Putting students at the center: Empowering urban alternative education teachers through culturally relevant and sustaining unit planning

Abstract

Conducted in an urban alternative education program for adolescents ages 17—21, this study provides an overview of a professional development program that sought to support teachers in developing unit plans that incorporated backwards design principles and culturally relevant and sustaining instruction. The authors offer a qualitative thematic analysis of teachers’ subsequent instructional products and classroom observations, highlighting the ways in which the teachers addressed cultural competence, potential for student academic success and intellectual growth, and sociopolitical consciousness. Implications for future professional development and research are highlighted, particularly for administrators, coaches, researchers, and teachers who work within urban alternative settings with students of various abilities and who are linguistically and ethnically diverse.

Keywords:

• Alternative education
• culture
• literacy
• professional development

Acknowledgments

We would like to formally acknowledge the courageous teachers at Horizons for exploring culturally relevant and sustaining instruction and being part of this professional development and research process.

Declaration of interest statement

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and our ethical obligation as researchers, the authors report that they are paid employees of the Horizons School District. We have disclosed those interests to Taylor & Francis and worked to manage any potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jody Polleck

Jody Polleck is an associate professor in literacy at Hunter College—CUNY in New York City. She also works in local schools as a literacy intervention teacher and coach. Her research focus is with urban adolescents and teachers, specifically on culturally sustaining and differentiated literacy instruction in secondary schools. In 2019, she received a Fulbright Award at the University of Amsterdam to research culturally sustaining book clubs for adolescents with autism. She has published in 20 different books and journals including The High School Journal, Reading Horizons, ALAN Review, The English Journal, Reading and Writing Quarterly, and Teacher Education Quarterly.

Jordan Yarwood

Jordan Yarwood is the assistant principal of literacy in an alternative school within the New York City Department of Education. Since beginning his career in education in 2008, he has worked as an ELA and literacy classroom teacher, an instructional coach with teachers, and a literacy program coordinator. His work centers around improving educational equity for young adult striving readers within alternative settings, by embedding culturally relevant, explicit literacy instruction within curriculum and instruction and facilitating intensive, job-embedded teacher development in literacy instruction.