Anyone who spends much time around schools is by now familiar with the debates over Critical Race Theory. Less prominent has been the rise of “culturally responsive education,” which seeks to help all students feel valued and to promote academic success by connecting classroom instruction to students’ cultures and experiences. In theory, this seems like a no-brainer. After all, every parent and educator wants students to feel included and engaged.
Unfortunately, in practice, “culturally responsive education” can turn out to be something far different from what’s advertised. As schools across the land (from New York City to Los Angeles) employ or explore “culturally responsive” approaches, this reality is on vivid display in the influential New America Foundation’s just-published report, “Embracing Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Instructional Materials.” The document presents a vision of “culturally responsive and sustaining education” (CRSE) that seems engineered to yield ideological agendas and academic mediocrity.
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