Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education

Framing Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice Education in a Local to Global Context

Edited by:
Cameron White, University of Houston

Published 2023

The book suggests that culturally responsive and sustaining education should be the guiding principle in our schools, and that community partnerships be developed in a similar light. Although many of the chapters focus on specific content or places, a transdisciplinary problem and project-based experiential critical pedagogy is an ultimate goal. This necessitates developing awareness, advocacy and action / engagement regarding issues of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, choice, and culture to promote equity and social justice.

The stories included in this collection are those of educators in a variety of contexts, but always through a public education framing. The stories come from educators at all levels of public education who are currently practicing in one of the most diverse urban areas of the U.S. Their experiences serve to provide hope for transformational change in education where the priority is truly equity and social justice for all. The idea is to provide voices of these brave educators who are striving to address equity and social justice issues is schools, education, and society – on their teaching and in the students’ learning.

CONTENTS
Preface. Introduction: Framing Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice in a Local to Global Context. Language, Race, and Power in Urban Education, Grace Lee. Community Centers and Experiential Education, Cassandra Montalto. Museums as Sites for Experiential Learning, Haley Hewitt. Culturally Responsive Teaching: Urban Teachers and Social Change, Roseline Enemodia. Gun Violence and Urban Education, Christina Crawford and Anita Sundrani. Relationships, English Education, and Social Justice, Abbey Gagnon. A Cultural Pedagogy of Popular Culture: Literacy Development Among Urban Youth, Rosa Mack. Family Involvement in an Urban Elementary School Through Facebook, Francisco Usero Gonzalez. Equal Access to Quality Care in Early Childhood Settings, Keela Uzzell. Early Childhood Play-Based Curriculum and Children’s Social Justice Development, Tarfah Algasmol. Narratives in Social Education, Bernardo E. Pohl, Jr. Fine Arts and Educational Reform, Aisha Barnes. English Language Learners and Science Education in an Urban Education Setting, James F. Newland. Culturally Responsible Theater Education, Sunny Stubbs. A Call to Action: Developing Opportunities for Book Access in an Urban Middle School, Sarah Jerasa. Transforming the Mathematics Education of English Language Learners in Urban Schools, Ananthi Sankaranarayanan. STEAM and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Montrey Peace. STEM and Gender Equity, Shakti Sharma. Universal Design and Issues of Social Justice and Equity in Education, Lydia Ugwu. From There to Here—A Cultural Voyage of an International Student and a Mother, Neha Anand. Experiences of International Students in Social Justice Education, Huan Zhang. Social Justice and Standardized Tests: The Case of The IELTS Exam in The Middle East, Marwa Elshafie. Culturally Responsive Social Justice Pedagogy in an Online EdD in Professional Leadership, Laveria Hutchison, Cameron White, and Lauren Ely. About the Contributors.