Convergence in the Crisis: Educational Equity and Social Justice

 Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained. -Helen Keller

The coronavirus pandemic, like Hurricane Katrina and other national disasters, reveal and magnify everyday life or death racial and socioeconomic inequities. Perennial challenges experienced by our most systemically oppressed students and communities include limited (and lack of) access to life-giving services, supports, and interactions: timely communication from and with many systems in their home language, affordable health care, healthy food, stable and affordable housing, reliable transportation, physical and psychological safety, and access to the internet and computer technology. Educational leaders know better than many social sector leaders the daily impact of inequitable policies, practices and distribution of resources on the overall well-being of underserved staff and P-12 students.

Leaders of transformed and transforming school districts are becoming the strongest agents and advocates for social justice.

Nationwide quarantines of school age children, staff, and families have made clear to many people what educators and non-profit organizations have known for decades: Public school districts are too often the living evidence of unacceptable, persistent, and pervasive disparities in access to healthy food to rigorous academic instruction. Districts are, in fact, microcosms of the greater society comprised of bureaucratic systems with predictable access, empowerment, opportunities, and outcomes for the same underserved groups and communities.

How might this global crisis foster crucial local change to provide access and opportunity for all? School boards and superintendents across the country are being collaborative, resourceful, creative and communicative about the ways communities can address food insecurity and the basic needs of vulnerable communities during the crisis. The question is, "How might we radically change our P-12 schooling systems so that marginalized student groups will not be dependent on charity and at an educational disadvantage during a crisis of this magnitude in the future?"

Leading for Educational Equity and Social Justice

Educational equity means that each child receives what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential. Working towards equity in schools involves ensuring equally high outcomes for all participant in our educational system. https://nationalequityproject.org/resources/featured-resources/educational-equity-a-definition

Conscious educational leaders disrupt power dynamics and organizational culture to collaborate with adversely affected communities and organizations for equitable outcomes on a regular basis. Systemic change requires systems thinkers, systems thinking and collaboration.

Leading for educational equity, multi-system change, and ultimately social justice requires accountability and relentless engagement in three key behaviors: 1) Look to and act with people marginalized by systems, particularly the education system; 2) Partner with external organizations; 3) Collaborate with communities, agencies and companies.

1. Look to marginalized people to learn about how they are underserved. Who are the most vulnerable students and staff in our schools? Who and where are our students and staff who are unhoused and dependent on the public transportation system? What are the specific challenges of our students identified with cognitive and physical disabilities during this crisis? What is our implementation plan for consistently communicating with families and staff who speak languages other than English? What are our students and families who are immigrants saying about their lived experience in our schools? What needs to change in our daily interactions and operations-- during and beyond the crisis-- to guarantee, timely, culturally appropriate, and transparent communication?

2. Partner with families, faith communities, grassroots organizations, agencies, companies, and civic organizations. Many principals and teachers are aware of the neighborhoods and communities where food insecurity is prevalent and limited or no healthcare have been normalized for decades. In what ways can we help our system and other systems strive to normalize access to health care and healthy food throughout all communities for everyone year round? What would equity look like if some students were not entirely dependent on schools for daily healthy meals and medical attention? What would the non-profit organizations' programming look like if key systems were to change for greater support for systemically oppressed communities? What major systems need to change to better support the well-being of marginalized students, families, and communities?

3. Collaborate with communities and companies to ensure access to the internet and state of the art computer technology. For centuries, books, paper and writing utensils have been non-negotiable supports for learning and creativity. Computer technology and internet access are and have been essential for personalized learning that is key to the success of all students. How can educators lead the charge to ensure access to the internet and the necessary computer technology in all schools, neighborhoods, and homes?

How is our district providing ongoing professional development for all teachers at every level to support the most culturally appropriate and nimble use of computer technology to regularly communicate with families and to facilitate robust and rigorous campus instruction and distance learning? In what ways can this crisis help us mend broken institutional relationships with our communities and amend policies, processes, procedures and practices?

Re-imagining the Public School Learning Experience

In times of crisis, schools can be the nexus for social justice work and societal transformation by prioritizing the well-being of our most marginalized student groups. This requires a redesigning of learning experiences with new knowledge we have about the brain and new tools that have evolved over time to support and scaffold learning in more holistic and creative ways.

We have an opportunity to re-imagine the public school experience in the midst of crisis by asking and responding to key questions with students, families and communities:

1)How do we remain accountable for robust learning without a state-mandated standardized test? 2) What is the best way to use the technology for engagement for personalized learning? 3)How do we co-design learning experiences to ensure rigorous, culturally relevant/culturally sustaining and inclusive learning experiences that build upon the unique gifts, strengths and interests all humans possess? https://nationalequityproject.org/resources/featured-resources/educational-equity-a-definition

These questions and their responses are key to the way forward and through the ambiguity and confusion of the coronavirus pandemic and its meaning to "schooling" as we now know it. Most importantly, beginning the exploration of the future of P-12 education with an equity and social justice lens at the outset may prevent us from investing inordinate amounts of energy in replicating systems, structures and "traditional" inputs that give us predictable outcomes. We could actually begin with the end in mind: removing the predictability of success or failures that currently correlates with any social or cultural factor. https://nationalequityproject.org/resources/featured-resources/educational-equity-a-definition

Beyond the Coronavirus Crisis

Seeking opportunities to grow as learning organizations in the midst of the crisis may strengthen all school systems. Identifying and eliminating barriers to success for marginalized students is the beginning of systemic change. Re-imagining and redesigning learning experiences with students and families are the next steps. Most importantly, beyond the pandemic, we must consciously and collaboratively commit to addressing the centuries-old crises of educational equity and social justice for every student every day.

How has your school shown up for educational equity, access, and social justice before and during the coronavirus crisis? In what ways are educators in your district supporting teachers and staff as they seek to facilitate online learning? Email me at [email protected]