What are Culturally Responsive Practices?

According to the Challenge Map Project, "Culturally-responsive practices involve recognizing and incorporating the assets and strengths all students bring into the classroom, and ensuring that learning experiences, from curriculum through assessment, are relevant to all students." (source)

Culturally responsive practices are those that help teachers and students recognize and honor the variety of cultural backgrounds, strengths, and viewpoints that we all bring with us to school. This is important in settings were multiple cultures come together as well as more segregated settings, and especially so because cultural power is not evenly balanced in our current world. Because culture is infused in everything we do and who we are, it can be easy to not notice it. Teachers and students can practice careful noticing and learning to help expand their cultural competence.