ABSTRACT
Star teachers must understand the context of high-poverty communities and the consequences they bring for students who experience violence on a daily basis. Star teachers understand and accept as their job the fact that teaching is complex and that inequity is structural. Parents who intimately know the community and its assets, and whose children attend the school, become involved in meaningful work that assists teachers and empowers the parents. Star teachers recognize that power dynamics exist in the school, in the classroom, in the community, and in society. They do all that they can to empower students and parents. Professional organizations such as teachers' unions often have committees working on social justice issues. Teacher groups have formed all over the country to work on social justice curriculum and community action. There are organizations that publish books and magazines for social justice teaching, such as Rethinking Schools, that take on many key equity issues.
