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Proposal for Change

Annaliese M. Gilsinger

Arizona State University

SED 322

Professor Monica Eklund

28 November 2021
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Proposal for Change

Education needs to change, and it needs to change quickly. As students become more

diverse in schools across America, teacher demographics remain largely the same. Curriculum

also remains unchanged. The same texts are used in English classrooms and the same European-

American perspectives are taught in social studies. The curriculum is becoming less and less

relevant to students, which is causing a drop in academic achievement and engagement (Howard,

2003). Culturally relevant curriculum has been shown to positively impact students’ engagement,

academic achievement, and help them develop their individual identities (Byrd, 2016; Martell

2013; Powell, 1997). This is a serious issue impacting students and teachers. Educators as well as

state and federal lawmakers should come together to help solve it by mandating culturally

relevant pedagogy standards in all public schools across the United States.

Teachers and researchers have conducted studies on the effectiveness of culturally

relevant curriculum in schools. Research indicates that students of color and White students

benefit from culturally relevant pedagogy (Martell, 2013). This indicates that no matter what the

demographic of a school is, students will benefit from culturally relevant practices. The National

Center for Education Statistics (2021) indicates that there are a growing number of ethnic

minorities in public schools, especially Latinx students. However, there have been very few

changes in curriculum. In the average high school English classroom, students are being taught

from the same texts that were being used twenty or more years ago, including William

Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. While these are classic British authors that are important to a

complete understanding of world literature, there should be other cultures represented in English

classes. School demographics are changing, becoming more diverse, but the literature and

history that is taught remains largely the same. Unfortunately, this is causing difficulty for
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students who do not find the content engaging, relevant, or helpful in their lives (Howard, 2003).

In fact, history is often exclusively taught from a European-American perspective, with little

inclusion of events that impacted non-White people and cultures in America, let alone world

events that included diverse people. One social studies teacher decided to change the narrative by

including events that impacted the cultures that were represented in his classroom, including the

Zoot Suit Riots, the Battle of Wounded Knee, and Japanese American internment camps

(Martell, 2013). He encouraged his students to research historical events that impacted their race,

ethnicity, or culture. Martell (2013) saw an increase in student engagement, critical thinking, and

identity development. This result is repeated across many studies, including the studies of Powell

(1997) and Byrd (2016).

Students are an underutilized strength. Too often, teachers lecture, design lessons, and

guide discussions of topics without even realizing that one of their best resources are the students

themselves. Students bring their backgrounds, cultures, thoughts, and opinions to school, but

they are often silenced before they can use their voice. This should change. Powell (1997)

studied a teacher who decided to include students in her lessons and allow them to represent their

cultures in her classroom. The teacher focused especially on English Language Learners, who

are so often underestimated. She worked to create relevant lessons that engaged the students and

she let them hang a flag from their culture in her classroom (Powell, 1997). It did not take much

for students to feel comfortable and begin opening up and sharing their experiences and cultures

with each other, which increased their learning (Powell, 1997). Howard (2003) also mentioned

the importance of “construct[ing] pedagogical practices that have relevance and meaning to

students’ social and cultural realities” (p. 1). These teachers have demonstrated the importance of

including culturally relevant curriculum in the classroom, for all students.

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There is a solution. Currently, state and national standards do not include requirements to

include students’ cultures into curriculum, nor do they require other cultures to be taught or

mentioned in the classroom. This should change. Federal and local boards across the United

States should change the standards to make it mandatory for culturally relevant curriculum to be

taught in classrooms. This should include, but not be limited to, including students’ perspectives

and cultures in lessons, teaching from a broad world-view rather than a mainly European-

American and/or White perspective, teaching about American historical events which were

primarily influenced by or primarily effected minority populations, and having conversations

about culture, race, and ethnicity in the classroom. This is just a starting point, but it is something

that is possible and can be done in the next few years. The sooner we begin to confront this

problem and implement a solution, the sooner we can give increase achievement, create

relevance, improve engagement, and give all of our students a voice.

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References

Byrd C. M. (2016). Does culturally relevant teaching work? An examination from student

perspectives. SAGE Open, 6(3), doi:10.1177/2158244016660744

Howard, T. C. (2003). Culturally relevant pedagogy: Ingredients for critical teacher reflection.

Theory Into Practice, 42(3), 195–202. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1477420

Martell, C. C. (2013). Race and histories: Examining culturally relevant teaching in the U.S.

history classroom, Theory & Research in Social Education, 41(1), 65-88,

doi:10.1080/00933104.2013.755745

The National Center for Education Statistics. (May 2021). Racial/ethnic enrollment in public

schools. Condition of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cge

Powell, R. (1997). Then the beauty emerges: A longitudinal case study of culturally relevant

teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(5), 467-484,

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(96)00052-2