Educational Equity for Teachers

There is no recent data on school inequities, or inequity in society for that matter, that suggests we have arrived at Dr. King’s dream that his “four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Children today are instead still judged by the color of their skin, and this inequitable practice is manifest in today’s schools for students of color in the form of: disproportionate student discipline referrals, achievement and opportunity gaps, pushout rates, overrepresentation in special education and underrepresentation in advanced coursework, among other indicators (Brooks, 2012). Though issues of race in the public education system may take an overt or covert form; racial injustice in public schools is still pervasive, complex and cumulative. For example, many students of color, year after year, do not have access to “good” teachers, experience low staff expectations, and are subject to “new and improved” forms of tracking (Brooks, Arnold & Brooks, in press).The authors in this book explore various ways that racism are manifest in the American school system. Through a plurality of perspectives, they deconstruct, challenge and reconstruct an educational leadership committed to equity and excellence for marginalized students and educators.

Robert L. Green, a friend and colleague of Martin Luther King Jr., served as education director for King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference during a crucial period in Civil Rights history, and--as a consultant for many of the nation's largest school districts--he continues to fight for social justice and educational equity today. This memoir relates previously untold stories about major Civil Rights campaigns that helped put an end to voting rights violations and Jim Crow education; explains how Green has helped urban school districts improve academic achievement levels; and explains why this history should inform our choices as we attempt to reform and improve American education.

The existing form for public education is industrial in nature and is not a match for what should be the function of an education system in an information age society--one that is characterized by technology, globalism, a new definition of work, and rapid, relentless change. This book explains how the mismatch between function and form is creating circumstances that are putting the future of public education at risk, leading to system dysfunction, deregulation, and privatization. Public education needs to be redesigned and reformatted to match the function of the age in which we now live. The current structure and function denies too many students the levels of access, equity, and opportunity that their parents once enjoyed. Achieving that outcome is important to the economic, social, and political wellbeing of America.

Educators across the nation are engaged in well-meaning efforts to address diversity in schools given the current context of NCLB, Race to the Top, and the associated pressures of standardization and accountability. Through rich ethnographic accounts of teachers in two demographically different secondary schools in the same urban district, Angelina E. Castagno investigates how whiteness operates in ways that thwart (and sometimes co-opt) even the best intentions and common sense-resulting in educational policies and practices that reinforce the status quo and protect whiteness rather than working toward greater equity. Whereas most discussions of the education of diverse students focus on the students and families themselves, "Educated in Whiteness" highlights the structural and ideological mechanisms of whiteness. In schools, whiteness remains dominant by strengthening and justifying the status quo while simultaneously preserving a veneer of neutrality, equality, and compassion. Framed by critical race theory and whiteness studies, this book employs concepts like interest convergence, a critique of liberalism, and the possessive investment in whiteness to better understand diversity-related educational policy and practice. Although in theory most diversity-related educational policies and practices are intended to bring about greater equity, too often in practice they actually maintain, legitimate, and so perpetuate whiteness. Castagno not only sheds light on this disconnect between the promises and practices of diversity-related initiatives but also provides insight into "why" the disconnect persists. "

Despite the intense political attention that has been focused on accountability, on standardized testing, and on the equity effects of both accountability and testing, the great majority of recent debate in education policy circles has failed to attend to either the dynamism or complexity of these issues and has, instead, been carried out in a dualistic, good versus evil, fashion. In contrast, the scholarship collected in this important new volume is designed to move beyond the prevailing dualism and to push the discourse about accountability, testing, and educational equity in public schools usefully forward, and to provide a much-needed resource for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.

Excellence Through Equity is an inspiring look at how real-world educators are creating schools where all students are able to thrive. In these schools, educators understand that equity is not about treating all children the same. They are deeply committed to ensuring that each student receives what he or she individually needs to develop their full potential--and succeed.To help educators with what can at times be a difficult and challenging journey, Blankstein and Noguera frame the book with five guiding principles of Courageous Leadership: getting to your core, making organizational meaning, ensuring constancy and consistency of purpose, facing the facts and your fears, building sustainable relationships. They further emphasize that the practices are grounded in three important areas of research that are too often disregarded: (1) child development, (2) neuroscience, and (3) environmental influences on child development and learning. Ensuring that all students receive an education that cultivates their talents and potential is in all our common interest.

This volume brings together a range of scholars from Canada and the United States that present a variety of different lenses on issues of diversity, equity and social justice in urban schools. Their analyses highlight the richness and complexity of urban education, and illustrate how multiple theoretical and practical configurations of difference impact students, their families and communities, and facilitate or hinder the creation of inclusionary learning environments.

A practical guide that will inspire school, district, and teacher leaders to make substantive change and increase equitable student outcomes. Rooted in the values of equity, relationships, and listening, this luminous book helps reimagine what is possible in education today. Drawing from more than twenty years of experience in public schools, Shane Safir incorporates hands-on strategies and powerful stories to show us how to leverage one of the most vital tools of leadership: listening. As a Listening Leader you'll feel more confident in these core competencies: Cultivating relationships with stakeholders, addressing equity challenges in your organization, gathering student, staff, and parent perspectives as rich data on improvement, fostering a thriving culture of collaboration and innovation. The Listening Leader offers a much-needed leadership model to transform every facet of school life, and most importantly, to shape our schools into equitable places of learning.

This Open University Reader critically examines educational issues of equity, diversity and social justice and how they are socially, culturally, economically rooted in educational practice across diverse educational settings. It highlights research, practice and pedagogies that challenge and transform educational experiences to support equity, social justice and inclusivity. The critical perspectives and the examples explored offer a wealth of insights for those interested in the pursuit through education of equality, social justice and social inclusion for disadvantaged groups. Transforming Practice is essential reading for students seeking to address equity and diversity issues in all educational sectors, and for professionals with responsibility for enhancing educational achievement.

For students of color, school is often not a place to learn but a place of low expectations and failure. In urban schools with concentrations of poverty, often fewer than half the ninth graders leave with a high school diploma. These chapters offer insights into the concerns and issues students bring to the classroom. They also convey the importance for teachers, as they accept difference and develop cultural sensitivity, to see their students as individuals, and avoid generalizations. White and Black teachers, and teachers of different races and ethnicities, here provide the essential theoretical background, and share their experiences and the approaches they have developed, to create the conditions - in both urban and suburban settings - that enable minority students to succeed. Its empowering message applies to every teacher working in an educational setting that recognizes the empowerment that comes in celebrating diversity. Each chapter concludes with a set of questions for personal reflection or group discussion.