For more than 50 years, the RELs have collaborated with school districts, state departments of education, and other education stakeholders to help them generate and use evidence and improve student outcomes. Read more
Home Blogs Using Culturally Responsive Practices to Foster Learning During School Closures: Challenges and Opportunities for Equity
With the closure of school buildings fundamentally disrupting the way students receive services, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the national conversation about education. But even acknowledging the enormous challenges that face students and teachers in remote teaching and learning, it is worth keeping our eyes open for the new opportunities that learning from home might make available. One such opportunity is the potential of remote learning to increase the connection between schools and families, which could in turn help teachers employ innovative culturally responsive practices, addressing social and institutional barriers that contribute to disparities in students' outcomes. At the core, culturally responsive practices seek to dissolve artificial separations between students' academic experiences and their lived experiences at school, home, and in their community. Now that the pandemic has erased the physical separation between home and school, educators have the opportunity to employ culturally responsive practices to address the academic separations, too.
Although rigorous research on the impacts of culturally responsive practices—that is, research using a comparison group in which some experience these practices and other do not—is limited, a few studies have found improvements in outcomes such as academic achievement and classroom behavioral management.1 Although further rigorous and well-designed research is necessary to determine the effectiveness of culturally responsive practices, researchers and educators have identified several promising practices:2
The path forward for states, districts, and schools will be difficult, but educators have responded to the needs of their students with innovation and compassion. With many schools staying closed until the end of the school year, leaders must consider their continuity of learning plans to make the most of this disruption. Integrating culturally responsive practices should be part of that conversation.
1 Portes, P., Canché, M. G., & Whatley, M. (2017). Early evaluation findings from the instructional conversation study: Culturally responsive teaching outcomes for diverse learns in elementary school. American Educational Research Journal, 55(3), 488–531. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1180090
Kelley, H. M., Siwatu, K. O., Tost, J. R., & Martinez, J. (2015). Culturally familiar tasks on reading performance and self-efficacy of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Educational Psychology in Practice, 31(3), 293–313. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1070705
Bradshaw. C. P., Pas, E. T., Bottiani, J. H., Debnam, K. J., Reinke, W. M., Herman, K. C., & Rosenberg, M. S. (2018). Promoting cultural responsivity and student engagement through Double Check coaching of classroom teachers: An efficacy study. School Psychology Review, 47(2), 118–134. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1181996
2 Aceves, T. C. & Orosco, M. J. (2014). Culturally responsive teaching (Document No. IC-2). University of Florida, Collaboration for Effective Educator, Development, Accountability, and Reform. http://ceedar.education.ufl.edu/tools/innovation-configurations/
Krasnoff, B. (2016). Culturally responsive teaching: A guide to evidence-based practices for teaching all students equitably. Region X Equity Assistance Center at Education Northwest.
https://educationnorthwest.org/resources/culturally-responsive-teaching-guide-evidence-based-practices-teaching-all-students
Piazza, S. V., Rao, S., & Protacio, M. S. (2015). Converging recommendations for culturally responsive literacy practices: Students with learning disabilities, English language learners, and socioculturally diverse learners. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 17(3). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1104910
Trumbull, E. & Pacheo, M. (2005). Leading with diversity: Cultural competencies for teacher preparation and professional development. The Education Alliance at Brown University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED494221
Author(s)
Steven Malick
Connect with REL Mid-Atlantic