Culturally Responsive Professional Development for All

By Dr. Tara Nkrumah

CGEST’s programs for youth in science and technology whether afterschool or in-school prepare the facilitators of the signature Compugirls camps or CompuPower course in rural communities of Arizona in the practices of culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy.

Compugirls, established in the early 2000s, was founded on the belief that students of color, in general, and girls of color in particular, needed teachers who implemented the tenets of culturally responsive computing (CRC) to advance social equity. The three tenets - asset building, reflection, and connectedness - frame the purpose of CRC to fix the systemic structures in STEM education. It is believed equitable teaching is achieved by changing the mindsets of facilitators referred to as mentor teachers in culturally responsive professional development to seek outcomes for student engagement that fosters their technosocial change agency (disrupting the barriers for equity in STEM education and the workforce). Becoming fluid in culturally responsive pedagogy takes more than a 1 or 2-hour session, therefore, CGEST committed the entire month of May to professional development.

CGEST held a virtual 2-hour culturally responsive professional development (CRPD) workshop for the first four Mondays in May. During those sessions, different topics focused on the emphasis of culturally responsive pedagogy being a social justice movement. In week 1, an overview of culturally relevant pedagogy was provided looking at what Gloria Ladson Billings described as good teaching. Through examples of what worked for African American students to thrive in public education, she shares how teacher reinforcement of academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness become the tools for equitable outcomes in education. The weeks following focused on the meaning and practice of each attribute to begin the unlearning and relearning of what STEM education for all looks like.

Attending the CRPD were individuals from as far as Ireland and as near as Arizona for the virtual workshops. The diverse group included undergraduate and graduate students, professors, industry leaders, community partners, and K-12 teachers. The 20+ individuals each week logged on for the interactive experience to learn how to translate the culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy into practice. Understanding the great need to re-imagine STEM education for students of color, these CRPD workshops are one way to address the inequities in STEM education and the importance of culturally responsive pedagogy for all.