Section 4

Connected Terms

• Colorblindness: Colorblindness is an aspirational strategy to reduce racial prejudice that is not effective in a world of racial inequalities. Colorblind racial ideology has been defined in a landmark American Psychologist article by Helen A. Neville and colleagues (2013) as consisting of two interrelated domains:

  1. • Color-evasion - denial of racial differences by emphasizing sameness

     • Power-evasion - denial of racism by emphasizing equal opportunities

• Community-based Epistemology: Community-based epistemologies are ways that parents and students understand and interpret the world. By educators better understanding communities' perspectives, community interests can be placed at the center of all education decisions and reform.

• Culturally responsive teaching: a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning. (Gloria Ladson-Billings) or, alternatively: a pedagogy that builds the learning capacity of the individual student. (Zaretta Hammond)

• Equity [eq·​ui·​ty] (noun): justice according to natural law or right specifically: freedom from bias or favoritism

• Equity traps (noun): equity traps, as we are conceptualizing them, are patterns of thinking and behavior that trap the possibilities for creating equitable schools for children of color. In other words, they trap equity; they stop or hinder our ability to move toward equity in schooling. (McKenzie & Scheurich, 2004)

• Oppression [uh-presh-uhn] (noun) a system of prejudice, discrimination, policies, and ideas that benefits members of one identity group by exploiting, degrading or otherwise causing harm to members of another identity group. (Adapted “Does "Classism" Help Us to Understand Class Oppression?” by Fred L. Pincus and Natalie J. Sololoff)

• Transformative Equity: A commitment to equity that informs every aspect of institutional policy and practice at all times. Institutional leaders and educators work consistently to identify inequities and to root racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, economic injustice, transphobia, and other oppressions out of the institution completely. Decision-making prioritizes the needs and rights of the most marginalized members of the community. The most active advocates of inequity within the institution are recognized as the institution’s cultural core rather than at the margins of the institution. (adapted from Equityliteracy.org)

Activities

1. Equity Audit Tools- Review the series of tools from the Mid-Atlantic Equity Center, to learn about how you might conduct an equity audit at your school, or in your classroom? Consider the role parents and families might play in this process.

2. Equity Data Walk: How does your organization (or how do you) use data to inform decision making. Read about the Equity Data Walk Activity launched by EdTrust West, the West Coast arm of the larger EdTrust organization. What would it look like to do this with your school? What would it look like to do the same activity with parents, family, and community members? As an alternative, you can review the Data Inquiry for Equitable Collaboration Practice Brief and learn about data carousels.

3. Identifying an Equity Challenge Tool: Review this tool and consider how your team might leverage this resource to identify and prioritize equity challenges your school is facing. How might you integrate students into the planning process?

Community Collaboration Tools

• Equitable Parent-School Collaboration -Review the video, introducing the project, and review the resource/curriculum and consider the following questions:

  • • Does your school or district prioritize forming positive relationships with youth? With parents? With community?
    • Does your school or district explicitly build time into the schedule to get to know the youth, parents, and the community?
    • Has your school or district ever provided professional development focused on building relationships specifically with the BIPOC community?

• Listen to "How Schools can Stop Intimidating Local Parents" and consider how the Family Engagement professional learning module developed by the Learning for Justice site is organized.

  • • How might these tools address some of the concerns elevated in the article?
    • What are you already integrating into your practice?
    • Are there tools or resources you might like to try?

• School Climate Questionaire- Complete the school climate questionnaire, individually or with a group. Reflect on your answers, and consider how you might leverage the tool to set goals as a school community.

• Transforming Our Schools: A Guidebook to Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education - Review this guide to learn about what culturally responsive education looks like in the classroom, instruction, school climate, and family & community engagement. Consider how you might incorporate some of these practices in your own learning environment.

Videos

1. Why Color Blindness Will NOT End Racism- Decoded- MTV News: Review this video, and think about your personal history with the concept of color-blindness. At what age do you remember being introduced to this concept? How was it presented to you and by whom? How has your understanding of this concept changed over time?

2. Promoting Children's Well Being- Jeff Duncan Andrade: Review this video. What are your biggest wonderings after watching this video? Have you been introduced to the concept of trauma-informed or healing-centered care or restorative practice as an educator? What resources are you elevating in your own practice to support and transform the lives of children? What steps might you need to take to improve your ability to engage and support vulnerable youth?

3. What I Wasn't Taught in School- What themes are elevated in this video? How does this video relate to the article "Shifting out of Neutral", written by Jason Gold? Review this article featuring the work of students in Denver, Colorado taking action around the teaching of Black History. What other histories are missing from the curriculum or standards?

4. Follow the Leader- Suli Breaks: Review this video. What are your biggest wonderings after watching this video? What do you think about his argument that we need more ideas, not more leaders? Consider led

Additional Resources

• Teacher Mental Health and Wellbeing - Article identifying teacher mental health as an issue that needs to be attended to in our education system.

• Starting Student Book Clubs - Review this guide and the connected resources developed by Facing History for starting a student-centered book club.

• Reading for Social Justice - Reading For Social Justice: A Guide for Families and Educators is designed to support a group of caretakers: parents, guardians, teachers, librarians and others as they plan and lead an intergenerational social justice reading group.

• 2014 Native Youth Report [PDF]: Commissioned by Barack Obama, this report provides an overview of the obstacles facing Native youth on their path to educational success.

• How America Is Failing Native American Students: In this article from The Nation, Rebecca Claren describes how inadequate funding, discipline disparities, and poor curricula have created an educational crisis for Native youth

• Read Melinda D. Anderson’s article “How the Stress of Racism Affects Learning” for a different, research-backed explanation for the achievement gap that positions institutional racism as the root cause of these differences

• Listen to the "Be the Change You Want to See" episode from the MindShift podcast to learn about how students and schools worked together with students to re-envision their grading system. Consider how you might integrate students into school planning and decision-making processes.