Leading for Equity

Interest Form 2018-19

Update: deadline has passed, but email Supervisor Nora Houseman housemann@sfusd.edu with questions this year.

We are excited to announce our Leading for Equity PLCs for the 2018-19 school year.

These year-long PLCs (see flyer) aim to build capacity (knowledge, mindsets, facilitation skills, equity-centered practices, and urgency) for a small leadership team from each participating site or department to lead equity work at their own site/dept. over the course of the school year. Each PLC is customized to the differing needs and starting points of SFUSD schools. The 3 PLCs are:

  • The Skin I’m In: Looking Inward on Racial Equity
  • Culturally Responsive Practices: Impacting student outcomes and transforming student experience
  • Schools as Safe Brave Space: Building the Conditions for Equitable Schools

To be considered, please complete one Leading for Equity Interest Form by August 3 for each interested school site or department. Click on the flyer for more information about each Equity PLC. The following will be taken into consideration for selection of schools and/or departments: PITCH, attendance at Zaretta Hammond Sessions in June, and LEAD recommendation. If you have questions, please reach out to Nora Houseman at Housemann@sfusd.edu or Jennifer Steiner at steinerj1@sfusd.edu.

Participants:

  • Option A: Administrator-educator teams
    • At least one administrator (principal or AP) and at least two educators (may include teachers, paraeducators, counselors, coaches, TSAs, etc.)
    • Ideally a team of 4-5
  • Option B: Educator teams without administrator but with administrator consent and approval to lead ongoing site/dept work according to commitment below
    • At least 3 educators (may include teachers, paraeducators, counselors, coaches, TSAs, etc.)
    • Ideally a team of 4-5

Commitment: Create a “Leading for Equity Leadership Team” that will do the following in SY 18-19:

Attendees commit to

  • an initial meeting in August (at site/dept.) with the facilitation team for an initial assessment of site needs, readiness survey, commitment to pre-requisites for success
  • attend a monthly 2-hour PLC with other participating sites/depts (Sept-April)
  • lead a similar monthly PLC (minimum of 1.5 hours, ideally 2 hours) at the site/dept. for a consistent group of some or all staff (Oct-May)

Ongoing Support: Facilitators can support attendees with designing, leading and/or reflecting upon site/dept PLC meetings, as well as provide customized resources and tools. They are also available for ongoing consultation with participating teams. In some instances, external facilitators may be available to lead the equity PD at the site/department.


Date/Time:

  1. Attend all 8 “Leading for Equity” PLC meetings (September-April) of 2 hours each for all participating sites/dept’s. PLCs will occur monthly on the same day of the week from 4:30-6:30 pm (likely held at a school site).
  2. Planning for and facilitating monthly PLC at your site/dept for 1.5-2 hours monthly (Oct-May).


Compensation:

  • Attending Central PLC: TBD - Funding may be available centrally. Schools/Departments may also use site budgets, QTEA PD Hours, staff meeting time and/or flex time for departments.
  • Leading Site / Department Based PLCs/PDs: QTEA PD Hours may be used to lead this work on your site or in your department. Sites are encouraged to identify stipends or extended hours for participants.

Interest Form (registration):

  • Complete Leading for Equity Interest Form by August 3rd
  • Notification of acceptance by August 6th
  • Any member of leadership team from site/department can submit interest form for each member of the team (one per site/dept)
  • The following will be taken into consideration: PITCH schools, schools that attended Zaretta Hammond PD, schools recommended by LEAD, other interested schools


Questions: For more information contact Nora Houseman, Professional Learning and Leadership Supervisor, Office of Professional Growth & Development, HousemanN@sfusd.edu, 415-265-6960 or Jennifer Steiner, steinerj1@sfusd.edu, 415-336-5691.

The Skin I’m In

Looking Inward on Racial Equity


This PLC is designed for teams interested in exploring how their personal identity and experience impact their individual practice and shared experience. Through focused structures and protocols designed to support self reflection and honest conversations about race, this PLC will support educators in expanding their perspective, reducing implicit bias and stereotype threat, and unpacking the influence of culture on student-teacher partnerships and student experience. Participants will develop as more culturally and linguistically responsive educators, toward the goal of eliminating racial equity gaps in our schools. This PLC will draw heavily on the work of Courageous Conversations About Race (Glenn Singleton) and the National Equity Project.


  • Note: This PLC will closely mirror the work of the original Racial Equity Movement (REM) series initially designed by the Office of Equity and Access. For those that have participated in that series already, we recommend selecting a different PLC (one of the two options below).


Open To: site or department teams meeting requirements as outlined in “Logistics” above


Culturally Responsive Practices

Impacting student outcomes and transforming student experience

This PLC is designed for teams interested in building culturally responsive practices within their sites - including teaching practices, student support and intervention practices, behavioral and social-emotional practices, and leadership practices. Drawing heavily on the work of Zaretta Hammond, this PLC will explore current brain science, the impacts of trauma on learning, and culturally responsive practices within the classroom and the larger school. Participants will build competency in identifying, assessing, and addressing site equity gaps, with a heavy emphasis on culturally responsive teaching.


Open To: site teams meeting requirements as outlined in “Logistics” above


Schools as Safe Brave Space

Building the Conditions for Equitable Schools

This PLC is designed for teams interested in building and sustaining healthy, “brave” adult culture as a precondition to realizing equity in our schools. While curriculum and equity input is critical, many sites are not ready for this deeply vulnerable work, as the adult culture is fragmented, fear-based, top-down, overly “safe”, disengaged, or otherwise toxic. This PLC will focus on shifting adult culture by engaging in the less tangible work of creating the relationships, trust, discourse, and educator-leadership to have direct, honest conversations about equity - and live (not just talk) equity. Participants will explore how to shift adult culture through equity-centered frameworks, structures, practices, tools, resources, and workshops designed to be brought back to the school site. This PLC will draw heavily on the work of Elena Aguilar, Shane Safir, SF CESS and National Equity Project.

Open To: Site teams meeting requirements as outlined in “Logistics” above

Dates: Thursdays (usually 2nd Thursday of the month)

  • 9/13, 10/11, 11/8, 12/13, 1/10, 2/21, 3/14, 4/11