This book explores the impacts on personal and professional, local and global forms of belonging in educational spaces amidst rapid changes shaped by globalization. Encouraging readers to consider the idea of belonging as an educational goal as much as a guiding educational strategy, this text forms a unique contribution to the field. Drawing on empirical and theoretical analyses, chapters illustrate how educational experience informs a sense of belonging, which is increasingly juxtaposed against a variety of global dynamics including neoliberalism, transnationalism, and global policy and practice discourses. Addressing phenomena such as refugee education, large-scale international assessments, and study abroad, the volume’s focus on ten countries including Japan, Sierra Leone, and the US demonstrates the complexities of globalization and illuminates possibilities for supporting new constructions of belonging in rapidly globalizing educational spaces. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in international and comparative education, multicultural education, and educational policy more broadly. Those interested in the sociology of education and cultural studies within education will also benefit from this volume.

Lead an identity safe learning community where students of all backgrounds thrive Students of all backgrounds reach their full potential when they feel a sense of belonging and inclusion. When their social identities are valued as assets rather than barriers to learning, they flourish. This guide provides evidence-based strategies that support you as a leader in creating an environment that promotes identity safe students, who experience a challenging curriculum that respects their diverse social identities. Features in the book include: Guiding principles for student voice, equalizing status and cultivating acceptance across race, ethnicity, gender and other differences Ideas and examples for anti-racist dialogue and activities for teachers and students that counter colorblind practices, stereotype threat and biases Vignettes, and examples of identity safe practices for students and adult learning for staff, families and the community Systems for student-centered assessment and data collection Resources for developing equitable school policies and a comprehensive identity safety plan for your school Educators fulfill the promise of an equitable education when students of all backgrounds know that who they are and what they think matters. Start the journey to become an identity safe school and see the results for yourself! “Belonging and Inclusion in Identity Safe Schools: A Guide for Educational Leaders is a timely and important book. For several years, the nation′s schools have been asked to focus their energies on raising student achievement. However, too often educators have ignored the need to honor, support and affirm the identities of the students they serve. For educators who serve children of color, particularly Black, Native American and Latinx children who are often subject to overt and covert forms of forced assimilation, this book will be an invaluable resource on how to create learning opportunities that make it possible for such children to thrive.” ~Pedro Noguera, Dean of Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California “Bravo to authors Cohn-Vargas, Gogolewski, Creer Kahn, and Epstein for their ground-breaking book on Identify Safe Schools for Administrators and Teacher and Staff Leaders! They provide much-needed evidence for educators to elevate and even inspire the equity, empowerment, and academic growth needed to wholly support all children to flourish in school and their lives.” ~Debbie Zacarian, Director, Zacarian and Associates

Create a classroom with a culture of true belonging, liberation, and justice for all Teaching for Justice and Belonging: A Journey for Educators & Parents provides a practical and powerful blueprint to unrooting racism in the educational setting. The book is an easy-to-understand guide designed to cultivate an educational experience that inspires a culture of true belonging, liberation, and justice for all. Relying on case studies, thorough research, and deeply personal and enlightening experiences drawn from the lives of the authors themselves, Teaching for Justice and Belonging also offers: Demonstrations of how to explore personal and collective racial identity to learn more about oneself and others Support for making systemic change within the spheres of influence of educators and parents Real testimonials and stories to guide readers on their own healthy anti-racism journeys A central piece of any anti-racism roadmap, this book is perfect for K-12 educators, administrators, and teacher leaders. It will also earn a place in the bookshelves of pre-service teachers and parents interested in unlearning racism and encouraging diverse voices in the education system.

Welcome to Identity Safe Classrooms! In identity safe classrooms, students facing negative stereotypes or viewed as different are "seen," accepted, and valued for who and what they are. Their identity is embraced as an asset not a barrier for school success. Identity safety is a research-based set of practices that counter the harmful effects of stereotype threat and allow our students to reach their full capacity for learning, foster positive relationships, and better appreciate the full spectrum of human differences. The second of a two-volume set, Identity Safe Classrooms, Grades 6-12, is a call for educators to come together and realize a vision of schools as transformative places of opportunity and equity for all students. Inside you’ll find: Design principles for promoting belonging and a welcoming classroom environment Compelling evidence from identity safety research on ways to mitigate stereotype threat along with counter-narratives that challenge societal biases about gender, race, and other differences Pragmatic strategies for student-centered teaching, including trauma-informed practices, that hold high expectations and validate each student’s background as a resource for learning Vignettes with concrete examples and try-it-out activities and prompts for self-reflection Devour Identity Safe Classrooms, adopt its practices, and soon enough you’ll inspire in all of your students a greater sense of empathy and agency in their educational experiences. "Dr. Becki Cohn-Vargas along with Alexandrea Creer Kahn and Amy Epstein show us the intersections between adolescent identity development, racial identity development, and social-emotional development so we know how to use the diversity in classrooms as our strength." -Zaretta Hammond, Author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain "Identity Safe Classrooms should be in the hands of every educator who walks into a school. It′s clear and accessible, grounded in research, thought-provoking and engaging, and actionable, and fills a crucial gap in our resources for creating just and liberated schools." -Elena Aguilar, Author of The Art of Coaching "The authors have done an excellent job showing how an identity safe classroom integrates the growth mindset in a secondary school. When students feel accepted and valued, when they feel safe learning from mistakes and encouraged to continually grow as learners, they can reach their highest potential." -Carol Dweck, Stanford University

This practitioner-focused guide to creating identity-safe classrooms presents four categories of core instructional practices: Child-centered teaching ; Classroom relationships ; Caring environments ; Cultivating diversity. The book presents a set of strategies that can be implemented immediately by teachers. It includes a wealth of vignettes taken from identity-safe classrooms as well as reflective exercises that can be completed by individual teachers or teacher teams.

Westheimer and Kahne (2004) connect the creation of a "good citizen" to the foundations of a "good society" (p. 238) as long as being a "good citizen" means being personally responsible, voting, or being active in one's community. In today's political climate, these seem like good starts and valuable endeavors, but they lack a critique on how we understand the different facets of our society and the unequal ways we get to belong in society. This dissertation begins by asking the questions how do we belong and how do we learn that belonging? I will seek answers through research and investigation of the activities and on-goings in a social studies classroom and activist group in Georgia, the heart of the New South. Using a multi-sited case study method, I observed these spaces, interviewed participants, and considered how I was changing these spaces with my questions, my research, and my presence. What I saw in these spaces was dynamic, as students and teachers, youths and adults all exhibited elevated levels of understanding about the complex ways that membership is parceled out unfairly amongst people. In the classroom, I observed lessons about racialized injustices and violence where students pushed for a wide expanse of conversation topics and a white student-teacher struggled to find the best place for her in this conversation. At the activist group, I saw amazing testimonios that taught the larger community, and me, about how my participants were experiencing the politics and rhetoric of the border and its divisions. These exhibitions of power, understanding, and learning were amazing to see and think about. Masuoka and Junn's (2013) concept of belonging and Butler's (2010) theory of precarity provided the theoretical lens to understand this data. This, for me, has resulted in new questions about how teachers can approach citizenship education and learning about the world, and how they can learn to use the opportunity they have with students to ask deep questions and think about the power they have as teachers to create a "good society". The fact that students and teachers are constantly confronting difficult issues of membership, citizenship, and belonging means that we should invite more complexity and thinking about these issues into the classroom instead of ignoring them. Inviting students and teachers to be complex thinkers and learners about the world needs to start with an acknowledgement and appreciation that they are already engaged in this kind of thinking of learning and need to prepare our classrooms to engage with these questions instead of thinking students aren't ready.