Responsive Relations Model: Operationalizing Caring Adult–Student Interactions to Increase Student Engagement and Equity in Education

• In Event: 63.019 - Black and Latino Males, Identity, Achievement, Support

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to build an understanding of the relations observed at Project [em]POWER (POWER), an after school program designed for students of color, that is situated within a desegregated school district that was recently released from a consent decree due to practices of racial discrimination. The proposed “responsive relations model” suggests that there is a way to think about teacher-student relations that puts students’ individuality and context (cultural, social, and historical) in the center of interactions, thereby, increasing the connectedness of teachers and students. By furthering an understanding of this model, it is the goal of this paper to provide a framework for increasing the academic engagement of students of color and therefore, increasing educational equity.

Author

• Shameem Rakha, Washington State University - Vancouver