A District-wide Approach to Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices in the Boston Public Schools

Colin Rose is assistant superintendent, and Mwalimu Donkor Issa is coordinator of targeted programs, at the Office of Opportunity and Achievement Gaps, Boston Public Schools.

The district’s system-wide professional development on culturally sustaining practices creates consistent expectations for educators to address their biases, build relationships with students and parents, and improve instruction – and gives them the tools to do so.

Download article

Online-only supplement

Appears in...

Issue 48

The Boys Aren’t Broken, The Systems Are: Changing the Narrative about Young Men of Color

Scholars and practitioners in school districts around the country are collaborating to build an asset-based counter-narrative about young men of color and develop evidence-based strategies to better serve them. However, these change agents do not always have a chance to work with their peers in other districts to collectively challenge structural racism.

This issue of Voices in Urban Education builds on a 2017 conference, sponsored by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and organized by NYU and AISR, that aimed to address this need. Researchers and practitioners from seven sites gathered in New York City to share system-level strategies that challenged deficit mindsets and implicit bias, nurtured healthy and respectful relationships, and developed culturally sustaining practices. In this VUE issue, you will read some of their stories.

Download issue as PDF