Excerpts from Excellent Teaching Standards Documents

To provide deeper insight into states’ CRT-focused standards, New America has outlined examples of state standards, organized across the eight competencies of culturally responsive teaching. These excerpts were chosen for their level of clarity and detail and are intended to serve as examples of exemplary language to states aiming to improve their own.

Competency 1: Reflect on one’s cultural lens

• Throughout their Continuum for Teacher Development, Alabama sets a clear expectation that teachers ought to develop an awareness of their cultural positioning and how it informs their practice. For instance, an Alabama teacher “demonstrates and applies to own practice an understanding of how personal and cultural biases can affect teaching and learning.” To meet this element at the Pre-Service/Beginning-level, a teacher must become “aware of the need to consider own assumptions, attitudes, and expectations about learners,” and “begins to reflect on possible personal biases and their impact on learning.” To advance to the Applying level, a teacher not only “reads, attends workshops, and asks questions of people different from self to raise understanding of diverse cultures and backgrounds,” but also “implements instructional strategies that avoid use of bias, stereotypes, and generalizations and reflect current understanding of own personal/cultural biases.”
• Like Alabama, the InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards cover the need for teachers to analyze their cultural frames and potential biases in these frames. These standards expect that a teacher “understands how personal identity, worldview, and prior experience affect perceptions and expectations, and recognizes how they may bias behaviors and interactions with others.” Additionally, they expect that a teacher “reflects on his/her personal biases and accesses resources to deepen his/her own understanding of cultural, ethnic, gender, and learning differences to build stronger relationships and create more relevant learning experiences.” According to the InTASC Learning Progressions for Teachers, a more advanced teacher “assists others in exploring how personal identity can affect perceptions and assists them in reflecting upon their personal biases in order to act more fairly.”
• The Washington Cultural Competency Standards address teachers’ cultural self-awareness most extensively. These standards dedicate Component 3 (“Reflective Practice, Self-Awareness, and Anti-Bias”) to this competency, stating that a teacher should develop an “awareness of one’s own cultural background and how it influences perception, values, and practices.” Washington also asks its teachers to develop an understanding of “unearned-privilege,” a concept no other state covers. Specifically, teachers are expected to understand how advantages, or privileges, can be “created by social structure, i.e., race/ethnicity, national origin/language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental ability, socioeconomic class,” and how these advantages have an “impact on the educator-student [sic] relationship.”

Competency 2: Recognize and redress bias in the system

• Alabama is one of only three states (along with Washington and Minnesota) that explicitly discuss institutional biases. For instance, an Integrating-level teacher in the state “collaborates with colleagues to overcome some of the effects of institutional biases in the classroom by using strategies that include but are not limited to flexible grouping, differentiation, providing broader, curricular perspectives, and using alternative assessments.” A more advanced Innovating-level teacher “takes leadership with colleagues in influencing school culture on issues of race, culture, gender, linguistic background, and socio-economic status.” Moreover, Alabama is one of the few states whose standards specifically highlight the need for teachers to empower learners to themselves “recognize, analyze, and overcome the effects of institutional bias.” For their part, an Integrating-level teacher “structures opportunities for individual learners and groups to surface viewpoints regarding personal and cultural biases based on experience and other evidence in the classroom and the school.”
• In our review, Cultural Competency standards in Washington stand out as having the most extensive content related to teachers’ understanding of and commitment to redressing institutional biases. These standards ask that the professional teacher “understands the difference between prejudice, discrimination, racism, and how to operate at the interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional levels.” All teachers are expected to have the “ability to find and use tools, processes and programs that promote professional [and] organizational self-examination, and assessment in order to mitigate behaviors and practices (e.g., racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned-privilege, euro-centrism, etc.) that undermine inclusion, equity, and cultural competence in education.” To reach the Career level, teachers must understand “the need for social advocacy and social action to better empower diverse students and communities.” Washington joins Alabama in recognizing the need for teachers to engage students in an analysis of inequities, stating that teachers should be “helping students accept and affirm their cultural identity while developing critical perspectives that challenge inequities schools perpetuate.”

Competency 3: Draw on students' culture to shape curriculum and instruction

• Alabama includes in its Continuum for Teacher Development an expansive overview of culturally mediated instruction. Teachers are expected to develop “culturally responsive curriculum and instruction in response to differences in individual experiences, cultural, ethnic, gender, and linguistic diversity, and socioeconomic status.” Standards ask that teachers make “curriculum and content standards meaningful to diverse learners by designing differentiated instructional activities that specifically connect to and reflect learners’ culture and background.” According to the standards, teachers should develop lessons that “teach the contributions of people of diverse cultures and backgrounds,” and “provide opportunities for learners to develop understandings, empathy, multiple perspectives, and self-knowledge.” Taking on leadership responsibilities, an Innovating-level teacher “models and coaches colleagues in expanding culturally responsive curriculum and instruction in school and district,” and “builds capacity in learners and colleagues to utilize the assets that each learner brings to the learning community based on their backgrounds and experiences.” Alabama stands out for asking teachers to involve students authentically, requiring, for example, that teachers ask students to contribute resources to “augment the curriculum” and gauge how students feel the curriculum reflects relevance in their lives.
• Through several standards and elements, Alaska’s Guide to Implementing the Alaska's Cultural Standards for Educators strongly emphasizes the need for teachers to “ground all teaching in a constructive process built on a local cultural foundation.” For instance, Standard A affirms that “culturally-responsive educators incorporate local ways of knowing and teaching in their work,” while Standard B calls on them to “use the local environment and community resources on a regular basis to link what they are teaching to the everyday lives of the students.” Teachers at all levels are expected to “continuously learn about and build upon the cultural knowledge that students bring with them from their homes and community,” and “seek to learn the local heritage language and promote its use in their teaching.” Alaska joins New Mexico, Minnesota, Montana, and Hawaii in including specific provisions that address their respective state's indigenous populations. Alaska provides detailed information about Alaska Native students and advises its Exemplary-level educators to embed “student learning in the community’s natural cycle of people, ceremonies, and place into classroom lessons and activities,” as well as to invite “Elders and other local residents into classroom activities to demonstrate cultural knowledge for students.
• At five different levels of development, California describes the expectation that all teachers “connect learning to students’ prior knowledge, backgrounds, life experiences, and interests.” To address this element, an Applying-level teacher “uses school resources and family contacts to expand understanding of students’ prior knowledge, cultural backgrounds, life experiences, and interests to connect to student learning.” An Innovating-level teacher “uses extensive information regarding students and their communities systematically and flexibly throughout instruction.” California is one of a few states (along with North Carolina and Washington) that explicitly attend to potential sources of bias in lesson design. For instance, a California Integrating-level teacher ensures that “planning addresses bias, stereotyping, and assumptions about cultures and members of cultures.”
• Washington's Cultural Competency standards include a wealth of information about culturally responsive instruction and curriculum. These standards call for teachers to recognize the “importance of understanding the deep knowledge that students bring to the classroom from families and their cultures,” as well as “the history of culture and cultures in the United States.” Beginning at the Pre-Service level, these teachers are expected to “understand students’ families, cultures, and communities,” and use “this information as a basis for connecting instruction to students’ experiences.” At the Induction-level, teachers engage in “a learning community in order to critically reflect on and examine culturally relevant instructional practices,” while teachers who have reached the Career level, share “culturally relevant instructional practices and insights with learning communities.” Included among the skills for teachers is a strong emphasis on their ability to evaluate resources for diverse learners. For instance, an Induction-level teacher “uses evaluative practices to review curricula, textbooks, and instructional materials for cultural appropriateness,” and “reviews instructional materials to ensure that they are unbiased, representative, and relevant to learners.”

Competency 4: Bring real-world issues into the classroom

• The InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards have a strong focus on teachers' ability to connect academic concepts to real-world issues. Under Standard 5 (“Application of Content”), teachers are expected to engage learners in “applying content knowledge to real-world problems through the lens of interdisciplinary themes,” as well as “connecting application of concepts from more than one content area to real-world problems, community needs, and/or service learning.” The InTASC Learning Progressions for Teachers articulate that a more advanced educator “guides learners in developing possible solutions to real-world problems through invention, combinations of ideas, or other creative approaches,” while the most sophisticated educator “structures options that engage learners in independently and collaboratively focusing on a real-world problem or issue, carrying out the design for a solution, and communicating their work.”
• Missouri standards make clear that teachers are expected to link content to real-world issues in Quality Indicator 5 (“Diverse social and cultural perspectives”). A Proficient teacher “builds background knowledge from a variety of perspectives critical to fostering innovation, solving global challenges, and assuring a healthy democracy,” while a Distinguished teacher “facilitates student action to address real-world problems from a variety of perspectives related to the discipline that improve their community and/or world.”
• An strong emphasis on the “21st Century Context” is woven throughout West Virginia’s standards, which ask that teaching is done “through the use of relevant real-world examples, applications and settings to frame academic content for students,” and by making “connections between instruction and the real world outside the classroom both now and in the future.” Teachers in West Virginia are charged with enabling students “to see the connection between their studies and the world in which they live.” Most explicitly, a Distinguished teacher “engages students in collaborative solving of real-world problems,” so that “learners in the 21st century will understand all content at high levels of thinking and in the context of real-world applications.”

Competency 5: Model high expectations for all students

• California dedicates an entire element under Standard 2 (“Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments”) to the use of high expectations. Element 2.4 involves “creating a rigorous learning environment with high expectations and appropriate support for all students.” Beginning at the Emerging level, a California teacher is expected to develop an awareness of “the importance of maintaining high expectations for students,” while an Exploring-level teacher “works to maintain high expectations for students while becoming aware of achievement patterns for individuals and groups of students.” A more advanced, Integrating-level teacher “integrates strategic scaffolds and technologies throughout instruction that support the full range of learners in meeting high expectations for achievement.” An additional indicator under this element involves using “scaffolds to address achievement gaps.”
• Ohio advises its teachers to “expect that all students will achieve to their full potential.” In addressing this element, Proficient teachers “establish and clearly communicate high expectations for all students through such actions as focusing on students’ positive traits and conveying a belief in their abilities.” At the Accomplished level, “teachers set specific and challenging expectations for each individual student and each learning activity.” At the Distinguished level, teachers take on a leadership role and “assist other educators in their school and district in setting high expectations for all students.”
• West Virginia standards address teachers’ expectations of learners in some level of detail. A West Virginia teacher, not only “sets high expectations based on a conceptual understanding of what is developmentally appropriate for all students,” but also “establishes a learner-centered culture that allows all students to be successful while respecting their differences in learning styles, as well as socio-economic, cultural, and developmental characteristics.” The state dedicates Indicator 3B1 under Standard 3 (“Teaching”) to teacher expectations, stating that a Distinguished teacher “clearly and regularly communicates the belief that all students can master the learning targets and offers support for students in self-direction.”

Competency 6: Model and promote respect for student differences

• California standards are explicit about the need for teachers to engender respect for student diversity in the classroom. An Exploring-level teacher “seeks to understand cultural perceptions of caring community,” while an Applying-level teacher “incorporates cultural awareness to develop a positive classroom climate.” More advanced teachers are expected to foster classrooms where students “promote respect and appreciation for differences,” and “take leadership in resolving conflict and creating a fair and respectful classroom community where students’ [sic] home culture is included and valued.”
• Ohio provides an expansive overview of how teachers are expected to engender respect for student differences. The state’s standards make it clear that all teachers are expected to “model respect for students’ diverse cultures, language skills, and experiences.” To address this element, Proficient teachers “set clear rules to respect individuals and individual differences and avoid the use of bias, stereotypes, and generalizations in their classroom.” Along with Alabama, California, and Washington, Ohio is one of the few states that explicitly call attention to the importance of avoiding stereotypes and generalizations in the classroom. In addition, Accomplished teachers in Ohio “foster a learning community in which individual differences and perspectives are respected,” while Distinguished teachers “challenge disrespectful attitudes by modeling behavior for others and working to ensure that all students are recognized and valued.” Ohio standards further address the area of linguistic diversity, stating that teachers must “respect and value the native languages and dialects of their students.”
• Washington's Cultural Competency Standards are one of the few standards that specifically call attention to the critical social markers of race and ethnicity throughout various standards and elements. These standards say that an Induction-level teacher in Washington “recognizes students’ internal strengths, respects their identities, and supports cultural (including racial and ethnic) identity development through his or her attitudes and actions.” Meanwhile, Career-level teachers “appraise their classroom organization, environment, and management routines to ensure that they are free of cultural biases and equitable to students from all cultural backgrounds.” Inside and outside of the classroom, a Washington teacher “promotes policies and practices that demonstrate respect for difference and promote equity and social justice for all students.” Moreover, these teachers consider “how students from different backgrounds experience the classroom, school, or district.”

Competency 7: Collaborating with families and the local community

• Alaska’s Guide to Implementing Alaska's Cultural Standards for Educators emphasizes the importance of collaborating with families and communities in tremendous depth. The standards affirm that “culturally-responsive educators work closely with parents to achieve a high level of complementary educational expectations between home and school.” Educators who meet this cultural standard both “involve Elders, parents, and local leaders in all aspects of instructional planning and implementation” and “promote extensive community and parental interaction and involvement in their children’s education.” Alaska standards also stand out for highlighting the importance of extending learning into the community. Teachers are advised to “regularly engage students in appropriate projects and experiential learning activities in the surrounding environment,” and to “utilize traditional settings such as camps as learning environments for transmitting both cultural and academic knowledge and skills.”
• California standards have a clear focus on engaging families as leaders and sources of information about students’ cultural strengths. Specifically, an Exploring-level teacher “acknowledges the importance of the family’s role in student learning,” and “seeks information about cultural norms of families represented in the school.” An Applying-level teacher further “uses school resources and family contacts to expand understanding of students’ prior knowledge, cultural backgrounds, life experiences, and interests to connect to student learning.” Beyond offering “a wide range of opportunities for families to contribute to the classroom and school community,” Innovating teachers also foster “a school/district environment in which families take leadership to improve student learning.”
• Only in North Carolina do standards explicitly speak of potential cultural barriers to parent engagement. North Carolina teachers are expected to “seek solutions to overcome cultural and economic obstacles that may stand in the way of effective family and community involvement in the education of their students.” Teachers are also advised to “improve communication and collaboration between the school and the home and community in order to promote trust and understanding and build partnerships with all segments of the school community.”
• In Washington, the Teacher Standards-Based Benchmarks articulate the need for professional teachers to engage in “informing, involving and collaborating with families and community members as partners in each student’s cultural identity, educational process, including using information about student achievement and performance.” Washington asks teachers to know how to work with diverse families and calls on them to exemplify “cultural sensitivity in teaching and in relationships with students, families, and community members.” Career-level teachers are expected to continually engage in and pursue “partnerships with respect to students’ [sic] cultural identity within and beyond their teaching context, including parent and community partnerships that result in greater educational opportunities.”

Competency 8: Communicate in linguistically and culturally responsive ways

• Alabama places a strong emphasis on the use of linguistically and culturally appropriate communication. It is expected that every teacher “communicates in ways that demonstrate sensitivity to diversity and that acknowledge and are responsive to different cultural, ethnic, and social modes of communication and participation.” To exemplify this standard at the Pre-Service/Beginning level, a teacher becomes “aware of differences in communication modes between self and learners and their families/guardians,” while an Applying-level teacher “seeks greater knowledge and understanding of communication patterns through conversations with colleagues, family/guardians, as well as through community visits, school resources, or study.” Regarding linguistically appropriate communication, a teacher “recognizes the value of using learners’ native language and linguistic background during instruction.” Alabama is one of a few states that emphasize the need for linguistically appropriate outreach to families, stating that an Innovating-level teacher “advocates for school-wide outreach to families/guardians whose first language is other than English.”
• Alaska’s Guide to Implementing Alaska's Cultural Standards for Educators makes a strong case for the inclusion of students’ home language in the classroom. Alaska standards establish the expectation that teachers “seek to learn the local heritage language and promote its use in their teaching.” To address this element, a Proficient educator “builds partnership(s) with heritage language speaker(s) to enrich curriculum with cultural knowledge and heritage language(s),” while an Exemplary teacher “engages in conversational heritage language, and mentors students’ uses of heritage language(s) in the classroom.” Proficient and Exemplary teachers further co-teach lessons with heritage language speakers, embed common expressions from heritage language(s) in lessons, and integrate heritage language(s) into classroom discussions.
• As part of Standard 3 (“Family and Community Engagement”), Massachusetts articulates a “Communications Indicator,” which calls on teachers to engage “in regular, two-way, and culturally proficient communication with families about student learning and performance.” Massachusetts joins Alabama in calling for teachers to recognize the importance of native language when communicating with families. Teachers are expected to collaborate “with families, recognizing the significance of native language and culture to create and implement strategies for supporting student learning and development both at home and at school.”