Racism exists everywhere, including in our schools.

Today’s post kicks off a series offering practical strategies for how we educators can confront it.

‘Amplify Student Voices’

Mary Rice-Boothe, Ed.D., joined The Leadership Academy in 2015 with more than 20 years of experience in education as a teacher, principal, principal coach, and curriculum designer. She currently serves as the executive director, curriculum development and equity. She is the author of Leading Within Systems of Inequity in Education: A Liberation Guide for Leaders of Color and can be found on social media @mriceboothe or by reading her newsletter:

Everyone has their own experiences talking about race and racism, which impacts their knowledge and ability to address it in the classroom. Given that fact, the approach needs to be mindful of the skill sets of the teacher/administrator, strategic as well as responsive to the needs of the students and families within the school-community. Below are seven strategies:

1. Start With Education and Awareness

• Data sharing: Present data that highlight disparities in student achievement, discipline, or access to advanced coursework across racial lines. Use these data to illustrate how race and racism may be influencing what happens in the classroom.
• Ongoing personalized learning experiences: Advocate professional development series focused on race, equity, and culturally responsive teaching. These workshops should be combined with book studies, discussion groups, and coaching so learning can be responsive, individualized, and continuous.

2. Amplify Student Voices

• Student panels or forums: Create opportunities for students to share their experiences with race and racism in school. Hearing directly from students can be a powerful motivator for educators and administrators to take action. Ensure these forums are conducted in a supportive environment where students feel safe to speak openly.
• Surveys and feedback: Conduct anonymous surveys to gather student feedback on their experiences related to race and racism in the classroom. Share the results with colleagues and administrators to highlight areas that need attention.

3. Connect to School Goals

• Align with school mission and values: Frame discussions about race and racism within the context of the school’s mission and values. Show how addressing these issues is essential for fulfilling the school’s commitment to equity, excellence, and preparing all students for success in a diverse world.
• Link to student achievement: Emphasize that addressing racial issues is not just a matter of social justice but also critical to improving student outcomes. Explain how culturally responsive teaching and an inclusive environment can enhance student engagement, motivation, and achievement.

4. Model Culturally Responsive Practices

• Lead by example: Demonstrate culturally responsive teaching practices in your own classroom and invite colleagues to observe. Share your experiences, successes, and challenges with implementing these practices. Modeling can be a powerful way to inspire others to take similar steps.
• Collaborate on lessons: Work with colleagues to develop lessons or units that are inclusive and reflective of diverse cultures and perspectives. Collaborative planning can help build buy-in and provide support for teachers who may be uncertain about how to approach these topics.

5. Advocate Systemic Change

• Policy review and recommendations: Advocate a review of school policies and practices to ensure they are equitable and do not perpetuate racial disparities. Suggest specific changes, such as revising discipline policies, ensuring diverse representation in curriculum materials, or implementing restorative justice practices.
• Create or join equity committees: If your school doesn’t already have one, propose the creation of an equity or diversity committee. This committee can lead ongoing efforts to address racial issues, monitor progress, and recommend actions to the administration.

6. Engage School Community

• Partner with families and community organizations: Work with families and local community organizations to address race and racism in the school. Community engagement can bring additional perspectives, resources, and support to your efforts.
• Host community events: Organize events that celebrate cultural diversity and promote understanding and inclusion. These events can raise awareness and build a sense of community around the school’s commitment to equity.

7. Hold Each Other Accountable

• Set clear goals and metrics: Work with colleagues and administrators to set specific, measurable goals for addressing racial issues in the classroom. Regularly review progress toward these goals and hold each other accountable for making meaningful changes.
• Peer observations and feedback: Encourage peer observations focused on culturally responsive teaching practices. Provide constructive feedback to help each other grow and improve in addressing racial issues in the classroom.

Conclusion

Raising awareness about the impact of race and racism in the classroom and encouraging action requires a multifaceted approach. It involves educating colleagues and administrators, amplifying student voices, and advocating systemic change. By modeling inclusive practices, aligning efforts with broader educational goals, and engaging with the community, educators can build a collective commitment to creating a more equitable and just learning environment for all students.

‘Help Educators Learn and Develop’

H. Richard Milner IV is Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning and the founding director of the Initiative for Race Research and Justice at Vanderbilt University. A past president of the American Educational Research Association, Milner was a high school English teacher, a substitute teacher, and a community college instructor in developmental studies. His latest book is The Race Card: Leading the Fight for Truth in America’s Schools:

Four effective strategies for making colleagues and administrators aware of how race and racism impact what is happening in the classroom are:

1. Naturally and Systematically Talk to and Learn With and From Students: Student voice and perspective are essential to shedding light on the role of race and racism in classrooms. Engaging with students both naturally (talking with them in the hallways, at lunch, on the playground, and so forth) in developmentally appropriate ways elucidates what happens intentionally and/or unintentionally through classroom practices. In natural conversation, educators should mention the word “race” (and or “racism”) to open the door for students to be honest and feel comfortable to share their honest views about what is and is not happening.

If the door is not opened for students to engage conversations about race and racism, they may not naturally talk about it because of how taboo discussing such issues have been. Of course, relationship building is essential for students to talk about racism, so educators should work to develop powerful relationships.

In addition, although educators may well feel comfortable talking to students about race and racism as they have developed trusting relationships with students, too rarely do schools (educators, school leaders, and so forth) develop systematic ways to probe how students are doing regarding race and racism. Developing systematic ways to study what is happening in classrooms can be educative for ways to address racism.

2. Help Educators Learn and Develop: Too often, educators are vilified for their inability to understand and disrupt racism without helping them gain necessary tools of transformation. As mentioned, it is important for school leaders to listen to students. As well, it is necessary for school leaders to listen to teachers and other educators in the context to develop relevant, responsive, ongoing, opportunity-centered, and transformative professional learning opportunities centered specifically on race, racism, and their intersections.

The goal of professional development must be to help all educators in the context get better about practices and policies committed to racial justice. I have found that professional learning and development should center race and racism directly tied to curriculum, instruction, assessment, psychological health, and relationships. Otherwise, the sessions can be too superficial to make a real difference in classrooms with students.

3. Study Research About Anti-Racist Practices and Focus on Data: To disrupt racism in substantive ways, educators must recenter themselves in what we know in research about teaching and race. Sadly, teachers may not have time to read and study when they leave their education programs. However, ongoing study is necessary to disrupt racism and give young people of color a fighting chance at success.

In addition to studying and knowing the literature, educators must collect data within their classroom. What patterns and themes are they observing, for instance, among different racial groups? What can be done to address those areas of challenge and concern among those students? How can educators build partnerships with families and communities to support learning and development among those students who may be struggling?

4. Push Racial Justice From one Classroom to all: Educators throughout all schools should be committed to racial justice. How can any educator or anyone in a democracy reject the fundamental principle of justice for all? Rather than focusing solely on what a classroom teacher can do, schools need to commit to building a collective ethos of racial justice throughout the entire schools.

‘Educators Must Reflect’

Angela M. Ward, Ph.D., is a veteran anti-racist educator with over 27 of experience in the field and a Public Voice Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin with the OpEd Project. Follow her @2WardEquity on Instagram, Threads & Twitter (X):

Action from educators looks like a recognition that schools essentially operate in a deficit space. Race and racism exacerbate that reality, and educators have to be aware of how the decisions they make look, sound, and feel to colleagues, students, and families.

Deficit terms like “limited English proficient,” “remediation,” “achievement gap,” “adequate yearly progress,” and “at risk” are used to label and describe functions that point to some shortage, inadequacy, lack of or failure to perform within the parameters set by schools and districts for all students.

I provide some insight into the actions and awareness needed to address race and racism in my four-part definition of anti-racism.

Anti-racism is the purposeful act of actively addressing systemic racism and systemic inequities personally, professionally, and socially. Anti-racist educators are conscious and aware of their personal bias, their worldview, and how they are privileged or marginalized racially. An educator is anti-racist when they actively disrupt systemic racism and inequities from their own sphere of influence and they partner with other anti-racist educators to enact collective disruption of institutional racism and systemic inequities. (Ward, 2019)

Looking at my definition in four parts can help educators understand the journey to address racism in their classroom.

First educators must act. 1. Anti-racism is the purposeful act of actively addressing systemic racism and systemic inequities personally, professionally, and socially.

Knowledge that schools were created solely for the education of elite white males is a first step to uncover effective awareness strategies to address the impact of race and racism in the classroom. To actively address systemic racism and inequities, teachers and administrators must understand the origins of schools.

Also, that impacts from centuries of denial of education to people based on race is not erased because we live in a modern era. Teachers and administrators must act with purpose to address barriers to the success of people different from them based on race, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, religion …

If you are using deficit terms like the ones above in your daily work and you believe the past has no impact on the classroom, you must do your own research, understand the facts about schools and their original intended purpose. Then, acknowledge your lived experience, engage multiple perspectives socially, and apply that knowledge to decisionmaking.

To be effective, educators must reflect. 2: Anti-racist educators are conscious and aware of their personal bias, their worldview, and how they are privileged or marginalized racially.

Awareness feels like reflection rather than defensiveness when a person expresses how the school or you are racist toward them. It is a gift for a person to share how they feel about you and your school.

You have the strategies to calm down and were likely taught multiple ways to invite someone into a conversation when they are upset. Use those strategies; do not discount that person as unreasonable. Further, engage in ongoing reflection to understand impact vs. intent when your personal social identities (race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation …) are different from the social identities of people you interact with.

Disruption is necessary to actively address racism in schools. 3. An educator is anti-racist when they actively disrupt systemic racism and inequities from their own sphere of influence.

Key to disruption is reflection and collaboration. Before acting, have a plan of action. Make sure that plan is tied to your personal knowledge and sphere of influence. Act in spaces and places where you have relationships, knowledge, and history.

Collaborate with other educators who are on a journey to disrupt inequities 4. and then partner with other anti-racist educators to enact collective disruption of institutional racism and systemic inequities.

The impact of race and racism on the classroom is so great that educators do not have the time to prove to or convince someone that racism is an issue to address. The most effective strategy is to act in community with other anti-racist people to engage multiple perspectives and lived experiences. Acting in reciprocal relationships with like-minded people is a required strategy to act on the impacts of race and racism in the classroom.

Thanks to Mary, Richard, and Angela for contributing their thoughts!

Today’s post answered this question:

What are the most effective strategies for making colleagues and administrators aware of how race and racism impact what is happening in the classroom and then getting them to take action to do something about it?

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@epe.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

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