Creating Schools and Systems for Deeper Learning, Equity, and Social Justice

To meet the demands of contemporary society, today’s schools must provide powerful learning environments for students that pair challenging academic content with engaging, experiential, and relevant learning experiences—and must do so in ways that reach diverse learners and promote equity. Such experiences equip students with the skills to find, analyze, and apply knowledge across new contexts and situations and prepare them for college, work, and civic participation in a democratic society. Unfortunately, these types of deeper learning environments are more frequently found in schools and classrooms serving more affluent students and rarely in those serving students of color and those from low-income families. To ensure that all students have access to the deeper learning that prepares them for college, career, and civic participation, it is vital to prioritize equity and a social justice orientation throughout school systems.

The Educator Preparation Laboratory (EdPrepLab) hosted a webinar to examine the policies and structures needed across pre-k–12 and teacher and leader preparation to foster these deeper learning opportunities for all students across all schools. The webinar discussed the role teachers and leaders can play in expanding teaching for deeper learning in ways that also ensure access to an equitable and social justice-oriented education.

The webinar featured researchers and practitioners exploring key findings from two recent publications, Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning and In Search of Deeper Learning. In addition to addressing policies and practices that can generate transformative deeper learning systems, participants considered the key shifts needed from leaders and policymakers to center deeper learning within an equity and social justice context.

This webinar is supported by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.