Welcome to What We Can Become, a collection of writing, resources, questions, and shared learning from a community of educators that tell the story of utilizing Design Principles for Culturally Sustaining Learning Partnerships during the 2020-21 pandemic school year and beyond.

What We Can Become is collectively authored by a community of over 20 educators from elementary through post-secondary who came together to interrogate the role education plays in fostering inequities and under-serving our most marginalized students. Our research and reflection during summer 2020 led us to draft a series of design principles that guide our work.

We invite you to explore the Design Principles for Culturally Sustaining Learning Partnerships and hear from educators who allow these principles to guide their work. In addition to resources and ideas you will also hear reflections and questions from our educators; while the 2021 school year will come to an end and we will put the pandemic behind us, our design process - and our learning - will continue as we work to more fully embody the humane, equitable, and responsible practices we believe will help us grow, not to what was, but to what we can become.

We hope you will read, use, and share and join us in our collective effort.

What We Can Become and the Culturally Sustaining Learning Partnerships Design Principles are a project from Greater Madison Writing Project at the University of Wisconsin - Madison's School of Education Professional Learning & Community Engagement (PLACE) with support from Department of Public Instruction, etc.