Implementation of State Mandated Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education Training in k-12 Districts in Pennsylvania

• In Event: Implementing Justice: Race-Conscious Policy Futures and the Practice of Educational Equity

Abstract

In April 2022, new amendments to Chapter 49, the Pennsylvania Code that governs teacher professional development, came into effect. These amendments required that k-12 Local Educational Agencies incorporate training on the new PA Culturally-Relevant and Sustaining Education (CRSE) Competencies. Through an analysis of three-year comprehensive planning documents, this project seeks to understand how Pennsylvania LEAs responded to these new requirements. We found that though most districts claimed to meet the CRSE requirement, very few actually included evidence in the comprehensive plan that they were implementing it. Furthermore, most districts tended to tie CRSE to existing efforts. In some districts, this is an example of sensemaking at the local level–but in others it is an example of symbolic adoption.

Authors

• Christopher G. Pupik Dean, University of Pennsylvania

• Sarah Anne Eckert, Eastern University

• Luca Poxon, Temple University

• Patricia M. Joergensen, Holy Family University

• Aaron Johnson, Teach Plus