Justice-Centered & Culturally Sustaining Teaching Competencies

This program offers a comprehensive professional development experience for educators and instructional leaders aligned with Pennsylvania Department of Education standards for culturally-relevant and sustaining education (CR-SE) competencies. Participants will engage in a dynamic mix of live virtual sessions, asynchronous activities, and collaborative discussions, designed to deepen their understanding of equity literacies, culturally responsive education, and justice-centered practices. Throughout the program, participants will critically reflect on their identities and teaching practices, exploring how these intersect with systems of power, dominance, and oppression. By the end of the program, educators will not only refine their existing skills but also develop new strategies to foster inclusive, equitable, and justice-centered classrooms, ultimately enhancing their impact on student learning and well-being.

Learning Goals:

• Participants will develop and expand their knowledge of justice-centered and culturally relevant and sustaining teaching through engagement in sessions, materials, discussions, reflection, applications, and feedback. 
• Participants will refine pre-existing and develop new skills related to equity-centered and culturally responsive teaching specific to their teaching contexts. 
• Participants will reflect on their identities and positionalities as justice-centered and culturally sustaining educators and consider how these identities impact their students and teaching practice. 
• Participants will engage in criticality by examining their identities as mentioned above and how these identities intersect with systems of power and oppression. In particular, participants will consider ways to counteract oppression and harm in their teaching practices, contexts, and approaches.

The program is structured around a three-part curriculum: Explore, Envision, and Enact. In the Explore phase, participants will engage asynchronously with curated resources and key frameworks.  This phase lays the foundation for a deep understanding of justice-centered and culturally sustaining teaching

In the Envision phase, participants will attend live virtual workshops that build on the foundational knowledge gained during the Explore phase. These sessions will cover topics such as justice-centered frameworks, microaggressions, neuroplasticity, restorative justice, and culturally sustaining lesson planning. Led by experienced facilitators, practitioners, and scholars, the workshops are designed to be highly interactive, allowing participants to apply their learning through discussions, case studies, and collaborative activities. This phase is crucial for translating theory into practice, as participants work on developing tangible strategies that they can implement in their classrooms and schools.

The final phase, Enact, focuses on the practical application of the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the program. Participants will create and begin to implement a personalized justice-centered and culturally sustaining teaching plan in their own educational settings. During this phase, they will also participate in small group sessions led by trained facilitators, where they can share their experiences, receive feedback, and refine their approaches. This hands-on experience, combined with peer support, ensures that participants leave the program with actionable strategies and a clear plan for continued growth in their teaching practices.

By participating in this program, educators will gain a deeper understanding of how to create equitable learning environments that are responsive to the diverse needs of their students. They will develop critical skills in reflecting on their own identities and positionalities, understanding how these influence their teaching, and actively working to counteract oppression and harm in their educational practices. Additionally, the program provides an opportunity to build a network of like-minded professionals, fostering a supportive community that can continue to collaborate and share best practices long after the program concludes.