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THE DIVERSITY & SCHOOL CULTURE TASK FORCEWashtenaw Intermediate School District,

+AGENDA

Welcome & Introductions Goals of the Task Force What We Have Done So Far Brainstorming Next Steps

+INTRODUCTIONS

Name, School, Role

How did you come to be a part of this Task Force?

What are you hoping to get out of participating?

What is one interesting thing about you?

+“GOAL”

To create more supportive, inclusive, socially just schools and districts in Washtenaw County that successfully educate and empower students—particularly those from marginalized backgrounds—and prepare them for a diverse, multicultural world.

+WHAT COULD THIS LOOK LIKE?

+Lhisa Almashy

+Katy LaCroix

+Small Groups

What are these teachers doing to address issues of diversity, culture, and social justice?

How do their practices align with what you see happening in your districts?

+ SCOPE OF WORK

• 9 districts

• 77 schools

• 48,000 students

+What We Have Done So Far in WISD Annual Diversity Forum

High school students (10-15 per district every year)

Diversity Councils

The Race Project (UM Museum of Natural History & Race: Are We So Different Exhibit) 10 full days of PD for representatives from across WISD Field trips for students across WISD

Creating Culturally Proficient Communities: YCS Racial and Economic Justice Project 5-year project Justice League School specific PD

Multicultural Assessment and Transformation Tool (MATT)

Presentations on Multicultural Books & Celebrations with Elementary Teachers

Transgender Task Force

[District & school specific PD and intervention]

+Creating Culturally Proficient Communities: The Ypsilanti Community Schools Example

+The YCS Culture Committee Advisory

1. Build relationships with students and families by actively learning about their lives.

2. Acknowledge students make meaning by integrating new ideas into their own thinking and honoring their culture, prior knowledge, and experiences.

3. Develop critical thinking skills by encouraging students to get actively involved with issues of power, language, activism, equity, inequality, access, race and racism explicit in the intended and taught curriculum.

4. Develop a shared sense of responsibility by creating a community of learners.

5. Transcend their own cultural bias by being socio-culturally conscious. Defined as: awareness that a person’s worldview is not universal but profoundly influenced by life experiences.

6. Establish rules of engagement (community norms) to build inclusivity.

7. Actively promote student voice and student leadership.

“A culturally proficient educator will…”

+Five-Year Project Capacity Goals Provide professional development to

all educators (administrators, teachers, social workers, counselors) in Ypsilanti Community Schools

Involve parents and community members

Provide programming and development for students

Rigorously and regularly evaluate the impact and outcomes of the project

+Five-Year Project Design

Annual Pre- and Post-Evaluation All schools in the district District-wide survey School observations using

Multicultural Assessment & Transformation Tool (MATT)

District-Wide Justice League Cohort 1: 20 teachers,

administrators, social workers & counselors

Cohort 2: 30 teachers, administrators, social workers & counselors

Monthly, full-day PD sessions Annual train-the-trainer Summer

Institute

Fostering Justice School-Based PD Series

Cultural Proficiency Staff Meetings

Relationships Initiative 2-week focus on relationship

building in all schools

Community Meetings Every semester

+ Professional Development Components

Community Building Creating strong cohort of culturally

proficient educators who use each other as resources

Self-Education Increasing knowledge and

awareness of issues of social justice and culturally proficient education

Skill Practice Difficult scenario practice, colleague

observation, how to respond to injustice

Action (Planning) Curriculum and lesson planning,

relationship building with students, improved celebrations & images, equitable discipline

+M.A.T.T.

Multicultural Assessment & Transformation Tool

Personal knowledge,

beliefs, attitudes, biases, prejudices,

stereotypes, experiences

+Images & Celebrations reflect the Diversity of the Student Body & the World

I. Images & visual representation (e.g. what’s on the walls, in the library, in display cases)

II. National celebrations and holidays

III. Language

+Classroom Teaching & Learning is Relevant, Interesting, Diverse, & Empowering

I. Curricular content (what we teach students)

II. Pedagogy (how we teach students)

III. Educator knowledge & awareness (learning more so we can teach more!)

+Disciplinary Practices are Restorative and Non-Discriminatory

I. Disciplinary policiesWhat are the rules? Why are these the rules? How did we develop them?

II. Disciplinary procedures How are rules enforced?

+Relationships (& School Climate) are deep, communal, and equitable across difference

I. Staff Relationships II. Staff/Student

Relationships III. Student/Student

Relationships IV. Family/Community

ConnectionsV. Relationship with Self

“Teachers expect students to care about school before they care for them, while students expect teachers to care for them before they care about school.”

-Angela Valenzuela, Subtractive Schooling

“I don’t teach subjects. I teach students.”

-Ms. Frank

+District & School Policies Foster

Multiculturalism & Justice **Administrators, Counselors, etc.I. Mission & Vision

II. Personnel Practices

III. Decision-Making

IV. Support Services

V. Tracking & Class Assignment

VI. Data Usage

VII. Resource Allocation

+Challenges of the Project

Finding time to engage in deep, meaningful work

Gaining buy-in from educators used to short-term interventions and reform strategies

Evaluating and assessing progress and change at district- and county-wide levels

Making connections to measurable outcomes the state is concerned with

Dealing with annual teacher, administrator, and board turnover

Keeping momentum and focus for the work going

Finding funding to prioritize cultural proficiency

+Successes of the Project

Authentic support from Board, Superintendents and Administrators

1/6 of educators in the district participating in the Justice League with more interested and waiting for a third cohort

Improvement in all areas of the MATT More frequent and in-depth celebration of diverse holidays More multicultural images in classrooms and hallways More multicultural and socially just lessons Improved efforts to make pedagogy engaging and relevant Significant efforts to engage in restorative discipline Diversity-conscious hiring

Increased educator knowledge, awareness and personal reflection around issues of diversity, culture and justice

Interest from additional school districts in a county-wide initiative

+What Should We Be Doing County-

Wide? What are the biggest challenges your school/district faces when it

comes to issues of diversity, culture and justice? Consider issues of identity (race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion,

ability status) Consider relationships among staff, students, community Consider curriculum, pedagogy, policies, and practices

What do you think your school/district needs to become more inclusive? What support do you want? What challenges do you face to getting this support?

What could this look like logistically? Where are the times/places/spaces where things could happen? Who should be included? How might it be done “at scale?”

+Closing

Next Steps Proposals for future meetings?

Dates?Times?Other considerations?

What are you taking away from today?

+

Thank You!

Dr. Shayla R. Griffinshayla.r.griffin@gmail.com 317-441-0020