A New Canon: Designing Culturally Sustaining Humanities Curriculum

A New Canon is the first book to provide a framework for designing and utilizing rigorous, standards-aligned curriculum to address the lack of representation for marginalized communities in formal education. Grounded in literature around cultural relevance and responsive teaching practice, the book provides step-by-step guidance for curriculum development that connects students to the intellectual traditions of their communities.

Evan C. Gutierrez outlines a design process that makes asset-based pedagogy actionable and curriculum development equitable. Inspired by the College, Career and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies, the process is currently in use across the country with educators creating new projects around authentic questions relevant to Black, Latinx, LGBTQ, or other marginalized communities. Modular and interdisciplinary in nature, these units can be used as part of an existing course or in combination to create new courses in English language arts, social studies, and the humanities. Educators using this process nationally report observing students engage deeply with authentic questions and take more ownership over their own learning.

A New Canon provides a powerful call to action for educators to ensure that all students will have an opportunity to learn about the intellectual traditions of their communities and, together, build a new foundation for learning in the humanities.

Evan Gutierrez serves as the Managing Director for Curriculum and Assessment for Gradient Learning. Gutierrez fosters innovation in curriculum and program design through collaborative partnerships with a focus on advancing equity. Prior to joining Gradient, he oversaw the academic program for Acero Schools in Chicago, a high performing charter network serving the Latino community. He has engaged in course, program, and school model design with school districts and charter management organizations in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and New Orleans. Gutierrez graduated with a BA in Jazz Performance from Berklee College of Music, and an MBA with additional graduate study in Curriculum and Instruction from Loyola Marymount University. He lives in Michigan with his wife, April, and children, Silvio and Miriam.