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Vashon Island Family Dinner

Vashon Island School District

December 12, 2016

Nikum Pon, PhD | Director, Equity in Education

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The Agreements

Stay Engaged

Don’t Let your heart and mind check out!

Experience Discomfort

Agree to experience discomfort so that we can deal

with issues of race in an honest way.

Speak your truth

Be honest about your thoughts, feelings and opinions.

Say them in a way that is true for you.

Expect and accept non-closure

Accept that you will not reach closure in your understandings about race and race relations. There is no such thing as a “quick fix.”

Singleton, G. “Courageous Conversations about Race”

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The Agreements

Vs

Introduce as an Agreement AND a Strategy/Skill

This is a very important agreement to have because sometimes a comment is made by a well-intentioned person, however the impact of the comment can be hurtful or painful to someone else. It is the impact that perpetuates bias. In these situations, it is important for the person on the receiving end of the comment to have the chance to ask about the intention behind the comment. Equally, the person making the comment needs to have a chance to clarify his/her comment and to also apologize for the impact, regardless of the intent behind it. We are all learning together and its important that we are able to set up a space where people feel comfortable sharing their truths while also understanding that sometimes, our words may carry an impact that was not intended.

For example, if someone makes the statement, “I am a woman, so I totally understand what it’s like to be discriminated against as a person of color.” The person may be well-intentioned – perhaps seeking a way to identify with a person of color around discrimination. However, to a person of color, is hurtful. Experiencing discrimination as a woman person is not the same experience as being discriminated against as a person of color. They are both very painful forms of discrimination, however they are different.

Its important while we are learning together, that we create space for people to check out each other’s intentions by using the focusing frames. It is also important that if we make comments that have an impact, that we seek to understand and apologize for the impact. We would like participants to use these focusing frames during the training so that intentions and impact can be clarified and addressed.

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Connecting the Work

Clarity

Coherence

Alignment

Beliefs

Being

Behaviors

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Learning Targets

Create a collective understanding based on these two questions:

What is your “why” or conviction in regards to strengthening student educational outcomes?
What does “each and every” student mean to you?

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Guiding Question

What leadership moves do I implement to disrupt and dismantle inequitable practices and systems so that all students have equitable access to resources and achieve at high levels?

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Who Do We Serve?

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Myths About Racial Equity

Program or strategy

Content Area

3) Romantic

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Equity is a lens

Epistemology: Ways of Knowing

Ontology: Ways of Being

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Racial Equity in Education

Definition

Raising the achievement of all students while narrowing the gap between the highest and lowest performing students and eliminating the racial predictability and disproportionality of which student groups occupy the highest and lowest achievement categories.

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Equity vs Racial Equity

Major Differences

Explicit about Race

Of all the -isms, racism is the most uncomfortable to talk about.

Avoid Olympic Oppression

Addressing race will give us a common language and understanding to address the other –isms.

3) Increasing spending in dollar amount alone will not close achievement and opportunity gaps.

Racial Achievement Gap has been in existence since first collected data

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Why Lead With Racial Equity?

Historical Significance

Current Political Climate

Future Trend

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Historical Significance

The House We Live In

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Current Reality

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2016/10/23/shes-probably-gonna-blow-us-up---how-students-turned-trumps-rhetoric-to-racism.cnnmoney/index.html

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Future Trend: National Racial/Ethnic Demographic Forecast

National Trend

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Future Trend: WA State Racial/Ethnic Demographic from 2000-2014

Washington State Trend (OSPI)

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Opportunity Gap Bill HB 1541 �

(1) Reduce the length of time students of color are excluded from school due to suspension and expulsion and provide students support for reengagement plans;
(2) Enhance the cultural competence of current and future educators and classified staff;
(3) Endorse all educators in English language learner and second language acquisition;
(4) Account for the transitional bilingual instruction program instructional services provided to English language learner students;
(5) Analyze the opportunity gap through deeper disaggregation of student demographic data;
(6) Invest in the recruitment, hiring, and retention of educators of color;
(7) Incorporate integrated student services and family engagement; and
(8) Strengthen student transitions at each stage of the education development pathway.

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Equity Tensions

White Dominant Cultural Values

Urgency

Efficiency

Individualism/Competition

Either/Or Thinking

Scarcity Mentality

Hierarchical/Secrecy

Transformational Values

Legacy

Effectiveness

Collectivism/Collaboration

Both/And Thinking

Abundant Worldview

Shared Responsibility /Transparency

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��80% of this work is understanding and analyzing the issue in our system��

Three types of educational research:

Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
Conceptual Research

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Adult Behavior Change

WILL

SKILL

CAPACITY

Evidence of Adult Behavior Change & Student Impact

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What is my “WHY” in this work?

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Through line to Student Learning

Me

Evidence of Impact on Student Learning

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Final Question

What does it mean to ensure equitable access to opportunities for “each and every” student?