Students and families expect education to be the key that unlocks a bright future. In reality, many of the circumstances that impact the quality and availability of that key are determined by social contexts and institutional biases before students ever set foot in a classroom. One of the most critical determinants of students’ future success is the mindset and responsiveness of teachers (1). The quality of teacher-education, or how well prepared teachers are to teach, shapes the curriculum, pedagogy, classroom environment, and relationships that teachers and students will have (such as teacher expectations of students, and students sense of belonging and engagement) (2). It is therefore critical that teacher preparation programs take responsibility for training teachers in culturally responsive and sustaining practices and pedagogy. Empirical studies found that teachers who center student culture in their classrooms by promoting high expectations, cultural competence, and critical consciousness improve student academic achievement, (3) capacity for critical thinking (4), empowered racial/ethnic identity (5), civic activism (6), and overall experience of school (7).

Recent research demonstrates that the good intentions of under-trained teachers are not sufficient to improve student outcomes. Moreover, teachers who have not been required by their personal circumstances, schools, or curriculum to be conscious of their own biases fail to meet the needs of Black and Brown students and students living with poverty (8). The following report is an analysis of the current state of teacher preparation programs serving New York City educators. We believe that the successful implementation of culturally responsive and sustaining education (CRSE) must begin in teacher education and continue for the span of educators’ careers as professional development.

Understanding how prepared educators are to implement CRSE in NYC is critical, especially when you consider the diverse demographics of the school system and the extent to which the NYC teaching force does not represent the diversity of NYC students. While only 15% of NYC public school students are white, 60% of NYC public school teachers are white (9). While young men of color make up 34% of the student body, less than 8% of the teaching force are men of color (10). Overall, students of color make up 87% of the student body, and they deserve access to a curriculum that reflects their cultural backgrounds, identities, contributions, and assets (11). The most prevalent teacher demographic, white women, often lack the social capital to connect with NYC students and therefore require intervention during teacher training programs (12). Anyone teacher cannot reflect all of the multiple, growing forms of diversity in their classrooms. Thus, teachers must be educated on how to be responsive to multiple identities and how to center multiple forms of diversity as assets and sources of rich knowledge. It is important to note that identities and cultures expand beyond just race, they include gender and sexuality (13), language (14), nationality (15), disability (16), and the varying intersections between these identities.

This study will investigate the extent to which initial education certificate (the certification to teach in New York) course options provide opportunities for teachers to develop CRSE mindsets, skills, and practices. Over the last few years, CRSE has gained popularity in New York City, given the increased interest in building equity in K-12 schools and leadership from parents and communities advocating for CRSE. While teachers who value and strive towards CRSE have always been in schools, they are typically situated in isolated classrooms within a school; there are few schools that practice culturally responsive and sustaining education school-wide or have CRSE-specific policies and/or accountability mechanisms that enforce the policies. The New York State Department of Education (NYSED) released a framework for Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education that provides guidance for all stakeholders (students, teachers, school leaders, district leaders, families and community members, and higher education faculty and administrators, and education department policymakers) (17). According to the framework, higher education faculty and administrators should take several steps to foster CRSE, some of them include: (a) publish a statement committing to CRSE, (b) diversify student teachers, (c) create a course on implicit bias for teachers, (d) integrate CR-S education into teacher preparation programs, and (e) “prioritize social and emotional learning approaches that are culturally responsive-sustaining as essential to quality teaching and learning throughout New York State” (p.48 ).

In 2018, the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ) brought together a myriad of stakeholders to assess the state of NYC public school curricula and found that people of color, immigrants, indeed the majority of NYC public school students, are routinely excluded and diminished in curriculum (18) (19). CEJ catalyzed the creation of the NYC Culturally Responsive Education Working Group, which drafted a definition and tenets of culturally responsive and sustaining education as fundamental to the project of education, and successfully pressed the NYC Department of Education to adopt that definition as policy (20) (see below). What remains is the necessary task of preparing educators to implement the principles of CRSE for every child, in every classroom, on every day. The adopted definition of Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education (CRSE) is:

[A] cultural view of learning and human development in which multiple forms of diversity (e.g., race, social class, gender, language, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, ability) are recognized, understood, and regarded as indispensable sources of knowledge for rigorous teaching and learning. Culturally responsive sustaining education uses educational strategies that leverage the various aspects of students’ identities, including the rich cultural, racial, historical, linguistic characteristics of students to provide mirrors that reflect the greatness of who their people are and windows into the world that allow students to connect across cultures. Numerous studies across the country show that CR-SE increases student participation, attendance, grade point averages, graduation rates, civic engagement, self-image, and critical thinking skills. To give all students both windows and mirrors, [the NYC DOE] will adopt a culturally responsive approach throughout all major policy areas.

The definition goes on to outline key tenets of culturally responsive and sustaining educational practices:

Engaging in the work of CR-SE ensures that all students learn at high levels by requiring that schools and districts:

• Value and affirm the varied experiences, perspectives and needs that students bring into the classroom - whether they be connected to racial/cultural background, language, disability or other - as essential assets and resources for learning, and meet students there;
• Foster critical consciousness about historical and contemporary forms of bias and oppression;
• Identify and interrupt policies and practices that center on historically advantaged social/cultural groups and lead to predictable outcomes of success or failure for historically marginalized students;
• Use curricula and pedagogy that are academically challenging, honor and reflect students’ diversity, connect learning to students’ lives and identities, challenge students to be critical thinkers, and promote student agency to end societal inequities;
• Improve classroom and institutional practice through a mindset of high expectations for all students and deep examination and knowledge of one’s personal beliefs, assumptions, experiences and identities through ongoing professional learning and support;
• Build strong connections and relationships with students, which requires understanding their lives, backgrounds and identities;
• Develop close partnerships with families and communities as sources of knowledge, experience and skills, and leaders in shaping school priorities and deepening learning;
• Develop restorative practices in schools, including using restorative justice as a response to harm, fostering trusting relationships among students, creating emotional safe spaces that recognize and nurture students’ identities, and giving students a sense of ownership and belonging in the school.

Teachers are one key group of people who can transform this vision of CRSE into empowering outcomes for students. The liberating promise of culturally responsive and sustaining education cannot be realized without examining and ensuring that teacher preparation programs are evolving with the NYC DOE and NYSED's commitment to and implementation of CRSE. This review of teacher preparation courses is informed by both the NYC DOE’s definition of CRSE, NYSED’s CR-S Framework, and the NYU Metro Center’s Culturally Responsive Education: A Primer for Policy and Practice (21). These documents were synthesized and organized into five themes of CRSE that could be found in course descriptions: Cultural Background, Relevancy, Sociopolitical Consciousness, Critical Action, and Student Dignity. A summary of each CRSE theme is shared in the table below.