Freshen up your classroom practice by utilizing the Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards

<p>If you checked out our blog in <a href="https://www.crosscountryeducation.com/blogs/promoting-diversity-in-the-k-12-classroom" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">August 2022</a>, you know we discussed that the United States is one of the more diverse nations in the world and <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/2020-united-states-population-more-racially-ethnically-diverse-than-2010.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to the 2020 census,</a> the melting pot of America continues to diversify.¹ Despite this, deep-rooted bias, discrimination, and stereotyping still run rampant in our school communities, so what better time than the new year to freshen up your classroom practice by utilizing the Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards? This post features a deep dive into these new standards and some resources for implementation!</p><p>According to <a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/publications/social-justice-standards" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learning for Justice</a>, “The Teaching Tolerance Anti-bias Framework is a set of 20 anchor standards and 80 grade-level outcomes organized into four domains—Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action—that reflect the desired impact of successful anti-bias and multicultural education on student personal and social development. The standards provide a common language and organizational structure. Teachers can use them to guide curriculum development, and administrators can use them to make schools more just, equitable, and safe.” These anchor standards and learning outcomes are offered in English and Spanish, and the Learning for Justice website is a wealth of resources that are noted below:</p><h3><a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/professional-development/social-justice-standards-the-learning-for-justice-antibias-framework?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4uCcBhDdARIsAH5jyUklyxJhY4VU7ojHCaKNhFCnBkZ4PCHC8Vy8pgDWBhe67P1daC6R-vYaAsHLEALw_wcB" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Professional Development Modules</a></h3><ul><li>-These four self-paced, free modules are aimed to help teachers understand the standards and identify how to use them to engage students in a range of anti-bias, multicultural and social justice issues. The topics are on unpacking identity and diversity, understanding justice, and unpacking action.</li></ul><h3><a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/lessons" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lessons</a></h3><ul><li>-The site also features a searchable lesson plan library with lessons for K-12. Topics range from race and ethnicity, ability, and immigration to gender and sexual identity. Educators have the ability to search and integrate content into any subject area.</li></ul><h3><a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/learning-plans" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learning Plans</a></h3><ul><li>-These comprehensive, literacy-based plans are built by teachers and reflect backward design. The Learning Plan Builder allows you to combine the Social Justice Standards, Common Core-aligned literacy strategies, and student performance tasks with windows-and-mirrors texts from the Student Text library. The result is both rigorous and relevant.</li></ul><h3><a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/texts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Perspectives Text Library</a></h3><ul><li>-The four unique anti-bias perspectives and the standards that accompany them are labeled throughout the meaningful and complex texts found in the Perspectives Text library. Teachers and students are able to further develop their understanding of these standards through examination of the examples highlighted in the texts.</li><li>	This searchable library of short texts offers a diverse mix of stories and perspectives. This multi-genre, multimedia collection aligns with the Common Core's recommendations for text complexity and the Learning for Justice Social Justice Standards.</li></ul><h3><a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/summer-2014/identity-diversity-justice-action" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Identity. Diversity. Justice. Action.</a></h3><ul><li>-Read this article about a classroom teacher's implementation and takeaways.</li></ul><p>These featured resources from Learning for Justice are just the tip of the iceberg! Explore their entire <a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> website </a>to find everything from lesson plan builders, to film kits and posters! They also offer a wide range of professional learning materials such as webinars, podcasts, facilitator guides for presenting PD, and article publications. Happy new year and happy learning!</p><h4>Citations:</h4><ol><li>Bureau, U. S. C. (2022, June 10). The chance that two people chosen at random are of different races or ethnicity groups has increased since 2010. Census.gov. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/2020-united-states-population-more-racially-ethnically-diverse-than-2010.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/2020-united-states-population-more-racially-ethnically-diverse-than-2010.html</a></li><li>(2022). Learning For Justice. Learning For Justice. <a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.learningforjustice.org/</a></li></ol>

K-12 Social Justice Standards