THREE PILLARS OF CRP
As established by Gloria Ladson-Billings
STUDENTS MUST EXPERIENCE ACADEMIC SUCCESS
According to Ladson-Billings (1995), teachers need to meet students where they are at, academically, and address their academic needs in a way that allows for students to “choose academic excellence” (p.160). Ladson-Billings (1995) provides the example of allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge of topics and subjects that have meaning to them, and allowing them situations that combine their knowledge and abilities in “academically important ways.” (p.160). In the context of rural education, about 40% of all land in the United States is farmland (United States Department of Agriculture, 2014), as most farms are located in rural areas, a rural teacher might try and find ways to incorporate farming into their lesson plans. A teacher might also specifically select a topic or project that they know one or several students would be experts on, thus tapping into students’ funds of knowledge (Vélez-Ibáñez & Greenberg, 1992). Ladson-Billings (1995) states that it is important for teachers to demand academic excellence from their students, but also to understand that students learn best when what’s important and meaningful to them is incorporated into their lessons (p.160).
CULTURAL COMPETENCE
Ladson-Billings (1995) explains that culturally relevant educators find ways to use their students’ cultures as “vehicles of learning” (p.161). According to Diangelo (2006), educational environments are set up to benefit and maintain whiteness; and that whiteness is a culture of dominance, establishing itself as the norm, and non-white cultures as others or a deviation from the norm (p.1984). With approximately 71% of students in rural schools being white (National Center of Education Statistics, 2011), and 80% of teachers in the United States being white (Walker, 2018), one can infer that students of colour in rural schools are likely held to the norms of whiteness. Ladson-Billings (1995) describes that the way to develop cultural competence in the classroom is to create an environment where students are not only allowed but encouraged to use their cultural knowledge and their cultural backgrounds to build bridges to academics, thus developing both cultural competence and academic excellence (p.161). Ladson-Billings (1995) also recommends bringing in members of the community or even family members into the classroom to share elements of their culture(s) (p.161). This compliments the characteristic of rural areas, where the community and schools are often connected together (Ayalon, 2004).
CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Ladson-Billings (1995) says that it is not enough to just be aware of cultures, but students should look at and analyse society through a critical lense (p.162). Teachers should challenge their students to confront and critique the cultural norms of the world around them (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Ladson-Billings (1995) provided an example of turning a textbook’s lack of knowledge or representation about a certain topic, or, for example, lack of diversity, into a lesson and activity critiquing said textbook and pointing out its shortcomings. Students then could take action by writing letters to members of their community in order to bring the issues to light in a realm outside of the school, thus engaging their community, not just their peers (p.162). An activity such as this might be quite successful in rural schools, where many students are forced to use outdated textbooks and facilities, due to a lack of funding (Sedgwick, 2018). Allowing students to be culturally critical and conscious allows students to become active participants in their own curriculum and their own learning; and allows students to move towards being the “subjects” and not the “objects” of study (Ladson-Billings, 1995).
