Considerations for improving racial equity in schools: Applying a Cultural Historical Framework

ABSTRACT

Educational agencies with inequities in special education or exclusionary discipline are required to review local policies, practices, and procedures as potential drivers of disproportionality. Indeed, disparities manifest in both locally and through broad, historical narratives; solutions must thus address both local context and histories of power and privilege. However — despite racial and ethnic disparities defining inequities, school-wide approaches enacted for addressing drivers (e.g. multi-tiered systems of support) rarely center culturally sustaining, anti-racist, and anti-ableist lenses that consider the sociohistorical contexts of an educational space. Further, there is little practical guidance regarding how to implement these frameworks through such a lens, leaving school stakeholders with scant guidance for understanding and addressing inequities via school-level, institutional practices. We outline practical implementation ideas that practitioners might use when selecting school-wide programs meant to shift inequitable systems and provide meaningful access to learning for all students.

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Additional Resources

1.SWIFT Education Center (website). https://swiftschools.org/ This website provides resources and guidance Creators of this resource share a 10-point equity paradigm to assist stakeholders in leading change to sustain historically disenfranchised students and their communities. This resource can assist schools and districts in moving toward a rightful presence framework. 2.Bal, A. (2018) Culturally responsive positive behavioral interventions and supports: A process–oriented framework for systemic transformation, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 40(2), 144–174, https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2017.1417579 This article provides both empirical support and practical implementation strategies on using a CHAT framework to implement culturally responsive school programs (i.e., School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports). The article showcases an in-depth review of challenges to implementation, and how to include multiple stakeholder perspectives across a change process. 3. Firestone, A. R., Cruz, R. A., & Massey, D. (2023). Developing an equity-centered practice: Teacher Study Groups in the preservice context. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(4), 343–358. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231180536 This article provides an actionable example of ongoing professional development for equity that is connected to teachers’ daily practice. Though centered on preservice teachers, this resource provides practical tools to create mediated growth in practice using teacher participatory experiences. This resource can assist those implementing structuring professional learning in a manner that builds foundations for an equity-centered practice.