voices from the field: leadership, equity and social justice 2015 minnesota school psychologists...
TRANSCRIPT
Voices From The Field:
Leadership, Equity and Social Justice
2015 Minnesota School Psychologists Association Mid-winter Conference
Goal
Promote the role of the school psychologist to provide Leadership on Equity and Social Justice/Advocacy issues for the populations they serve with emphasis on the needs of under-represented populations.
Equity
Equal opportunity with attention to equal outcomes for all students.
With pressures on schools to meet performance standards, students with challenges (or those who are different from the “mainstream”) are often placed in educational paths that lower expectations.
We can not accept the normalization of low expectations
Raising Expectations
One method of supporting students and their caregivers is to transition from deficit based models to strengths-based models.
Strength-based models recognize that the student has capabilities and that the family/caregivers have important perspectives to share.
Resiliency
Strength comes early indigenous institutions, not through lectures but through experience: customs, habits and practice. The primary lesson learned is and was that knowledge and understanding comes from our relatives, the other “persons” or “beings” we have relationships with and depend upon in order to live. And it is through these relationships, physical and psychological, indeed spiritual, that human beings begin to understand who, why and even to some degree what we are. (p.33, Deloria and Wildcat, 2001).
Equity Literacy (Gorski, 2013)
1. The right to equitable educational opportunity.2. Poverty and class are intersectional in nature.3. Poor people are diverse.4. What we believe, including our biases and prejudices, about people in
poverty informs how we teach and relate to people in poverty5.We cannot understand the relationship between poverty and education
without understanding biases and inequities experienced by people in poverty.
6. Test scores are inadequate measures of equity.7. Class disparities in education are the result of inequities nor the result of
cultures.8. Equitable educators adopt a resiliency rather than a deficit view of low
income students and families.9. Strategies for bolstering school engagement and learning must be based
on evidence for what works10).The inalienable right to equitable educational opportunity includes the
right to high expectations, higher-order pedagogies and engaging curricula.
Factors More Likely to be Found With Students From Diverse Backgrounds
Less Support at home
Lower Literacy Skills
Labeled in Ways that reinforce problem behavior (troublemaker)
Behavior masks academic challenges (teams get caught up in the behavior
Require direct instruction on ways to be resilient (raising expectations!!!)
Caregiving Roles/Expectations Differ Across Cultures
Definitions of key concepts differ across cultures:
Meaning of Illness
Values and Attitudes
Who is Decision-maker
View of “professionals” and outsider help
Coping Mechanisms
Definitions of Acceptable Behaviors
What is a family
Style and preferred methods of communication
Culture Impacts:
Parenting and child rearing
Body Language
Communication
Perception of Time
Help seeking behaviors
Worldview
Benefits of a Diverse Setting
Inclusion
Interaction among diverse people to promote the educational growth of all
Promotes mutual respect, understanding, and cross-cultural understanding
Prepares students to live and work in a competitive global economy
Potentially Culturally Biased Assumptions
Normal behavior is universal and expectations apply to all cultures in the same manner
Independence is the goal, dependance is not
Historical background is irrelevant to immediate issues (don’t dwell in the past).
Self-Appraisal
Thinking of your school or setting
(1) Is there a profile of students who are more likely to be referred based on race, behaviors, social class, neighborhood, culture or language?
(2) Does your school or program have a plan in place to address needs?
(3) What is the degree of connectedness to caregivers (all caregivers from different perspectives engaged, or some not engaged?)
Developing a system of support
Review Academic Data
Referral Rates
Test Scores
Attendance Patterns
Discipline Referrals
What groups make the most use of resources (staff time, administrator time, supervision and support needs time)?
All Disaggregated by Race, SES, Gender and Teacher
Closely Monitor Discipline Disparities
Which students are most frequently disciplined (race, age, gender, class)
What is the level of academic profile of students who are disciplined?
What strategies are in place to minimize discipline referrals (classroom and school-wide level)
Are practices effective?
Are pro-social behaviors taught, reinforced, honored?
Assess the Culture of the School
Is the mission of the school expressed to everyone and understood by everyone (Honestly, when was the last time you read the school’s mission statement?)
How are relationships between students and adults in school promoted and maintained?
How are relationships between school staff and caregivers promoted and maintained?
Self-Appraisal
What will it take for your school to connect with students and caregivers who come from diverse backgrounds or under-represented groups?
Promote Success
Teach study skills
Teach problem solving skills
Teach note taking skills
Provide examples of end products
Link current activities to future skills
Supporting The Caregiver Offers Benefits
Engagement/collaboration as a team member consistent with public law
They become role models for change
Enhances their sense of purpose and meaning
Utilizes out of school resources to help the child
Leadership
Model the WayCreate a Shared VisionChallenge racism, injustice and bigotryEnable others to act by multiplying effortsEncourage the hearts of all on the journey to move equity forward
Leading From the Middle/Place