Page 5 - In Focus Newsletter_February 2019

CASDA EdCasts Episode 6

Exploring Culturally Responsive Practices in Odds-Beating Schools

In this month's EdCast episode, CASDA Executive Director Michael Piccirillo, Ed.D. spoke
with Dr. Kristen Wilcox, Professor at the UAlbany School of Education and lead
researcher for NYKids, about how schools she has studied leverage cultural

responsiveness to better serve the needs of their students and produce "odds-beating"
results. NYKids recently released a report titled “College and Career Readiness:
Promising Practices from Odds-Beating Schools” that offers practical lessons learned
regarding how and why educators in odds-beating schools achieve better outcomes

than their peers in comparison schools. These schools exceed expectations at
graduating African-American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, English language learners and/or
economically disadvantaged students.

Download the podcast here or by visiting www.casdany.org/podcast.

Additional resources mentioned in the podcast include:

Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy by Gloria Ladson-Billings
Building an Odds-Beating Culturally Responsive School System: A
Workshop for School Improvers by Kristen Wilcox, Ph.D., University at

Albany, and Nancy Andress, CASDA Faculty

Keep the conversation going by heading to www.casdany.org/forum and joining our
EdCasts Exchange. Sign up with your email and create a password, then post comments
and discuss topics relavant to you with your peers.

" O u r f u t u r e i s a b o u t o u r y o u t h , a n d o u r
i n c r e a s i n g l y d i v e r s e y o u t h h a v e a l o t o f
a s s e t s t o o f f e r . W h a t t h e s e o d d s -
b e a t i n g s c h o o l s a r e s h o w i n g u s , t h e y

a r e a b l e t o a d a p t t o t h e p o p u l a t i o n s
t h e y s e r v e i n r e a l l y c r e a t i v e a n d
u n i q u e w a y s a n d s e e s u c c e s s . "
- D r . K r i s t e n W i l c o x , U A l b a n y P r o f e s s o r

a n d l e a d r e s e a r c h e r a t N Y K i d s