Chapter 11: Literacy in Urban Education: Equity for Preteachers and Future Students

Before beginning this discussion, it is important to set the parameters of my personal beliefs and biases as well as establish a working description of urban education. For the purposes of this essay, I will use the phrase urban education to mean an approach to teaching which addresses “economic, social, political, and environmental issues in education … through a culturally responsive lens and in a local to global context focusing on diversity, equity and social justice leading to critical consciousness and civic engagement” (White, 2014). In the true sense of the word, urban means city, but with respect to education the word has come to be a proxy for schools serving poor, and/or ethnically, racially, or language diverse populations. I still have a difficult time defining urban teaching as anything discreet from good teaching in the sense that all education should be inextricably tied to equity and social justice. As educators, we have an obligation to understand our students in all their dimensions in order to know what their needs are and to address them equitably. For me, literacy is the number one area of concern with respect to equity and social justice. It crosses all boundaries and has the ability to address all of the issues we relate to urban education: gender, poverty, race, curriculum, age, sexual identity, language, community.