CRSE framework

   

    To be an effective teacher, it is important to incorporate the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (CRSE) framework into your practice. Classrooms today are made up of students from a wide range of cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds, and each student brings their own experiences, perspectives, and ways of learning. Recognizing and valuing these differences is an essential part of creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment.

CRSE Principles 

    Creating a welcoming and affirming environment

• A welcoming and affirming environment feels safe. It is a space where people can find themselves represented and reflected, and where they understand that all people are treated with respect and dignity. The environment ensures all cultural identities (i.e. race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, language, religion, socioeconomic background) are affirmed, valued, and used as vehicles for teaching and learning.

    High expectations and rigorous instruction

• High expectations and rigorous instruction prepare the community for rigor and independent learning. The environment is academically rigorous and intellectually challenging, while also considering the different ways students learn. Instruction includes opportunities to use critical reasoning, take academic risks, and leverage a growth mindset to learn from mistakes. Messages encourage positive self-image and empower others to succeed.

    Inclusive curriculum and assessment

• Inclusive curriculum and assessment elevate historically marginalized voices. It includes opportunities to learn about power and privilege in the context of various communities and empowers learners to be agents of positive social change.  It provides the opportunity to learn about perspectives beyond one’s own scope. It works toward dismantling systems of biases and inequities, and decentering dominant ideologies in education.

    Ongoing professional learning 

• Ongoing professional learning is rooted in the idea that teaching and learning is an adaptive process needing constant reexamination (Moll, et al., 1992; Gay, 2010). It allows learners to develop and sharpen a critically conscious lens toward instruction, curriculum, assessment, history, culture, and institutions. Learners must be self-directed and take on opportunities that directly impact learning outcomes. 

     The CRSE framework has developed over time as a way to better meet the needs of diverse learners. It encourages teachers to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach and instead build on students’ identities, cultures, and lived experiences as assets in the learning process. This means not only adapting instruction to different learning styles, but also ensuring that classroom materials, discussions, and expectations reflect and respect the diversity of the students being taught.

    These principles are cited directly from the New York State Education Department CRSE framework guidebook which can be accessed using the link below. 

    https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/crs/culturally-responsive-sustaining-education-framework.pdf