|
|
June 2020
#EdEquityVA Monthly Newsletter
|
|
|
This month's issue of the #EdEquityVA Newsletter focuses on Addressing Racial Trauma in Education.
Don't ever miss a newsletter, join our mailing list here.
|
|
From the Desk of VDOE's Equity Director |
|
|
Dear Equity Community,
Like many of you, we too are reeling from the recent acts of violence resulting in the devastating deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks. The subsequent protests, demonstrations, and marches have rocked Virginia and the nation to its core. This crucial turning point creates space and opportunity for us to amplify anti-racism and equity centered strategies. Together, we can and must be active participants in the movement to eradicate racism from our public education system and the Commonwealth.
The Office of Equity and Community Engagement recognizes that the work of equity, justice, and anti-racism begins with introspection within our communities. As educators we have an obligation to leverage our unique proximity to young people to articulate a clear commitment to addressing the racial trauma Black students are experiencing. It is our duty to amplify the voices of racialized communities and provide support to students and families impacted by racism.
As our students return to formal instruction in the fall, meeting these needs must be prioritized. It is my hope that the resources included in this edition of the #EdEquityVA newsletter supports the critical conversations you are leading in your communities. Additionally, we are in the early stages of planning an Anti-racism Educator Virtual Summit for later this summer. Registration details will be provided in our next newsletter edition.
In closing, I want to share a recent opinion piece published in The 74, “Black Lives Matter and Black Education Matters Because Freedom Matters. Only When Black Folks Are Safe to Both Learn and Live Will America Be Free.” In this piece, Derrell Bradford states;
“If you think about race and education and policing as intertwined, there is also no moment when you do not see how they conspire for the betterment or detriment of the country’s children; and, for much of my adult life, the country’s black children. The connections aren’t ones of convenience or opportunity; they are realizations born of a life of observation. And at this moment, the overlap could not be clearer. black Lives Matter activists shout that all lives can not matter until black lives do; this call to action necessitates a specific look at how policing happens in black communities and to black people . . . It demands sympathy and, most importantly, it must respect the right to exist — free and equal — of every black person. You cannot solve a problem of black lives with an all-lives solution.”
Bradford goes further contending that;
“We can’t have an “all education matters” approach to the challenges of Black education. One that doesn’t require states or districts to meet the needs of kids who, too, are fighting to be free and equal, but instead demands that they conform to systems that have not historically worked for them in the name of the public good. All education cannot matter until black education does.”
As I reflect on Bradford’s essay, I ask that you join with me in challenging yourselves to contemplate what a “Black education matters” movement in your school community might look like. What competencies do Virginia educators need to meet the unique needs of Black students experiencing racial trauma? What are the actions we can take today to ensure that we are prepared to meet these needs when schools reopen? I look forward to engaging with the Virginia education community in these critical conversations.
Sincerely,
Leah Dozier Walker, Director
Office of Equity and Community Engagement, VDOE
To contact the Office of Equity and Community Engagement for resources or support, email EdEquityVA@doe.virginia.gov.
|
|
From the Desk of Superintendent Lane:
Working Together to Fight Inequality
|
|
|
Dear Families, Educators, and Stakeholders,
As the state agency in charge of our public schools in Virginia, we have determined that it is our responsibility to maximize the potential of every student in Virginia. But for far too long, students in our communities of color and especially African-American students have faced systemic racism in our public schools and in our broader community. It is our moral duty to be an organization that fights for every child in our schools, but especially for the students where our system has failed. The death of George Floyd and the protests of this past weekend have left me reflecting on how we, as an organization, can re-double, redefine, and strengthen our efforts to eradicate racism from our public schools and to make an impact on the broader community. School is the place, if nowhere else, that we can raise a generation of students committed to each other to ensure equality and equity for every member of our society.
We have begun the process in the leadership of our agency to build cultural competency and trainings that can impact the broader education community, but that alone will not be enough. We must look at our policies, regulations, standards, resources, accountabilities, and all tools available to us to hold ourselves and our school communities accountable to ensuring that race cannot be a predictor of student success and thus, that achievement gaps are eliminated from our schools permanently.
I am committed to working with our school communities to eradicate systemic racism from Virginia's public schools and our larger communities. School leaders play a unique role in these conversations with our children, and so we must work to seek culturally responsive practices for all of our educators. The fear and rage expressed by protesters about police brutality and racial injustices faced by African-Americans is a reminder that we all have more work to do.
I hope you will join me in standing with anyone in our agency, local divisions or those working in our communities to fight racial injustice in our society and to eradicate racism from our schools. In the coming weeks, I will engage our leadership team to re-double and recommit to our mission to ensure that we can be the beacon of hope and certainty to make a difference in the lives of our students so that this next generation can grow in a future society free of systemic racism, especially in our schools.
I know many of you are hurt and struggling with the recent events, and I recognize that this is not an isolated incident but one that shows the harsh reality of what our African-American community faces on a daily basis. Please know that I'm here to be an ally and accomplice in supporting you, listening and learning from you, but especially want to be here for you if you need anything. Please know that all of you are on my mind as we all find ways to heal.
Sincerely,
James F. Lane, Superintendent of Public Instruction
|
|
Resources for Addressing Racial Trauma |
|
 The following text is adapted from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
Traumatic events that occur as a result of witnessing or experiencing racism, discrimination, or structural prejudice (also known as institutional racism) can have a profound impact on the mental health of students exposed to these events. Racial trauma, also known as race-based traumatic stress, refers to the stressful impact or emotional pain of one’s experience with racism and discrimination (Carter, 2007).
Racial trauma contributes to systemic challenges faced by student groups who have experienced historical trauma, including Black and Latinx students, and negatively impacts educational outcomes (Lebron et al.,2015). For example, according to VDOE data, racial disparities persist in our education system: youth of color have disproportionately lower access to preschool, higher rates of suspension from preschool onward, and limited access to educational opportunity as compared to their white counterparts.
The racial achievement gap, which refers to disparities in test scores, graduation rates, and other success metrics, reflects the systemic impact of historical trauma and ongoing impact of racial trauma on communities of color, therefore educators have a duty to address it.
Strategies for addressing racial trauma should center on affirming and validating individuals experiencing traumatic stress reactions (Comas-Diaz, 2016). This is most effective when clearly identifying racism as a contributor to distress and supporting student’s constructive expression of feelings and healthy self-development (Hardy, 2013).
The following resources are meant to support stakeholders in their efforts to directly address racial trauma:
Resources for Educators
Resources for Students
Resources for Parents
Organizations to Follow
-
ADL: Anti-bias resources for educators, parents, and families
-
EduColor: A place where the voices of public school advocates of color on educational equity and justice are elevated
-
Project Lit Community: Literacy movement empowering students, teachers, readers, and leaders to bring diverse perspectives into literature in schools
-
Teaching Tolerance: Free resources for schools and educators to help educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy
|
|
Governor Northam Announces Plans for Phased Reopening of PreK-12 Schools |
|
|
Governor Ralph Northam announced a phased approach that allows Virginia schools to slowly resume in-person classes for summer school and the coming academic year. The K-12 phased reopening plan was developed by the Office of the Secretary of Education, Virginia Department of Health, and the Virginia Department of Education and is informed by guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
All PreK-12 schools in Virginia will be required to deliver new instruction to students for the 2020-2021 academic year, regardless of the operational status of school buildings. The PreK-12 guidance is aligned with the phases outlined in the Forward Virginia blueprint and provides opportunities for school divisions to begin offering in-person instruction to specific student groups.
The opportunities for in-person instruction in each phase are as follows:
-
Phase One: special education programs and child care for working families
-
Phase Two: Phase One plus preschool through third grade students, English learners, and summer camps in school buildings
-
Phase Three: all students may receive in-person instruction as can be accommodated with strict social distancing measures in place, which may require alternative schedules that blend in-person and remote learning for students
-
Beyond Phase Three: divisions will resume “new-normal” operations under future guidance.
Detailed information on each phase can be found in the guidance document available here. For the full news release, click here.
|
|
VDOE Announces Return to School (R2S) Guidance
Aid to Support Schools in Planning for a Return to In-person Instruction and Activities
|
|
|
Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane issued guidance to assist Virginia’s 132 school divisions as they implement the phased approach to reopening schools announced by Governor Ralph Northam. The guidance document, “Recover, Redesign, Restart 2020,” includes recommendations to protect the health and well-being of students, and respond to the impact of COVID-19 on learning, during each of the three phases of the governor’s reopening plan.
The guidance combines the recommendations of four advisory committees convened by the Virginia Department of Education. Hundreds of classroom teachers, instructional specialists, parents, school counselors, special educators, division superintendents, and school division operations and facilities managers from across the commonwealth supported the work of the committees, which met virtually in April and May.
To view the full report, click here. To read the Return to School recovery task Force Report Executive Summary, see page 102.
|
|
Equity Considerations for Returning to School |
|
|
As we transition from a focus on continuity of learning amid current extended school closures, to return to school recovery planning, equity must remain at the center of our work.
Ten Return to School Equity Strategies
-
Center Equity - Evaluate whether your plan will improve or
worsen disparities between student groups and establish measurable
equity goals that are informed by your diagnostic data. Consider
conducting a Return to School Planning Equity Audit (see page 132 of the Recover, Redesign, Restart 2020 Guidance Document).
-
Reflect - Establish processes and accountability levers to facilitate equitable implementation of your plan and mitigate unintended disparate impacts and consequences. Monitor the impact of your plan on underserved groups, including students of color, multilingual students (ELs), students experiencing poverty and homelessness.
-
Strengthen Relationships - Ensure family engagement, student support, instructional approaches, assignments and learning opportunities are culturally relevant and culturally responsive. Consider implementing protocols to ensure that strategies and initiatives have been evaluated through a cultural and economic competency lens.
-
Outreach - Devote adequate resources to outreach, communication, and family engagement, in multiple languages and through multiple channels to ensure that the most vulnerable families have access to information and understand expectations of students. Identify community partners and stakeholders and empower them with information in support of your communication efforts.
-
Prioritize - Prioritize access to learning loss recovery programs/interventions for vulnerable students who are disproportionately impacted by learning loss during school closures. Before mandating participation and attendance in these programs, evaluate unintended consequences and disparate impact. (i.e. students in low-income families, students whose families have been impacted by unemployment, those whose parents are essential workers, students with disabilities who have struggled to get services remotely, students whose families have been disconnected from school during the school closure, and English learners).
-
Mitigate - Identify and mitigate barriers to student participation for reasons outside of the students control (i.e., caring for younger children, housing instability, health concerns, transportation, adult support).
-
Reframe - Examine discipline/student code of conduct policies to mitigate against bias and embed safeguards to evaluate student trauma manifesting through behaviors. This is especially important for marginalized students groups disproportionately impacted by exclusionary discipline policies.
-
Support Staff - Provide professional development and instructional resources to school leaders and teachers related to “student engagement” and “cultural responsiveness” to support their delivery of remote and virtual distance learning instruction. Particular emphasis should be placed on facilitating understanding of the impacts of social determinants of health, poverty, unemployment, and cultural values on student learning post COVID closures.
-
Close the Distance - Access to devices and the internet alone are not sufficient to ensure delivery of high quality distance learning that is available and engaging to all students. Prepare multiple delivery modes for remote learning, avoid an over reliance on technology to facilitate student engagement in learning, and ensure adequate support for families to be partners in student learning.
-
Double Down - Now is the time to double down on equity investments. Examine the use of federal stimulus (CARES Act) funding to address equity gaps (small class size, technology, access to early learning). Prioritize funding to meet the needs of English Learners, students with disabilities, undocumented students, minoritized and marginalized students and students living in poverty.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to The Office of Equity and Community Engagement via email at EdEquityVa@doe.virginia.gov for assistance and support. We are here for you and look forward to supporting you in any way that we can.
|
|
Announcing the Relaunch of the 2020 #EdEquityVA Webinar Series |
|
|
As a result of the COVID-19 school closures that began on March 23, 2020, all remaining #EdEquityVA webinars scheduled for 2020 were postponed as of April 2020. As promised, a new, updated schedule of webinars has been released.
The Virginia Department of Education offers our monthly #EdEquityVA webinar series to provide educators with professional learning opportunities aimed at advancing education equity in Virginia schools.
Upcoming #EdEquityVA Webinar
Culturally Relevant Remote Instruction: Strategies to Support Culturally Relevant Teaching in Remote Settings
- Presented in Partnership with Discovery Education
- June 23, 2020 from 3:00-4:30 PM
Sign up for the June 23rd webinar here.
For the full 2020 schedule and the most up-to-date information about the #EdEquityVA Webinar Series please visit the Virginia is for Learners website.
|
|
Tools You Can Use
General Equity Resources, Guides, and Webinars
|
|
|
REMINDER:
Now Accepting Nominations for the
Mary Peake Award for Excellence in Education Equity
|
|
|
The Virginia Department of Education has launched a statewide award that will recognize individuals and organizations making significant contributions to advancing educational equity. Nominations for The Mary Peake Award for Excellence in Education Equity are now being accepted. Please consider nominating an educator, policy maker, education advocacy group, or stakeholder organization whose service and leadership is impacting equity outcomes in the state.
All nomination materials must be submitted online by
July 1, 2020 by 5:00 PM EST.
For more information about the nomination process and selection criteria, visit the Virginia is for Learners website.
For direct access to the nomination form, click here.
|
|
|
|
|
