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Building Authentic School and Family Partnerships:

December 8, 2022 by The BELE Network

Insights From the Caregiver Community

By the BELE Network

To holistically educate young people, school leaders must engage caregivers as co-designers of their students’ learning environments. This is at the core of the BELE Network’s fourth Essential Action: Partner with Caregivers and Communities. In practice, that means creating opportunities that center the experiences of students and caregivers, develop collaborative relationships with caregivers, and result in authentic school-family partnerships with a shared mission to build equitable learning environments.

To do so, Insights From the Caregiver Community: Building Authentic School and Family Partnerships — authored by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) as part of the BELE Learning Series, — provides four key insights gathered from caregivers:

School leaders can increase the willingness of families and caregivers to engage in partnership when they demonstrate a commitment to creating a responsive school culture.
As school leaders aim to create school environments that are responsive to and involve reciprocal relationships with caregivers, it is important that school leaders:
— Develop an understanding of the values of students and caregivers who are a part of the school community.
— Acquire resources that help them identify and address the needs of students and caregivers in the school community.
— Provide, together with staff, opportunities for caregivers to participate in creating, implementing, and assessing decisions in the learning environment.
To build authentic school-family partnerships, consider providing opportunities for caregivers to create community with each other without the presence of school leaders, educators, or staff.
Initial steps to provide these opportunities include:
— Regularly providing parents with time and space to confer about their experiences and ideas for improvement, without school staff being present.
— Having parents and school leadership identify a person who is not considered a staff member to lead parent and caregiver outreach to create an inclusive space.
— Require formal governing boards (e.g., Parent Teacher Associations or Local School Councils) to consult with parents and caregivers in this space about any decisions that will be taken to school leaders, in addition to school leaders providing additional partnership opportunities with caregivers.
Parents desire authentic relationships with educators that are rooted in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practices to collaboratively improve students’ education.
These findings indicate a need for a school culture that is inclusive of SEL in its daily practices. Some recommendations include:
— Having school leaders normalize the use of SEL in the school’s daily practices and policies. This should be exemplified in adult-adult, adult-student, and student-student interactions among leaders, educators, caregivers, community members, and students.
— Providing resources, collaborative learning opportunities, and school-sponsored social events to educators and caregivers to develop their SEL skills.
— Ensuring that SEL learning opportunities and social events for students and adults are representative of students’ and caregivers’ cultural values, beliefs, and practices.
— Having school leaders and educators regularly engage students, caregivers, and members of their communities in the neighborhoods outside of the school building to improve relationships and communication.
Time and space for caregivers to refine their own SEL skills among themselves, with their children, and with educators can empower them to partake in more leadership roles within the school.
School leaders who want to engage caregivers through empowering partnerships can largely benefit from SEL programming that increases agency and belonging among caregivers. Parents’ participation in CASEL’s dialogue series allowed them to draw upon their own knowledge and experiences to meaningfully identify with the SEL competencies.

To learn more about working with caregivers, check out the BELE Network’s second Learning Brief.

The BELE Network is working alongside partner members to share learning briefs to advance equity in education, which are grounded in seven Essential Actions. We encourage you to visit the BELE Resource Library, an evolving repository of resources and recommendations, to find the resources best suited to your unique needs. You can also subscribe to the BELE monthly newsletter here to get the latest learnings straight to your inbox.

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.

Making Kids Safer at School With Newly Available Funds

October 27, 2022 by The BELE Network

An overview of the BSCA education funds

By the BELE Network

With the school year well underway, educators have an opportunity to redefine what they mean by student safety. Parents are justifiably concerned about their kids’ safety at school, and Congress has made important investments in protecting students. Those investments, however, should prioritize evidence-based approaches that are aligned with the science of learning and development and make students safer by creating environments where they feel accepted and valued. In doing so, we can ensure all students feel safer and avoid “hardening” schools into severe, inflexible environments that can actually make some students less emotionally and physically safe.

Educators can redefine school safety in a way that continues to keep students safe from physical violence, while also creating supportive learning environments that benefit students’ mental health and well-being. Together, these pieces all contribute to a better student experience at school — the kind that leads to stronger academic and life outcomes after graduation. This commitment is shared by the U.S. Department of Education as well as school districts across the country. And it isn’t a commitment only on paper — there’s real money behind it, too.

The investment

Congress recently greenlit $1 billion in funding through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) for states and districts to invest in creating safer and healthier learning environments for students. State education agencies will direct the funds allocated to their states to high-need local education agencies (such as school districts and county education offices) for use in efforts specifically towards that end. You can find a state-by-state breakdown here. Examples of what these efforts can look like include:

Support school-based, trauma-informed mental health services
Establish learning environments that enhance learning skills
Improve instructional practices for developing relationship-building skills

You can find more information about allowable activities here.

Recommendations

District and county applicants will have to identify needs unique to their district(s) and state agencies will decide how to disburse federal funding. To that end, Secretary Cardona outlined three areas where he encourages schools and districts to focus their commitments. These recommendations strongly align with The BELE Network’s Essential Actions for building equitable learning environments and improving student experience, and we’re excited to contribute our own resources in support of districts seeking to understand more about how to take actionable steps towards these commitments:

Implement comprehensive, evidence-based strategies that meet each student’s social, emotional, physical, and mental well-being needs; create positive, inclusive, and supportive school environments; and increase access to place-based interventions and services.
In other words, schools should redesign systems and structures to put a student’s experience first. What does that look like? We’ve written about how schools can rethink their back-to-school nights or open houses to build more meaningful connections with students and the wider community and how they can align all school efforts around a clear vision of education for all students that advances resource equity. Ultimately, it’s all about unlocking the innovation of schools and using all tools — including student-centered data collection — to better understand how students are learning, what works, and how whole communities can contribute to an improvement of the student experience. Learn more by taking a look at BELE Essential Actions (EAs) 1, 2, and 6.
Engage students, families, educators, staff, and community organizations in the selection and implementation of strategies and interventions to create safe, inclusive and supportive learning environments.
Perhaps the most important thing for schools and districts to realize is that they are not alone in this process of redesigning education. A key priority for them is creating conditions for mutually trusting relationships with local communities, caregivers, and other school staff themselves. BELE resources that can support this goal include guidance on how school boards and families can have productive interactions despite heightened tensions and inviting community members to discuss the merits of social emotional learning (SEL) in school. Learn more with EAs 4 and 5.
Design and implement policies and practices that advance equity and are responsive to underserved students, protect student rights, and demonstrate respect for student dignity and potential.
This is what all of this work ultimately boils down to: using redesigned strategies and community input to design and implement practices that create a better student experience. Take the example of math classrooms: who gets to be a math person? Stronger, more equitable policies can expand the definition of “math person” to fit students who might not traditionally fit that mold. Another useful BELE resource is our ongoing series of Learning Briefs, the first of which explores critical insights from equity initiatives in BELE partner districts. Of course, districts and county offices are not alone. They can learn from the examples of other districts, such as Columbus City Schools, and adapt successful policies that are known to work elsewhere. Refer to EA 7 for more information.

The BELE Network is working alongside partner members and organizations to best support schools and districts in mapping out how to allocate funds. We encourage you to visit the BELE Resource Library, an evolving repository of resources and recommendations, to find the resources best suited to your unique needs. You can also subscribe to the BELE monthly newsletter here to get the latest learnings straight to your inbox.

Back-to-School Nights — A Missed Opportunity

September 21, 2022 by The BELE Network

Back-to-School Nights — A Missed Opportunity

By Karen VanAusdal, Senior Director of Practice at CASEL

Imagine walking into your child’s high school, where members of the marching band are performing outside the building. Student greeters hold the doors open and welcome you warmly. Inside, parents put on name tags that indicate not only their own names but also the names of their children.

In the auditorium, the principal begins with a personal story about their favorite teacher from childhood, and invites parents to turn to someone next to them and share their own memory of an adult who supported them when they were young. The principal shares a vision for the school year that helps all parents feel positive and part of the community and encourages them to contribute to that vision by adding sticky notes on a wall display.

As parents move to classrooms, teachers greet parents at the door as they would students and open the conversation with an invitation for parents to introduce themselves before discussing what their children can expect in their classroom. Parents are invited to leave notes for their children and can share one thing they hope for this school year.

How does this experience match the types of back-to-school nights or open houses that families attend this time of year? Often these events, in the spirit of expediency, miss important opportunities to catalyze a sense of belonging and authentic partnership between schools and families. As caregivers ourselves and SEL professionals who help districts create this type of community, we offer a few tips to keep SEL in mind as you welcome families back to your school.

First Impressions

How can you welcome families as they enter your building and set a tone of student-centered welcome, support, collaboration, and joy?

Consider how to incorporate young people’s voices, either in person as greeters and guides, as performers (such as the school band or dance group performing as people enter), through artwork or messages on the wall, etc.
Before the event, ask students what they want to share and celebrate most about their school.

Getting to Know One Another While We Get to Know Your School

How can you ensure that families not only learn about the school curriculum, but also get to know the school staff and each other?

Have name tags available for families where they can share their name and “I have a child in x grade”
Begin classroom or whole-school presentations with a warm welcome that allows for connections between caregivers. This may be a brief turn-and-talk about something caregivers are looking forward to during the year ahead or an activity such as a “raise your hand if you … (have multiple students in this school, remember being nervous for a first day of school, attended this school yourself, tried something new or traveled outside of our state this summer, etc.)” Find more ideas in our 3 Signature Practices Playbook.
Ensure that staff members introduce themselves, their vision as educators, and their hopes for the year, in addition to the schedules, curriculum overview, and logistics of their classroom.
Include an overview of the ways that the school is explicitly building community at the school and classroom level, any SEL curricula you are using, and ways that student supports are integrated into the classroom experience. Create opportunities for caregivers to share how they are supporting their students’ holistic development at home as well.
Consider having interactive opportunities rather than just telling caregivers about the curricula. It can be powerful to use examples that tie to the community or experiences that showcase how your curriculum helps prepare students for their daily lives and futures.
Create bi-directional learning.Consider having caregivers sit in a circle to encourage sharing and equity of voice. Classroom gatherings may also be a time to get feedback on what caregivers may have learned about their students during remote learning or how the teacher and school can best meet their students’ needs (verbally or through a quick written survey).
In schools with homerooms, consider having sticky notes inside each student’s desk where caregivers can leave “love notes” for their students. For students whose caregivers are unable to attend, offer opportunities to email notes or have peers also leave notes for one another.
Collaborate to build deeper connections to the local community. For example:
— Organize community/neighborhood tours. Create opportunities for parents and caregivers to identify the places they’d like school staff to see to better understand their interests and needs.
— Use the night to schedule visits to homes and community centers or ask for upcoming events that staff and caregivers can enjoy together.
— Partner with the local library to explore local history together.

Optimistic Close

How can you end your time together in a way that leaves participants feeling connected and encouraged to stay in partnership with school staff and one another?

End your back-to-school night by inviting caregivers to share something positive they have heard this year from their student or something they are curious to learn more about in the coming months. Share opportunities for caregivers to sign up for newsletters, roundtables, and volunteer opportunities and to partner with you on the design of these experiences and resources.

Just as we hope that SEL and academic growth are intertwined throughout our students’ school experiences, we see back-to-school nights as opportunities to model those connections for caregivers as well. Wishing you all a beautiful year ahead!

Karen VanAusdal serves as Senior Director of Practice at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). She oversees multiple initiatives to support and scale SEL in service of equity and excellence in school districts and with collaborators in the field.

Meet Dr. Dionne Blue: Chief Equity Officer at Columbus City Schools

July 28, 2022 by The BELE Network

By Education Resource Strategies

Creating equitable outcomes for all students requires identifying and exposing existing inequities within school systems. One shining example is Columbus City Schools, which appointed Dr. Dionne Blue in 2020 as its first Chief Equity Officer to address equity and inclusion for all students, families, employees, and community.

But what does this role actually look like in practice? And how does someone become a Chief Equity Officer?

We reached out to Dr. Blue to learn more about her background, day-to-day responsibilities, and thoughts on the state of equity in education.

1. What interested you in the Chief Equity Officer role in Columbus City Schools? Why is this role important to you?

I’ve been doing Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work in some form or fashion for almost 20 years. When a position arose in Columbus that would allow me to activate my understanding of equity and its application to systems work, I naturally jumped at the opportunity. This role is important to me because it would be the first time I’m able to really address equity in my position with a fully resourced department. In the past I have been a one-person office, without the type of support I would need to truly make transformational progress. With the commitment of the Superintendent and the School Board, I now have the bandwidth needed to impact change, particularly across a district of this size.

2. Can you describe what a typical day looks like for you?

A typical day for me has changed from week to week, and year to year, just because of the impact of the pandemic and the logistics of building my team. My hope is that beginning next year, a typical day looks more “typical.” My assumption, based on the direction of the work, is that a typical day would involve outreach to school leaders, conducting professional development for school teams or departments, networking with other Equity leaders across the state and country, and brainstorming meetings with my staff as we continue to examine processes and develop best practices for the equity work of the district. I like to be available for staff and community members who want to talk, express their concerns, or seek support, so I keep a calendar scheduling link in my email signature so that others can schedule themselves for anything from a 15 minute download to a full hour meeting. But I also have to protect windows of time on my calendar for focused work so that we can keep projects moving forward.

3. Can you tell us about a project you recently worked on that you’re really proud of?

As it happens, very recently I successfully passed our equity policy through a first reading with the school board. The policy has been in various drafts for some time, but with the input and feedback of colleagues, my team, thought partners, and stakeholders, I was able to get a finalized draft in front of the board that we could all be happy with. It sets the tone for our commitment to equitable opportunities for all, but also memorializes our approach to equity as a district, which is a focus on students, staff, and systems. With that foundational task complete, we can begin to move forward in crafting what it looks like in real time.

4. What do you think the biggest equity challenges are for school districts today?

Post-pandemic in particular, the biggest equity challenges seem to be that the depth and breadth of the needs of both students and adults in every school district across the country has grown exponentially. No longer are schools so clearly distinct in terms of need and the typical binary way that we see that need — the “haves” and the “have nots.” Right now it seems that the needs are great and diverse no matter the student demographics. This is also an interesting challenge related to equity in the sense that, once those needs expand to atypical populations, we begin to see greater support, advocacy, and resources directed at the overall population.

5. If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about public education, what would it be?

That is a tricky one, because I would be inclined to make my “one thing” a paragraph-long, run-on sentence! In all seriousness, one thing that should really change about public education is the ability of politicians — who are themselves not educators — to set mandates and parameters for public education that can often end up crippling our ability to best serve our most vulnerable. My magic wand would make it so you cannot make decisions about public education unless you are in public education.

Are you a Chief Equity Officer or senior equity leader looking to tackle resource inequities in your district? Our Advancing Education Resource Equity Network (AEREN) cohort program, co-hosted with the National Equity Project, can help. The monthly cohort meetings, 1:1 executive coaching, and resource equity diagnostic are designed to help equity leaders accelerate progress on equitable resource allocation in their district. Contact ERS Partner Betty Chang to learn more.

Education Resource Strategies is a national non-profit that partners with district, school, and state leaders to transform how they use resources (people, time, and money) so that every school prepares every child for tomorrow, no matter their race or income. Learn more at www.erstrategies.org/

10 Steps to Become an Equity Detective

July 12, 2022 by The BELE Network

By Dr. Irvin Scott

In my work with system and school leaders around the country, creating more equitable experiences and outcomes for students has taken center stage — and even more so as we look to recover from the pandemic. Identifying and exposing inequities in outcomes and experiences is a first step toward taking action that leads to long term change.

But it’s not enough to identify the inequities; ultimately, it’s a moment for action. In other words, I’ve been learning with these leaders how to become an “equity detective”: a leader who actively looks for and takes action to address structural and systemic inequities in schools and school systems.

I hope these 10 principles inspire you. Please let us know what else you’d add and what you learn.

Get proximate. The best equity detectives are a part of, or deeply engaged with, the system that they’re looking at.
Refuse complicity. Lives are at stake. An equity detective doesn’t just seek to identify inequities — they seek to do something about what they discover.
Look inward. Equity detectives must be willing to acknowledge that they themselves may be unknowingly contributing to, or benefitting from, inequities.
Use data strategically. Equity detectives can use data to carefully evaluate inequities and communicate that to stakeholders in an objective, non-judgmental way.
Challenge the status quo with compassion. Equity detectives acknowledge that many systemic and structural inequities can’t be tied to personal intent, but rather are historical vestiges that have been around so long that it “just is” the way things are done. But Amanda Gorman reminded us that what “just is” is not always justice.
Avoid the blame game. Equity detectives look for inequities without an accusatory mode towards others. They must be prepared to listen to those who are the beneficiaries of inequities and explain why change must happen without placing blame on individuals.
Have conversations that lead to action. Equity detectives appreciate and value conversations about race and identity, and they also understand that these conversations must move to a level of action and practices that may be elusive.
Find community-driven solutions. When equity detectives take action, they don’t do it alone. The best leaders enlist those closest to the problem to help design, rapid-test, and scale solutions, all with an eye towards continuous improvement and impact.
Empower others in this work. A true equity detective empowers others to look for inequities, too, by trusting and supporting them.
Get into “good trouble.” In the words of the late Congressman John Lewis, equity detectives must gather the courage to get into good trouble if necessary. There is no more worthy cause than the pursuit of equity and justice.

Dr. Irvin Scott is a member of the Board of Directors at Education Resource Strategies and a Senior Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Scott joined the faculty of Harvard Graduate School of Education during the summer of 2016. At Harvard, Irvin’s concentration is Educational Leadership. Irvin is excited about his work teaching at HGSE in the School Leadership Program and Doctor of Education Leadership Program.

Mobilizing Resources to Advance Excellence and Equity for All Students

July 12, 2022 by The BELE Network

By Education Resource Strategies

We’re halfway through the ESSER timeline, which means that it’s time to get serious about resource equity. As district leaders embark upon their ESSER Halftime Reviews to figure out how to use the remaining two years of ESSER funds, it’s important to take a new look at whether the district’s resources — including ESSER funds and basic operating funds — are being allocated and used equitably. The pandemic exacerbated existing challenges with disproportionate impact on students with higher needs — and in order to ensure excellence and equity for all students in the coming years, we must rebuild with resource equity at the center of the work.

What’s “resource equity”?

Now, we get that “equity” is a challenging and confusing word these days. It’s been used in so many contexts that it’s become one of those words that means something different to everyone.

When we talk about resource equity here at ERS, we’re talking about two things: (1) creating a foundation of excellence to ensure that all students receive the right research-backed combination of resources at the right time and (2) ensuring equitable access to those resources such that the students who need more support receive it.

By doing these two things, we can create equitable student experiences which lead to equitable student outcomes.

And “resources” doesn’t just mean money. As the often-quoted saying goes, “Students aren’t taught by dollar bills.” How money is used to create student experiences that ensure high learning outcomes matters a lot, too. In partnership with the Education Trust and rooted in research, we’ve identified the 10 dimensions that have the greatest impact on student experiences and outcomes. The objective of our work is to ensure that all students have access to these dimensions — including highly effective and diverse teachers and school leaders; empowering, rigorous content; positive and inviting school climate, and more. (And “all means all,” to quote one of our inspiring partner districts, Montgomery County Public Schools.)

A moment for deep, sustainable change

This shift from talking about “equity” to “resource equity” feels important in this moment. As Dr. Irvin Scott at the Harvard Graduate School of Education points out in his piece about Being an Equity Detective, equity conversations about race and identity are an important start, but they’re not enough.

To be blunt, there is a limit to how effective anti-bias training for teachers can be when students attending a higher-poverty school are 50 percent less likely to have access to an exemplary teacher than students attending a more affluent school. Or if, even after meeting entrance criteria, Black students are 25 percent less likely to be enrolled in advanced math courses in 8th grade than their white peers. (These are real numbers from two of the large urban school districts in which we worked.)

In order to ensure excellence for all students, it’s critical that existing equity work be paired with 1) a deeper look into resource equity and 2) changes in the underlying structures, policies, and practices hat create inequitable student experiences in nearly every district in this country.

This may feel like a herculean task right now. While districts may be awash with ESSER funding, there is a very real shortage across the field — everything from qualified teachers, licensed and certified support staff, instructional time, leadership capacity and bandwidth, and more. Some might even argue that a focus on resource equity right now is misplaced. After all, if we’re facing a system-wide shortage of teachers, shouldn’t we focus on that first before we even begin to address the equitable access issue? But to quote the great Arthur Ashe, one must “start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

Doable starting points to advance resource equity

While district leaders might not be able to address the staffing shortage for every single school and every single classroom in their district this fall, they can build the foundation for excellence starting with the students who were most disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. For example, district leaders can prioritize filling vacancies in the highest needs schools and classrooms, supporting the many novice teachers in these schools, and finding new and creative ways to ensure that students who need the most help have support from expert teachers and additional time and tutoring.

ESSER dollars can also be used to amp up recruitment efforts, provide stipends and revise teacher compensation structures to encourage teachers to work in the highest needs schools and reward expert teachers who support new teachers, teams of teachers and otherwise bring their expertise to the greatest challenges.

Taking action to mobilize resources

In partnership with Education Trust, we developed a Resource Equity toolkit for district leaders looking to mobilize resources to create equitable experiences and outcomes for students. Use these tools to start conversations, create shared understandings, and build action plans together. The work — and the positive impact — can start today.

Read about the 10 dimensions of education resource equity that can unlock opportunities and make a difference for students’ learning experiences.
Use our free diagnostic tools to help you assess the current state of resource equity in your district and prioritize which dimensions to tackle first.
Check out our 10 resource equity guidebooks that dive into each dimension to help you explore the possible root causes of challenges in your district and choose promising actions based on students’ distinct needs.

Every child in every community deserves a high-quality education and a fair opportunity to succeed. And with a critical eye towards inequity and proven strategies, district leaders across the country can make powerful shifts that fundamentally change the student experience for the better and help all students achieve excellence.