Essential Approaches for Excellence & Sustainable School System Transformation
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EQUITY-CENTERED CAPACITY BUILDING: Essential Approaches For Excellence & Sustainable School System Transformation February 2016 EQUITY-CENTERED CAPACITY BUILDING: ESSENTIAL APPROACHES FOR EXCELLENCE & SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION Introduction | Pg. 1 The Equity-Centered Capacity Building Network (ECCBN) was formed to unite the efforts and share resources and strategies among equity- and excellence-centered capacity builders and to increase the visibility and impact of capacity-building approaches that promote deep and sustainable school and systems change. Network members currently consist of regional and national organizations with: a focus on transforming whole school systems, in addition to individual schools; targeted approaches to equity, excellence and cultural responsiveness deeply embedded into every aspect of their work; local credibility as well as national reach and influence; a strong desire to work collaboratively; and a track record of success with school systems locally, regionally and nationally. Future membership anticipates including local individual and institutional capacity builders, as well as other regional and national providers who meet these criteria. Network members have included the following organizations and their representatives: •! National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NY) •! Center for Culturally Responsive Urban Education at the University of Colorado, Denver (CO) •! University of Kansas, Special Education Department (KS) •! Panasonic Foundation (NJ) •! Intercultural Development Research Association (TX) •! Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Inc. (MD) •! The Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence & Equity (DE) •! Education Alliance at Brown University (RI) •! National Equity Project (CA) What We Do 1.! We seek to promote evidence-based approaches to equity, quality, cultural responsiveness and partnerships with students and communities. 2.! We believe that systems capacity-building methods that drive equity and excellence can overcome the most daunting challenges education, students and communities face. 3.! We have seen that students of color and those from families with modest means excel academically, socially and personally when whole systems are transformed to focus on equity and excellence. This volume articulates how they, and all students, can succeed. www.capacitybuildingnetwork.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Editor and Curator: Sheryl Petty, Movement Tapestries and Management Assistance Group Co-Editor: Susan Shaffer, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium Editorial Advice and Support: Maria Pacheco, Education Alliance at Brown University Volume Host: The Education Trust Pg. 4 Introduction, Sheryl Petty, Movement Tapestries, New York, and Management Assistance Group, Washington, D.C. Pg. 9 Using Equity-Centered Capacity Building to Advance School System Improvement, Janice Jackson, National Equity Consultant, California; and Monette McIver, Dana Center, University of Texas at Austin. Pg. 24 Systemic Change and Equity, Peter Senge, MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts, and Society for Organizational Learning (SoL); and Mary Scheetz, Waters Foundation, Pennsylvania. Pg. 34 The Role of the State in Creating Equity & Excellence in Education, Shelley Zion, University of Colorado, Denver, Culturally Responsive Urban Education (CRUE) Center. Pg. 46 Implementing the Common Core State Standards: Lessons from Baltimore City Public Schools, Sonja Brookins Santelises, The Education Trust, National Office, Washington, D.C. Pg. 56 The Complexities of Inclusive Education: How Cultural Histories Shape the Ways Teachers Respond to Multiple Forms of Diversity, Elizabeth Kozleski, Special Education Department, University of Kansas; and Molly Baustien Siuty, University of Kansas. Pg. 69 The Regional Equity Assistance Centers – Fifty Years and Counting: Forging Civil- Rights-Based Technical Assistance to Serve All Students by Building Equity-Centered Capacity in Public Schools, Bradley Scott, Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), Texas. Pg. 78 Transformational Pedagogy: Cashing the Promissory Note of Equity for Marginalized Students & All Students, Yvette Jackson, National Urban Alliance (NUA) for Effective Education, New York. Pg. 93 Developing Principals as Equity-Centered Instructional Leaders, June Rimmer, Center for Educational Leadership, University of Washington. Pg. 107 Systems Change & Governance: School Boards That Lead for Equity, Larry Leverett, Panasonic Foundation, New Jersey. Pg. 121 Contributor Bios EQUITY-CENTERED CAPACITY BUILDING: Essential Approaches For Excellence & Sustainable School System Transformation INTRODUCTION By Sheryl Petty, Movement Tapestries and Management Assistance Group Systems capacity building approaches that drive both equity and excellence can transform the most daunting challenges educators, students and communities face.i From implementing the Common Core (or other state standards) and new assessment systems to evaluating the efficacy of teachers and administrators, partnering in skillful ways with parents and communities, allocating resources efficiently and equitably, and ensuring that curriculum and instruction deeply reflect the wisdom of multi-ethnic communities, equity-centered capacity building brings a set of strategies and perspectives that deepen every approach to school system improvement. The Equity-Centered Capacity Building Network (ECCBN) was formed to unite efforts and share resources and strategies with educational leaders and change agents in school systems and communities across the U.S. ii ECCBN sees the purpose of education as to help youth and adults reach their full potential and use their strengths to support thriving communities. This requires varied skills, including academic, social, emotional, cross-cultural, multi-linguistic, self-efficacy and change agency — competencies that promote multifaceted college, career and life readiness and reflect broadened notions of “success” when equity and excellence are skillfully combined. Many seek to show the interdependency of equity and excellence, but few resources exist that illuminate the intricacies of implementing rigorous, evidence-based approaches to equity, quality, cultural responsiveness, and partnership with students and communities in a process of continuous reflection and improvement. Too often, approaches to transforming systems are bifurcated, and support for effective implementation is available from a fragmented field of capacity building providers who compete for the finite resources that schools, school systems and states can access. Attention to continuous improvement cycles and culturally responsive practice (for example) are core competencies for any capacity building provider. Yet, the core competencies of equity- and excellence- driven systems improvement approaches require understanding the equity implications of systemic Introduction | Pg. 4 EQUITY-CENTERED CAPACITY BUILDING: Essential Approaches For Excellence & Sustainable School System Transformation change. For example, in areas such as opportunity-to-learn (including student placement, resource distribution, disciplinary policies and practices, school climate, and strategic use of time), or assessment and accountability systems, understanding how the dynamics of power, race and socioeconomics influence perception, communication, data analysis, decision-making, intervention design and implementation, and the internal and external politics of school system functioning is essential and requires many years of on-the-ground, in-system expertise to adequately address. These areas related to race, power and socioeconomics too often combine with the technical challenges of building adequate assessment and evaluation systems and developing and adopting effective, equitable policies, to stall even the best transformative intentions. Lack of collective comfort and rigorous skill with these combined competencies is undermining the urgent transformations needed in our schools, systems and communities. There is much work to do to: 1.! introduce these rigorous but fragmented communities of practice to one another, 2.! develop the courage and humility to seek out and access one another’s expertise to benefit students and school systems, and 3.! urge the funding and policy worlds to incentivize joint, complementary approaches. A FIELD-BUILDING STRATEGY Organizations providing capacity building are often prompted to expand and incorporate approaches into portfolios of services without adequate staff capacity, funding, support for long-term partnering across expertise areas, or deep expertise in newly added focal areas. The funding world can incentivize capacity builders to strategically learn from and complement one another’s expertise, instead of promoting a field that competes to support school systems and garner funding. Given the great need and demand for educational improvement, this field-building strategy for capacity building is a core component of transforming systems. It requires skillfully connecting the following (sometimes overlapping, sometimes fragmented) capacity building communities of practice: 1.! Equitable, Cultural and Relational: these approaches focus on organizational culture; values, beliefs, expectations and relationships; context, history and politics; cultural responsiveness; authentic community partnership; power analysis and analysis of structural inequity patterns and practices as they relate to every aspect of school system functioning 2.! Structural and Technical: