Culturally Conscious Curriculum

Abstract

This case study outlines the struggle for desegregation and the adoption of culturally responsive curricula in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) as it attempted to balance state politics and federal court oversight. The case offers a detailed illustration of the political and legal events that led up to the adoption, elimination, and reinstatement of the TUSD Mexican American Studies (MAS) program. With a focus on social justice and the power of culturally relevant curricula, educational leaders are encouraged to consider these events from the perspective of different stakeholders in evaluating future policy alternatives for MAS in Tucson.

Silencing Equity-Minded Teacher Preparation: How Do Teacher Educators Respond?

“…Although we are not referencing specific approaches, equity-minded TEs often take up pedagogies (e.g., critical pedagogy; humanizing pedagogies) that center the experiences of socially and politically minoritized youth (Duncan-Andrade, 2022). Our notion of equity-minded preparation differs from more institutionalized notions of teaching for equity where the focus is largely on raising PSTs' awareness of the differences between them and their K-12 students (Roegman et al, 2021), where the perspectives and experiences of the dominant group (i.e., white, Christian, able, heterosexual, male, U.S.-born, and middle-class) are reified, and where PSTs are encouraged to merely "add on" to the existing hegemonic curriculum (Banks, 1994).The literature from recent decades consistently illustrates how teacher preparation is deeply steeped in dominant ideologies (Carter Andrews et al, 2021;Sleeter, 2001), and that equity-minded TEs who address racism, hate, and white supremacy garner resistance from many fronts. This silencing-the pushing out, pushing back, excluding, subverting, sidelining, discrediting, camouflaging, and squash-…”

“…Although we are not referencing specific approaches, equity-minded TEs often take up pedagogies (e.g., critical pedagogy; humanizing pedagogies) that center the experiences of socially and politically minoritized youth (Duncan-Andrade, 2022). Our notion of equity-minded preparation differs from more institutionalized notions of teaching for equity where the focus is largely on raising PSTs’ awareness of the differences between them and their K–12 students (Roegman et al, 2021), where the perspectives and experiences of the dominant group (i.e., white, Christian, able, heterosexual, male, U.S.-born, and middle-class) are reified, and where PSTs are encouraged to merely “add on” to the existing hegemonic curriculum (Banks, 1994).…”