Research & Policy
Evidence of the proven effectiveness of culturally responsive education and ethnic studies in schools
Key Research Studies
But That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Gloria Ladson-Billings defines culturally relevant pedagogy and highlights three critical components of it: academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness.
The Power of Mexican-American Studies in Tucson, AZ
Nolan L. Cabrera’s study shows that students in K-12 who participated in Tucson’s Mexican-American Studies program were significantly more likely to pass state standardized tests and graduate high school, more engaged in literature and history lessons, and more likely to have positive perception of their ability to succeed in math and science.
Ethnic Studies and Student Achievement
Thomas S. Dee and Emily K. Penner’s study discusses the positive effects of enrollment in ethnic studies curriculum for marginalized students. 9th grade students who participated in San Francisco’s Ethnic Studies Program showed increased student achievement and graduation rates.
Toward an Ethnic Studies Pedagogy
Key ethnic studies scholars build on existing research and identify patterns of effective ethnic studies pedagogical practice.
The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies
Christine E. Sleeter reviews research on the value of ethnic studies programs and curricula in schools and universities.
The Theory and Practice of Culturally Relevant Education
Brittany Aronson and Judson Laughter present examples that connect CRE to positive student outcomes across content areas.
research briefs
Lessons in (In)Equity: An Evaluation of Cultural Responsiveness in Elementary ELA Curriculum
The Education Justice-Research Organizing Collaborative evaluated samples of curriculum from three of the nation’s most widely used elementary school English Language Arts (ELA) curricula (McGraw Hill Wonders, Savvas myView, and Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt IntoReading) to analyze their levels of cultural responsiveness.
Culturally Responsive Education: A Primer for Policy and Practice
NYU Metro Center provides a brief on the history and development of CRE and its most immediate practical applications.
Culturally Responsive Education: The Need & The Solution
The Coalition for Educational Justice summarizes current research findings on the need and impact of culturally responsive education.
How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline: A Briefing on School-Based Interventions
The Discipline Disparities Research to Practice Collaborative addresses disparities in the use of school discipline by race, gender, and sexual orientation. It highlights practical and evidence-based interventions to develop and support a policy agenda to improve equity in school discipline.
Diversifying the Teaching Profession: How to Recruit and Retain Teachers of Color
Desiree Carver-Thomas addresses the primary barriers to the recruitment and retainment of teachers of color, and highlights initiatives across the country to tackle those barriers.
RECOMMENDED READING
Books
Rethinking Ethnic Studies
Edited By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, Miguel Zavala, Christine Sleeter, Wayne Au
This book brings together insights and lessons learned from teachers, activists, and scholars in the education justice movement on Ethnic Studies frameworks, classroom practices, and organizing at school, district, and statewide levels.
A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing for School Reform
By Mark Warren and Karen L. Mapp
This book shows how organizing groups build the participation and leadership of parents and students to become strong actors in improving schools. They identify ways to overcome divides and create collaborations for sustainable school reform.
Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out!: Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement
By Mark Warren and David Goodman
This book delves into youth, parents, organizers, and educators’ journeys to build an intersectional educational justice movement. It offers practical organizing strategies and community-based alternatives to traditional education reform.
Transformative Ethnic Studies in Schools: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Research
By Christine E. Sleeter and Miguel Zavala
This book conceptualizes ethnic studies as a way to reinvent teaching. It draws on Sleeter’s research review on the impact of ethnic studies and shows how traditional Eurocentric curriculum affects all students.
The Art of Critical Pedagogy
By Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade, Ernest Morrell
This book discusses critical pedagogy and its applications for educators working with youth in urban schools.
Articles
Don’t Talk about Implicit Bias Without Talking about Structural Racism
The National Equity Project calls to leaders for equity to lead from the inside-out, and examine and unpack biases and dismantle the policies that hold inequity in place.
How the Stress of Racism Affects Learning
A new study shows that the pressures associated with discrimination contribute to the opportunity gap.
Diverse City, White Curriculum
The NYC Coalition for Educational Justice reports on the exclusion of people of color from English Language Arts in NYC schools. Executive summary also available.
Students of All Races Prefer Teachers of Color
Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng and Peter F. Halpin found students in urban school districts prefer teachers of color to white teachers, regardless of the students’ own race or ethnicity.
“They Look Scared”: Moving From Service Learning to Learning to Serve in Teacher Education—A Social Justice Perspective
Dr. David Kirkland prompts readers to consider how deeply ingrained biases can be prior to teachers ever entering classrooms.
Addressing Implicit Bias, Racial Anxiety, and Stereotype Threat in Education
The Perception Institute addresses the science of implicit bias, racial anxiety, and stereotype threat, and how it affects behavior. It concludes with critical interventions to take to address them.
Crisis in Our Curriculum: Teachers Drive the Solution
Daniel HoSang and Rashanda McCollum with Students for Educational Justice pen an op-ed highlighting the need in Connecticut for teachers and schools to have the resources to transform curriculum and teaching to be culturally responsive.
For additional readings on CRE, check out the list in the Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecard Toolkit, p. 15.
Measuring CRE & Ethnic Studies
Culture in the Classroom: Standards, Indicators, and Evidences for Evaluating Culturally Responsive Teaching
Created by Alaska's Educational Resource Center, this metric consists of five standards for evaluating culturally responsive teaching for "the purpose of self-reflection and continuous improvement of teachers, and for evaluation and feedback by evaluators."
Assessing Essential Learning In Ethnic Studies Courses
This study includes a rubric adapted from the Association of American Colleges and Universities to assess essential learning in Ethnic Studies courses.
CRPMS (Culturally Responsive Practices for Maori Scale) Self-Report Instrument
This study addresses a gap in current research on cultural responsiveness by developing a 34 Likert-type scale to evaluate the effectiveness of the five concepts that a culturally-responsive curriculum. It was created in New Zealand for Maori students.
The Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale (CRTSE)
This self-reporting scale was developed to gain information about pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy in executing culturally responsive tasks. It consists of a 40 item Likert-type scale.
The Culturally Responsive Teacher Preparedness Scale (CRTPS)
This is a self-reporting scale created "for the use of teacher preparation programs and preservice teachers."
Culturally Responsive Instruction Observation Protocol (4th Revised Edition)
This is a classroom-observation rubric, developed by the Collaborative Center for Literacy Development and the Center for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, which includes 6 different categories: Class-Classroom Relationships, Family Collaboration, Assessment Practices, Instructional Practices, Discourse, Critical Consciousness. This rubric requires evaluators to use the family collaboration in addition to observations for the "family collaboration" section.
The Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancy Scale (CRTOE)
This is a self-reporting Likert-type scale of 26 items to gain information regarding teachers' opinions surrounding culturally responsive practices and student outcomes.
Protocol for Culturally Responsive Organizations
This is a scoring metric developed at Portland State University to evaluate how culturally responsive an organization is in order to locate areas of improvement. It consists of nine domains and would most likely evaluate the responsiveness of an entire school/ district rather than the performance of individual teachers.
Workshops & Videos on CRE
Watch workshop and panel videos from the 2019 Research & Revolt for Culturally Responsive Education Conference, organized by EJ-ROC.
EJ-ROC convened youth organizers, educators, and researchers for the Research & Revolt for Culturally Responsive Education. Here is a conference overview before diving into the panels and workshops from the conference.
Educators reflect on lessons learned for implementing Culturally Responsive Education.
A panel discussion with ethnic studies educators and experts on the tenets, values, and practices of ethnic studies.
Highlights from a panel discussion on recruiting, supporting, and retaining teachers and principals of color.
Videos above edited by Amal Buford.
"We all have implicit biases. So what can we do about it?”
Duckshaw Hockett shares how implicit biases manifest within ourselves and concrete action steps we can all take to address them.
In November 2020, Education for Liberation Minnesota hosted a panel of teacher/activists from states across the country that have passed or are currently considering some form of Ethnic Studies legislation. Panelists include Pang Yang (MN), Andrew Gonzales (Austin, TX), Ismael Jimenez (Philadelphia, PA), and Dr. Emily Bautista (Los Angeles, CA). The session was moderated by Curtis Acosta from the Education for Liberation Network.