Abstract
The historical and systematic issues that surround inequity in public schools can be traced back throughout America’s legislative history. Over the last several decades, a reckoning has begun in regard to social justice throughout many aspects of American society, and in the last several years, social justice, particularly, has come under attack through state legislative bodies. In this chapter, we discuss why and how educational policy needs to shift – in light of historical trends and current data – to support the movement toward social justice reform in the American education system. Recommendations include the ascension of social justice–focused research and training in education, including culturally relevant and responsive practices. We have also detailed efforts to develop and test the effectiveness of teacher professional development work designed to target teacher needs in terms of being prepared and equipped to advance social justice. Finally, we proposed that educational research must focus on the effective design, implementation, and evaluation of teacher training and practice regarding issues of social justice, especially regarding cultural competency and cultural responsivity.
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Kiracofe, C., Whitford, D.K., Katsiyannis, A. (2022). Reshaping Educational Policy to Advance Social Justice. In: Gage, N., Rapa, L.J., Whitford, D.K., Katsiyannis, A. (eds) Disproportionality and Social Justice in Education. Springer Series on Child and Family Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13775-4_13
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