Efforts to make student experiences more reflective of diverse racial, ethnic and linguistic groups have been around for decades. However, our nation’s ongoing reckoning with racial injustice has created a sense of urgency to ensure learning environments provide grade-level and culturally centered experiences for all students. To better support educators in their pursuit of these efforts, it is first essential to understand the broad set of definitions and terms used to discuss this body of work.
With EdReports—an organization that convenes teams of expert educators to review instructional materials for alignment to college and career-ready standards, rigor, usability and other characteristics of high-quality curricula—Education First drafted a primer that: (I) defines key terms pertaining to culturally-based education; (II) explains the implications these terms have for curriculum and instructional materials; and (III) assesses the state of the culturally-based education field.
