CP&I Newsletter #AISDequity
Cultural Proficiency & Inclusiveness- February 2020
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MESSAGE FROM DR. WARD, AUSTIN ISD RACE EQUITY ADMINISTRATIVE SUPERVISOR
Why the choice to offer AntiRacist professional learning in Austin ISD?
As experienced educators we recognize the field shifts and changes with new federal, state, district, school and community leadership. We recognize also there is one constant in our ability as educators to meet the individual needs of students of color. We choose to offer professional learning focused on race to disrupt the status quo view that professional learning is compliance, sit-and-get, and meaningless.
Critical Race Theory
Critical race theory (CRT) formed from a collective movement built on the work of activists in critical legal studies and radical feminism. CRT consists of recognition of the following:
Permanence of race and racism
Interest convergence
Social construction of race and the malleability of the concept
Whiteness as property
Intersectionality
Counter-storytelling
In this newsletter we're focusing on the first tenet of Critical Race Theory, "Permanence of race and racism." Each month we will focus on another tenet of CRT to inform our work as educators.
Permanence of Race and Racism
The permanence of race recognizes that all institutions, especially the educational institution, is impacted by race. Because race and its impacts are as normal as the air we breathe, we take a transformative approach of addressing it one professional learning session at a time. Historical data shows that Austin ISD is not the only school district that consistently produces disproportionate academic data for black and brown students. Put another way, if a child is black in Austin ISD they have a higher possibility of academic failure, being pushed out for discipline issues (often discretionary), labeled as emotionally disturbed or dropping out of school. A child who identifies as Mexican, hispanic, or Latinx has a higher chance of being labeled for special education services for speech, even if their first language is not English.The tenets of CRT are a central focus in the design and delivery of the CP&I Professional Learning series. As leaders of this series we choose to racialize our voices to bring attention to our everyday experiences and to model a level of comfort with a conversation that is often silenced in the daily decision-making in the work of our schools.
Reflection
Where do you see the permanence of race and racism in your daily life/work?
Austin ISD Office of Cultural Proficiency Job Postings
This position will oversee and supervise all aspects of the three-year U.S. Department of Justice Comprehensive School-Based Approach to Youth Violence and Victimization Program.
Employees in this position must be skilled in supporting the proactive equity-focused implementation of youth violence and victimization prevention, intervention and accountability in a middle and/or high school-based setting.
For more information and to apply, visit:
Restorative Practices Associate:
This position is responsible for designing and offering a wide range of academic and holistic support services for the children and families to include developing a restorative center on campus, developing campus protocols for referrals to the restorative center and facilitating staff professional learning in culturally responsive restorative practices.
For more information and to apply, visit:
How do I register to attend CP&I Professional Learning?
Austin ISD Staff
1) Search the session number in the HCP, or
2) To view all CP&I sessions in the HCP, search "cultural proficiency" and click "view all sections" under each of the three CP&I courses.
Community Members
We welcome community members to our professional learning sessions. If you are a community member interested in attending any of the CP&I sessions, please email cultural.proficiency@austinisd.org to receive an the EventBrite registration link.
No partial credit available. Please check the session times and plan accordingly.
CP&I PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
No partial credit available. Please check the session times and plan accordingly.
Cultural Proficiency: The 6th C
April 8th session #93133
Isolating Race (This is the prerequisite course for the rest of the sessions below.)
February 18th session #93123
Becoming an Antiracist Educator: Words Have Power
February 11th session #93124
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
It’s Not Discipline: Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices 101
February 13th session #93125
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
White Fragility:
Understanding Whiteness to Overcome Discomfort in Conversations About Race
February 20th session #93449
March 4th session #93127
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Connecting with Families: Exploring & Planning to Interrupt Implicit Bias & Stereotype Threat
February 27 session #93126
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Mindfulness and Unconscious Bias
April 2nd session #93130
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
If you've attended Isolating Race, check out the following sessions offered by Austin ISD's Mindfulness Specialist, James Butler:
Mindfulness 101/201: March 3rd & March 5th * Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
This session covers the basics of mindfulness with a focus on adult self-care and introducing the concept of mindfulness to students. Substitutes are paid for.
Mindfulness 301: March 4th * Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
This session is for folks who have a self-practice of mindfulness and have been implementing with students/staff for at least a year. Substitutes are paid for.
Please contact James Butler, Austin ISD's SEL Mindfulness Specialist, at james.butler@austinisd.org if you have any questions about the Mindfulness workshops.
A Conversation About Instructional Equity with Zaretta Hammond
"This is the vital equity work: students must comprehend what they’re reading, possess advanced decoding skills, have word wealth, and be able to command all of these literacy skills. Our social justice frame should prompt us to ask these questions: How are students code breakers, how are they text users, how are they text critics, and how are they meaning-makers? Our culturally responsive pedagogies arm us to build these dispositions and skills in our most vulnerable kids."
Learn more about instructional equity from Zaretta Hammond:
Ghosts In the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side
Friday, Feb 7, 2020, 10:30 AM
Belmont Hall- Room 328
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE RESTORATIVE PRACTICES
In Austin ISD our definition of Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices (CRRP) is: Creating a campus environment where students, parents, and staff nurture trusting relationships, are invited to share and be their authentic selves, and have a sense of belonging and connection in the campus community.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/creating-identity-safe-school-becki-cohn-vargas
The article states:
"An identity-safe school is a place where everyone feels physically and emotionally safe."
In the Austin ISD Theory of Change we see the same language:
To build capacity and empower teachers to design and facilitate highly engaging learning in a psychologically, physically, and emotionally safe environment where students collaborate, communicate, connect, create, think critically, and develop cultural proficiency so that all students are college and career ready.
So what does it take for you to share your authentic self in your school?
What structures, protocols, processes, and ways of being can foster a campus culture and climate that fulfills Austin ISD's Theory of Change?
The Theory of Change invites us to create identity-safe spaces for our students, families, and staff. What will you do to cultivate CRRP in Austin ISD?
Click the article below to read more about Fostering Identity Safety in School.
Teaching Tolerance Magazine: Spring 2020
"When it comes to presenting a full account of American experience, your average U.S. history or social studies textbook just isn’t cutting it. Stories about people of color and Indigenous peoples are often set outside the main narrative, literally pushed to margins or sidebars. But some social studies teachers are turning to an unusual source to re-center these histories: young readers’ editions of social justice books. Learn more about how educators are using this growing genre in this issue’s cover story, “The New YA.”
Read on for a look at why this year’s census is so crucial, how a group of Las Vegas moms is fighting hate in their school community, and how advocates are working to fix our broken school lunch system. Find these stories and more in the Spring 2020 issue of Teaching Tolerance, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an issue."
WHAT WE'RE READING
"What if everything you thought you knew about Black people generally, and educating Black children specifically, was based on BS (bad stats)? We often hear things like, “Black boys are a dying breed,” “There are more Black men in prison than college,” “Black children fail because single mothers raise them,” and “Black students don’t read.” In No BS, Ivory A. Toldson uses data analysis, anecdotes, and powerful commentary to dispel common myths and challenge conventional beliefs about educating Black children. With provocative, engaging, and at times humorous prose, Toldson teaches educators, parents, advocates, and students how to avoid BS, raise expectations, and create an educational agenda for Black children that is based on good data, thoughtful analysis, and compassion."
Zuri knows her hair is beautiful, but it has a mind of its own. It kinks, coils, and curls every which way. Mum always does Zuri's hair just the way she likes it - so when Daddy steps in to style it for an extra special occasion, he has a lot to learn. But he LOVES his Zuri, and he'll do anything to make her - and her hair - happy.
Tender and empowering, Hair Love is an ode to loving your natural hair - and a celebration of daddies and daughters everywhere."
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNw8V_Fkw28
Join #ClearTheAir on Twitter for a bookchat on Cutting School every Wednesday in February at 6:30pm.
Past CP&I Newsletters
January 2020 https://www.smore.com/3y6ex
December 2019 https://www.smore.com/5f2t9
November 2019 https://www.smore.com/n0x65
October 2019 https://www.smore.com/7te4p
September 2019 https://www.smore.com/7z9hk
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