By: Becki Cohn-Vargas and Debbie Zacarian
Becki Cohn-Vargas is a consultant and curriculum specialist who spent over 35 years as a bilingual teacher, principal, curriculum director, and superintendent in Pre-K–12 school districts. Debbie Zacarian specializes in working with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. She has 30+ years’ experience as a university faculty member, education service agency leader, and district administrator. They are the authors of Identity Safe Spaces at Home and School: Partnering to Overcome Inequity.
The practice of identity safety is critical to educators’ ongoing quest to create spaces where every child feels welcomed, supported, and validated, where they can embrace and celebrate their diverse social identities as assets. Renowned social psychologists and educational scholars have heralded this transformative approach, which is increasingly recognized as essential for positive identity development.
Earlier books on identity safety described ways to promote it in classrooms and schools. The existing work in the field led us to an important question: “How might educators and parents and guardians partner to build identity safe spaces at home and school using a strengths-based approach?”
How might educators and parents and guardians partner to build identity safe spaces at home and school using a strengths-based approach?
As we reviewed the relevant research, we also initiated in-depth interviews of 29 people aged 8 to 70 years old who represented a wide range of racial, cultural, linguistic, socio-economic, and gender identities. We began with such questions as, “What contributed to your sense of identity safety?” and “What undermined or harmed your sense of identity safety?” For those who were parents and teachers, we asked, “How have you conveyed a sense of identity safety to children?” Their answers conveyed a rich mosaic of stories and experiences that brought the core principles and practices of identity safety at home and school to life. They also signaled the power of strong home–school partnerships to promote positive student outcomes, especially when they include a strengths-based approach. Our collaboration became the book Identity Safe Classrooms at Home and School: Partnering to Overcome Inequity.
Origins of Identity Safety
Dorothy Steele’s Stanford Integrated Schools Project Research (Steele & Cohn-Vargas 2013) demonstrated the profound impact of identity safety on students’ academic progress and overall well-being. The findings revealed that classrooms that fostered identity safety witnessed higher levels of student engagement, satisfaction, and achievement across diverse ethnic identities.
These classrooms shared key qualities: they were child-centered, cultivated positive relationships, embraced diversity as a resource, and fostered a caring environment. The findings could also be easily applied to home environments. It was clear that positive identity development, caring, compassion, agency, and empowerment were crucial factors in fostering identity safety.
“What contributed to your sense of identity safety? What undermined your sense of identity safety? How have you conveyed a sense of identity safety to children?”
Origins of Strengths-Based Home–School Partnerships
Prior to the 1990s, the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work, and education focused on identifying and treating what was perceived as wrong or missing in a person’s life. Research on this approach demonstrated that it had little effect on improving one’s life. Psychologists Maslow (1999) and Dweck (2006), among others, have helped us to shift our focus to identifying and drawing from the assets and strengths that every human possesses to support and empower people and their communities to flourish. Sociologist Joyce Epstein (2019), educational scholars Moll, Amanti, Neff, and González (2005), and others have brought the idea of educators partnering with families in strengths- and assets-based ways into the mainstream.
Creating Caring and Empowering Home–School Partnerships
From our interviews, we identified crucial elements for identity safety for children, and models for home–school partnerships. We as educators can partner with children’s families to foster pride in each child’s unique identity, validate the intersections of their many social identities (race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc.), offer strong and inspirational role models, and give them tools to address negative experiences with courage, empathy, and resilience. We can approach these partnerships by fostering a sense of curiosity for and openness to their many assets and strengths (“funds of knowledge”), demonstrating that we care for students and their families. Identity safety also requires that we reduce our authority as the “all-knowing” educator, becoming a true partner with students and families.
We identified five key areas to enact co-powered partnerships. We present these below, each tactic grouped under support for individual students or opportunities for parent participation.
Co-powered Support for Individual Students
Supporting a child’s academic progress
One of our interviewees, Lenore, described the years she searched for a school for her son Emmanuel, who struggled with reading. Lenore shared her joy at finding a school where the staff communicated regularly, where her son began to thrive in 6th grade.
Using creative problem-solving to ensure a child’s engagement with school
Another interviewee, Rebecca, whose son is on the autism spectrum, described working with his 3rd grade teacher to promote his participation in class during story time. His teacher asked Rebecca to describe activities that motivated her son and things that he liked to do. In response, Rebecca shared that he liked tangible rewards, making puzzles, and Star Wars characters. With this information, his teacher created puzzle pieces out of his favorite Star Wars characters and privately rewarded him with one piece each time he voluntarily participated. With continuous support from his parents and teacher, he regularly earned puzzle pieces that became smaller and smaller, requiring higher and higher levels of participation. Rebecca’s son was continuously inspired to make and complete a weekly puzzle.
Finding Opportunities for Parents and Guardians to Participate in Their Child’s Education
Listening tours
In addition to individual meetings with school leaders, small groups of parents and guardians might come together to share their thoughts with educators. A small group representing a particular ethnicity or identity group can offer important insights we might otherwise miss.
Parent/guardian education
Educators can provide opportunities for families to learn about identity safety, strengths-based practices, and other ways to support their child’s well-being and success in school.
Working groups
Engaging parents to be actively involved in a school’s working group or leadership team, to participate in creating, revising, and reviewing school policies and structures, can greatly enhance the family’s engagement in school and their child’s academic and social development. It is imperative for educators to build a sense of community and trust, just as we do when working with a new student or community of students. It’s also helpful to remember that people have different ways of interacting. For example, some use texts, some prefer phone calls, some prefer video calls, and some use email. Find out the preferences of the parents and guardians in your class or school. Secure translators to ensure meaningful back and forth communication. (Schools are obligated to do this as part of the laws and regulations governing the education of multilingual learners and families who are not yet able to communicate in English (U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education, January 7, 2015)).
Our book shows that fostering identity safety is a collaborative journey that requires the collective efforts of educators, parents/guardians, and communities. By embracing diversity, nurturing empathy, and prioritizing relationships based on cooperation and empowerment, we can create inclusive environments where every child feels valued, respected, and empowered to fully embrace their identity. Together, we can build a brighter future where identity safety is not just a goal but a reality for all children.
Identity Safe Spaces at Home and School
Partnering to Overcome Inequity
Becki Cohn-Vargas and Debbie Zacarian
References
Cohn-Vargas, B. & Zacarian, D. (2024). Identity Safe Spaces at Home and School: Partnering to Overcome Inequity. Teachers College Press.
Dweck, C.S. (2006). Mindset: the new psychology of success. Random House.
Maslow, A. (1999). Torward a Psychology of Being, 3rd edition). John Wiley and Sons.
Moll, L, Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, and Neff (2005). Funds of knowledge for Teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. In N. González, L.C. Moll, and C. Amanti, (Eds). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities and classrooms (pp. 83-100). Routledge.
Steele, D.M. & Cohn-Vargas, B., 2013). Identity Safe Classrooms K-5; Places to Belong and Learn. Corwin Press.
U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education, (2015, January 7). https://www2.ed.gov/ocr/letters/colleague-el-201501.pdf
Photo by Thirdman
Comments
Wonderful and insightful!