This online-only content supplements the article "A District-wide Approach to Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices in the Boston Public Schools" by Colin Rose and Mwalimu Donkor Issa in VUE 48.
Research on Why CLSP Are a Crucial Lever for Success for Historically Marginalized Populations
Mainstream discourses and structures, within education and in broader society, around what knowledge is relevant, what values and behaviors are necessary or normal, and who can achieve in school affect the beliefs and practices of professionals working in education. Ingrained beliefs often affect actions and decision making at all levels of the education and social systems, leading to a deficit paradigm in which marginalized groups need to be fixed or converted in order to do well in school (Hammond, 2015; Valenzuela, 1999; Paris, 2012; Lee, 2007; Apple, 2004, Foucault, 1980).
The clash between marginalized culture and expected school cultural capital often results in a mindset that students are incapable or challenged learners, thus reinforcing the dominant discourse for both the educational professional and the student (Steele, 2011). Structurally, these cultural issues are reinforced by district policies, programs, and structures that, for whatever intention, often add more impediments for marginalized students. In addition, universally applied reform efforts often have disparate outcomes that continue to perpetuate and may actually exacerbate opportunity and achievement gaps, perhaps not by intention but by design and in practice.
Steele, C. 2011. Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do. New York: W. W. Norton.