Understanding Diversity, Opportunity gaps, and Teaching in today’s Classrooms

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Richard Milner IV is a Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. He has secondary appointments in Peabody’s Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations and the Department of Sociology in Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Milner is a researcher, scholar and leader of urban education and teacher education. Centering on equity and diversity, he has spent hundreds of hours observing teachers’ practices and interviewing educators and students in urban schools about micro-level policies that shape students’ opportunities to learn. He examines the social context of classrooms and schools and looks at ways in which teachers talk (particularly about race) influences student learning, identity and development. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His research in urban schools and his book, “’These Kids are out of Control:’ Why We Must Reimagine Classroom Management,” (Corwin Press, 2018) has influenced designs and practices of teacher education courses and programs. To improve relational, curricular, assessment and instructional practices, school districts across the United States and beyond draw on his recommendations to support students of color, those who live below the poverty line, and those whose first language is not English.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To date, Milner has contributed significantly to the field of education in four interconnected ways:</span></p> <ol> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Milner has advanced conceptual and empirical understandings of what he calls “opportunity gaps.” The term stands in contrast to the more generally used “achievement gap” as a means of explaining and disrupting disparities between students.</span></li> </ol> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Specifically, he has introduced an Opportunity Ga