Ten Years as a Community of Learners
From the Executive Director
Welcome to year ten of fierce commitment to equity and excellence! I want to express my sincere gratitude for the messages of support I have received as your new Executive Director. I am ecstatic to begin leading this wonderful organization as we celebrate our tenth-year anniversary.
I have been heartened by the commitment of the affiliates of School Reform Initiative to do the work of achieving racial equity in schools since I was a first-year teacher. As teacher and school leader I’ve personally witnessed the impact that our tools and processes have had on quality teaching and learning for every child.
The affiliates of this organization have come to Fall Meeting and other events passionate about: collaborating with others to improve their work, becoming culturally proficient, examining their beliefs, and challenging assumptions that hinder equitable outcomes for all students. We all have left these learning spaces and shared our new knowledge and energy with others to expand our mission’s impact. Not only have you shared your knowledge, you have also made numerous financial contributions that have allowed more individuals with a passion for equity to attend our events.
I’m sure you will agree that there is strength in numbers. We want to celebrate year ten by increasing the number of individuals who advocate for equity and excellence in schools. We will begin hosting virtual chats with you, our affiliates, to hear how we can continue to build capacity to achieve racial equity in schools across this country. As we commit to do the work of building capacity, we hope you will commit to making a special contribution this year that will enable us to touch more educators who will ultimately touch more children.
Thank you for all you do for the students in our schools, our communities, our country and beyond.
– Deirdre Williams, SRI Executive Director
Edutopia Submissions
We know you are doing great work around the mission of SRI, and we would like to share it with a wider audience of educators. We have an opportunity to share some of your great work through Edutopia. They are particularly interested in stories around their core concepts: project-based learning, social and emotional learning, technology integration, teacher development, comprehensive assessment, and integrated studies.
If you would like to talk through an idea, please feel free to contact Chris, chris@schoolreforminitiative.org, and he will work with our colleagues at Edutopia to get your piece ready for consideration.
Learn More About Submitting to Edutopia
Dr. Curtis Acosta Virtual Event with COSBOC
Past SRI Winter Meeting keynote speaker, Dr. Curtis Acosta, will have a streamed conversation with SRI Partner organization, COSEBOC on February 5, 2019.
Conversations with Deep Thinkers and Doers is a powerful forum for learning and inquiry for COSEBOC Members. In this upcoming one-hour video/teleconference call, Ron Walker will engage with Dr. Acosta in a conversation that will bring an important perspective to COSEBOC’s 2019 theme: Boys & Young Men of Color: Ready to Learn, Honored to Serve, Destined to Lead. This discussion will be followed by a Q&A inviting audience participation.
Dr. Acosta is a brilliant educator, scholar and social justice warrior who is a strong advocate for cultural responsive pedagogy and strategies that will raise consciousness for education that values the contributions, creativity and genius of Latinos and indigenous peoples.
Dr. Acosta understands the critical difference between schooling and education. Schooling confines the teacher and the learner to routines of compliance. On the other hand, true and authentic education liberates the creative abilities of teachers and all students especially those of color.
Learn More About This COSEBOC Member Event
Equity First Retreats
Join SRI this winter for two days of reflection and renewal in three fabulous locations across the country:
- Philadelphia – March 7-8 at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
- Los Angeles – March 21-22 at California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson CA 90747
- Chicago – April 25 & 26 at University of Illinois at Chicago, Student Center East 750 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60607
Together we’ll reflect upon where we are in our equity journey, refresh our practice of collaboration and reflective discourse, and renew our fierce commitment to improving teaching and learning for every student. As always, we’ll learn from artifacts and issues that we’ll share from our professional practice, using protocols from School Reform Initiative. The SRI retreats, “Equity First,” will offer a host of opportunities to:
- gather, share, and reflect with others on what we’re learning as we continue to develop a practice centered on equity;
- build our capacity to access, engage, and sustain complex and challenging conversations about equity, identity, and implicit bias that lead to action;
- strengthen our resolve to work as agents of change, with formal or informal authority;
- refresh our perspective on the work we do in schools and districts, non-profit organizations, early childhood and post-secondary institutions — across and among cities, states, regions and on the international scene;
- use SRI tools and processes to remain true to and sustain our fierce commitment to making schools better places for every child.
NOTE: SRI welcomes any participant who wishes to attend, regardless of experience; however, “Equity First” is not designed to be an introduction to SRI’s work or a training session.
More Information and Registration
Virtual Learning Opportunities
There are still open spots to join the single session on Leveraging Descriptive Feedback for Classroom Observation and the Culturally-Relevant Recruiting, Retention, and Responsibility series.
Leveraging Descriptive Feedback for Classroom Observations January 29, 2019 – 8pm EST
Cost: $25 for SRI affiliates; $35 for non-affiliates
Educators might not know what constitutes high-quality written feedback when some of them have never received it themselves. Join Thomas Van Soelen in this webinar and close the gaps in your practice as we explore, study, and write feedback of our own. Leave with an appetite to further develop skills needed to create an environment where teachers say, “Are you coming to my room today?” and they really mean it.
Culturally-Relevant Recruitment, Retention, and Responsibility Webinar
February 6; February 20; March 6, 2019 – 12:15PM Eastern
Cost: $95 for the series for SRI affiliates; $125 for non-affiliates
Join SRI and Dr. Liza Talusan (LT Coaching and Consulting, LLC) for a 3-part series on culturally relevant attitudes, behaviors, and actions that support recruitment, retention, and responsibility towards employees from institutionally underrepresented backgrounds.
- Part 1 will focus on why diversity, equity, and inclusion matters in the hiring process. We will go over the big questions that you and your institution should be asking itself about why you would engage in a culturally relevant process.
- Part 2 will focus on creating a more inclusive process that pays attention to the foundation of why we do this work together.
-
Finally, Part 3 will explore the big questions around whether the culture, climate and behaviors of your institution are prepared to support and authentically engage with communities from institutionally underrepresented backgrounds.
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,
Deirdre Williams, Kari Thierer, and Chris Jones
On behalf of School Reform Initiative
