Context Paper 2: Toward just education renewal: Investing in schools by developing socially just curricula and practices

• In Event: Toward Just Education Renewal and Neighborhood Reclamation: An Urban P-20 Partnership

Abstract

Objectives

Objectives for this conceptual paper are to lay out a theoretical frame and set context for the design of our vertically aligned, project- and placed-based curricular and pedagogical approach in our P-20 partnership and learning community. Our work is focused on the learning of both children/youth and the teachers who serve them.

Theoretical Perspectives

Our theory of action is that meaningful learning—for both students and their teachers—simultaneously develops cognitive, social, cultural, and emotional skills for future learning, work, and civic engagement (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). We work from the assumption that both children and teachers learn best and feel good about their learning when they:

• Learn information, concepts, and skills within a larger meaningful frame (Bransford, 2000; Bransford & Donovan, 2005; Dewey, 1916).
• Are nurtured and sustained as whole social and cultural beings rather than merely as “math students” or “English teachers.”
• Learn and teach in spaces structured to elevate intersecting identities, challenge discriminatory practice in all forms, and to act against inequities (Groenke et al., 2015; Paris, 2012).
• Have highly prepared, well-supported, and anti-racist teachers/teacher educators/leaders (Love, 2019).
• Are supported to act as changemakers in their communities and world.

This theory of action suggests that any one of these ingredients can represent a meaningful intervention on student and teacher learning and well-being, but together these pieces produce a powerful system designed to generate meaningful and sustained effects on student learning.

Methods/Modes of Inquiry

Our conceptual argument is supported by our design-based research, which requires our team to build materials and practices, engage in enactment while documenting both affordances and constraints, and iterate on the enactment. Teachers and students are also involved in the design and research.

Materials

Our description of contexts, materials, and practices for student and teacher learning focuses on students’ and teachers’ opportunities to learn. For student learning, we pulled together our currently constructed curriculum materials to examine their features and assess the extent to which the materials live up to our theory of action. For teacher learning, we focus largely on our interns, student teachers, and residents, describing structures that we have built and refined, including one-on-one coaching, peer-led residency seminars, and summer curriculum work.

In this conceptual paper, we will showcase two units of instruction—one at the elementary and one at the secondary level—developed by resident teachers to illustrate the nature of the materials and practices that shape both student and teacher outcomes.

Conclusions & Significance

Our work pulls together the best of what we know from research and uniquely focuses on student and teacher learning in relationship, arguing that teacher learning also must attend to the powerful qualities demanded in socially just project- and place-based learning curricula for children. In addition, through design-based work among all partners, we are co-developing curricular materials, practices, and structures with both students and teachers. This paper will showcase these innovations and provide context for the papers that follow.

Authors

• Elizabeth Birr Moje, University of Michigan

• Alistair Bomphray, University of Michigan

• Bridget L. Maher, University of Michigan

• Carla Shalaby, University of Michigan

• Alycia Meriweather, Detroit Public Schools Community District