Raising Awareness of the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework

Culturally responsive Teaching grapic

Raising awareness of the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining (CR-S) Education Framework in schools and districts across the state is a high priority for the New York State Education Department (NYSED). Released publicly in 2018, the CR-S Education Framework is a rich and valuable guide designed to assist school districts in their efforts to educate all students effectively and equitably while promoting positive student outcomes. NYSED requested assistance from the Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC) to create a series of briefs that would communicate and expand the reach of these essential principles and strategies. 


To present key aspects of the CR-S Education Framework in a succinct format, easily accessible to a wider audience, the R2CC team worked with NYSED staff to consider the questions educational partners, including teachers, community members, families, and administrators, may have about culturally responsive-sustaining education and the Framework. The questions below became the titles for six framework briefs:

Each of the two-page briefs focuses on one of these questions. The responses to each question are derived verbatim from the New York State CR-S Education Framework. To support the connection between the briefs and the framework, R2CC used a similar design and color scheme. 

NYSED’s process for supporting the rollout of the CR-S Education Framework consists of three phases: (1) raise awareness; (2) build capacity; and (3) implementation. For phase one, the R2CC team created three sets of professional development materials:

  • Toolkit for Raising Awareness of the NY CR-S Education Framework: General Session
  • Toolkit for Raising Awareness of the NY CR-S Education Framework: Session for School and District Leaders
  • Toolkit for Raising Awareness of the NY CR-S Education Framework: Teacher Session

Each set includes a step-by-step facilitator guide, PowerPoint presentation with slide notes, and handouts needed to facilitate the session and support participant learning. For consistent messaging, the facilitator materials incorporate text directly from the framework into the slides and handouts. Together, this comprehensive set of resources is designed to raise awareness of and encourage learning about the New York State CR-S Education Framework.