The perspectives and pedagogies of middle school social justice educators

Abstract This study presents the perspectives and pedagogical practices of teachers who self-identify as social justice educators. Interviews with these social justice educators, who teach in large, diverse, metropolitan school districts, show that they create equitable spaces for their students. An analysis of the interview data concerning their beliefs and the ways that they describe their engagement with culturally and linguistically diverse learners showed that the practices of these social justice educators center students’ perspectives, propose culturally sustaining choices, provide access to multicultural resources, and offer a space for counternarratives and revisionism in their classrooms.