Teaching for Equity in Complex Times: Negotiating Standards in a High-Performing Bilingual School (Multicultural Education Series)

''Stillman and Anderson's thoughtful and timely book shifts the education policy conversation and offers design- and justice-oriented educators and researchers the tools to understand how teacher and student learning becomes consequential when equity is both an orienting frame and object of learning. The authors make visible the ways racialized and language ideologies are imbued in the very policies and pedagogical practices designed to support learning for emergent bilinguals. A must-read for those interested in transformative teacher learning.'' -- Kris D. Gutiérrez, Carol Liu Professor, GSE, University of California, BerkeleyIn schools serving high concentrations of bilingual learners, it can be especially challenging for teachers to maintain commitments to equity-minded instruction while meeting the demands of new educational policies, including national standards. This book details how one school integrated equity pedagogy into standards-based curriculum and produced exemplary levels of achievement. As the authors illustrate, however, the school's dual commitment to bilingual education and standards-based reform engendered numerous complex tensions. Specifically, the authors describe teachers' attempts to balance demands for rigor and content coverage within their high-performing school and with their diverse student population. They identify specific tensions that emerged, concerning:* the degree of academic struggle that is generative for student learning, and the point at which such struggle becomes counterproductive * the holding of high expectations for all learners and the provision of differentiated, student-centered learning experiences * the CCSS emphasis on engaging students around more complex text and the contested determination of what constitutes complexity in text and in teaching * the influence of high-stakes accountability on school norms and practices, including teachers' interpretations and enactment of new national standards* the performance pressures placed on teachers in today's educational policy contextThis timely book illustrates what can happen when a school's teachers embrace equity pedagogy while navigating policy-related pressures. It offers a cogent counternarrative to traditional accounts of standards-based reform, especially for emerging bilingual students.