Culturally Responsive Education Model

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) Office of Equity, Diversity and Opportunity developed and provided divisionwide professional learning for a Culturally Responsive Education Model, or CREM. Our CREM infographic is designed as a wheel, with self-reflection and a culture of belonging as the hub. According to the CREM paradigm, teachers must first examine their own cultural competency and then recognize the need for respecting their students' sources of knowledge. Next, teachers are expected to gain an understanding of the five supporting spokes on the CREM wheel: incorporating students' cultural knowledge into their lessons (content knowledge), providing opportunities for students to study their affective domain and reflect on others (knowledge construction), identifying the most effective learning styles for students (equity pedagogy), embedding opportunities for students to engage in socially oriented instruction (prejudice reduction), and ensuring that students have access to resources. To date, more than 400 principals, assistant principals, content specialists, curriculum writers, school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers and some teachers have completed meaningful professional development using CREM via face-to-face synchronous training sessions and/or asynchronous presentations and discussion activities on Schoology.