2016 was certainly the year of talking about equity around this country. Through data, the media and some brave storytellers, we figured out that students of color don’t experience school the same way white students do…again. By this I mean, this is not a new problem in our communities, we are the new people are talking about it.
School districts and leaders should be moving in the next phase of this conversation. While I believe that continuing to create safe spaces for teachers, leaders and parents to realize their implicit biases and uncover their core beliefs and values is important, we need a collective sense of urgency if we hope to actually reimagine education.
Take a Stance
Being race neutral is like saying All Lives Matter instead of Black Lives Matter. Some think that the focusing on our differences further segregates us, but for the student experience in school, the differences are what make them unique. White students have been validated in the academic community and therefore believe that they belong. Students of color often feel isolated and disconnected in their school community. Acknowledging our student’s identities, history and the impacts that the choices that our ancestors made have on their experiences builds the foundation to urgency.
Do an Equity Audit
District and school hiring practices are a window into how urgent their equity mission really is. We continue to say that we need more black male teachers and leaders and more teachers of color, but what are our overt and public moves that would make this true in our schools and districts? When we hire any candidate, does our interview and screening process help us to understand the candidates’ core values and approaches to creating a culturally relevant experience for all?
What students are asked to do each day is another indication of where your school or district is on the urgency spectrum. How are we evaluating our taught curriculum so that it is a reflection of all identities and ethnicities? Do we provide students with content that challenges the current social norm? Are we regularly getting feedback from students…about how they student experience the curriculum?
Change your Language
Language like, “these kids,” “you people,” “the low kids,” “the bad kids,” “Tier 2 and 3 students,” “below grade level” and “not college ready” seep in to the psychosocial attitudes for children of color. The narrative around the performance of students of color continues to feed into the cycle of low expectations, which then feeds into the feeling of inferiority and a sense of further isolation.
We need to construct a new language and experience. This language and experience should be affirming. This is what I mean by more affirming:
This is not the entire answer, but it is a start.
This post appear originally on Head in the Sand Blog