Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards - Section 24.50 - A Self-Awareness and Relationships to Others

Oct 10, 2026

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Illinois Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards outline how teachers and leaders build self-awareness, reflect on actions and biases, and develop relationships that strengthen students’ academic and social-emotional growth. The standards emphasize valuing multiple lived experiences, adopting an asset-based mindset, using knowledge of students’ lives to design instruction, and including representative curriculum content. They also address systems of oppression, distinguishing prejudice from institutional inequity, and promote student-centered co-creation through families, cultures, and shared classroom expectations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

SECTION 24.50

A Self-Awareness and Relationships to Others

B. Systems of Oppression

C. Students as Individuals

D. Students as Co-Creators

[isbe.net](isbe.net) Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards July 2022 SECTION 24.50 | The Illinois Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards A Self-Awareness and Relationships 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 culturally responsive teacher and leader will: 1. Understand and value the notion that multiple lived experiences exist, that there is often not one "correct" way of doing or understanding something, and that what is seen as "correct" is most often based on our lived experiences. 2. Approach their work and students with an asset-based mindset, affirming the validity of the students’ backgrounds and identities. 3. Know about their students and their lives outside of school, using this knowledge to build instruction that leverages prior knowledge and skills. 4. Include representative, familiar content in the curriculum to legitimize students’backgrounds, while also exposing them to new ideas and worldviews different from their own. 5. Engage in self-reflection about their own actions and interactions and what ideas and biases motivated those actions. 6. Explore their own intersecting identities, how they were developed, and how they impact daily experience of the world. 7. Recognize how their identity (race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/ emotional ability, socioeconomic class, religion, etc. ) affects their perspectives and beliefs about pedagogy and students. 8. Educate themselves about students’ communities, cultures, and histories. 9. Critically think about the institutions in which they find themselves working to reform these institutions whenever and wherever necessary. 10. Assess how their biases and perceptions affect their teaching practice and how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc. ) . | B. Systems of Oppression – Culturally responsive teachers and leaders understand that there are systems in our society especially, but not limited to, our school system, that create and reinforce inequities, thereby creating oppressive conditions. Educators work actively against these systems in their everyday roles in educational institutions. The culturally responsive teacher and leader will: | | | --- | --- | | | 1. Understand the difference between prejudice, discrimination, racism, and how to operate at the interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional levels.
2. Collaborate with colleagues to determine how students from different backgrounds experience the classroom, school, and district.
3. Know and understand how the system of inequity has impacted them as an educator.
4. Understand how current curriculum and approaches to teaching impact students who are not a part of the dominant culture.
5. Be aware of the effects of power and privilege and the need for social advocacy and social action to better empower diverse students and communities.
6. Understand how a system of inequity creates rules regarding student punishment that negatively impact students of color.
7. Understand how a system of inequity reinforces certain suppositions as the norm. | | | C. Students as Individuals – Culturally responsive teachers and leaders view and value their students as individuals within the context of their families and communities. The culturally responsive teacher and leader will: | 1. Learn from and about their students’ culture, language, and learning styles to make instruction more meaningful and relevant to their students’ lives. 2. Engage with students’ families and community members outside of the classroom to develop a more holistic u

FAQs

What does culturally responsive teachers and leaders’ self-awareness focus on?

They reflect to understand how their actions and interactions affect others, including the ideas and biases that motivate those actions.

How do the standards define systems of oppression in education?

They explain that societal and school-based systems create and reinforce inequities, producing oppressive conditions that educators should work against in daily roles.

How are students treated within the standards?

Students are viewed as individuals within families and communities, and also as co-creators of learning by centering their experiences and involving them in curriculum and classroom expectations.

Oct 10, 2026

Upload by Cipher