First Steps to Equity: Practical, Deliberate, and Meaningful Action Toward Equitable Outcomes
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Submitted by Dr. Andrew R. Armstrong, Goochland County Public Schools
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The word “equity” has been recently featured more prominently than ever in school divisions across the Commonwealth, as educators and community leaders work to unravel the complex current and historical issues in our schools and communities that have contributed to clearly disproportionate outcomes among white students and students of color. School divisions are dedicating funding to entire departments, dedicated staff members, and varied programming intended to improve equitable outcomes, but In the midst of this rapid proliferation of equity-related interventions, it is important to not fall victim to hasty implementation of high visibility initiatives without nurturing the development of institutional norms and structures that transform headlines into meaningful and effective action. It is easy to park the shiny new car out front, but if you do not check and change the oil, the car will ultimately be useless. In public education, our actions are normally well-intentioned, but in our rush to be responsive, the foundation, and ultimately the effectiveness of our actions can sometimes fall short.
Whether you represent a large division that includes a dedicated staff of professionals with a singular focus on equity or a small, rural division, as we do in Goochland, where a relatively lean team of leaders takes on a wide variety of divergent roles, the work required to impact equitable outcomes on behalf of all students requires going past the establishment of offices and positions or flashy public events. Improving equitable outcomes requires a consistent focus on the daily practice taking place at all levels of the organization, from hiring processes to classroom instruction, policymaking, communication, facilities and capital improvements, and student discipline. Just as it now seems archaic to isolate “instructional technology” in fully wired schools and classrooms that serve students for whom technology is integrated into life, a focus on equity must permeate the entire organizational experience until it is seamlessly woven into our practice.
Tackling challenges of equity in a school division is overwhelming. It is emotional, complicated, and highly personal work in public education, the purest “people business” on earth. In Goochland, we looked for a starting point, but quickly realized that we needed multiple coordinated starting points. Those starting points included:
Policy:
Creation of an equity policy is a division’s tangible acknowledgement at a high level of the role equity plays in the operations of the school division. Divisions have approached equity policies with varying levels of detail, and in Goochland we worked to draft our equity policy with brief, yet clear statements that reflect our explicit commitment to equity. The
policy
includes important language that codifies our obligation as a division to include and monitor equitable practice divisionwide. Our definition of equity within the policy is significant: “...the establishment of high expectations for all students while providing access, supporting participation, and monitoring outcomes for all students.”(JFHB/GBAA) Access, participation, and outcomes are
all
required to reach “equity”; that is, provision of access and evidence of participation without equitable outcomes is not enough. To satisfy all three requirements is a high, but appropriate standard. Again, if a division is “talking and walking” equity but outcomes are still not equitable, there is work to do. Our equity policy was met with some criticism at its inception due to the lack of detail within the language, but we were clear that policy, with a few exceptions, is intentionally broad. Our work to achieve the stated goals of the policy still holds us accountable but provides the necessary space to adjust our practice accordingly.
Networking:
Achieving equitable outcomes must be collective work undertaken with partners from outside of your school division. Without the establishment of trust within your community, it will be nearly impossible to realize gains toward improved equitable outcomes. Establishing trust should not be confused with establishing absolute consensus around your plans for equity; there are few clear “finish lines” in play. Circumstances, staff, norms, and communities are in a constant state of change, and the networking undertaken should be designed to establish a shared understanding around those dynamics at regular intervals. In Goochland, a division that is among only a few in the Commonwealth with a declining African-American population, a wide gap in median income from west to east, rising housing costs, and a growing Latinx population, we convene “community conversations”. Our community conversations are intentionally held at various locations throughout our county, many of which are traditional gathering places for the African-American community. We enlist outside facilitators and rotate among heterogeneous small groups using prompts that generate multiple unique views on practice in all dimensions of the experience in our schools. We then gather and share feedback in a transparent fashion and include it in our ongoing work in planning and budgeting at the division and school levels. Between the quarterly community conversations, our Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee (MSAAC) meets monthly, and includes school, community, School Board, and student voices. The MSAAC is chaired by a community member appointed annually by the Committee.
Recruiting and Retention:
In a landscape highlighted by a national teacher shortage that includes an even more concentrated shortage among teachers of color, recruitment and retention must be purposeful. In Goochland, we are careful to utilize our resources to first and foremost
recognize the work of our employees
. We know that the quality of our professionals at every level of our organization is the catalyst for all of our success, and we work to maintain a baseline of highly competitive salary and benefits, low pupil teacher ratios, and a high quality of life. Still, we struggle to recruit minority teachers. It is easy to say “there just are not any candidates available” and move on, but we decided that was not enough. Research now shows that minority students in classrooms with minority teachers, especially at the primary grades, results in positive long term achievement for those students. All of our students, regardless of race or ethnicity, benefit from a diverse workforce: we cannot achieve our mission of maximizing the potential of every learner to be successful in a diverse workplace, college campus, or branch of the armed forces without exposure to diverse adult role models. With this in mind, we worked with community partners to create our
Minority Recruitment and Retention Plan
,
which was approved by our School Board in November of 2019. This plan includes a variety of concrete strategies, action steps, and monitoring mechanisms, including community engagement, recruitment strategies, and steps to leverage our existing human resources, current GCPS minority teachers, and create “grow your own” programming to complete the recruitment and retention cycle. Our work has just begun, but we hope to realize gains as we adjust our practice and implement our plan in the years ahead.
Awareness and Understanding:
Teaching and learning is the nucleus around which everything we do in public education revolves, and to address disparities and realize improved equitable outcomes in the practice of teaching and learning is to have truly equitable schooling within reach. Solutions to disproportionate outcomes need to begin to take shape organically in the classrooms and offices of our schools and divisions; being mandated to reach arbitrary goals without thoughtful support of professionals will not create lasting improvement, and will likely impede progress further. To address disparities and realize improved equitable outcomes is to also confront many of the foundational assumptions we maintain as an institution around the reasons why we administer public education and how we define good teaching. These conversations will take us-leaders, teachers, staff, and community-to very personal places, and care must be taken to nurture that work. In Goochland we have partnered for sustained and regular work between Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and our entire teaching workforce. In the past, VCIC has made an appearance at our new teacher training once annually to skim the surface of culture and bias, and while our experience was always positive, we concluded as a leadership team that the work needed in our division to improve equitable outcomes would require a long term commitment to establish norms and awareness in our individual work with students of all backgrounds.
Adjustments to School Practice:
As the very personal work of cultural understanding and self-awareness evolves, small but far-reaching adjustments to the school’s instructional program can be implemented. Research on school level practice that closes the gap in AP enrollment between African-American and White students points to dimensions of teaching and learning that can serve as useful starting points to make adjustments toward improving equitable outcomes in student achievement.
- Parent Outreach and Education: ensure that families understand the options available in your school and how to access them. Many of our traditionally successful non-minority students have achieved their success in part because they have been provided with that understanding through their parents; minority students should not be denied that same opportunity because their parents do not. Fill that gap.
- Curriculum and Scheduling: offer varied content-themed and numerous advanced courses to ensure that scheduling does not impede opportunity. When scheduling, focus on exposure. Do not entitle one teacher with all of the advanced classes. Vary course loads and increase exposure all students and teachers have to each other. Set high expectations and provide rigorous curriculum and practice for instruction at all levels.
- Identification and Recommendation Processes: Avoid the “gatekeeper” mentality and include more than standardized or strictly objective criteria, such as minimum GPA requirements, test scores, or unrelated course prerequisites. Create the communication channels for teachers, leaders, and counselors to evaluate a student’s potential and interests holistically-course recommendation should not be a unilateral process.
The work of improving equitable outcomes has the potential to lead the transformation of public education from an institution that, despite its well-intentioned efforts, is still alarmingly reliant on antiquated and archaic practices and structures that frustrate educators. Equity will not be achieved without undertaking the intense and controversial work required to overhaul and eliminate those structures, but the demand for equity in our schools is not a temporary trend. It is the manifestation of decades of discontent on behalf of minority students and families who will represent the majority of our nation’s population by the middle of this century, and it is an
opportunity
for educators to advocate for what will make our schools relevant for future generations of
all
students. Placing the word “equity” on your website’s front page, creating a title, or funding an office will not be enough to complete this work. It is a great start, but it is only that-a start.
Dr. Andrew R. Armstrong serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations for Goochland County Public Schools. He earned his Ph.D. from the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at VCU, and his dissertation, “Opening the Gates to AP Equity: A Case Study of a Central Virginia High School”, examined school-level factors that contributed to proportional African-American and White AP enrollment at a diverse Virginia high school. His professional and research interests include professional identity in public education and the intersections between public policy and school-level practice.
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“We have an Equity Policy, Now What?”
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Submitted by Mathews County Public Schools
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In July of 2019 members of the Mathews County School Board presented a session at a VSBA gathering entitled “Equity Policy in a Small Rural School Division” in which the nuts and bolts of developing an equity policy for any size district were discussed, but with the smaller districts in mind. Every school board should begin the process of developing a policy that reflects the community in which they serve This article discusses “what next?” in the area of equity.
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Part of developing a policy is the establishment of an Equity Committee within the district responsible for overseeing its implementation as well as evaluating its effectiveness and reporting to the board no less than annually. The question remains as to who is to makeup this committee. All too often when a policy mandates reporting back to a higher authority, the committee is made up of administrators and/or assistant administrators who meet just long enough to fill in the blanks of a form or answer a predesigned questionnaire dictated by the superintendent or board. The Equity Committee needs to have all stakeholders of the school division represented. The size of the committee will be dictated by complexity, i.e. diversity, of the division. Sheer numbers may not define the size if the division is more homogenous in its makeup than a division of equal size. Parents, students, teachers, support staff, bus drivers, administrators as well as any specialty group need to be represented. This in itself can be a daunting task in order to keep the committee size manageable. Remembering that an effective equity policy deals with much more than just racial equity will help in determining who should be on the committee. Addressing inequities in educational abilities, distribution of specialized personnel, opportunities to not just succeed but excel, school safety, athletics, broadband access, funding and anything else that was identified during the policy development as an area of inequity needs to be considered. One helpful strategy may be to include members that represent a multitude of stakeholders. In any case, avoid overpopulating the committee with administrators or teachers or school personnel in general. The entire community has invested time and money in molding the identity of the school division and, therefore, should be represented on this committee. The chair of the committee should be chosen by the committee and be someone who is willing and able to direct the development of analysis methods and guidelines and communicate with the superintendent.
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How the committee is to function is again determined by the size of the division and, to an even greater extent, the “equity health” of the division at any one time. At a minimum the committee needs to meet and report annually to the board. The first year of implementation may require the committee to meet each semester in order to identify any potential issues. How they identify these potential inequities needs to be decided in advance. They may gather data through surveys, grievance processes, open sessions, or any of a number of methods. The key is not to become complacent by taking a “no news is good news” attitude. If it becomes a problem, it may be too late.
Finally, communication and confidentially throughout the process is imperative. Keeping the superintendent informed of all proceedings is important. He or she is ultimately responsible for maintaining an equitable work/learning environment. The committee’s job is to identify perceived inequities and to bring them to the attention of the superintendent for resolution. They are not to try to “fix” the problem nor are they to advertise the existence of a problem. With the cost of education outpacing the increase in tax revenues each year, the demand for equity from communities is getting louder and louder. Good luck!
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We Don’t Want to Cut Down Racism, We Want to Pull it Out by its Roots
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Submitted by Jonno Alcaro, Albemarle County Public Schools
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At a recent School Board meeting, we were presented with a power point slide that asked viewers to “share an example where you were a practitioner of structural or systemic racism.”
The story behind that slide dates back to 2018, when a student climate survey revealed that in the previous school year, approximately 1,500 students reported that their race had been the subject of negative comments made to them.
It also was a time when our school division was coming to terms with such compelling issues as the achievement gap and one that was dominating municipal governments and school divisions across our country—What to do with symbols and statues that celebrated the Confederacy of the United States.
A fundamental piece of our resource base was missing. None of our policies explicitly addressed how race was impacting our learning environments. It was time to put a strong foundation in place and our Board directed staff to draft an anti-racism policy that would have a palpable effect on day-to-day operations and performance.
We quickly determined that those most impacted by the issues that needed to be addressed—our students—should take the lead. Our assistant superintendent established a student committee under the direction of a university researcher to draft the policy we subsequently would adopt.
The students quickly discovered that anti-racism policies were a relative rarity among school divisions. They met with peers, teachers and community leaders, with parents and with outside experts to gain as broad a perspective as possible.
We held several work sessions to review the students’ proposed language, training recommendations and most important, the accountability that would make the policy a transformational one. Six months after the students began their work, we adopted the policy.
Directing our efforts is the policy’s overarching pledge that “All Albemarle County Public Schools are committed to establishing and sustaining an equitable community that achieves the School Division’s equity mission to end the predictive value of race and ensure the success of each individual student and staff member. The Albemarle County School Board and School Division reject all forms of racism as destructive to their mission, vision, values and goals.”
Since the policy’s adoption, all 1,400 teachers in our division have participated in professional development sessions around the strategies and best practices of culturally responsive teaching. Student advisory groups are being formed at all schools, framed posters with the policy’s pledge are displayed in the main offices of all schools, departments and in many classrooms and on-line and in-person training modules are being developed for all employees and School Board members.
We’ve implemented a new protocol in which students can identify their selection of courses to improve access for all students, are using an equity-needs assessment to evaluate hiring practices and reviewing how we conduct exit surveys for teachers of color. We created a survey to determine the equity of access to after-school enrichment programs and are integrating the policy’s principles and objectives into our leadership development programs. We also are talking with the provider of our online anonymous reporting app to improve our abilities to follow up on and resolve and prevent racially offensive experiences in our schools.
It was one of our students who proclaimed that our goal as a school division was not to cut down racial bias but to pull it out by its roots.
Which brings me back to that power point slide. It poses a difficult and even uncomfortable challenge for all of us but one that is foundational to our success in fully becoming an anti-racist community. Truly making a difference requires each one of us to start by taking a serious and candid look inside ourselves to ensure that the policies, practices and relationships that follow do change the world.
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“Through Equitable Practices and Strategies: A Small School Division Is Maximizing the Potential of Students, Staff and Community”
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Submitted by Carl Rush, Winchester City Public Schools
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Smaller school divisions often are left out of the national dialogue centered around educational equity, achievement gaps, and systematic barriers that pose obstacles to the educational pursuits of students. The perception that educational equity only concerns larger urban school divisions is a major misconception and an alarming misbelief.
The data-driven reality shows that smaller (often rural) school divisions, face many of the same challenges as larger urban schools. The immunity to issues such as poverty, poorly maintained schools, disparities in discipline data, teacher shortages, and underrepresentation of students of color in STEM, simply does not exist in public education across the country.
Excellence Through Equity: A Blueprint to Our Success
Winchester Public Schools is nestled in the Shenandoah Valley between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains. Comprised of a student population of 4,500 students, our seven-school division has set its course to excellence through equity.
In 2015, the Winchester Public Schools embarked on a bold strategic planning process that included redefining our core beliefs and mission. From that discussion, and subsequent data analysis, it became evident that we needed to adjust and focus our work to match our beliefs. One of those areas was in relation to increasing academic and social outcomes for students of color, students with disabilities and students experiencing poverty.
From our School Board and Superintendent Dr. Jason Van Heukelum to our students, Winchester Public Schools is intentional about ensuring that excellence through equitable practices and strategies is the principle means to our success. Winchester Public Schools is committed to the belief that equity means, each child receives what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential.
Our pursuit of excellence through equity is firmly rooted in maximizing the potential and outcomes for all students in our school division; reducing and/or removing the predictability of success or failures of students on the basis of social and/or cultural factors; the intentional disruption of inequitable practices, examining our implicit biases, and creating inclusive multicultural school environments for our students and families. Our approach has yielded significant academic and social returns. Mainly, by presenting the platform to discover and cultivate the unique gifts, talents and interests that each student possesses.
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Impact of Our Work
A major key to our success is a strategic plan with an equity focus. In the strategic plan for Winchester Public Schools, equity strategies are embedded at each level. The strategic plan focuses on the following three primary areas: Community Engagement, Culturally Responsive Schools, and Maximizing Potential.
Examining our Community Engagement through an equity lens, enhances our advocacy for Pre-School education, after-school programs, and broadens the scope of our grant writing; which has resulted in awarded grants in excess of $5 million. Assessing the needs of the division, Winchester Public Schools partnered with Participate Learning to increase the number of our Spanish-speaking teachers and to enhance our Dual Language Immersion Program. The developments of our Community Equity Team and mentor program has assisted in addressing gaps in achievement.
A primary goal of Winchester Public Schools is to create an environment where all teachers and support staff are proficient and certified in culturally responsive practices. Our engagement in effective equity dialogues and professional development sessions with an equity focus has laid the groundwork to achieve culturally responsive schools. Our strategic pursuit of excellence through equity is buttressed by our Youth Equity Stewardship Summit, Multicultural Library Initiative, Global School through Teaching Sustainable Development Goals Program, Dual Language Immersion, Student Equity Advisory Councils, and School-Based Access and Opportunity Teams.
Maximizing the potential of every student is an overarching belief. Our richly diverse programs offered several methods to ensure that each student has the opportunity to maximize his or her potential. Our AP Potential Process has increased the representation of students of color in AP courses. This strategy starts with a commitment to give the PSAT to all tenth graders as a universal screener. Winchester Public Schools covers the cost associated with testing to alleviate any potential economic barriers. Enrollment in AP courses by students of color have yielded a double-digit increase and continues to grow. For more information about the Impact of Our Work, please visit https://www.wps.k12.va.us/Page/10861.
Through equity strategies, results have shown that our incoming teacher class of 2019 was the most diverse hiring class in recent history with 25% of hires being non-white. Hispanic and Multi-racial participation in 5th grade advanced math is at all-time high. Our gifted referrals are very close to being proportional to our population. Our SPED performance is above local benchmarks and EL performance in Math, Writing, History and Science are above state and local averages.
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AMPed Up!: An Award-Winning Program
A division analysis in 2016 showed disparities in the enrollment of minority students in elementary school advanced math classes. The 2016 data showed no African-American representation in fifth-grade advanced math; which is the traditional pathway that leads to advanced math subjects in high school.
AMPed Up! (Accelerated Math Progressions for Underrepresented Potential) was developed to increase the representation of students of color in 4th grade advanced math based on SOL scores. Students participate in afterschool programs and summer programs. The AMPed UP! program seeks to: build student aspiration to pursue STEM related careers, accelerate curriculum understanding in order to be prepared for college preparatory, advanced math coursework, and develop a strong community of learners. Since the implementation of AMPed Up!, advanced math class in fifth grade has seen an overall increase of 26% of students of color. With an increase in African American enrollment from 0% to 8% of total enrollment.
In 2019, Winchester Public Schools was awarded the National School Board Association Magna Award for Equity in Education for the implementation of the AMPed UP! program.
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Moving Forward
By 2023, Winchester Public Schools plans to have all teachers and support staff certified in culturally responsive practices. In our pursuit, it is our determination to transform the student experience and to prepare each student for our ever-changing global society.
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The Culturally Responsive Instructional Framework
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Submitted by Prince William County Public Schools
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As we celebrate Equity in Education month, Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) is committed to the ongoing, continuous improvement of equity in our Division. We are a Division rich in diversity as represented by our students, employees, and stakeholders. The PWCS School Board and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steven L. Walts are committed to ensuring all employees receive professional learning around the topics of cultural competency and culturally responsive instruction. A goal of building the universal academic language of equity requires the ongoing implementation of strategies in all schools led by Culturally Aware and Responsive Educator (CARE) Leads.
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The CARE Leads, supported by the PWCS Office of Professional Learning: Global Learning and Culturally Responsive Instruction, provide ongoing train-the-trainer professional learning throughout the school year. This facilitates turn-key professional learning to remove systemic barriers by building common language, background knowledge, and best practices to support all students and employees. All certified employees participate in Culturally Responsive Instruction modules covering topics such as Dimensions of our Culture, Examining Implicit Bias, Micro-Messages and Stereotype Threats, and The Power of Trust. The program is supported by the following highlights:
- The PWCS annual Student Leadership Conference encourages student leaders to continue seeking out and accepting leadership responsibilities as part of their contribution to society and to increase their awareness of current and emerging leadership challenges in a variety of settings. This student-led conference fosters a network of peers in PWCS to support collaboration and affords students the opportunity to lead sessions aligned with culturally responsive instruction. Over 90 sessions were offered, led by students, Division leaders, and organizations.
- In 2017, PWCS partnered with University of Virginia to implement Creating Opportunities through Relationships (COR) Modules. These five online modules include reflection tools, checks-for-understanding, and videos for self-paced learning to plan and incorporate into professional learning communities. COR Modules support learning for certified, classified and central office staff members.
- As part of our continuous improvement science approach, we are collaborating with The Ohio State University Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity which enriches our understanding of implicit bias in K-12 education. For the 2019-20 school year, PWCS was awarded funding from the Potomac Health Foundation to provide PWCS with the opportunity to partner with The Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment & Teaching Excellence (University of California San Diego). This year-long grant enacts strategies aimed at equity and improving school cultures (climate).
- Our delivery model of coordinated services provides additional support for central office staff members. Proactive in nature, we offer differentiated professional learning for all schools, offices, and stakeholders.
- Gretchen Drzewucki, principal of Kyle Wilson Elementary, said, “[we have] embraced the opportunity to build a deeper understanding of cultural responsiveness. Through honest dialogue and exploring our individual biases, we are bringing awareness to our mindsets. The chance to break down the wall of equity has fostered stronger relationships in our learning community. We have identified a shift in mindsets, particularly in how the discipline has shifted to restoration to reduce discipline, increase positive relationships, and to share our work with our colleagues.”
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- Chevelli Smith, assistant principal at Gar-Field High School (pictured with students), said, “Staff members commented on the professional learning as a ‘powerful session’. Sessions were led by students on the subject of implicit biases and shared personal experiences.”
- Xinia E. Rieu, Spanish teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary, said, “As a staff, we are auditing our classroom libraries for diverse books. We brought our books to the staff meeting and shared them. It was great to see the variety of books we all have. It was a great discussion as well.”
- “The need to be culturally aware is just as important in delivering instruction as it is in handling discipline. We have to know students both as learners and as individuals.” – Anonymous, middle school teacher.
To view the Culturally Responsive Learning Indicators please click
here
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FEATURED ARTICLE
Care about inclusiveness
–
and academic results?
Transform your district with a culture of love
By Dr. Luvelle Brown
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In the Ithaca City School District, our governance team is proud of increased graduation rates, more co-curricular involvement and various other positive student achievement shifts. I would attribute these achievements to the implementation of culturally responsive teaching, inclusive practices and other innovative teaching and learning initiatives.
I wrote a book about it. But it’s not titled “Culturally Responsive Teaching” nor “Inclusive Practices in Public Education.” Instead, I entitled my book “Culture of Love.” (Full title:
Culture of Love: Cultivating a Positive and Transformational Organizational Culture). Because I think love is the secret sauce that we need to transform public education.
In an educational context, I define love as a set of behaviors, not feelings and emotions. Individually and collectively, we take actions that are patient, honest, caring, forgiving, trusting, committed and selfless.
Educating all students in an equitable way is challenging due to the many social, economic and political issues facing our communities today. Many superintendents and school boards are trying to figure out how to improve their cultures so all students feel welcome and get the educational opportunities they deserve, regardless of their race, identity or background.
In Ithaca, our path to a positive and loving culture involved self-reflection, constructive conflict and policy shifts. I recommend the same path to others.
Self-reflection
An authentic understanding of oneself is needed to personally evolve and influence others. Leaders in a culture of love must have a significant amount of self-awareness, only achieved through examining one’s own beliefs, values, perceptions and actions.
Typically, school administrators struggle to find opportunities to reflect. Furthermore, reflection can be a missing element in many forms of professional development. So, at the beginning of our meetings and presentations, we always ask folks to take a moment to reflect. This protocol may include individual meditation, a short writing task or other forms of mindfulness.
To encourage deepness in our self-reflections, we try to be transparent with our vulnerabilities. I try to set an example by being forthcoming about my own personal improvement struggles. Each year at the opening convocation for our school district, I speak about the areas I have identified as needing more attention in my professional and personal growth.
For instance, I’m currently working on forgiveness. When a grudge exists in one of my relationships, I often avoid the issue rather than invest the time needed to fully restore the connection. My unwillingness to do the messy work of reconciliation has negatively affected my leadership. This awareness of my shortcomings has led to private and public dialogues and action intended to address my deficits.
My reward has been hearing others in the district talk about their weaknesses and seeing them get compassion and support when they describe how they will endeavor to improve.
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Conflict
In a culture of love, all community members are encouraged to challenge one another’s thinking in conversations, meetings and other interactions. Sound uncomfortable? It is. Part of establishing a culture of love is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Important but difficult conversations can be sparked by questions such as:
- Are we doing all we can to meet the needs of every learner?
- Are we developing sanctuaries of learning for all, or are we perpetuating systemic oppressions?
- What is the culture of our schools?
- What are the implicit biases that sustain ongoing negative outcomes for certain populations of students?
- How culturally responsive is our pedagogy and leadership?
Listening to each other as we struggle to answer such questions can be good because it leads to the acknowledgement and addressing of organizational weaknesses, blind spots and challenges. Successful leaders see conflict as natural and realize that it must be used in constructive ways.
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Policy
Self-reflection and the resulting conflict should lead to an awareness that public organizations such as school districts are institutionally oppressive. Oppression describes a set of practices, traditions, norms, definitions and policies that hold down one social group to benefit another one. In schools, the curriculum, assessments, supplemental resources and learning environments are examples of programs and structures that impose one culture over the others. For instance, the predominant culture in schools is individualistic, western and Christian.
The institutional oppression that is sustained through school norms can only be eliminated if the policies that govern those behaviors are amended.
Policy is typically written with the primary purpose of protecting the culture of the organization and the avoidance of litigation. Policy shifts can significantly impact the culture of a school district; therefore, such revision to guiding regulations must include the engagement of the community, students, teachers, parents, community leaders, content experts and others.
The Ithaca City School District began a policy revision process with the primary purpose of eliminating oppression, increasing student achievement and cultivating our desired culture. Since 2010, the school district has been engaged in a comprehensive and systematic updating of all district policies aimed at communicating and shaping the district’s culture. A policy review committee was created by the board of education, and that group of board members was charged with revising the policy manual.
A national hot topic or emerging trend can sparks a school policy conversation. We routinely examine every policy to ensure that it promotes – and does not impede – an environment for students and staff characterized by inclusiveness, cultural responsiveness and loving respect. No policy was considered mundane or more important than any other as each one was viewed as an opportunity to scrutinize language used to protect or remove oppressions and barriers to student achievement.
Here are three policies our board examined and changed to be consistent with our values:
* Meal charge policy. The policy review process led to the removal of language that referred to a specific amount owed along with the consequences for reaching those balances. The new policy verbiage is more forgiving and prevents lunch shaming. Previously, parents and students were notified when accounts fell below $5. Along with the notification of low balances, families felt shamed by the frequent reminders per district policy and the threats to collect prior to the end of the school year to avoid consequences.
* Domestic field trips. Some policies needed additional language to represent a shift to more inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. For example, we value the opportunity for students to be exposed to different cultures and enrichments through field experiences and field trips. The culture also now supports efforts to make field trips accessible to all students regardless of finances, disability or any other previously limiting factor. The domestic and international field trip policies were revised to incorporate more inclusive language.
* Special education policies. For some policies, our school board elected to elaborate on language to affirm the school district’s culture. Where possible, language was added to stress the value of inclusion and the role of restorative practices.
Can love be an organizing principle for your school district? While I hope the answer is yes, remember: it begins with you, as an individual, in your role as a school leader.
Sustaining a healthy organizational culture and spreading the philosophy to other communities will require us to evolve. A loving culture also requires continuous improvement. There is no end because the journey is ongoing. Therefore, as leaders, we must constantly reflect on our behaviors in order to determine where we are succeeding and where some additional focus is needed.
The positive and transformational culture will contribute to greater focus on the development of loving behaviors. As our school districts strive to prepare our students for the workforce it is important to remember that the
human ability to love is needed to mitigate the limitations of emerging technologies. As human work transitions hands to hearts, the ability to love and think with others will become increasingly more valuable to an organization’s survival in a global community.
You’ve probably heard of emotional bank accounts, in which we have either built up or minimized good will in our relationships. With healthy emotional bank account balances, we can create a “love economy.” This love economy places a priority on our ability to build and maintain relationships through trust, patience and forgiveness. Our communities must come together to ensure all citizens acquire loving skills and opportunities to construct their futures.
Luvelle Brown is superintendent of the Ithaca City School District and is co-chair of the New York State Council of School Superintendents’ Commission on Diversity & Inclusivity.
This article originally appeared in On Board, a publication of the New York State School Boards Association, and is reprinted here with permission.
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VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
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