CRE Stories: Race Conversations in the Classroom

Jillian McRae and Sam North co-facilitate a course about classism, sexism, and racism at Ossining High School in Westchester County, New York that creates space for students to have courageous conversations and make intentional choices about their involvement in their communities.

How do students react when the conversation centers institutional structures rather than individual acts?

What happens when high school students frame their examination of systems around those who benefit the most from them, and are encouraged to have honest discussions about the “isms” these systems create with their peers?

Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) connects curriculum and teaching to students’ experiences, perspectives, histories & cultures. It advances students’ academic achievement and sense of themselves as agents for change; and it helps students sustain their connection to their own language, culture and identity while also developing skills to succeed in the dominant culture.

CRE is a method of rigorous, student-centered learning that cultivates critical thinking instead of just test-taking skills; relates academic study to contemporary issues and students’ experiences; fosters positive academic, racial and cultural identities; develops students’ ability to connect across cultures; empowers students and inspires them to fall in love with learning.

Richard Gray and his team from the NYU Metro Center is partnering with Manauvaskar Kublall, MediaSutra, to tell 9 stories of culturally responsive education from the perspectives of teachers, administrators, teacher educators, and parents.

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