First, examine your beliefs about how students learn and achieve. Consider your beliefs about the purpose of your instruction and what students can or do contribute to the life of the classroom. Inclusive pedagogy is contrary to the banking model (Freire, 1970) of education in which instructors deposit information into students, while students passively accept what is said and then regurgitate it. Inclusivity in your pedagogy is grounded in culturally responsive teaching (Billings, 1995), a set of instructional strategies and a perspective that acknowledges “when students learn that their own experiences and viewpoints are valuable, perspective-taking, appreciation of differences, and self-confidence are likely outcomes” (Quaye & Harper, 2007). As noted in Quaye & Harper (2007), “Octavio Villalpando (2002) studied the effects of diversity on student learning among 15,600 undergraduate students from 365 post-secondary institutions. He found that after four years of college, students were most satisfied with faculty who employed methodologies that respected and were inclusive of cultural differences; constructed welcoming environments for sharing cultural perspectives; and required writing assignments that challenged students to think critically about diversity and equity issues. Villalpando’s findings do not apply only to minority students; white students reported the same outcomes.” Inclusive pedagogy supports ALL learners.

Inclusive practices are fundamentally linked to your beliefs that you will look for and, to the best of your ability, dismantle systems and practices that impede student success. In your learning setting, include: providing clear expectations and grading criteria (in writing) for the course and all assignments; providing a visual map of the course, including alignment of objectives to assessments; providing opportunities for a wide range of voices to be heard; creating activities where all students ask questions and provide answers; providing appropriate opportunities for non-competitive, collaborative assignments and group work; using a variety of teaching methods and modalities (verbal, interactive, didactic, etc.); providing students with choice in demonstrating their progress; and allowing students to see the value of a diversity of perspectives. Inclusive pedagogical practices include taking time to understand your students’ prior knowledge then explicitly showing how their conceptions link to the course material. Taking time to learn about your students’ prior knowledge, course/unit goals and motivations will let students know that you are intentionally developing the course with them in mind.

As a leader in your setting, you will want to ensure that all students have opportunities to learn. Students may particularly benefit from additional supports for learning. Universal Design for Learning provides a framework and perspective on the use of “scaffolds [that are] temporary supports, usually provided by an expert or teacher in a domain, that enable novices in that domain to build knowledge or skills efficiently and enthusiastically” (Meyer and Rose, 2014). Further, as you are planning your semester or reflecting throughout, you might also consider reviewing this checklist on inclusive teaching strategies and the CIRTL core competencies of the inclusive pedagogy framework.

For further study, we encourage you to learn more about the CSU Vice President for Diversity Office programs, including the Faculty Institute for Inclusive Excellence. You might also consider reviewing the information on the Teaching Effectiveness Domain of Motivation as well as this recent news story, ‘How to Fix Education’s Racial Inequities, One Tweak at a Time,’ which describes successes in improving academic achievement for Latinx students at Pasadena Community College, with specific classroom approaches particularly in the final quarter of the article.”