The Leading Well - Student Agency Project aims to inform and encourage a pedagogy that acknowledges the role of students and their sociocultural contexts as fundamental prerequisites for designing curricular practice. If learning relationships are to flourish, especially when teachers and students enter the classroom from different and sometimes conflicting experiences and worldviews, a consistently negotiated dialogue around respect must be intentionally cultivated. It is the responsibility of teachers to consciously get to know the communities in which they work if they truly want their students to succeed in their classrooms. Validating what students bring to the classroom is important if we want to facilitate learning. With this in mind, we have constructed what Ball and Cohen (1999) have labeled “a practice-based theory of professional education,” in order to provide students and educators with tangible tools by which to learn about, connect with, and teach their students.
Classrooms that work for students who are underserved are most often facilitated by teachers with an awareness of the potency of labels as mediators of achievement. Educators need to be sensitive to the ways bias leads to sorting students based on negative expectations that arise from an unexamined “deficit orientation” (Serrano, 1999, p. 228). In contrast, when educators are committed to making a difference, not excluding or attempting to overcome difference, they inevitably join forces with the students’ communities that are invested in student success (Cummins, 1986; Lucas, Henze, & Donato, 1990). Despite misinformed prejudices to the contrary, communities with less material advantages want the best education for their children, which ultimately involves students’ learning targeted skills relevant for a changing economy (Murnane & Levy, 1996, pp. 80-108). Such a view of education demands instructional practice that is based on teachers’ knowing both their students and their subject areas. This professional development is tailored to improve practices for increased student achievement.
Vernor Elementary/Middle School
Earhart Elementary/Middle School
UPREP Academy Middle School
Henderson Elementary/Middle School
Pershing High School
Osborn High School
Detroit School of Arts
Denby High School
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