In an effort to define what characterizes culturally responsive teaching practices, TIDE drafted a framework of 7 culturally responsive teaching practices for all faculty to aspire to. 

While not an all-encompassing list, the 7 guidelines are drawn from prominent research on culturally responsive teaching, including among other sources, Ladson-Billing's The Dreamkeepers (1994), Hammond's Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (2015), Paris and Alim's Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (2017), and the American Psychological Association's Multicultural Guidelines (2017). 

1. Acknowledge the impacts/influences of attitudes and beliefs on curriculum choices and instruction. 

Educators aspire to recognize and understand that they hold attitudes and beliefs that influence their perceptions of and interactions with others as well as their pedagogy. These attitudes and beliefs ultimately find their way into the curriculum and classroom. Considering various forms of 

privilege that shape our beliefs and impact how we teach and shape our curriculum is important. In response, educators strive to move beyond conceptualizations rooted in categorical assumptions, biases, and formulations based on limited knowledge about individuals and communities. 

ACTION: Educators work to be self-aware of their own implicit biases and privileges and how these play out in their interactions with others by engaging in self-assessments and educating themselves about issues related to cultural competency. 

2. Proactively include diverse and inclusive representation in teaching materials, such as textbooks, examples, visuals, faces and voices, classroom décor. 

ACTION: Educators seek out and include diverse representations and voices in textbooks, examples, and visuals. 

Inclusions are added in a way in which the diversity impacts and shapes the content rather than only being included to “check a box.” 

3. Cooperatively engage with students in the learning process. 

Educators maintain cultural humility and share the ownership of knowing with all students. Ongoing opportunities are created for students to provide input on the learning experience, and that input shapes the course. The class assumes a hopeful view of people and their capacity to change. Consequently, the environment is civil and welcoming. 

ACTION: Educators strive to create inclusive classroom environments. 

Opportunities for self-reflection and for self-assessment are consistently created for both the educator and the students. 

4. Consider the importance (subtle or overt) of language and communication. 

Educators strive to recognize and understand the important role of language and communication and strive to use inclusive language that is sensitive to the lived experience of the individual, group, community, and/or organizations with whom they interact. 

ACTION: Educators keep an open mind to revisions in language and labels and adapt, as appropriate. 

Also, educators continually work to assure language that reflects students feel welcome and included in the learning experience. 

5. Create assessments that strive to allow students choices, as appropriate. 

Educators accommodate a range of learning modalities and strive to engage students’ own experiences and interests. Assessments are relevant to the real world and emphasize the human purpose of what is being learned and its relationship to the students' experiences. 

ACTION: Educators learn about various learning modalities and apply best practices in their classrooms to assure real-world assessments that include and reflect students’ experiences. 

6. Approach students’ cultural differences as strengths rather than deficits. 

Educators actively strive to take a strength-based and additive approach when working with students, creating opportunities for students to engage and use the cultural backgrounds and interests they bring into a course. 

ACTION: Educators incorporate a growth mindset and apply strength-based and additive strategies to the curriculum. 

7. Recognize that identity, self-definition, and culture are fluid and complex. 

Educators seek to recognize and understand that identity and self-definition are fluid and complex and that the interaction between the two is dynamic. To this end, ECC appreciates that intersectionality is shaped by the multiplicity of the individual’s social contexts. Additionally, educators understand that cultures change and include nuance. Thus, culturally responsive teaching is an ongoing process (growth) of awareness, skills, and knowledge to develop/sustain/grow equity literacy in the ECC community. 

ACTION: Educators will recognize and continue to learn about the comprehensive nature of cultures and remain engaged in learning about and connecting to diverse cultures 

Educators will appreciate the complexity of intersectional identities and how this impacts student engagement