Dorothy Steele & Becki Cohn-Vargas: Identity safe classrooms are places students can belong and learn

In classrooms where students feel safe and have a sense of belonging, they develop stronger attachments to school and achieve at higher levels, even in the face of significant social and economic disparities.

Teachers can use an array of strategies to create such "identity safe" classrooms — where students from diverse racial, social, economic, and linguistic groups can learn and flourish — according to Dorothy Steele and Becki Cohn-Vargas. The two are the authors of the recently published book, Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn.

This interview followed the SCOPE Brown Bag lecture "Identity Safe Classrooms: Places to Belong and Learn" on April 14, 2014. The full webcast of the seminar and other details can be found at this link: https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/events/...

Learn more about identity safe classrooms at http://identitysafeclassrooms.org/