January 26, 2017
Denver Winter Meeting Artifacts and More
The Denver Winter Meeting was a huge success. Colleagues from around the country joined together to share their work, and dive deep into what it means to live the SRI mission and our fierce commitment to educational equity and excellence. Artifacts from the Denver Winter Meeting are available for those who were unable to attend in person. Please visit the SRI website to find videos of the opening keynotes with Dr. Deirdre Sharkey & Dr. Gregory Peters and the closing with keynote by Dr. Paul Gorski. You can also see our conversations on Twitter with #sriwm17 and join our Facebook group to share your learning and insights.
Equity and Excellence: SRI’s Call to “Better Action”
For a little over a year, the SRI Board of Directors has been thinking deeply about the connection of equity to our collaborate and reflective practices work, building a shared understanding of what SRI’s fierce commitment to educational equity and excellence looks like in practice. As we began this work, we started with some guiding questions: Why focus on equity? How does it relate to the work we are asking educators to take up? Our draft statement, Equity and Excellence: SRI’s Call to “Better Action” was introduced during the Denver Winter Meeting, and will be added to our website; a continuation of our work to not only understand our assumptions about equity in practice, but then to actively work to dismantle inequities, and create the schools all students deserve.
This is draft thirteen and it will continue to be an evolving document as we grow both as individuals and as an organization. This statement helps us to better understand the connection between our mission and our work, and to help us more clearly articulate what we want to do and why. We hope you will use this in your own work as part of your continued learning, as well as incorporate it in the work you do with others. Please be on the lookout for opportunities to engage with other SRI affiliates and continue to grow in your own practice as we strive to live our mission of a fierce commitment to educational equity and excellence.
Upcoming Learning Opportunities from SRI Partners
SRI is proud to partner with the following organizations to support their work and highlight innovative thinking that aligns with our mission of a fierce commitment to educational equity and excellence. If you are looking for ways to extend your own learning, please take some time to review these opportunities.
University of Florida Lastinger Center – International Teacher Leadership Conference
This conference, March 2-3 in Miami, FL is being hosted by our friends at the University of Florida. This is an international conference with a focus on co-constructing a new vision for teacher leadership. A number of SRI affiliates will be in attendance. Click here to learn more and register.
ASCD Empower 17
March 25-27 in Anaheim, CA. Join SRI Affiliates Gene Thompson-Grove and Jason Flom for their two-day preconference institute titled Designing for Adult Learning: Practices Beyond PowerPoints That Transform and Empower School Communities. Click here to learn more about their pre-conference, as well as other opportunities at Empower 17.
Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC) Annual Gathering of Leaders
Join SRI affiliates and our partner organization in Austin, TX on April 26-28, 2017 for the 11th Annual Gathering of Leaders. This year’s theme Boys and Young Men of Color: Innovators, Creators and Game Changers. This is a phenomenal conference and there will be a number of SRI affiliates in attendance and presenting sessions, and SRI will be a sponsor and help co-host the pre-conference day for school leaders. Click here to learn more and register.
The White Privilege Conference
The focus of this year’s national conference is Organizing. Strategizing. Taking-Action. Deconstructing the Culture of White Supremacy and Privilege: Creating Peace, Equity and Opportunity in the Heartland. The conference will take place in Kansas City, Missouri on April 27-30, 2017. This is a nationally recognized equity conference that brings together thousands of attendees to dive deep into discourse about race and equity. Click here to learn more and register.
Free Minds, Free People.
This national conference is convened by the Education for Liberation Network and brings together teachers, young people, researchers, parents and community based activist/educators from across the country to build a movement to develop and promote education as a tool for liberation. The conference only happens every other year, and this year will be held in Baltimore, MD on July 6-9, 2017. Click here to learn more and register.
Do you have news to share? Interesting things happening in your area? Please let us know so we can share with our community! Email Chris Jones, chris@schoolreforminitiative.org.
Thank you,
Kari Thierer, Heidi Vosekas, Chris Jones, and Beth I Graham
On behalf of School Reform Initiative
