CR-SE
What is Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education?
This is the NYC DOE definition : New York City students live in a diverse, vibrant and inspiring city –a city that also reflects the complex system of biases and inequities deeply rooted in this country’s history, culture and institutions.The DOE commits to culturally responsive-sustaining education (CR-SE), a cultural view of learning and human development in which multiple forms of diversity (e.g., race, social class, gender, language, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, ability) are recognized, understood,and regarded as indispensable sources of knowledge for rigorous teaching and learning.Culturally responsive-sustaining education uses educational strategies that leverage the various aspects of students’ identities, including the rich cultural, racial, historical, linguistic characteristics of students to provide mirrors that reflect the greatness of who their people are and windows into the world that allow students to connect across cultures.Numerous studies across the country show that CR-SE increases student participation, attendance, grade point averages, graduation rates, civic engagement, self-image, and critical thinking skills.To give all students both windows and mirrors, we will adopt a culturally responsive approach throughout all major policy areas.
Read more about CR-SE on the NYC-DOE Website Here!
Why is CR-SE important?
The video on the right is a great place to start!
There are also excellent PD resources on the topic of the importance of CR-SE available from the NYC DOE. To access these resource you will need to log in using your DOE credentials; all can be done individually or with groups of teachers.
Module 2: CRSE -Revisiting our Thinking
There are also many activities to help educators examine their own mindset around CRSE and to build partnerships with students and families around CRSE:
Building Partnerships with Families and Students
How do I incorporate CR-SE into my classroom?
You are probably doing this in many ways already. The reading, writing and discussion strategies on this site have been developed with CR-SE in mind. The images below from the wonderful publication Educator's Voice Volume XII, 2019 , which focuses on CR-SE in the classroom, will give you some quick ideas. Below is the full issue for download, along with the NY State Education Department guide to CR-SE. Both publications are full of concrete examples.
NYSUT Culturally Responsive Teaching.pdfCopy of culturally-responsive-sustaining-education-framework.pdfWhat about CR-SE in Remote Learning?
CR-SE does not stop at the classroom door! We need to be extra mindful in remote learning as well. The article below provides a good perspective and some things to consider...
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond
Do you have this book? Do your colleagues? If you do, you should check out a self guided website D79 developed to guide you through the ideas of Culturally Responsive Teaching with this book at its core. It also contains TONS of other resources about Culturally Responsive Teaching (videos, articles, etc. )
PD sessions will be offered on this content (check out our PD Page) but the website allows you to also do this learning on your own, or even better, with a group of colleagues who also have the book.
The website Understood has a comprehensive look at Culturally Responsive Teaching - click below to access this very clear resource on the subject!