Lincoln Public Schools 21-Day AIDE Challenge

In our district, AIDE stands for Antiracism, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity. Each year, we create various opportunities for professional learning, conversation, and action around AIDE. This year, we've created an experience that will allow our full community to join us. Many of us have participated in 21-day challenges before in our life, in which we commit to doing one small thing each day for 21 days to build a habit. This challenge is built around topics connected to AIDE and has been created specifically for LPS by a diverse group of faculty and administrators. We believe that in order to become and maintain being a district in which AIDE thrives, all members must commit to their ongoing growth in learning and awareness -- and we believe that there is power when we engage in learning together. 

Each day is organized around a topic related to AIDE. We fully acknowledge there are far more than 21 topics that relate to AIDE and we expect to rotate and evolve topics each year. In addition, we have only selected a small portion of content and it is by no means exhaustive. To complete the challenge, each day pick just ONE piece of content. We've included three kinds:

• reading (articles, blogs)

• listening (podcasts/audio)

• watching (video)

We recognize that some days each of us have more or less time, so we've included short, medium, and longer choices. Some of the content are considered "old classics" that you may have seen before -- and others are recent pieces. Some are explicitly created for White readers and others speak directly to people of color or specific racial groups. Our hope is that we've curated enough content that meets folks where they're at and leads them to more learning that helps expand their thinking. 

At the bottom of each day we've also highlighted a set of reflection questions, and an action, song, poem, and piece of art for the day. Every 7th day is a pause and reflect day.

1. The challenge is intended to be done in community. We think the best learning -- and the chances of action -- happen when we reflect on what we've read/listened/watched and talk about it with others, whether that's with a friend, a family member, or a set of colleagues. We suggest that you set up opportunities to talk about the challenge every few days.

2. In 2023, this first challenge was created with adults in mind and some of the content is not age appropriate for young people. In addition, some of the content could feel overwhelming or upsetting to different participants. We encourage folks to make choices that are right for them. We have included notes whenever cursing or the n-word is used. 

3. The Lincoln Public Schools does not endorse every idea within every piece of content on this site but we do believe that each piece of content has something we can learn from. Some content is basic and foundational, and others are more complex and sometimes provocative. Participants should always think critically about what they are consuming and consider how it fits with or pushes on their understanding of the world and their beliefs, just as our LPS Portrait of a Learner describes.  

4. We have tried hard to not include many links to sites that have a paywall, but there are some. If you encounter a broken link, you can let us know by clicking the button at the bottom of each page. If you have other content you'd like to recommend for next year's challenge, you can do that at the bottom of each page, as well.