Dr. Kai Mathews, the director of the California Educator Diversity Project at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for the Transformation of Schools, says it’s taken time for teacher-preparation courses to begin embedding culturally responsive teaching. The 2020 racial reckoning following the public killing of George Floyd and protests of injustices against Black people nationwide fueled that work, she said.
“It’s not just for the historical knowledge and facts. It is also when we’re including students from a diverse background, to see themselves in the making up, and in the composite of, history and of society, and we’re bringing it into the classroom,” Mathews said. “There’s a relatability that then comes with the content that we’re teaching. It’s not just math for math’s sake.”
With schools facing a student chronic absenteeism crisis and competing with student apathy, connecting students to their education is even more vital, she said.
“I don’t know how many more ways students need to show us that disengagement is attached to our inability to make our education relevant and meaningful,” she said.
Read the full article here.