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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
Practical ways and tools for school leaders to operationalize diversity, equity, and inclusion What Goes Unspoken is a must-have guide for any school or educational systems leader looking to comprehend and put into play an effective, equity-centered plan that champions students, teachers, and staff. Moving beyond the abundant resources that focus on DEI theories, author Krystal Hardy Allen shows leaders and administrators how to concretely center DEI within both practices and policies, as well as how to do the interpersonal work of becoming a self-aware and equity-focused leader. With these resources, you'll learn how to ensure that DEI is embedded in your strategic planning to create schools and education organizations that are transformative, inclusive, and equitable for both children and adults. Focusing on ten specific domains of school leadership and district operations--including school board governance, finance, community engagement, instruction, school culture, and more--this book shows you exactly how to shift from theory to action. Instead of investing thousands of dollars in trainings and initiatives that are often piecemeal, abstract, or at times ineffective, it's essential that that leaders learn practical steps to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion at the district, school, and classroom levels. Drawing on her own school leadership and international educational consultant experience, Allen teaches you to: * Better understand your role as a leader within your school or district's DEI work and how the intrapersonal work you do influences your decisions * Prioritize an equity-informed view, policies, and practices within different areas of teacher development, school operations and finance, parent engagement, student culture, school board governance, marketing and branding, and more * Clarify the relationship between DEI and your schools' or district's mission, vision, values, and goals * Build an effective strategic plan at the school or district level that provides both guidance and accountability to your school or district's DEI journey In the current cultural and sociopolitical climate, What Goes Unspoken is a must-read for leaders and administrators of public and private schools, as well as district personnel and educational leadership training programs.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
PART One: Getting Started
CHAPTER 1: Establishing a Shared Language and Vision
DIVERSITY
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
INCLUSION
EQUITY
RECAP
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
CHAPTER 2: Looking in the Mirror
PEELING BACK THE LAYERS OF MINDSETS
WHAT ARE YOUR MOTIVES AND INTENTIONS?
UNPACKING YOUR SOCIALIZATION
REFLECTION QUESTION
UNLEARNING THROUGH CONTINUOUS LEARNING AND HEALING
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
PART Two: Operationalizing DEI Within Your School or District
CHAPTER 3: Organizational Clarity and Commitment
CASE STUDY: ISIDORE NEWMAN
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
CASE STUDY: LYNBROOK
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
SAMPLE FRAMEWORKS
CASE STUDY: REGION X EQUITY ASSISTANCE CENTER AT EDUCATION NORTHWEST
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
FINDING A FRAMEWORK YOU CAN LEVERAGE
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
SAMPLE NEXT STEPS
CHAPTER 4: School Board Governance
TWO DIRECTIONS OF THOUGHT
SAMPLE FRAMEWORK: NSBA
SAMPLE FRAMEWORK: TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS
ADDITIONAL TOOLS
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
CASE STUDY: UPPER ARLINGTON SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 5: Organizational Leadership and Management
SAMPLE FRAMEWORK
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
SAMPLE NEXT STEPS
CHAPTER 6: Human Resources (HR)
CASE STUDY: PRE‐ AND POST‐KATRINA NEW ORLEANS
SAMPLE FRAMEWORK: SUPPORTING TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES
REFLECTION QUESTION
SAMPLE FRAMEWORK: REDUCING INTERVIEW BIAS
REFLECTION QUESTION
CASE STUDY: MINNEAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS
REFLECTION QUESTION
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
SAMPLE NEXT STEPS
CHAPTER 7: Teaching and Learning (Instruction)
SAMPLE FRAMEWORKS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
ADDITIONAL TOOLS
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
SAMPLE NEXT STEPS
CHAPTER 8: Student Culture and Climate
SAMPLE FRAMEWORK
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
SAMPLE NEXT STEPS
CHAPTER 9: Operations and Finance
SAMPLE FRAMEWORK
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
SAMPLE NEXT STEPS
CHAPTER 10: Family and Community Engagement
SAMPLE FRAMEWORKS
PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE YOUR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT EFFORTS
CONSIDERATIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
GUIDING QUESTIONS
SAMPLE ACTION ITEMS
CHAPTER 11: Marketing, Branding, and Communications
GUIDING QUESTIONS
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
SAMPLE ACTION ITEMS
PART Three: Looking Ahead
CHAPTER 12: Where to Go from Here
CHAPTER 13: Tools You Can Leverage
ABILITY AND EXCEPTIONALITY
DIGITAL LITERACY
RACE AND ETHNICITY
FAITH AND RELIGION
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
GENDER
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
Key Terms: A DEI Glossary
References
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1.1 Social identity wheel.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
Begin Reading
Key Terms: A DEI Glossary
References
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
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PRAISE FOR WHAT GOES UNSPOKEN
“Krystal Hardy Allen's book, What Goes Unspoken, is a must‐read! She goes beyond theory into showing school leaders how to operationalize one of the most critical aspects of any school's success—diversity, equity, and inclusion. Principals and heads of school will not only learn how to do self‐work, but they will also be able to measure their school's DEI efforts and help usher in checks and balances that foster engagement, sense of belonging, and the necessary environment for students, teachers, and staff to thrive.”
—Janice K. Jackson, EdD, chief executive officer, Hope Chicago. Former Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools.
“Diversity and equity are critical components in creating an inclusive and welcoming environment in any organization or community. Feeling accepted, valued, and recognized as part of the community is a basic need for all humans. What Goes Unspoken guides educational organizations as they begin to understand how to systematically create a culture of acceptance, empathy, and opportunities for all.”
—Geri Gillespy, EdD, education industry executive, StraightUpEDU
What Goes Unspoken
How School Leaders Address DEI Beyond Race
KRYSTAL HARDY ALLEN
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ISBN 9781394163182 (Paperback)ISBN 9781394163199 (ePDF)ISBN 9781394163205 (ePUB)
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © melitas/ShutterstockAuthor Photo: © Michael Moorer
I dedicate this book to my grandmothers. My siblings and I affectionately called my paternal grandmother “Grandma Toot”; however, her real name was Mamie Lee Hardy. Born in 1928 in Alabama's Black Belt, my grandmother was a sweet, caring, and hardworking Black woman who was also illiterate as she had only a first‐grade education. Instead of finishing school, she helped her family via picking cotton and engaging in domestic housework for decades in every ounce of the worst conditions in the Jim Crow South. I remember going to doctor appointments with her and signing her names on the books to check in. She passed away in 2010 at the age of 82 years old, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the symbolism of being her grandchild and how I am the walking embodiment of her dreams, hopes, and prayers.
My maternal grandmother, Janie Mae Sanders, still walks this earth as one of the most beautiful and wisest people I know. Born in 1939, she is a high school graduate who also engaged in domestic work and then was trained on the job to become a pharmacy technician by my hometown's only Black‐owned pharmacist, the late Dr. Joseph Carstarphen. My grandmother has served as a friendly beacon of light to many families in Selma, Alabama, for decades in her faithful service as a pharmacy technician and devout member of her church community. I've always aspired to be generous to others, work hard, and allow my faith to be my lamp in this world the way she does.
I dedicate this book to these two women because they both represent the essence, nuance, beauty, and pain of Black womanhood over centuries, and they paved the way for me to be where I am today. This first book symbolizes—in the words of artist Brandon Odoms—just how much I am my ancestors' wildest dreams. I love and miss you, Grandma Toot. Grandma Janie, you are my rock.
Introduction
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
—Maya Angelou
Whether you are a principal, a teacher, a superintendent, an instructional coach, a school board member, an education advocate, a parent, or any other form of educational leader or practitioner, this book is for you. In a sea of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) dialogue and discourse, this book bridges the gap between theory and action by providing insights into the intrapersonal or inner work necessary for educators to center and advance DEI in a very real way, but it also provides concrete guidance on what centering and advancing DEI across multiple facets of education actually looks like and how to do it. This nexus of engagement in the internal work necessary for the journey, as well as a layout of the how, is so vital within the current climate of often heated, political debates over curriculum, athletic policies, school discipline, student safety, and more. As a former award‐winning principal and teacher and now as a full‐time education and management consultant, I cannot tell you how many educators I have met across the United States and abroad who philosophically agree that diversity matters, that inclusion is important, and that equity is right, but they do not often know how to actualize it in practice day‐to‐day. These educators may understand the what, but don't know the how. If you are one of those educators or educational leaders, this book will unlock clarity on the how.
I also meet educators and educational leaders who understand the what of DEI, know the how in terms of instruction and student culture and climate, but they have not actualized making their DEI holistic or more multifaceted outside of the student experience. For instance, their DEI efforts do not address what their commitment to DEI entails, what their policies are, what their mindsets and beliefs are, or what practices they enact that center and advance DEI within human resources, school or district finance, family and community engagement, school or district operations, and many more facets of what running a school, operating a school district, or leading an education‐adjacent organization—such as education nonprofits—entail. In this regard, it is very possible that a teacher, a school, a district, or an education nonprofit spends time advocating for the just treatment of students, but doesn't thoughtfully do the same for adults within its care.
Do I meet educators and educational leaders who are resistant to understanding and embracing DEI? Absolutely. However, this book is not intended for that audience, but rather for the ones who genuinely want to learn how to make DEI real, actionable, or operationalized within the classrooms, schools, systems, and organizations they work within every day. Within this text, I share not only my subject matter expertise but also lived experiences from my own journey as a first‐generation college graduate, a Black female educator, an educational leader, a charter school board member, an education consultant, an education advocate and philanthropist, and also a governing member of various education nonprofit boards.
As a native of historic Selma, Alabama, growing up in a space where discourse of social justice advocacy and activism was as normal for me as learning how to read a map, was a pointed experience. Often, I tell people that being from Selma is a salient part of my identity and how I show up in spaces because I feel that the convictions, beliefs, hopes, dreams, and potential in that space run through my veins. I am who I am because I was born in that space, to the community, to the people who are there, and to all the history that is there.
It is my hope that you are enlightened, encouraged, inspired, pushed, convicted, but, most important, equipped to engage in work that will not only change the lives of your students and team but also transform your own life by shifting the way you see, think about, and approach this topic forevermore. As an educator, systems leader, nonprofit leader, policy maker, or social entrepreneur, what are your hopes for your own journey of seeking to deepen your knowledge and understanding of DEI? What are you hoping to achieve in this next chapter of centering and advancing DEI as a leader or practitioner?
Key Point
The work of centering and advancing DEI is a lifelong journey and one we all must take in positioning ourselves to continue learning and unlearning.
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
“The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”
—James Baldwin
The year 2020 will always be etched within our minds as one of the most unforgettable moments in our lifetimes. The onset and spread of COVID‐19 brought about the abrupt closure of schools, businesses, and more. Additionally, the loss of life, the pivots we all had to make to operate in a more virtual world, the fear and anxiety of the unknown, and the constant regulations on what we could and could not do transformed life as we all knew it. I can remember the lockdown as clear as yesterday. At the time, my husband and I were glued to the television daily in what felt like a true twilight zone, wiping down boxes and packages we received in the mail as no one fully knew at that time how you could contract COVID, and feeling anxiety and frustration at times with every new update and change we learned.
In the midst of this, racial tensions that were already brewing prior to COVID across the United States rose amidst continuous blatant, overt, and also even the most subtle acts of racism. Many communities of color—no different than times past—grew to a place of absolute disgust, fatigue, righteous anger, sadness, and frustration witnessing these acts happen over and over with little to no accountability and justice. This context is important to understand in order to then understand the outrage felt by many with the murder of George Floyd as well as the subsequent protests, petitions, and other expressions of pursuit of applying pressure and demands for change, particularly to and for Black and Brown communities across our nation.
As a result, many companies, nonprofit organizations, and individuals—particularly white people and predominantly white‐led institutions—underwent what many have named as a racial reckoning. This entailed everything from making social media posts of public statements sharing how much they support DEI to organizations making posts of blank black squares to demonstrate solidarity with African Americans in light of blatant acts of police brutality to organizations investing thousands of dollars into anti‐bias, cultural competency, and anti‐racism trainings to companies kickstarting major philanthropic giving efforts and support programs for Black and Brown businesses.
In the midst of all of this, the education sector navigated its own interesting combination of reckoning and also resistance. Within the realm of education, the murder of George Floyd pushed numerous schools, school systems, and education‐adjacent organizations to consider what their commitment was or should be toward racial DEI in particular. It also pushed some schools, school systems, and education‐adjacent organizations to revisit what was their existing stated commitment to gauge whether it was legitimately what they were living out or whether it was simply a monument of symbolism that speaks to their espoused values (not their actual ones in practice). For other schools, school systems, and education nonprofits, the racial tensions that heightened during the pandemic resulted in organized efforts to ban any efforts that promoted DEI, such as banning books that highlight the holistic history of communities of color and paint white people in a light that some would prefer to erase, or restricting anything seen as culturally responsive. I'll never forget preparing to give a full day of customized professional development training within the state of South Carolina during the pandemic and being told to switch my language less than two weeks prior to our training, from using the term equity to anything else that could still address what our session objectives were because the word equity within that particular district and city was now seen as controversial, divisive, and inflammatory.
As you can see, the reaction to embracing DEI was and has been just as mixed within the education sector as it has been within other professional contexts or sectors. Prior to the unfortunate and traumatizing murder of George Floyd, many K–12 public school systems, as well as private schools, only moderately and often casually offered cultural competency trainings to teachers, school leaders, and noninstructional school staff members as a means of gently acknowledging difference and the need to be responsive to the array of students, families, and communities their systems served.
Nonetheless, for schools, systems, and education‐adjacent organizations that did want to take steps toward creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive schools, as well as non‐education entities such as major business corporations many of us know and love, the first place many of them gravitated toward was the provision of training(s). For many, the thinking was aligned to a belief that hiring an external trainer (or in some cases providing internal professional development of some type) would fit the bill in order to prevent any overt acts of racism that could take place within workplace environments or for schools within classrooms. Unfortunately, for many schools, school systems, and education‐adjacent organizations, their efforts only scratched the surface of what is truly needed to create a deeply diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment for not only children but adults alike.
Some trainings and resources address race exclusively, which is necessary as all discourse must center race, and there is no way we should discuss power, privilege, injustice, and more without centering race. Many educators are left in the dark as it pertains to understanding what DEI work that addresses other aspects of identity looks like or entails. This includes preparation and guidance on navigating matters of gender, neurodiversity, sexuality, mental health, socioeconomics (i.e., especially poverty), religion, and more. In this way, it is important to note that while we build educators and educational leaders' prowess to teach and lead for racial DEI, it must not occur at the cost of ignoring, perpetuating, or giving silent permission to allow for other forms of harm, injustice, and oppression students as well as adult educators feel and face.
Therefore, this text does two things in approach. It centers both race and other forms of identity, which Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw coined as intersectionality within the 1980s. By no means does this mean that race should be ignored or dismissed as an excuse for a school, school system, or education‐adjacent organization to skip, evade, or skirt around its racial work, but this names the need for an organization to examine its racial roots, needs, and work first and foremost while giving itself permission to expand its work over time so that the work it does also speaks to the reality of, for instance, Black children not only being Black as a monolithic being but also being multidimensional in who they are and how we should also see them, love them, support them, push them, and empower them to actualize their full potential and greatness.
Moreover, some trainings are comprehensive in approaching DEI work from the lens of multiple identities, but they only focus on students' academic learning experiences, student culture and climate, or family/community engagement; they fail to support and guide other educational leaders and stakeholders in also acknowledging and addressing the way that DEI should be implemented in other aspects of the school, district, or organization (for‐profit or nonprofit), such as finance and development. This means that the work sends a message that DEI matters for the work with and for children and families, but it will not address the very real forms of interpersonal, institutional, and systemic harm, injustice, and oppression teachers themselves face, administrators face, noninstructional staff face, and more. There is not a day of my life that goes by in which I'm not thinking of and mindful of the fact that my own now successful education and management consulting firm started as a result of overt and subtle acts of nepotism, imbalanced support and accountability, and racism as a Black woman principal of a charter school within the at‐will state of Louisiana.
Last but not least, sometimes DEI work within the education sector can fall short in its ability to build mostly conceptual or theoretical understanding, but unsuccessfully, ineffectively, or rarely addressing the concrete, practical work and steps necessary to not only center DEI but also advance it within classrooms, schools at large, and districts as a whole. There are perhaps very few educators in this world who set out to fail children, but unfortunately when we don't love, nurture, protect, and create transformational environments for children to learn and grow, to discover who they are, to be affirmed, and to be set up for holistic success, we do precisely that. True success for children is not piecemeal or monolithically designated and attached to their academic achievement. True success encompasses the psychological, emotional, social, physical, and even spiritual development of our young people. Doing such helps children not only excel academically but also become well‐rounded people who know and love their identity, can discover who they are, fall in love with who they are, be themselves, and actualize their full potential, gifts, and talents.
As “K–12 DEI professional development has been under attack by conservative politicians who argue that the trainings are ineffective, divisive, and are meant to shame white people for something they are not responsible for” and “at least 14 states have passed laws restricting what schools can say and do in these trainings” (Najarro, 2022), this book teaches educational leaders across public and private schools how to shift from theory to action in operationalizing DEI within specific domains of school leadership and district operations. It also addresses the very important inner or intrapersonal work all school and educational systems leaders need to first address within themselves in order to champion work of this nature and ensure their work isn't performative, short‐sighted, and, most important, ineffective.
Given this context, I'd love you to take the time to reflect on the questions you'll find throughout this text. I have allotted space and pages for you to jot your responses and use this information to inform how you move forward.
Key Point
Define and name your why. What leads you to engage in this work matters.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
What is your organization's background or history as it pertains to its DEI journey? Has DEI been explicitly named as an organizational priority within your school, system, nonprofit, or company?
Is this a new or newer journey for your organization, or have you already embarked on your journey? If the latter, have your efforts been fruitful, effective, and/or sustaining? Or is your organization's work rather performative, limited, and/or low impact?
PART OneGetting Started
In Part 1, we will lay the vital groundwork to help you understand the prerequisites and ongoing work needed prior to making changes within practices and policies. It is important to ensure that we are on a committed journey of doing our own individual inner work and ensuring that our teams are engaged in intrapersonal work as well so that our efforts to make changes are not performative, short‐lived, or fall flat because we lack the mindsets, beliefs, and dispositions to engage in and sustain the real work and change necessary to center and advance DEI.
CHAPTER 1Establishing a Shared Language and Vision
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
—Wayne Dyer
Now before we move forward, let's norm the very three words all of this text is centered on: diversity, equity, and inclusion. At this moment in our country and around the world, the words diversity, equity, and inclusion have quickly become buzzwords within organizations, media, politics, and beyond. They can be words that are simply tossed about for a variety of reasons. For some leaders, they are words—any individual word or all three words—that are used intentionally to drive a public or outward stance that they or their school, district, network, nonprofit, or company believes in, cares about, or seeks to champion for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive educational ecosystem and reality for students, families, their staff members, and our world.
For other leaders, those words are used to uphold a political, economic, faith‐based, or other type of agenda they or their organization are committed to driving as a leader. Some leaders point to these words as being divisive, controversial, and problematic terms. Motives, intentions, and uses of the words diversity, equity, and inclusion truly vary across geographies, schools, and educational system types, and more. Nonetheless, one thing is true: the way you define words matters, and thus this first chapter is dedicated to first helping you understand what these words mean and also expanding your understanding of what these terms mean, and why that expansion matters.
DIVERSITY
Before diving into this first term, I would love to know how you currently think of diversity. When you hear the word diversity, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? What is diversity to you? Within this text as well as within my firm's work supporting the education sector (i.e., early childhood centers, K–12 schools, education nonprofits, colleges and universities, education tech companies, etc.), I define diversity as representation across the board or, in other words, it is a variety of areas of identity or difference. This definition is very important to note because far too often the word diversity is used as a synonym for race and ethnicity. It's common, for instance, to hear a company leader note that they've made a diversity hire, and in this case, they are usually speaking to having hired a person of color. It is also commonplace to hear a parent speak to the fact that their child attends a very diverse school, and by this, they are often referring to their child attending a school that is racially and/or ethnically diverse. Last but not least, another example would be hearing someone speak to the notion of their school or school system having a diversity issue, and often by it they mean that their school or school system may be experiencing tensions, conflicts, or challenges that are racially driven in some manner. Consider the way that many media outlets speak about the word diversity: they are often connecting it to topics, headlines, and storylines that are in some way centering race.
Is race diversity? Yes. However, diversity isn't just about race. Diversity is actually a broad undertaking of consideration of many different types of identity, representation, and difference, so it's important to know that we have to name precisely and specifically what types of diversity we as individuals, we as schools, we as school systems, we as nonprofits, and we as education companies we are speaking of, focusing on, and centering (see Figure 1.1).
FIGURE 1.1 Social identity wheel.
Source: Medical Group Medical Association.
In the following list, you'll find examples of other forms and types of diversity that exist and also represent who are our students are, who our families are, who our communities are, and who we are as educators ourselves:
Racial/ethnic diversity.
Examples include but are not limited to mindfulness of Black, Latino, Asian‐American, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, and more racial and ethnic communities of students, families, staff members, and stakeholders.
Gender diversity.
Examples include but are not limited to males (men and boys), females (women and girls), cisgendered, gender fluid, gender non‐conforming, and other gender categories that our students, your colleagues, students' families, and other stakeholders identify as.
Neurodiversity.
Examples of neurodivergence include but are not limited to students and adults with autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, dysgraphia, and more.
Diversity within socioeconomic background.
Examples include but are not limited to students, families, colleagues, and other stakeholders from low‐income backgrounds, which is also divided between those who simply draw from low or lower wages or salaries versus individuals who live extremely below the poverty line. Diversity within socioeconomic background also includes individuals from middle‐class or ‐income backgrounds, which isn't a monolithic group, either, similar to the aforementioned example of individuals—especially students—of lower income background.
Diversity of sexuality/sexual orientation.
Examples include but are not limited to individuals who are heterosexual, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, and other sexual orientations our students, we ourselves, our colleagues, families, and other stakeholders identify as.
Diversity within family background.
Examples include but are not limited to grandparent‐led households, households of same‐sex marriages, so for students this might translate to but not be limited to two moms or two dads being present at home, foster families, adopted families, and more.
Although what is listed here is in no way exhaustive, it does go to show that there are many aspects and dimensions of diversity that can be found within the work we do every day as educators. In no way will you ever be mindful of 50 million types of diversity as you move about your day teaching students, leading campuses, managing organizations, and leading systems, but the goal is that you understand that diversity is deeper than race.
Diversity is and speaks to the wide variety of forms of representation. Truly the importance is ensuring that you carry consideration for multiple perspectives, viewpoints, lived experiences, backgrounds, voices, and needs in what you say and do in your work each and every day. When you push for diversity, push for centering race and racial/ethnic diversity in what you're doing, but also make sure you're mindful of other aspects of diversity our students, families, colleagues, and stakeholders embody so that we do not embrace just one aspect of who they are. We want to make room for other aspects of our students' and even adults' identities as well.
When you think about your daily work, as an educator or educational leader, there are some aspects of diversity you may already be incredibly conscious of as well as intentional about centering within your work.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
What are the types of diversity you're most conscious of and intentional about within your work?
What are the types of diversity you're not as mindful of, intentional about centering, or have blind spots about?
Conversely, there are types of diversity that may rarely or ever cross your mind as a teacher, noninstructional staff member within a school, school administrator, nonprofit organizational leader, or leader of an education‐based company. Because you do not think of these things on a day‐to‐day basis, this doesn't automatically make you evil, bigoted, or harmful, but rather it makes you human because there is not one human being that holds absolutely every single type of diversity there is within their minds, words, and actions at all times. All of us—and I do mean all of us, including educators and educational leaders of color—have blind spots or things that are not at the very forefront of your thinking, your decision‐making, and your actions everyday as you interact and engage with colleagues, serve students, and engage families.
As human beings, we often are most conscious and intentional about aspects or types of diversity that we are most proximate (or close) to or aspects and types of diversity that speak to our own lived experiences. What does this mean? It means that we tend to think of the aspects and types of diversity that connect to the shoes we walk in every day, as well as the aspects and types of diversity that hit close or closest to home. As a Black woman who is also a person of faith; a native of historic Selma, Alabama; and a first‐generation college graduate from a lower socioeconomic background, the following types of diversity are often at the forefront of my mind within any and every space I occupy:
Race/ethnicity
Gender
Income and class
Religion
Geography
This doesn't mean that other types of diversity are of lesser value to me, but it does mean that I—for instance—am hyper‐aware of, super‐intentional about centering, and constantly advocating for the following:
Racial diversity of students, educators, board members, families, and other stakeholders.
For example, I want to ensure that not only Black students see representation within curriculum, school programming, and guest speakers but also that we are having conversations about other students of color who aren't Black but are members of our school communities. We often use the phrase “Black and Brown,” but in some spaces students who are considered “Brown” (e.g., Latino, Indigenous, etc.) are a complete afterthought. If our Black students develop empowerment and pride as to who they are and what they can be, we must ensure that all of our other students of color experience and feel the same. To what extent are Latino students within your school seeing themselves (and positively so) within the texts you leverage within your classroom or school? To what extent are Asian American students (as well as all of the other students within your school) able to experience meaningful programming that elevates and amplifies the beauty and power of Asian American heritage?
Consideration of gender diversity within the composition of decision‐making bodies, such as school boards and school leadership teams.
For example, it's amazing how many school districts across our country hold gender bias against women for high school principal positions. Although the mind may nearly automatically go to the belief of this happening from male executive leaders (such as superintendents or a district's principal managers) toward female candidates for high school principal positions, this is not always the case. Whether the gatekeeper or key decision‐maker within an interview process is a female, male, nonbinary, gender fluid, and so on leader, there is often a consistent belief that men can handle leadership of high school campuses as opposed to women. Women educators—no matter how many degrees they have, no matter how many certifications they hold, or how many years of exemplary experience they have—often experience difficulty obtaining those positions within some cities and towns across the country. This is unfortunate because this then means that some male candidates who are underqualified or unmatched to their female counterparts are provided positions based on the fact that they are men and assumed to—within those settings—to be “stronger” or “better” disciplinarians, hold more executive presence, are listened to more and differently from staff teams as well as families, can diffuse conflict “better,” and more. All of these things often trace back to the depth of our societal socialization of gender roles and expectations.
The implications of our work on families who are economically disadvantaged.
For example, it's important to consider accessibility for all parents and families within your school community. One thing that any educator or educational leader can take for granted, for instance, is transportation and the assumption that all parents and families have access to a car or another form of transportation to and from your school campus. Because this is not the case for all parents and families, it is very important to consider the ways that you and your school community can meet different parents where they are. This might include the purchase of bus tickets with additional unrestricted funds the school has at its disposal that can be used exclusively for parent‐teacher conference days. This could also include hosting or offering parent‐teacher conferences before school hours, during school hours, after school within the evenings, or offering night conferences to accommodate different parent, guardian, or family working schedules. Making the decision to host a parent‐teacher conference event within the middle of the day, and making that one time the only option for parents to access makes a few short‐sighted assumptions. One assumption is that all parents and families (who work or hold jobs) have the ability to take time off of their jobs via PTO (paid time off) opportunities. Some parents and families do not hold salaried positions, which means that when they take time off, it disproportionately affects their compensation. When they don't work (because their roles are hourly), they do not get paid, which means that certain needs cannot be met. Therefore, scheduling parent‐teacher conferences with a morning option, a mid‐day option, and perhaps even an evening offering for parents becomes a great way to model mindfulness of the diverse needs of the students as well as adults that we serve.
The dismantling of elitism within interactions and engagement between educators and families, particularly within early childhood and K–12 schools serving parents, guardians, and caregivers who are financially disadvantaged and less educated.
For example, you'd be shocked at the dynamics that sometimes play out between educators and educational leaders from middle‐class backgrounds, as well as affluent backgrounds, and parents and families from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly those who live in poverty, within early childhood as well as K–12 school settings that serve socioeconomically disadvantaged youth. There is often an assumption held by said educators and educational leaders that they know what is best for the children they serve, that the families are inferior due to their financial status and often lack of education or limited education, and that their parents and families are not capable of being thought partners and contributing decision‐makers for their children's education. In some spaces, this means that educators not only believe they know best when it comes to what their students and families need but they also look down on them.
The psychological and emotional safety of students and adults within school spaces whose faith or religious denomination falls within the minority category of religious representation within their local context.
