Resource Guide – Developing Cultures of Belonging in Intentionally Diverse Classrooms
In this Community of Practice facilitated by RootsConnectED, participants gained a shared understanding and deepened mindset around developing cultures of belonging for students; dive deep into 4 elements of culture building:
1) norm setting
2) community building approaches
3) identity work
4) inclusion
through examples, reflection, questions, and shared experiences, and; put aspects of culture into practice and record findings, barriers, and capture best practices.
Resource Guide – Facilitating for Equity
In this Community of Practice facilitated by Embracing Equity, participants developed 5 competencies that distill the essence of our best facilitation practices:
1) Developing a Critical Consciousness
2) Engaging in Collaborative Co-Conspiratorship
3) Cultivating Brave Learning Spaces
4) Practicing Equitable Communication
5) Embodying Compassionate Accountability
Centering Student Voice: Co-Designing Whole Child Formative Assessment Tools Alongside Black and Latin Learners
Assessment for Good will develop asset-based formative assessment tools to eradicate the persistent gap in opportunity experienced by Black and Latinx learners, aged 8-13, in classrooms across the US.
Through achieving transformational improvements in how we understand and support wellbeing, AFG seeks to reduce negative and segregated learning experiences, improve educator decision-making, and improve learner outcomes across academic, emotional, and social domains.
Developing Cultures of Belonging in Intentionally Diverse Classrooms
One of the most fundamental aspects of having an intentionally diverse school is to create classrooms where children are honored and seen for who they are. This doesn’t happen by accident but instead by intentional planning, action and reflection around 4 core elements of culture building with an anti-bias lens. In this CoP, participants will:
gain a shared understanding and deepened mindset around developing cultures of belonging for students;
dive deep into 4 elements of culture building: norm setting, community building approaches, identity work, and inclusion through examples, reflection, questions, and shared experiences, and;
put aspects of culture into practice and record findings, barriers, and capture best practices.
Our time together will conclude with a toolkit of best practices highlighting the 4 elements of culture building and artifacts that show those elements in practice. Additionally, there will be space for ongoing personal reflection and assessment and identification of response to barriers.
Level Up Your Facilitation Practice: Facilitating for Equity
In this Facilitating for Equity community of practice, you will develop 5 competencies that distill the essence of our best facilitation practices: 1) Developing a Critical Consciousness, 2) Engaging in Collaborative Co-Conspiratorship, 3) Cultivating Brave Learning Spaces, 4) Practicing Equitable Communication and 5) Embodying Compassionate Accountability
Promote the Promise: Becoming Advocacy-Ready
In the next 18 months, are you looking to activate your school’s community to secure support or influence? Join your fellow schools and national leaders as you access tools, training, and community that will strengthen your advocacy efforts. Together we will set you on a path to be action-ready and an active advocate for your school, students, and community.
Join this CoP if your school is
-preparing for renewal or other authorizer activities or
-engaging with public institutions or leaders or
-part of a larger coalition pursuing DCSC policy issues like open enrollment, weighted lotteries, and school-based transportation funding.
This CoP will prepare you and support you in developing a power orientation for your community, identifying an important opportunity for advocacy, clarifying your outcomes and targets, and building and beginning to implement an advocacy action campaign. It’s time you and your community leverage your assets to influence public institutions and their decisions and resources.
Resource Guide – Beyond the Basics: Transforming Literacy Instruction
Beyond the Basics: Transforming Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners and Students of Color is a groundbreaking professional development series designed to empower educators to create more inclusive and equitable learning environments for diverse student populations. By exploring strategies and best practices tailored for English Language Learners and students of color, this series aims to drive transformative change in literacy instruction in Title 1 schools.
Resource Guide – Level Up Your Facilitation Practice: Facilitating for Equity
Facilitation is the art of leading people through processes towards agreed-upon objectives in a manner that encourages participation, ownership & creativity by all those involved.”” – David Sibbet, Principles of Facilitation
Facilitating for Equity transforms teachers, leaders, & education professionals into child & human rights activists. Effective DEI facilitation requires a deep theoretical knowledge of inequity & oppression, a developed self-awareness of one’s own racial & social identities, an understanding of the myriad experiences & identities participants bring, & strong communication & conflict resolution skills.
In this Facilitating for Equity community of practice, you will develop 5 competencies that distill the essence of our best facilitation practices:
Developing a Critical Consciousness
Engaging in Collaborative Co-Conspiratorship
Cultivating Brave Learning Spaces
Practicing Equitable Communication
Embodying Compassionate Accountability
Our facilitation model addresses antiracism head on, beginning with personal healing while evolving into a collective commitment to building an antiracist ecosystem. Grounded in liberatory education for learners of all ages, we walk hand-in-hand with facilitators to establish a reflective, action-driven foundation. These skills & practices are imperative as education leaders work to create affirming, inclusive, & equitable learning environments for all students and especially marginalized students.
Resource Guide – Advocating for Your School, Students, and a Diverse and Brighter Future
Through DCSC’s newly formed Advocacy CoP, schools learned about the basic tenets of advocacy, developed an advocacy mindset, and crafted an advocacy strategy for an upcoming opportunity that impacts their school, e.g., renewal. Leaders engaged with case studies from inside and outside the coalition, national experts with a history of successful advocacy efforts, and ongoing coaching during their implementation phase. Schools designed and implemented an advocacy strategy during this CoP. Schools are now commited to a their advocacy strategy such as a renewal or a state vote on education funding.
Resource Guide – Disrupting General Education to Improve Special Education
When leaders design systems with learner variability at the center, all students benefit. This CoP aimed to ensure leaders can name the criteria for inclusive school-wide systems, specifically as it relates to learner variability, and evaluate their existing vision and systems through this lens. Leaders walked away with a framework for inclusive schools and an analysis of their own systems and a set of concrete action steps needed to improve their systems.
