differential outcomes. However, as Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) note, “Although both class and gender can and do intersect race, as stand-alone variables, they do not explain all of the educational achievement differences apparent between whites and students of color” (p.51). 

CRP/CSP and CRT overlap and add to the work of each other. For instance, CRP/CSP’s co-construction of knowledge intersects with CRT’s emphasis on the “voices” of People of Color and personal stories as a means of preservation and exploration of reality. “As we attempt to make linkages between critical race theory and education, we contend that the voice of people of color is required for a complete analysis of the educational system” (Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995, pg.58). Education research situated within CRP/CSP, and CRT is necessary to transform the societal foundations that limit equitable education and excellence for all students.

References:

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039.

Delgado, R., and Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: an introduction (3rd. ed.). New York University Press. 

Foster, M et al. (2019). The Heuristic for Thinking About Culturally.

Responsive Teaching (HiTCRiT) Multicultural Perspectives Vol. 22, No. 2, p.69.

Ladson-Billings, G. and Tate, W. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47-68.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2021). I am Here, for the Hard Re-Set: Post Pandemic Pedagogy to Preserve Our Culture. Equity & Excellence in Education, 54(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2020.1863883.

Lynch, M. (2016). What is Culturally Responsive Pedagogy?  https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-is-culturally responsive-pedagogy/.

Morrison, T. (1992). Playing in the dark. Harvard University Press.

With this in mind, we invite researchers, scholars, and practitioners to submit an abstract by 20 December 2022, for an article grounded in one of these perspectives. Authors will be notified about the status of their abstracts by 20 January 2023 and complete articles are expected to be submitted by 20 April 2023. All submitted chapters will be subjected to a double-blind review process.

Prof. Dr. Michele Foster
Dr. Sheron L. Mark
Dr. Jonathan Baize
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• culturally responsive pedagogy
• critical race theory
• educational equity
• educational anthropology