The main frameworks that UrbEd align with are abolitionist teaching, written about greatly in Bettina Love’s work, and reality pedagogy, written by Christopher Emdin. Love defines the abolitionist teaching framework as “the practice of working in solidarity with communities of color while drawing on the imagination, creativity, refusal, (re)membering, visionary thinking, healing, rebellious spirit, boldness, determination, and subversiveness of abolitionists to eradicate injustice in and outside of schools” (Love, 2019, p. 2). UrbEd’s mission stays true to the ideology and focuses on amplifying voices of color and dismembering racism in school practices.

Their work also aligns with reality pedagogy, which is an “approach to teaching and learning that has a primary goal of meeting each student on his or her own cultural and emotional turf” (Emdin, 2016, p. 30). The focus of this pedagogy is to let students and youths become the stakeholder in education and voice their concerns over where education has harmed them and teach the classroom about their own story (Emdin, 2016). It places emphasis on individualism. UrbEd advocates with reality pedagogy by sharing how every student is different and unique and should be treated that way. They also campaign to have students and communities speak for themselves and be a part of school boards. This challenges the traditional role of the student in the classroom and district and allows students to have a voice in their education. The combination of these frameworks weave together the campaign of defunding the police in Philadelphia’s schools and what UrbEd is advocating and organizing for.

In terms of organizing, UrbEd aligns with the Freirian organizing and the facilitation model. The facilitation model, as described by Kirsher (2008), is when youth are leaders, organizers, and work on projects with support and advice from adults. The adults have a distinct boundary from the youth advocates and are a fairly neutral player in the organization (Kirsher, 2008). This model places a lot of power in the youth’s hands and enables them to have a continuous learning environment that prepares them for the world after schooling (Kirshner, 2008). This is balanced with the Freirian approach to organizing. This approach has the foundation of education and learning from each other in “culture circles” (Martinson and Su, 2012, p. 66). In fact, it is through a facilitation that people learn from each other and share experiences (Martinson and Su, 2012). Freire focuses on individual growth to grow as an organization (Martinson and Su, 2012). UrbEd utilizes these frameworks and organizing strategies to be a successful grassroots organization advocating for school reform.

Source: http://www.davidebonazzi.com/news/monmouth-magazine-school-to-prison-pipeline