ABSTRACT
To address the cultural nature of human learning and development described in this Handbook, policy must change in many ways. This chapter describes: the kinds of policies needed to develop the knowledge and skills required for culturally-connected and responsive teaching; the institutional supports needed to develop, support, and sustain this kind of teaching; the school designs needed to build strong relationships among students and adults (both educators and families) that support personalized, culturally grounded teaching and learning; the complementary sources of support needed to remove barriers to learning; and the systems changes—ranging from resource allocations to school and program assignment practices—that allow us to move beyond the deficit assumptions about cultural variation that are so deeply entwined in our schools to enable equitable, culturally-informed practice.
