Educators play an obviously central role in shaping South Asian American students’ experiences in schools. Not only through instruction, but also through everyday interactions, and through the assumptions and beliefs that drive those interactions.
Based on my research on South Asian American students’ experiences in K–12 schools and existing scholarship on education and equity (and culturally responsive teaching), there are several concrete ways teachers and school leaders can support more inclusive and responsive learning environments.
Many of these steps begin with a simple but often overlooked practice: acknowledging what we do not yet know.
Educators, being highly educated themselves, are uniquely positioned to engage with research and translate it into practice. Becoming familiar with the data on South Asian American students’ experiences in schools can help disrupt common assumptions, including the tendency to view these students through a narrow or monolithic lens (e.g. the model minority myth).
…and then, be the change you want to see: Learning, and then sharing this knowledge with colleagues (informally and through structured professional learning) can help move the work beyond individual teachers’ classrooms and out into the school culture more broadly.
Use the free, educator-facing resources, books, classes, etc. that already exist and are designed to support culturally responsive teaching with students from all backgrounds, including some that highlight best practices you’re likely already engaging in (e.g. pronouncing students’ names correctly). Using and sharing these resources within schools and trainings can normalize culturally responsive approaches.
One persistent barrier to equity for South Asian American students is the model minority myth. Addressing it requires intentional conversation among educators about how stereotypes shape expectations, the support we provide our students, and our discipline practices. These conversations are more productive when framed around the importance of treating each student as an individual.
Here are some conversation starters around the myth of the model minority.
Individual teachers can make meaningful changes. But obviously school-level support and county or district level support also matters. Teachers can encourage the staff development professionals and/or teacher leaders at their schools, their school administrators, and even district-level inclusion leaders to consider these topics. Workshops, professional development, outreach efforts, are all useful.
Improving South Asian American students’ experiences isn’t abstract theoretical work, it happens in the classroom, in teacher meetings, around the staff lunch table, and in everyday interactions between educators and their students. Educators have influence in all of these spaces.
This framework was originally developed as part of my work on educator cultural competence / cultural proficiency and has been adapted here for broader practitioner use. You can read more about South Asian American experiences in schools here or in my book Brown Voices: South Asian American Experiences in the Classroom.
