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UHS Social JusticeJune 2013
Meaningful Collaboration UIUC & UHS Challenging the “ivory tower” notion by learning from
experts within the field
Nurturing stronger community relationships
Fostering a more democratic school improvement effort:
Equity centered
Inquiry based & participatory (professional learning communities)
Student voice in school improvement
Critical reflection & feedback
Elements of School ImprovementStudent Voice?What about the voices of those most impacted by the school improvement decisions of educational stakeholders?
School Leadership: Administrators must take responsibility to foster, support, and embed student voice into school improvement initiatives.
Student Voice, Youth Participatory Action Research &
School Improvement
Ms. Moyer Teaches English at UHS
Chair of the Social Justice Committee
Serves on the School Improvement Administrative Advisory
Taught Social Justice elective course for the first time this year
Committed to Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and disrupting traditionally asymmetrical power dynamics in the classroom
Course overview
In the first half of the semester, I led lessons that helped students engage with issues of identity and power
In the second half of the semester, students engaged in Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
First half of the semester
learned key vocabulary and frameworks related to identity and power
reflected on our own identities
studied historical and current events
engaged in debates
discussed the issues in our community and decided to take action
Notable vocabulary
Social construction: a perception or idea that is 'constructed’ (or made up) through cultural or social practice; a product of human interaction
Intersectionality: the overlapping of identities
Who’s marginalized? Who’s privileged?
Notable readings Select chapters from The Latinization of US Schools
by Jason Irizarry
“Colorblindness: the New Racism” (Teaching Tolerance)
“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack” by Peggy McIntosh
Excepts by Gloria Ladson-Billings
Excerpts from Courageous Conversations about Race by Glenn E. Singleton and Curtis Linton
Notable assignments Gender autobiography
Race autobiography
Counternarratives
Co-authored an article for The Social Justice Leader with Dr. Welton and Mr. Wiemelt
Copies available at the poster sessions
Common CoreAlignment to English and Social Studies standards
Reading Example: RH.11-12.1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights
gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole
Writing Example: WHST.11-12.4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate
to task, purpose, and auidence
Speaking and listening Example: SL.1..-12.1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on texts,
issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively
Research Example: WHT.11-12.9: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research
Keep in mind… …because of purposeful recruitment of students by
myself, the counseling department, and administrative team, the class demographics were representative of the school population
About 40% white, 40% black, 10% Latino, 10% other
About 66% low SES
…the class was comprised of 30 out of 32 underclassmen (majority freshmen)
…the work you’ll see from here (Powerpoint, posters, letters, etc.) are completely student generated
Second half of the semester
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
Youth gathering together to solve real problems through research
Students and teachers work collaboratively to incite change within communities
www.mikvachallenge.org
How we chose our topics Voting
Root causes and rationale
Institutionalized racism: the cumulative effects of policies and systems which have the effect of disadvantaging certain racial groups; describes a system of inequality that can occur in institutions
This does not include individual acts of blatant racism
Color blindness: claiming that race doesn’t matter (“I don’t see race”)
White privilege: unearned advantages white people benefit from because of their light skin (ex: white people can go shopping pretty well assured that they will not be followed or harassed)
Root causes brainstorming
Our topics
Teacher-student relationships
Lack of faculty racial diversity
Underrepresentation of students of color in honors courses
Disproportionate dress code enforcement on females of color
Overrepresentation of students of color in DRA
Research process
Developed guiding research questions
Consulted a variety of sources to find answers
Established claims based off of findings
Research methods Quantitative research methods
developed and distributed surveys
tallied and tabulated survey results
organized data into charts and graphs
compared survey results with other statistics (especially from the Interactive Report Card)
Qualitative research methods
Read and discussed scholarly articles related to research topics
Conducted interviews with staff and students
Coded interviews and short answer survey results for themes
Letters to the administration
We summarized our findings and offered recommendations for the future to 2013-14 UHS administration in letters
copies available during the poster sessions
Student presentations
May 10th and 17th, UHS library
In attendance: teachers, counselors, deans, administrators, U of I students and faculty, community members, central office staff, students
May 10th presentations
Teacher-student relationships CLAIMS AND FINDINGS
We claim that culturally responsive teaching affects students’ learning in positive ways because students’ identities are affirmed; relationships between students and teachers matter
We learned that teachers can better relate to students by developing relationships and embracing their students’ cultural identities
Disproportionate dress code enforcement on females of color
CLAIMS AND FINDINGS
We claim that females of color get more dress code infractions than any other group at UHS
We learned that the vast majority of students believe that the dress code is enforced more severely on black girls
Lack of faculty of color
Overrepresentation of students of color in DRA
CLAIMS AND FINDINGS
We claim that the higher level of referrals black students receive may be “pushing” kids out of school
We learned that 74% of students that receive DRA are black
Underrepresentation of students of color in honors courses
CLAIMS AND FINDINGS
We claim that there is a lack of racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity in Advance Placement courses
We learned that the rate of white students enrolled in AP courses is over three times the rate of black students enrolled in AP courses.
Video clips
Student and teacher activists Our next steps will be to…
…work with administrators to implement as many of our recommendations as possible
…work with the Social Justice Committee to advocate for and facilitate these changes
…propose a second social justice class to the Curriculum Development team
…collaborate with the next Social Justice class in order to continue this work
Q & A
What questions do you have for us?
Poster sessions
We invite you to learn more about why we’ve made these claims
Posters include
guiding research questions
research methods
the top 5 things we learned from our research
claims
recommendations
Your role
Ask us questions
Examine our materials
surveys, letters to the administration, etc.
Offer us feedback
Engage in debate