Develop Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

A comprehensive guidebook for implementing culturally relevant and sustaining education. 

Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education was adapted by the New York State Education Department in 2018, as a part of their wide-ranging plan to meet students’ needs through the Every Student Succeeds Act. The approach includes a commitment to acknowledge and affirm that students’ culture and identity are valid and valuable and that educators who cultivate culturally relevant, responsive and sustaining spaces for learning will increase student academic, intellectual, social, and emotional growth.

NYSED identifies four elements of the CR-SE Framework: Welcoming and Affirming Environment, High Expectations and Rigorous Instruction, Inclusive Curriculum and Assessment, and Ongoing Professional Learning. To further develop these broad categories, this professional learning document that expands on the original elements to bring the principles to life.

Our Guidebook is organized by five Pedagogical Principles: Welcoming and Affirming Environment, High Expectations, Rigorous Instruction, Inclusive Curriculum, and Assessment Design. Within each principle, we’ve illustrated specific attributes that serve as characteristics of the principle.

This project sought to provide an in-depth analysis of CRSE principles and attributes, including connections between The Danielson Framework for Teaching and the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Framework. These concepts are illustrated through portraits of practice, and concrete look fors to support teachers, school and district leaders to identify CRSE aligned practices.

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Centering CRSE
​Develop inclusive and responsive curriculum that celebrates student identity.

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An Equity Framework
​​How the CRSE framework can reduce the burden on educators and help teachers to synthesize expectations in practical ways.

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Affirming Diverse Identities
Create a space where each student sees themselves as someone who belongs, someone who matters, someone with value.