Oswego School Board member questions state’s timing on culturally responsive teaching standards

During an Oswego School District 308 Board of Education meeting Feb. 8, board member Brent Lightfoot questioned the Illinois State Board of Education’s timing in issuing culturally responsive teaching standards for the state’s public school teachers amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the need for students to improve academically.

On Feb. 16, the state Joint Commission on Administrative Rules will meet to approve or vote down the proposed standards.

In a statement issued Feb. 1, the ISBE said the “standards affirm educators of all races and ethnicities and will help them better engage students from all different backgrounds.”

The standards include provisions that call for greater teacher self-awareness and attention of relationship to others.

“Culturally responsive teachers and leaders are reflective and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and how they impact others, leading to more cohesive and productive student development as it relates to academic and social-emotional development for all students,” the standards read.

The standards also call for a recognition of systems of oppression in society, reading, “Culturally responsive teachers and leaders understand that there are systems in our society that create and reinforce inequities, thereby creating oppressive conditions. Educators work actively against these systems in their everyday roles in educational institutions.”

During the meeting, Lightfoot said that he would not state an opinion on the standards, but he would be contacting his state legislators.

“I would encourage folks in the community. If you’re for it, great, let people know. If you don’t like it, great, let people know,” Lightfoot said.

“My only comment I will make is I find it interesting that the state Board of Education is focused on this right now, when the rest of us are focused on very different things,” he said. “Getting kids in buildings, getting kids learning and focusing on things like how do we get above the state standard of 30% meets and exceeds at the high school level, or 50% meets and exceeds for reading and math in the junior high or 70% meets and exceeds in elementary school.

“I think that’s what we need to be focusing on.”

Information provided by the ISBE and the Illinois Education Association, the statewide teachers union, indicates that the standards would not directly affect curriculum in kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms. Rather, the standards would be applied through a class taken while those studying to become teachers are still in school, according to the ISBE.

The ISBE statement also highlighted that more than 52% of students in Illinois identify as students of color, with English Learner students making up the “fastest growing” group of students in the state.

“The ability to reach students from different cultural backgrounds is an essential skill to succeed as a teacher in Illinois today,” the statement read.

A fact sheet issued by the IEA in support of the standards further elaborated on what they would mean.

The standards, according to the IEA, are “designed to help prepare educators for that increasing diversity. Educator preparation programs in colleges and universities will integrate these standards into their course content and field experiences, providing critical professional development opportunities to future educators.

“When properly implemented, these standards will enhance an educator’s ability to understand and relate to the whole child, which is already an expectation for certified staff members.”

Dr. Carmen I. Ayala, the state superintendent of education, said in the Feb. 1 ISBE statement, “Culturally responsive teaching and leading helped me improve the reading and math skills of every one of our student groups when I was a district superintendent and to achieve double-digit growth among my students of color.

“Cultural responsiveness is inclusive of all of the experiences our educators, students, and families bring to the classroom. ... As we help students recover from learning loss due to the pandemic, giving our teachers opportunities to learn about effective, equitable and research-based strategies like cultural responsiveness could not be more important.”

“Every student deserves to feel welcomed, included and accepted at school,” Ayala said. “Students are more engaged when they see their cultures represented in what they learn at school.”

The statement from the ISBE also clarified that the organization “will offer optional professional development on the standards to current educators. Educators and school districts maintain local control over what professional development they choose.”

According to state data from the ISBE for the 2019-20 school year, 8% of students in District 308 are English language learners. Of the district’s more than 17,000 students, 23.3% are Hispanic, 9.2% are Black, 7.5% are Asian, 4.9% are two or more races, and 0.2% are American Indian.

The district has more than 1,100 teachers, according to the same data, and 1.4% of those teachers are Black, 5.8% are Hispanic, 1.6% are Asian, and 0.7% are two or more races.

If approved by the state joint commission, the standards would not take effect until October 2025, “giving educator preparation programs ample time to incorporate the standards,” according to the ISBE.