Putting Students at the Center: Empowering Alternative Education Teachers Through Culturally Relevant Unit Planning

• In Event: Developing Equity-Oriented Educators

Abstract

Conducted in an urban alternative educational district for adolescents ages 17-21, this study provides an overview of a professional development program that sought to support teachers in developing unit plans that incorporated culturally relevant and sustaining curriculum, assessment, and instruction. The authors offer a qualitative content analysis of teachers’ subsequent instructional products and classroom observations, highlighting the ways in which the teachers addressed cultural competence, potential for student academic success and intellectual growth, and sociopolitical consciousness. Implications for future professional development and research will be highlighted, particularly for administrators, coaches, researchers, and teachers who work within urban alternative settings with students of various abilities and who are linguistically and ethnically diverse.

Author

• Jody N. Polleck, Hunter College - CUNY