Medium Post

Simple tips for navigating the backlash against antiracist policies and practices

By The BELE Network

The COVID-19 pandemic both exposed and exacerbated inequities in our schools, and along with 2020’s racial reckoning, it has created an overwhelming demand for tools and resources to build equitable learning environments and a will to change an education system that doesn’t work for every child. However, with progress comes backlash, and this spotlight on schools has caused a reactionary attack on equity in education.

There is no doubt that this backlash can be disheartening and overwhelming. But our work still has immense support from families and communities across the country who believe in the power of education to give students what they need to feel cared for and achieve their dreams and contribute to their communities.

The BELE Network has put together some guidance in the form of simple do’s and don’ts for educators and advocates navigating the backlash to equitable education.

Find our recommendations below:

DO

• Ask clarifying questions to get to the root of their concerns.
• Leverage youth voices and stories when showing why equity is necessary.
• Unapologetically share examples of equitable practices in action (humanize the statistical realities).
• Appeal to shared values (e.g. the importance of students being able to see themselves and their cultures in the books they read, etc.) and look for common ground in education.
• Be intentional about messengers — lean into trusted education voices (not political appointees).

DON’T

• Be defensive.
• Engage with the trolls.
• Assume most people truly understand what CRT or equity is.
• Get stuck in a debate on what CRT really is and how your work is or isn’t CRT.
• Repeat the other side’s negative framing to address criticism.
• Water down why equity is critical for students, adults and society.
• Apologize for elevating, listening to and advocating for students.
• Expect to win in one conversation — changing hearts and minds takes time.

Download the full guide below:

BELE_Do’s and Don’ts for Talking about Equity.pdf

For more resources like this, please subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn to stay up to date on the most recent offerings from the BELE Network.

​​The Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network is a diverse collaborative of organizations that are working to advance equity in education. We share a bold vision of thriving youth, families, caregivers, and communities — and of education systems that foster academic, social, emotional, and cognitive growth and well-being for all. We envision a world where a child’s racial and cultural identity and unique learning path are strong contributors to their success in school and in life, and where zip code and family income do not determine the quality of a child’s education.

How to Strategically Invest Funds To Build Equitable Learning Environments

By The BELE Network

On April 22nd, the BELE Network hosted a webinar led by Bethany Little of EducationCounsel and LaShawn Chatmon of the National Equity Project to discuss how the strategic investment of funding from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act can build equitable learning environments for students. Watch the recording and read highlights below to learn more:

The BELE Network defines “equity” as both a noun and a verb:

Equity is achieved when educational systems ensure that every child has what they need — when they need it — to thrive socially, emotionally and academically.

Educational equity is attained when every young person’s experience, wellbeing, and academic success are considered in the design of learning environments and patterns of success or failure are no longer predicted by race or any other social or cultural marker.

The ARP provides $1.9 trillion to support continued relief and recovery from COVID-19 pandemic, with the historic amount of $210.8 billion being invested in education, particularly in early childhood education, K-12, and higher education. Notable provisions include funding directed towards addressing students experiencing homelessness and students with disabilities, and meeting students’ social, emotional, and academic needs.

State governments will have 60 days after they receive the funds to distribute them to local education agencies. Two-thirds of those funds were made available on March 24, 2021. Local education agencies must develop and publish a school reopening plan within 30 days of receiving the funds from their states and will have until September 30, 2024 to expend them.

Though the window for drafting a plan is short, schools and districts must be deliberate in their allocation of funds. Investing in equity means planting seeds for the future, not just filling holes.

The past year has been a difficult one for students and educators alike, but the root of the inequities and traumas exacerbated by COVID-9 did not begin with the pandemic and will not end with it, either. This one-time distribution of ARP funds gives educators the opportunity to invest in building equitable learning environments for students and ensure that the progress towards equity can be made and sustained.

Watch the webinar above and check out the BELE Network’s guidance on investing ARP funds here.

The Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network is a diverse collaborative of organizations that are working to advance equity in education. We share a bold vision of thriving youth, families, caregivers, and communities — and of education systems that foster academic, social, emotional, and cognitive growth and well-being for all. We envision a world where a child’s racial and cultural identity and unique learning path are strong contributors to their success in school and in life, and where zip code and family income do not determine the quality of a child’s education.

EducationCounsel uses deep experience in policy, strategy, law, and advocacy to develop and drive policy initiatives — on the local, state, and national levels — to close the achievement gaps and improve education outcomes for all.

The National Equity Project is a leadership and systems change organization committed to increasing the capacity of people to achieve thriving, self-determining, educated, and just communities. Our mission is to transform the experiences, outcomes, and life options for children and families who have been historically underserved by our institutions and systems.

The Raikes Foundation envisions an equitable education system where race, class, gender, language, and ability-status no longer hold any predictive power over a student’s chance of graduating from high school, being suspended, or completing a post-secondary degree.

A Conversation on How Districts Can Create More Equitable Math Classrooms

By The BELE Network

The Student Experience Research Network (SERN) and EduColor co-sponsored an installment of Just Equation’s “Mathematics of Opportunity” series in February. Moderated by Nicole Beechum of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, the panel featured:

• Neil Lewis, Jr., Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medicine
• Celine Liu, San Leandro Unified School District
• Dana Miller-Cotto, University of Delaware, College of Education and Human Development

Participants asked educators to interrogate what we mean when we say a student is or is not a “math person.” The “math identity” adopted by students is formed through a variety of signals and is influenced by how valued a student feels and how much they feel they deserve. As a result, students from marginalized groups are often expected to develop math identities in spaces where they don’t feel valued. Once we recognize that those students sitting in a math classroom all come from different, larger social contexts, we can approach mathematics education in a way that elevates their experiences.

The good news is that educators don’t need to wait for policies to change. Districts can select more inclusive math textbooks that speak to a greater array of student experiences since it’s something districts have control over. More frequent inclusive math training in schools can go a long way, and math classes structured to allow for debate amongst students can provide better results overall in math.

Ultimately, educators have the power to create equitable math classrooms that give all students the chance to succeed, even if they don’t fit the mold of what a “math person” looks like.

Watch the full webinar above and learn more about the sponsors: Just Equations, Student Experience Research Network, and EduColor.

Also, connect with Nicole Beechum, Neil Lewis, Jr., Celine Liu, and Dana Miller-Cotto on Twitter.

Just Equations advances evidence-based strategies to ensure that math policies give all students the quantitative foundation they need to succeed in college and beyond.

The Student Experience Research Network (SERN) advances the research, relationships, and capacity necessary to build an education system in which every student experiences respect as a valued person and thinker.

EduColor mobilizes advocates nationwide around issues of educational equity, agency, and justice. We amplify the works and ideas of students, educators, and communities of color through supportive on- and off-line networks and professional development.

What Districts Need Now to Take Innovative Action

By The BELE Network

The Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE) continued its virtual convening, Examining Education Research through the 2020 Lens, with a conversation on “Confronting New and Persistent Equity Challenges: What Districts Need Now to Take Innovative Action.” Nicole Beechum of the University of Chicago and a member of the BELE Network moderated the panel, which featured:

• Tiffany Brunson, Principal, Field-Stevenson Intermediate School and Forest Park High School
• Maurice Swinney, Chief Equity Officer, Chicago Public Schools
• Eric Moore, Senior Accountability Research Officer, Minneapolis Public Schools

Their conversation highlighted many important themes around the greater visibility of equity challenges in schools over the past year and how leaders can best respond. Read on to find key takeaways from the discussion that district leaders can take into account when combating these inequities.

Directing Our Focus

The inequities in our school systems affect everyone, but they are most easily identifiable when we focus on marginalized students. What does redirecting our focus in this way really achieve? Eric asks us to think about what the data tells us. While he was once excited about predicting educational outcomes for students, he realized that he was “just measuring how well students are acquiescing to white spaces.” Because most students solidify their sense of self and racial identity by the third grade, they may choose to disengage from inequitable classroom domains in favor of spaces where they feel honored and can succeed in.

Nicole adds that we need to use data from a humanizing perspective. When a young person says that they don’t feel respected, that is a factual piece of data. It is our responsibility to act on this data and use it to combat inequitable systems that affect all students by directing our focus where it is most needed.

Don’t Interpret. Listen.

We must realize that “doing something” is effective when we take the student seriously, rather than merely interpret what they say. Tiffany often emphasized the importance of not dismissing, interpreting, or tokenizing young voices. Systems don’t change when our interactions with young people boil down to “he’s 12, what does he know?”

She reminds us of what they do know. They know what it’s like to be 12 years old in this school, in this country. They may know what it’s like to come from homes that lack heat in the winter or WiFi during remote learning. Educators must engage with these students and ask questions to get to the heart of what they’re saying. Merely interpreting the student’s voice will only perpetuate the same inequities.

Preparing Our Teachers

Constructively listening to student voices is tough, and it is unfair to expect educators to automatically know how to do it effectively. Eric noted the importance of equity training for adults because if we expect our students to be vulnerable and express themselves emotionally, then we need to prepare our teachers and adults to receive that information.

Maurice is clear that any tools used by educators — such as empathy interviews to encourage students to express themselves — must also create a space of vulnerability for teachers. It should be an active process where teachers ask themselves, for example, “How am I interacting with this Black student in my classroom?”

This way, Eric says that teachers can interrogate themselves in order to engage students socially and emotionally and give them the space they need to succeed. This will certainly be difficult for some educators, but creating that space of vulnerability is a fundamental step towards dismantling inequitable structures in education.

A Way of Being

The good news is that none of this occurs in a vacuum — it occurs within the framework of social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools. All participants agreed that SEL is not a program but rather a way of being. By starting from an SEL framework, Maurice says that his district was able to create programs that fed students and provided WiFi for remote learning during the pandemic because students cannot learn otherwise.

Still, we need these priorities to move faster, which includes, for example, having philanthropic organizations put money into the wellness of people. It includes having researchers document what is working so that educators don’t need to reinvent the wheel when they step into a new role.

Tiffany closed the discussion with a reminder we could all use:

“We can’t complain about the system, because we are the system. If we are to move forward, then we have to collectively commit to changing it at every level.”

The BELE Network is dedicated to reimagining our inequitable school system that has failed too many for too long, and is committed to transforming our classrooms into learning environments that nurture the intellectual, emotional and cultural growth of all students — especially students of color.

Learn more about BELE on our website, and access our resource library to make your learning environments more equitable.

Roads to Reinvention: Building Equitable Learning Environments webinar series by Transcend x AASA

By The BELE Network

In February, Transcend Education and AASA hosted an installment of their Roads to Reinvention webinar series on equitably responding, recovering, and reinventing school systems.

The webinar featured Superintendent Scott Muri from Ector County ISD (Texas), who has deep experience in launching system-wide reinvention initiatives throughout his career. Dr. Muri was also joined by a principal, teacher, and student, all involved in the reinvention work to discuss how the district uses Research and Development (R&D) cycles as a method of launching innovation.

The guests shared their experiences and stressed the importance of being iterative and responsive to changes in real time in order to adapt to the real world. The session also included a live empathy interview between a teacher and a student to demonstrate how to take a human-centered approach to understand students’ feelings and experiences.

Watch the highlight reel here, and for the full webinar, visit this link.

Transcend has an exciting schedule of upcoming webinar opportunities in 2021 that you can view here. If you aren’t a member of the no-cost Transcend Design Community, read more about it and join.

For more information, see the resources below:

• Slide presentation from Sujata Bhatt, Bryan Joffe, and Dr. Scott Muri of Ector County (TX) ISD
• The Pandemic Closed Our Doors But Opened Our Minds: Why My School District Will Not Return to ‘Normal’ by Dr. Scott Muri in EdSurge
• 4 superintendents to watch in 2021 in K-12 Dive
• Roads to Reinvention Journey Stories, including Ector County ISD
• Fundamentals of School Design by Transcend

Transcend Education’s work with school communities and the larger ecosystem is guided by five fundamental beliefs: all children have infinite potential; to realize this potential, we must reimagine “schooling” as we know it; the work is most successful when pursued through a rigorous, community-driven R&D process grounded in equity; while never easy, innovation is absolutely possible, accelerating progress requires strong local leadership, surrounded by a conducive ecosystem.

AASA is the premier association for school system leaders and serves as the national voice for public education and district leadership on Capitol Hill. Learn more.

The BELE Network is dedicated to reimagining our inequitable school system that has failed too many for too long, and is committed to transforming our classrooms into learning environments that nurture the intellectual, emotional and cultural growth of all students — especially students of color. Learn more about BELE on our website, and access our resource library to get the best and most up-to-date thinking on how to make learning environments more equitable.

How following the lead of young people can dismantle inequities in education

By The BELE Network

The Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF) kicked off its #ReclaimSEL webinar series on February 3, 2021 with an installment titled “The Intersections Between Social-Emotional Learning and Education Justice.” The panel, moderated by Cierra Kaler-Jones and Jaime Koppel of CJSF, featured:

• Zakiyah Ansari of the Alliance for Quality Education
• Jesse Hagopian of Rethinking Schools
• Carlos Rojas of Youth On Board
• Gisele Shorter of the Raikes Foundation & BELE Network partner

Their conversation was insightful and wide-ranging, covering a variety of topics about social-emotional learning (SEL) and how it can be applied as a tactic to achieve racial equity in education. Read on to learn more about the major themes they covered.

Relationships As Learning

Learning is a social and emotional process. SEL means taking new approaches not only to schooling, but to how people learn and develop. But what does this new approach look like? It looks like the blossoming of strong relationships between students, educators, communities, and philanthropists in what Jaime called “holistically safe” schools. Holistically safe schools, Gisele noted, are relationship-rich environments that see, respect, and commit to access and inclusion for all community members. They take schools from policed fortresses, as Cierra said, and turn them into places where students learn from themselves and each other.

Achieving holistically safe schools demands more than a new curriculum or checklist. The foundation of these relationships, as the panelists attested, is trust. Trust between students and educators, trust in their peers, and trust in themselves. Carlos likewise emphasized the need to listen to our young people and take their needs seriously even if it makes us uncomfortable. As Gisele said: when we take SEL and partner it with equity and community leadership, we unlock something powerful.

Seeing One Another

What can we do with these relationships? Zakiyah wants us to let young people know that we see them and recognize their hopes, fears, and needs as valid. With educators willing to hold thoughtful conversations with young people, our communities connect on a deeper level that engages vulnerabilities, needs, and fears. We create spaces rooted in love and trust that foster self-affirming young leaders.

Gisele reminds us that seeing each other includes seeing the inequitable structures around us. This is especially true as the crises of health, economy, climate, and racism intersect in unprecedented ways. Using SEL as a means towards healing offers a path forward in an education system that has failed to prioritize the leadership of young people and their communities. Young people know how to lean into vulnerability and be honest about their needs, so let’s follow their lead in addressing and dismantling inequitable structures.

Justice Through Engagement

When we see each other and see inequities around us, we realize that truly transformative change cannot be co-opted by existing systems. So what does it look like to move beyond those systems? It looks like creating a culture of care, rather than punishment, and by investing in equity, rather than police. It looks like resource equity for all students. It looks like funding child care or assistance to students from low-income backgrounds because education justice is racial justice.

Inequitable policies must be changed, but inextricable from them is the shifting of narratives that define our youth and schools. Globally, educators and philanthropists can lean into partnerships that change how we talk about young people and racial equity. Fostering the relationships that develop self-affirming young leaders cannot happen just by legislative vote. It demands our conscious engagement.

Follow the Leaders

Authentic SEL centers young leaders. When we do, it no longer makes sense to impose zero tolerance discipline in schools because it simply doesn’t work for students, Jesse said. A restorative approach forces us to look into measures to prevent further harm to all students affected by disciplinary infractions. This doesn’t mean, of course, that students should lack responsibility and accountability. It means bringing families into the conversation so they can be side by side with their young people in working through problems because the SEL approach is rooted in all of us wanting to be seen, heard, and respected.

Progress in Action

Just as young peoples’ needs have become clear during the coronavirus pandemic, so have the priorities of the education system. Zakiyah singles out New York City’s reopening, where precedence was given to reopening businesses before the wellbeing of students. The healing process for marginalized students to work through the pain of the past year just wasn’t prioritized in school districts across the nation.

Still, there’s a bright side. Many schools have attempted to use SEL to engage in thoughtful conversations with students and lean into vulnerability, in large part due to the work of advocates like Zakiyah. And while many schools are still trying to figure out how to best implement SEL, their interest represents an important step towards the implementation of authentic SEL in schools. Steps like this will pave the way for the crucial policies and narrative-shifting that truly transformative and liberating change is made of.