The Learning Curve: Creating a Cultural Framework to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline

By Erica Baker

Why do you want to teach those kids? How can I connect with students that do not want to learn? Why challenge this group if they will never understand the content? These are three common questions asked of and by educators of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. The Learning Curve is a guide to aid new and veteran educators, and

• Language: English
• Publisher: Opportune Independent Publishing Company
• Release date: Jan 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781945532641

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Copyright © 2017 Erica Baker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN 13: 978-1-945532-56-6

Published by Opportune Independent Publishing Company

Printed in the United States of America

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CONTENTS

Introduction.....................................................9

Problem..........................................................11

Who, what, when, where, and how?.............17

What is culturally relevant pedagogy?...........21

Cypher Learning/Education..........................27

Systems that Impede Progress.......................39

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Practice......45

Methodology..................................................49

Glossary.........................................................65

Introduction

According to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Black students represent 18 percent of preschool enrollment, but 48 percent of Black preschoolers receive more than one out-of-school suspension. Furthermore, Black girls are suspended 12 percent more than any other race, or ethnicity, and more than most boys. Thirteen percent of students with disabilities receive out-of-school suspensions compared to 6 percent of students without disabilities. These statistics are evidence of the School-to-Prison Pipeline in the American educational system, which disproportionately impacts culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students and students with disabilities. From 2001-2007, my school district experienced a rapid demographic shift. The once majority white area now primarily consisted of CLD students. However, the teachers were still mainly white, and they had no idea how to engage with CLD students. This divide led to a high number of suspensions and expulsions. I was compelled to research the School-to-Prison Pipeline because I saw so many of my peers pushed out of school due to behavior. I did not have the words for what I witnessed, but I knew seeing so many of my classmates suspended and expelled was wrong.

Correlating with the Department of Education’s (2014) statistics, a record of school expulsions sets CLD students onto a trajectory to drop out and increases their chances of incarceration. As diversity increases in the United States, PreK-12 curriculum and school culture must change to match student demographics. As a K-12 student, I frequently saw CLD students disengaged in lessons. Sometimes the teacher ignored different learning styles, almost like he/she did not try to learn our individual learning styles. Students would be bored, or feel no connection to the lesson and act out. The acting out of CLD students normally resulted in them being penalized with in-school suspension (ISS), silent lunch, detention, suspension, or expulsion. Hence, being a channel to funnel the School-to-Prison Pipeline. According to Cramer, Gonzalez, and Pellegrini-Lafont, CLD students tend to struggle to acculturate into white, middle-class cultural classroom norms. Moreover, content taught from an ethnocentric perspective supporting white cultural norms could increase academic disinterest, disengagement, and behavioral issues among students of color.

chapter 1

problem

The problem is teachers are trained with the notion that all students can learn, but they are seldom taught practices that mitigate historical imbalances of power and privilege. Many teachers of CLD students do not have cultural awareness competency training, which hinders them from adequately serving a diverse demographic of students. The current educational system contains inequities in which CLD students are the recipients of inferior instruction. In various spaces, I have heard Washington, D.C. area educators speak negatively about students. There are some educators that lack high expectations for their students. They look at the student's circumstance and immediately