redefine anxiety" by sebastián tomás hunt "i didn't know..." by amanda sanchez ouhsd: turning the vision of post-secondary options for every student into a reality volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe ouhsd: turning the vision of post-secondary options for every student into a reality penelope deleon superintendent oxnard union high school district there has been much community input recently about changing the oxnard union high school district graduation requirements to mirror the uc/csu a-g requirements to ensure our students are able to go on to a post-secondary educational experience. white papers have been written and community meetings have been held comparing ouhsd to other large, urban school districts (like lausd and sdusd), which have already aligned their graduation requirements, and therefore have a significantly higher a-g rate than ouhsd. to be clear, the oxnard union high school district has the same goal, and a strong vision of high expectations and powerful futures for every student. that being said, it must also be strongly noted that all of the districts which have already aligned their graduation requirements did so over a ten-year or longer planning and implementation process, which included multiple revisions, versions and ultimately tiered graduation requirements – which give alternate options to students who struggle to meet the a-g requirements. this is not a process that happens overnight, because when the graduation requirements change without a thoroughly vetted plan for the academic, social and emotional supports to ensure students meet the more rigorous set of requirements, the graduation rate plummets, and the community suffers. many districts have experienced a significant decrease in graduation rate after aligning to the a-g requirements and were, therefore, forced to either return to non-a-g aligned graduation requirements, or start adding alternate graduation options after the fact. knowing this, oxnard union high school district began two years ago developing a plan which would ensure powerful futures for all graduates – increasing the uc/csu eligibility rate while also supporting all viable college and career pathways. we define powerful futures as the ability for our graduates to go on to an adult life where they are financially secure, working within the profession of their choice, as productive citizens who contribute to society and give back to the community. to achieve this vision, we are working to align our programs, curricula, instruction, services and supports to challenge each student to reach his or her own greatest potential. we believe that every child has the innate ability to achieve high levels of success and his or her own personal greatness. we understand that to increase ouhsd: turning the vision of post-secondary options for every student into a reality penelope deleon allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe student academic performance which leads to college and career readiness, we must support families and provide students with educational opportunities and access. to accomplish this, during the last two school years, ouhsd submitted over 60 courses for uc/csu approval to ensure our students meet the a-g requirements; provided and will continue to provide the psat for every student in grades 9-11; provided the sat during the school day for every junior free of charge this spring on march 7, 2018; challenged students to new heights by increasing enrollment in advanced placement and international baccalaureate by nearly 1,500 students per year; developed a stem pathway to oxnard college and california state university, channel islands; strengthened our 22 linked learning pathways, which lead to careers in multiple fields, like teaching, nursing, culinary arts, law enforcement and business management; developed a biliteracy pathway which will lead to certification in interpretation services; ensured all seniors apply for a twoor four-year college and that all eligible seniors apply for the fafsa; increased our graduation rate, college-going rate, and our a-g completion rate (which early data indicates will significantly increase again this year); and decreased our drop-out rate! another significant improvement for the 2017-18 school year was the expansion of our condor high school options academy. this year, condor high school options centers are available at achs, cihs, hhs, ohs, phs and rmhs! students who need flexible scheduling options may attend the condor high school options center, but still have access to electives and other classes of interest on the regular high school campus. our goal is to provide an educational program that fits for every student, virtually eliminating the drop-out rate. collaboration with colleges, universities, community stakeholders, and advocacy groups can serve to strengthen and support our efforts to ensure powerful futures for all students, if that work is done in a spirit of open dialogue and positive intent. anything can and will be accomplished if we work together. about the author as a public school educator for nearly 25 years, primarily at the secondary level, dr. deleon served as a high school teacher, assistant principal, principal, secondary instructional specialist and director of professional development, assessment and evaluation, before becoming chief of secondary schools. she also serves as a delegate to the college board academic assembly. throughout her career, she has worked to close the achievement gap by nurturing strong parent and community engagement, while promoting a culture of collaboration, support and collegiality for all stakeholders. "the middle eastern microaggressions 101" by suesue suesue eldanaf microsoft word 531-99z_article text-1431-1-11-20180912.docx volume  2,  issue  1   2018   allies  for  education  2018,  1,  2   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     el  padre/guardián  y  la  conexión  al  educador:   criando  a  la  siguiente  generación     maría  de  jesús  silva   madre,  líder,  y  miembro  del  comité  asesor  del  idioma  inglés  del  distrito   distrito  unificado  de  ventura     mi  nombre  es  maria  de  jesús  silva.  soy  originaria  del  estado  de  guanajuato,  méxico.  tengo  tres  hijos   david  de  14  años,  mauricio  de  9,  y  valeria  de  4.  mi  esposo  jesús  y  yo  hemos  tratado  de  criar  a  nuestros   hijos  en  un  entorno  primordialmente  lleno  de  amor  y  respeto.  soy  fiel  creyente  de  que  en  el  hogar  es   donde  comienza  la  base  de  una  buena  educación  para  lograr  formar  hombres  y  mujeres  profesionales,   capaces  de  tomar  sus  propias  decisiones  para  su  vida.   no  más  ni  menos  importante  es  la  escuela,  y  de  sus  principales  protagonistas  los  maestros  que  quienes   con  su  instrucción,  respeto,  y  dedicación,  son  el  otro  complemento  que  se  conjuga  con  el  trabajo  en   casa  para  formar  al  estudiante  del  futuro.   en  méxico  tuve  la  oportunidad  de  prepararme  como  maestra  de  educación  media;  y  de  servir  a  mis   estudiantes  impartiendo  más  que  conocimientos,  vivencias,  y  valores,  que  creo  son  importantes  para   motivar  a  los  estudiantes  a  realizar  sus  sueños;  no  importando  las  condiciones  ni  los  obstáculos  a  los  que   nos  enfrentamos.  todo  es  posible  si  uno  tiene  esa  determinación  para  lograr  las  cosas.   en  base  a  mi  experiencia  como  mamá  de  mis  hijos,  he  podido  constatar  y  comprobar  que  solo  creando   esas  conexiones  a  las  escuela  hacia  la  casa  y  padres,  solo  así,  es  como  podremos  tener  éxito  tanto  los   padres  como  los  maestros,  formando  a  nuestros  estudiantes  del  mañana.  es  tan  sencillo  hacerlo,  creo   que  a  nuestra  comunidad  y  me  refiero  a  los  padres  latinos  lo  que  nos  motiva  es  sentirnos  aceptados,   valorados  y  sobre  todo  de  que  haya  esa  apertura  por  parte  de  los  maestros  y  la  escuela  para  poder   acercarnos  a  compartir  y  ofrecer  nuestra  ayuda  al  maestro,  de  forma  positiva  y  constructiva.   lo  más  importante  es  de  que  poco  a  poco  hemos  mirado  más  participación  de  las  familias  en  eventos   escolares  y  creo  que  el  ingrediente  principal  ha  sido  el  motivar  a  los  padres  con  actividades  que  nos  haga   recordar  de  dónde  venimos,  cuál  es  nuestro  presente,  y  hacia  dónde  queremos  llevar  a  nuestros  hijos.   pues  el  objetivo  principal  de  nosotros  los  padres  es  lograr  nuestro  sueño  americano  y  mi  sueño   americano  es  lograr  que  mis  hijos  sean  profesionistas;  pero  sobre  todo  lograr  que  sean  libres  de   pensamiento  y  corazón.  así  que  humildemente,  instó  a  los  padres  que  nos  acerquemos  a  los  maestros,  a   el  padre/guardián  y  la  conexión  al  educador:  criando  a  la  siguiente   generación   maria  de  jesús  silva   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     la  escuela,  que  salgamos  de  ese  conformismo  de  solo  ir  cuando  se  nos  llame  por  cualquier  razón;   nosotros  tenemos  que  tomar  la  iniciativa,  tocar  puertas  una  y  otra  vez,  solo  así  se  nos  mirará,  se  nos   escuchará,  y  se  nos  podrá  considerar  en  lo  más  importante  de  nuestra  vida,  nuestros  hijos,  hombres  y   mujeres  triunfadores,  libres  y  felices.   instituciones  educativas,  hagan  el  esfuerzo  por  crear  más  programas  para  que  nosotros  los  padres  nos   acerquemos  a  los  maestros  y  directivos,  no  menos  importante  y  significativa  son  nuestras   contribuciones.  tenemos  cosas  maravillosas  que  ofrecer  a  la  formación  de  nuestros  hijos,  y  me  refiero  a   todos  los  niveles  educativos  desde  preescolar  hasta  la  universidad.   sinceramente  y  humildemente  espero  que  mi  muy  particular  punto  de  vista  sirva  a  otros  padres  a   motivarse  y  empoderarnos  hacia  el  futuro  “la  mejor  herencia  de  un  pueblo  es  la  educación.”     gracias.   sinceramente,   maría  de  jesús  silva     sobre  la  autora   maría  de  jesús  silva  es  una  residente  de  la  ciudad  de  ventura  y  madre  en  el  programa  de  doble   immersión  en  el  distrito  escolar  unificado  de  ventura.  es  una  líder  entre  los  padres  de  la  comunidad  y  es   una  miembro  activa  del  comité  asesor  del  idioma  inglés  del  distrito  (delac).  la  señora  silva  se  interesa   por  todo  lo  relacionado  al  desarrollo  social,  pues  fue  así  como  estudió  una  licenciatura  en  ciencias   sociales  en  el  estado  de  guanajuato  méxico.  como  maestra  y  ahora  madre,  la  sra.  silva  valora  y  trabaja   a  favor  de  lograr  oportunidad  educativa  equitativa  para  los  estudiantes  y  sus  familias.     using yoga, mindfulness and social-emotional learning to promote student success volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe using yoga, mindfulness and social-emotional learning to promote student success jennifer backe educator, simi valley unified school district yoga educator as an elementary school educator i have seen the pendulum swing on educational policy, practices, and theory for nearly 40 years. in the year 2018 i find we are still missing the mark on addressing the needs of the whole child. we continue to have a test score and standards driven curriculum, expecting all students to fit into the traditional mold and meet the expected academic mark. however, all students are not the same and should not be treated as so. teaching at-risk learners for most of my career i see the traditional educational model fall short of addressing the social-emotional needs of most students. much research has surfaced showing a child’s developing brain is changed by repeated traumatic experiences. national education association (nea) today states that one in every four students has experienced trauma before the age of four and more than two thirds have by the age of 16. areas of the brain most affected by trauma are retention of memory, regulation of emotion, and the development of language skills (flannery, 2017). this is often the case with at-risk learners. when affected by trauma, these students exhibit states of fight, flight, freeze. the brain is then in an alerted state of survival. how can these students possibly be in an optimal state of learning? simply stated, they can’t! it is important for the needs of the whole child to be addressed so that learning can take hold. neuroscientists and psychologists are zeroing in on the neuroplasticity of the brain and ways to rewire the brain, and the use of social-emotional learning, yoga, mindfulness and breathing support this rewiring. looking at the effects of trauma on the brain, it is obvious a shift needs to occur in the educational setting in order to promote student success. we are beginning to see this shift in some schools across the country but it is not yet mainstream. i made the decision to begin looking more deeply at meeting the needs of the whole child in my own classroom. as a trauma informed yoga educator i began implementing several strategies in my classroom to support my students. with the use of socialemotional learning and a yoga corner, thinking tent, focus jars, and other breathing and calming exercises in place, i am observing heightened student success and a reduction of escalated behaviors. with the use of these strategies, students are able to identify how they feel and then choose a tool to help regulate their emotions. as students reduce their fight, flight, freeze responses they become calm, happy, and more present to learning. this not only works with at-risk learners, but with all students. california educator cites a study showing participants in social-emotional learning programs had a significant increase in positive social behavior and an 11 percent increase in academic achievement (posnick-goodwin, 2016). using yoga, mindfulness and social-emotional learning to promote student success jennifer backe allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe yoga, mindfulness, and social-emotional learning go beyond being useful in the classroom – students are also educating their parents on breathing and calming strategies. during a parent conference, a parent told me when she came home upset from work, her daughter said, “mommy, sit down and let me show you how to breathe. it will help you.” the fact that students are internalizing these coping mechanisms and sharing them with family members speaks to the success. below i will share an activity that i have found useful in my classroom, with hopes it can support others. this activity can be used in a school or home setting. there’s a monster in my body! goals: 1. to support students in identifying their emotions 2. to provide students with a safe, non-threatening activity to release emotions 3. to support students with self-regulation 4. to support neuroplasticity and rewiring of the brain to increase learning how to use: 1. discuss how it might feel to have an angry monster in our body when we become upset. it may be helpful to read and discuss a children’s storybook about anger. there are a few listed below. 2. when upset, have the student identify any emotions he/she is feeling. 3. remind the student about the angry monster inside. tell the student we can use our breath to blow the monster out of us and it can help us feel much better. 4. place a feather or pompom in front of the child on one end of a yoga mat or table. have the student use deep inhales through the nose and exhale deeply through the mouth, blowing the feather away from him/her. using yoga, mindfulness and social-emotional learning to promote student success jennifer backe allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 5. ask the student to “check in” on how he feels inside now. note any behavior changes. if needed the exercise can be repeated. 6. you may also want to have the student write and draw about the experience. use your judgment. 7. if writing or drawing, provide the student with paper, markers, colored pencils, crayons. 8. ask the student to draw what the monster looked like. encourage details! what did the monster’s face look like? can you draw his teeth, eyes, and mouth? how many arms and legs did he have? what color was he? the more details the better! 9. then have the student write about how it felt with the monster inside. what did the monster want to say? if you made a speech bubble for the monster, what would you write in it? what kind of sounds did the monster make? what did the monster want to do? 10. last have the student identify and write or draw about how he feels now. tell the student that at times we may get upset and it is okay to be upset but sometimes we need tools to help us. reassure the student that the feather/pompom and the monster are always there as tools to support him/her when he/she becomes upset. supportive storybooks for children: 1. the red beast, k.i. al-ghani 2. goldie is mad, margie palatini 3. if you’re angry and you know it! cecily kaiser 4. when i feel angry, cornelia maude spelman 5. hands are not for hitting, martine agassi using yoga, mindfulness and social-emotional learning to promote student success jennifer backe allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author jennifer backe is an elementary educator in the simi valley unified school district. jennifer is also a yoga educator and holds multiple yoga certifications, including adult, children, teens, autism spectrum, and trauma informed training for youth. she is a member of educators doing justice. jennifer holds a strong belief that supporting the needs of the whole child leads to improved student success, and therefore incorporates social-emotional learning, yoga, mindfulness and breathing strategies in her classroom. she also volunteers her time offering yoga to staff members. references flannery, m. (2017). how trauma is changing children’s brains. nea today, winter 2017. http://www.nea.org/home/69682.htm posnick-goodwin, s. (2016). managing our inner selves, kids learn compassion, self-control with social-emotional learning. california educator, 21(4). https://www.cta.org/en/professionaldevelopment/publications/2016/11/november-december-2016-educator-magazine.aspx http://www.nea.org/home/69682.htm https://www.cta.org/en/professional-development/publications/2016/11/november-december-2016-educator-magazine.aspx https://www.cta.org/en/professional-development/publications/2016/11/november-december-2016-educator-magazine.aspx volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appreciating a college-going culture in public education ernesto guerrero director of academic advising california state university channel islands introduction ventura county’s public high schools are failing to prepare the vast majority of its students for college admission. this is based not on the quality of the education students receive, but rather, on the simple fact that nearly two-thirds of ventura county students do not complete the needed courses for admission to the two state university systems. according to the california department of education (2016), in 2015-2016 only 34.2% of ventura county high school graduates had completed the “a-g requirements,” which is the necessary curriculum required for admission to the university of california (uc) and california state university (csu) systems. the differences are even starker when one compares the college readiness rates of ventura county to those of los angeles county and the state over time. in this paper i will demonstrate how ventura county and its largest high school district, oxnard union high school district (ouhsd), consistently underperform on graduating students who are eligible to apply to a uc and csu when compared to neighboring los angeles county and its largest district, los angeles unified school district (lausd). for latina/o students, the largest minority group in both counties, the disparity between ventura county and los angeles county and the state is even greater. literature review the topic of college readiness is one that is of continuing importance to researchers in education. the question of whether students graduate high school prepared for college and careers has become a national priority in the last ten years (center on standards and assessments implementation, 2016). the literature actually cites california’s a-g requirements as an example of how state university systems have tried to provide a way to determine whether a student is prepared for its higher education system (balfanz et al., 2016). the same report also describes how some districts within the state have adopted the course sequence as their standard for graduation (balfanz et al., 2016, p.22). there is also specific interest in the issue of latinos, specifically latino males and their decreasing participation in higher education. victor sáenz and luis ponjuán published a seminal study on the phenomenon of the vanishing latino male in higher education (2009). as they state very succinctly in the first sentence of this article, “latino males are effectively vanishing from the american higher education pipeline” (sáenz & ponjuán, 2009, p.54). appreciating a college-going culture in public education ernesto guerrero allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe analysis of a-g completion rates if we start by comparing the california state and ventura county a-g completion rate (the percentage of high school graduates who complete all the required courses for admission to the uc and csu systems) it is clear that ventura county is well behind the state average, 45.4% compared to 34.2%, respectively. this was not always the case, however. in 1996, the ventura county completion rate was 35.7% and the state’s was 35.4%. ventura county actually did better than the state at that time (ca department of education, 1996). in the twenty years since, the a-g completion rate in ventura county got worse while it got better across the state (see table 1). table 1: a-g completion rate comparison over time california los angeles county ventura county lausd ouhsd 1995-1996 35.4% 40.7% 35.7% 49.8% 33.9% 2015-2016 45.4% 49.6% 34.2% 54.9% 27.1% the same trend holds true if we compare ventura county to los angeles county. twenty years ago the completion rate in los angeles was 40.7% compared to ventura’s 35.7%, a difference of only 5%. in 2016 that disparity increased to 15.4% (ventura at 34.2% and los angeles at 49.6%). again, ventura’s rate went down slightly while los angeles followed the state trend with its rate increasing. finally, if we compare the two largest districts with high schools in both counties, ouhsd and lausd, we see the same trends, only magnified. in 1996, 33.9% of ouhsd graduates were eligible to apply to a uc or csu, while in lausd this number was 49.8%. twenty years later this gulf of 15.9% ballooned to 27.8%. lausd increase their a-g completion rate, while ouhsd’s completion rate went in the opposite direction, decreasing by 6.8%. if we do the same comparison but only look at latino students we see the same general underperformance of ventura county and ouhsd. additionally, even though there was some slight improvement in the latina/o completion rates over this period, this was dwarfed by the improvements elsewhere in the state. again, ventura county and ouhsd have lower a-g completion rates for latina/o students when compared to the other groups. comparing ventura county to the state between 1996 and 2016, the completion rate difference went from 2.7% to 13.9%. between counties the difference grew from 10.2% to 21.2%. finally, when we compare the two districts, again we see the gulf widening, going from 20.3% to 31.3% (see table 2). appreciating a college-going culture in public education ernesto guerrero allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 2: a-g completion rate over time for latina/o students california los angeles county ventura county lausd ouhsd 1995-1996 22.3% 29.8% 19.6% 40.7% 20.4% 2015-2016 37.2% 44.5% 23.3% 53.5% 22.2% another important point here is that over that twenty year period lausd has managed to nearly eliminate the a-g completion rate gap for its latina/o students. in 1996 latina/o students had a completion rate of 40.7% as compared to 49.8% for the entire district, a gap of 9.1%. that has been reduced to just 1.4% in 2016. though there has also been a reduction in that gap in ouhsd, there is a significant difference. in lausd the overall a-g completion rate rose and the latina/o rate also rose, almost meeting it. in ouhsd, though, the overall rate fell and the latina/o rate rose slightly thereby narrowing the gap. these numbers show that while the a-g completion rates in the state and its largest school district have been on an upward trend over the past twenty years, the rates in ventura county have gone in the opposite direction. additionally, the completion rates for latina/o students in ventura county are still languishing in the low twenty percent range while they are increasing elsewhere. conclusion as a result of numbers like these, it is clear that the school districts that oversee ventura county’s high schools, particularly ouhsd, are failing to prepare its students for post-secondary options. specifically in ouhsd, they are failing to accomplish their number one goal which is to, “prepare students for college, career and life readiness, ensuring that every student is challenged to successfully access rigorous curricula and 21st century learning strategies that lead to tangible post-secondary outcomes” (oxnard union high school district, 2017, their emphasis). a common sense solution to this problem is to align the district’s graduation requirements to the a-g requirements. in lausd, the class of 2017 was the first class required to pass the a-g requirements with a c or better to graduate from high school (phillips et al., 2015). however, lausd is far from the first to align their requirements in this way. as of 2015 at least a dozen school districts had made the a-g coursework their default graduation requirements (leal, 2015). i want to be clear that i am not using the word “failing” lightly here. this is not an indictment of the public school teachers in ventura county, ouhsd, or the teaching in these schools. the data presented in this paper do not speak to that. public schools are often blamed for many of society’s ills. for example, david berliner posits that it is poverty that leads to failing schools, not the other way around and that when poverty is factored in, our public schools are doing much better than we are typically led to believe (berliner, 2014). this paper does not refute that argument. however, i would argue that by allowing over 70% of your students to graduate high school and not be eligible for admission to the uc or csu, and for that not to have changed in twenty years, something is failing. in this case i believe it is the districts that determine the high schools’ curricula, not the schools, that are ultimately responsible for this failure. appreciating a college-going culture in public education ernesto guerrero allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe however, districts also have the solution within their grasp, though. by moving to align their graduation requirements to the a-g curriculum. it will not be an easy process as shown with the example of lausd (phillips et al., 2015) but it is a necessary one if ventura county wants to be a leader in post-secondary preparation rather than languishing behind as the rest of the state moves in the opposite direction. about the author dr. ernesto guerrero is the director of academic advising at csu channel islands and an adjunct professor of educational leadership at california lutheran university. he has over eighteen years of experience in academic advising and student success programs having previously worked and taught at ucla. dr. guerrero studies student success and retention, specifically in underrepresented student groups. references balfanz, r., depaoli, j. l., ingram, e. s., bridgeland, j. m., & fox, j. h. (2016). closing the college gap: a roadmap to postsecondary readiness and attainment. baltimore, md: johns hopkins university school of education. retrieved from http://gradnation.americaspromise.org/report/closing-college-gaproadmap-postsecondary-readiness-and-attainment. berliner, d.c. (2014). 50 myths and lies that threaten america's public schools: the real crisis in education. new york, ny: teachers college press. california department of education. (1996). 12th grade graduates completing all courses required for u.c and/or c.s.u. entrance ventura county (1995-96). sacramento, ca: california department of education data reporting office. california department of education. (2016). 12th grade graduates completing all courses required for u.c. and/or c.s.u. entrance ventura county (2015-16). sacramento, ca: california department of education data reporting office. center on standards and assessments implementation. (2016). high school graduation requirements in a time of college and career readiness. csai report. retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed570363.pdf. leal, f. (2015, august 23). raising graduation bar poses challenges for school districts. edsource. retrieved from https://edsource.org. oxnard union high school district. (2016). school board goals. retrieved from: http://www.ouhsd.k12.ca.us/board/board-goals/. phillips, m., yamashiro, k., farrukh, a., lim, c., hayes, k., wagner, n., white, j. & chen, h. (2015). using research to improve college readiness: a research partnership between the los angeles unified school http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed570363.pdf https://edsource.org/ http://www.ouhsd.k12.ca.us/board/board-goals/ appreciating a college-going culture in public education ernesto guerrero allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe district and the los angeles education research institute. journal of education for students placed at risk, 20(1-2), 141-168. sáenz, v. b., & ponjuán. l. (2009). the vanishing latino male in higher education. journal of hispanic higher education, 8(1), 54–89. appreciating a college-going culture in public education introduction literature review analysis of a-g completion rates conclusion about the author dr. ernesto guerrero is the director of academic advising at csu channel islands and an adjunct professor of educational leadership at california lutheran university. he has over eighteen years of experience in academic advising and student success p... references a new guy's understanding of bilingual education volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe a new guy's understanding of bilingual education david lynn graduate student, school of education, california state university channel islands substitute teacher, las virgenes unified school district, oxnard union high school district, california i want to share a fundamental understanding about bilingual education. or rather, an understanding that is basic to educators familiar with the issues, but still too unknown to the general public. how do i know it is unknown? there are still large and loud political debates on the issue, even though program experience and academic research are amazingly one-sided on outcomes. first, let me introduce myself a bit: i am a student in the california state university, channel islands (csuci) school of education, working toward my teaching credential. i am a bit older than the usual student: i approach teaching after being a parent of public school students for thirteen years. before i was a parent, i worked in public policy in los angeles. my wife and i are products of public schools ourselves: i went to public schools in orange county; my wife went through the la unified school district. to mask my age a bit with younger students at csuci, i joke that i have a 20th century education, rather than jar them with a graduation date. but you know, i see that our society has a 20th century understanding of english language learners (ells) as well. if you and i had talked at some afternoon party last fall, you would have found i had only a vague idea of what the issues were. i was in favor of multicultural education, to the extent that i had some limited definition in mind. on ell education, i was not unlike what i perceive to be the general public’s (i.e. white, native-english speakers: a majority of active voters) mainstream understanding: moving nonenglish speakers into english as soon as possible helps them enter american society and avoid marginalization. it feels like common sense to bring students into the language of the country quickly. it turns out that this common sense is actually simplistic and uninformed. with just a little exposure to academic research, and classroom work, my views have shifted significantly. also, my fellow students, from various walks of life, have been a real source of insight for me. despite the realities in our public schools, however, facts and educational results are a bad place to start a conversation about bilingual education. the facts point to a need for bilingual education. but in public discourse, we are really talking about beliefs. to counter the uninformed “common sense” i mentioned, real-world studies are not enough; opponents will dismiss or simply ignore these findings. it is better to a new guy's understanding of bilingual education david lynn allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe replace the faulty, simplistic common sense understandings (beliefs) with better, informed, common sense understandings (beliefs). we can get a long way with only two concepts. first is the idea that when a person learns, regardless of language, they learn. the other idea is the understanding that we are dealing with two different types of language skills in our schools. i am avoiding academic jargon, but if you would like to get into the academics, as well as get some of the history of the successes of bilingual programs, a good place to start is with a quick internet search for language education professor james cummins. a major argument against bilingual education is that somehow something learned in a different language cannot be used by that person in english. but input is irrelevant: when a student learns about fotosíntesis in spanish, for example, she or he will be able to explain in either language how a tree takes in water, carbon dioxide, and light to produce sugars and oxygen, once the language skills catch up. the “english side” of the brain does not stay ignorant; after all, there is no “english side” of the brain. if you agree with this, you have to logically concede that it makes more sense to learn material in whatever language is understood. but wait. if a student is allowed to stay in his or her own language, he or she will not learn english. this of course is false, because while a student is learning content material, english is also being taught. the biggest problems in schools have long been when students are forced out of a language they know before they can learn english, thereby losing time on all subjects and often struggling so badly as to never catch up to peers in english. on transitioning into english, we have to realize that there are two general types of language skills: basic, conversational language skills and subject-matter, academic language skills. this is well-known to many educators, but the general concept has been experienced by anyone who has gone to school. every student encounters this distinction, and the academic-specific language just takes longer for everyone to master. for example, middle schoolers normally have no problem expressing a preference on movies, but take quite a bit of work to be able to summarize the plots of two movies and then explain and justify an analysis comparing and contrasting story elements. for someone learning english, learning both types of language skills, as well as catching up to nativespeaking peers who are also working on learning these skills, simply takes time. how much time? research has consistently shown that to pick up the language well enough to carry on conversations can take around two years, with some basic ability much sooner. a proficiency in academic language skills clearly takes longer to develop; experience finds that ells will normally take five to seven years to develop skills sufficient to catch up to standard grade-level capabilities. given that it will take ells years to catch up to the content work expectations of fluent students, it clearly makes no sense to waste those years by not teaching subjects in a language the students do understand, transitioning to english when sufficient proficiency has been achieved. that is, if we want all students to eventually participate in society as educated individuals, then common sense requires us to acknowledge that our public schools need to provide those who are new to english with years of language support, ideally bilingual education. i am going to be a math teacher, so i researched issues of math for ells. mathematics might seem to be the least problematic subject. after all, it is all just numbers, right? as it turns out, difficulties come up in a new guy's understanding of bilingual education david lynn allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe math in just about every imaginable ell issue area: academic language terminology, confusion in common language use, and hard-to-translate terms. and of course, what would math be without word problems? as a result, math actually provides a good example of the problems ells face in school. as we all know, and tend to forget, math is full of academic jargon. even easy words like quotient, hypotenuse, quadratic, circumference, divisor, dividend, polynomial, and denominator are not going to be found in standard translation dictionaries, nor in everyday conversation. it takes time and specific education to get these words right. worse, many “everyday” words are found in math but do not mean the same thing they do in regular usage. words like table, even, negative, area, root, positive, product, division, and obtuse are deceptive for the english learner because they look like known words but are not used in math in the same ways. the existence of many synonyms in english also makes math that much harder for a language learner. consider that the simple act of adding can use words like add, plus, and, sum, total, more than, total of, increased by, greater than, and combined. and yet another hurdle: there are numerous very specific terms that look like they could be translated word-for-word, but really cannot, like “least common multiple,” or “greatest common factor.” my favorite is “alternate interior angles.” to see the problem in english, i tried to “translate” using a thesaurus, mimicking the two-language dictionary experience. i thought i could end up with something like “alternating inside corners.” well, my webster's thesaurus simply did not understand the word “angle” as a math term, and provided “point of view” or “aspect.” it is very likely that most general purpose, two-language dictionaries would do the same. “alternate” was not in my thesaurus either, but “alternative” came out as “power,” “right,” or “opportunity to choose.” “interior” was the easiest word, translating as “inner” or “inside.” unfortunately, putting these results together based on their own similarities, i come up with something like “the opportunity for an inside point of view,” which has nothing to do with math. if i did not translate “alternate,” i could come up with a word-to-word translation of something like “alternate inner aspects,” which could sound mathematical, but basically has nothing to do with the original term. these are very simple examples of english learning problems in math, and ignore the problems even native-speakers have with the subject. combined with the relatively simple, informed, common sense understanding of how language learning actually works with school material, i hope it becomes clear to all of us that bilingual education is the best educational option, providing people with the best chance for succeeding in our society. about the author david lynn is a graduate student in the school of education at csu channel islands. he received his bachelor's degree from the university of california, berkeley with a double major in human geography and social science, and his mba from pepperdine university. a father of two school-aged children, he currently substitute teaches in the las virgenes unified school district and oxnard union high school district. a new guy's understanding of bilingual education about the author to recognize a teacher volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe to recognize a teacher brigette stevenson graduate student, school of education, california state university channel islands teacher, las virgenes unified school district, california i was never a fisherman but i was always fishing. i wasn’t fishing for trout. i fished for wild ideas about myself. maybe i would be a painter or a novelist. maybe i would become a scientist or art thief. or maybe i would be a hero. anything is possible, so why not? i was never a fisherman, but i was always fishing. i tried things. i dabbled and wandered. and i landed somewhere between poet and pragmatist because i landed and stayed in public education. i landed there because i was caught up in a net. and before i knew it i was being fished for, and i was already caught. turns out if you fish for so long, you become the something to fish for. teaching isn’t what people think it is. it’s one of the bad-tempered professions. and it isn’t the money, or the funding, or even the workload. it’s that people forgive doctors if a patient is lost. it comes with the terrain. but no one can accept if a teacher loses a student. it’s unacceptable. and that is how it should be. no child should be forgotten. no young adult should evaporate into ether. but i need to say: i’ve lost some. and i carry them. i carry them in the space between the back of my neck and spine, my shoulders and my collarbone. when i think about the ones i’ve lost i feel the crack of my failure in every bone. i feel them snap each time i try to relax. i roll my muscles loose only to find i’m tighter. i feel their weight push my posture down low and unsteady. my body becomes gnarled: one of the bad-tempered professions. i carry them there because i know if i carry them, then i didn’t really lose them. at least i know where they are. and they won’t be forgotten. one of my wild ideas for myself was to be a hero. i fished forever on how to be a hero. i read about them in stories. i studied them in epics. they always were pushed through unimaginable feats to be victorious on the other side. but there is a limited job market for such a high idea. heroes are a dying breed. but on nights when it’s hard to sleep, and the ones i lost are holding particularly tight, i wonder what real heroes are. not the ones in stories, but the ones the stories came from. what do they carry? is this what a real hero does? heroes hold fast to lost causes. heroes are brave when they are still afraid. they push through. and when they do, heroes give hope. i was never a fisherman, but i was always fishing. i was never a dreamer, but i always had hope. now, in turn, i give it as much as i can. and when i can’t give hope, i carry it. i carry those losses. and i know i am not alone. for those of us who were caught up in the net: we will lose some. but we will always carry them. ours is a beautiful cargo: it’s hope. to recognize a teacher brigette stevenson allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author brigette stevenson is a graduate student in the school of education at csu channel islands. she received her bachelor's degree from california lutheran university in english. she currently teaches fourth grade with las virgenes unified school district. to recognize a teacher about the author circle structure: utilizing the wisdom in the room volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe circle structure: utilizing the wisdom in the room lori sortino independent consultant how do we know where in the school system we should focus in order to make the most effective change? my answer is “at the heart level.” which hearts? the system is greater than the sum of its parts and the system is only as good as its weakest member. so to have a strong system heart, we need to focus on the hearts of the weakest members and address their needs. there are two basic things we can start doing tomorrow that will immediately begin this invaluable work. last night i went to an orientation for volunteers at the san luis obispo county non-profit restorative partners. this program brings volunteers into jails, prisons, and juvenile halls in the county to do activities alongside inmates. one former inmate, who has stayed involved in the program by becoming a trained facilitator of their alternatives to violence program (avp), said: “i was shut away from society and i thought they had forgotten me. i felt like i no longer existed. when these [restorative partners] programs became available it made a huge difference for me. people i didn’t even know came to enjoy activities with us. it created a bridge for me so that i could imagine being a part of society again.” a group of 20 people had come together because each one of us care and want to make a difference in people’s lives and in a system. by the end of the two and a half hours we understood that almost every offender who ends up in prison was first a victim of some violence or injustice. without access to loving guidance and good programs to keep them mentally, emotionally and socially healthy, these young victims can become offenders. educators have an important role in helping young people enter mentally, emotionally and socially healthy situations. restorative partners boasts a tremendous success rate. when an incarcerated man, woman, or youth chooses to access their programs, they have access to the support they need to overcome circumstances and create a life they are proud of. i think the key is to realize that there are cries for help before people become offenders and if we can catch it early we can get people help earlier. imagine a series of gatherings of educators where the focus of discussion and action is to identify indicators of cries for help and existing support we have access to so that we can channel those wanting help to the help that is available. i have two children who went through public school. my first born was identified gifted and talented and there was a program for that, which she had access to. it only really pertained to her intellectual talent, circle structure: utilizing the wisdom in the room lori sortino allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe though. when she became a troubled teen and i recognized her cries for help i was not equipped to respond. i put myself through a wonderful training program (for parents) but she was not in a place to accept help from me. she didn’t trust me. the one who got through to her was her high school english teacher and school newspaper advisor. he encouraged my daughter to write and modeled a way of accepting all of her that stuck in her mind. that teacher planted seeds that over several years sprouted and grew. writing and reading were her outlets. my daughter is now becoming a high school english teacher and brings enormous compassion to the task. my second child is profoundly deaf, so i became very familiar with the individual family service plan (ifsp) and individualized education plan (iep). my experience with them was wonderful. i found them very helpful. at the same time, i yearned to have every child receive an iep because every child deserves one. every child is unique and special. when we do not stop, even annually, to look at the areas on an iep for a student, we miss those clues. we miss the opportunity to serve their needs. how do we make incremental changes within the system to better serve needs? i have worked on the question – or i should say this question has worked on me – for years. i was a member of a state-wide parent organization for over ten years, and this organization, together with california educators of the deaf and hard of hearing (cal-ed), would jointly hold a conference for all stakeholders so that parents and educators were in the room together for a weekend. it was extremely successful. during that time i found the question “how do we improve collaboration with all of these members of the system in the room?” i watched people arrive, listen to key-note speakers, go to break-out sessions and learn, but the most profound conversations were in the hallways and bathrooms between sessions – and there was never enough time to finish them. attending a nexus for change conference somewhere around 2005 changed my life. there were 300 people in attendance and graphic recorders harvested all of the activity onto large white banners of paper on the wall throughout the three-day conference. i sat in circle with 150 people at one point and experienced world café, open space, future search, theory u, and community weaving – a multitude of very successful methodologies for harvesting the wisdom in the room. i met facilitators of the art of hosting; i met authors, educators, activists, and caring citizens from all walks of life – all of whom were wanting to midwife the emerging future waiting to be born. it changed my life because this is where i feel “home.” i had found the work i will do and the way i want to practice for the rest of my life. i want to have a say. everyone does. i want my values represented when a system is created or improved. everyone does. so how do we do that? how do we honor the values held by everyone being served in a system? as i practice the art of hosting, i learn that it is about listening. it is about giving every voice an equal opportunity to speak. it is about being very flexible so that we can change course when we need to. it is about paying attention to clues and stopping to ask what is emerging. it is about feeling and caring. i used to work in a corporate environment where i often did not take time to talk to people because i wanted to get things done. and i did get things done. i met metrics and i won awards. i got promoted and i was given tremendous responsibility. i accomplished a lot. but after years of accomplishment, when my 25 corporate years were done, i had built very few significant relationships. i could solve problems and puzzles and i could win games with strategy but i couldn’t navigate a social circle. i https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiigcoc7wqg http://www.thecircleway.net/ circle structure: utilizing the wisdom in the room lori sortino allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe wanted to fit in but never felt like i did. i longed for circle and there were no circles in corporate structure. when i fell into learning about systems through a network i joined around the time i attended the nexus conference, i began to understand how systems work and was able to see how the structure of a social system (its hierarchy, rules, agreements, guiding principles and values) influences behavior. i learned that by simply rearranging the chairs in the room and creating an agreement and an invitation while modeling desired behavior, i could have an enormous impact on people’s willingness to say what they were thinking. in my teen years i had the privilege of attending a youth group that a friend invited me to. because of her invitation, i attended that youth group throughout junior high and high school and i experienced circle. i experienced a safe space where i was able to sit among peers and express my voice. nothing in my teens was more important to me than that opportunity to sit in that circle. when i attended nexus i recognized that feeling even though i didn’t connect it at the time. i want to offer two things. the first is very simple. circle. any teacher can hold circle inside their classroom at any time. any pta can host a circle. any school principal can host a circle. i welcome you to reach out to me in the comments section if you would like to discuss circles directly. second, i want to offer the idea that stakeholders come together as a system on a regular basis to facilitate feedback. feedback is defined as the ways the system sees itself and its level of functioning. when we have access to personal stories, concerns, ideas, and observations (data collecting), we can receive inspiration for improving the system. how we convene when we come together will depend on what we wish to accomplish. begin in circle. about the author lori sortino hosts circles and teaches circle structure. she is a practitioner of a variety of methodologies and practices for deepening relationships and creating more meaningful lives. her interests include large scale change methodologies and participatory leadership, organizational development, systems thinking, whole language learning systems, bio-metaphysical energy systems therapy, artistic expression, american sign language, and being in nature. https://learningforward.org/docs/learning-system/sys11-08roy.pdf?sfvrsn=2 https://learningforward.org/docs/learning-system/sys11-08roy.pdf?sfvrsn=2 circle structure: utilizing the wisdom in the room about the author 0b“private and prestigious” do not necessarily equal “perfect fit” volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe “private and prestigious” do not necessarily equal “perfect fit” jaimie hoffman associate lecturer, university of wisconsin la crosse student experience specialist, noodle partners julissa garcia graduate admission coordinator university of southern california selecting the right university can be a very nerve-wracking experience for students, parents, and families. let’s face it without even adding in any other variables, this is a significant financial and time commitment, and for us, as first-generation college students, the confusion and weight are compounded because no one paved the way for us. on top of this, society infiltrates us with the message that the absolute best universities are the “private, elite.” we attempt to demystify the difference between public and private universities, share the general characteristics of each, and then discuss the most important factor in selecting the right university: fit. while we will reference some research, we also share this information from our own experiences attending and working at both public and private universities. defining public and private the main difference between private and public universities is how they are funded; public universities are created and funded by state governments whereas private universities are established and funded by people not in government. an example of a public university is csu channel islands, and university of southern california (usc) is an example of a private university. some private universities are non-profit and some are for-profit; non-profit universities answer to a board of trustees who are not financially vested in the university and are focused on the goal of educating students and helping them earn a degree. for-profit universities have the primary goal of making profit and they answer to owners and shareholders. while high quality, for-profit universities might exist, there are many for-profit universities that have poor reputations for supporting student success and graduation. therefore, we highly recommend that prospective students and their parents carefully review for-profit universities before applying; and feel free to reach out to a trusted higher education leader to get help guiding you in this “private and prestigious” do not necessarily equal “perfect fit” jaimie hoffman and julissa garcia allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe process. for the rest of this article when we discuss private universities, we are referring to non-profit only because we believe for-profit institutions should be considered separately. differences between public and private universities public and private universities not only differ based on the source of funding, there are other general differences that are worth considering. know, however, that these are generalizations. the differences do not apply to all universities. in fact, later, we will talk about some of our own experiences at these universities and how the generalizations may or may not fit. funding tuition at public universities is usually lower (if students attend college in the state they reside) because the government covers part of the cost to educate students. since the cost of attendance is increasing overall in higher education, funding and available financial aid are an important consideration for individuals entering college. research suggests that with increased cost of attendance, students and their families are becoming savvier in making their decisions. they are not just selecting the “elite, private” university. a 2013 survey conducted by the higher education research institute at ucla found that students often choose to enroll in their second or third choice because they received more substantial financial aid awards at these universities. our experience. when we were students ourselves, we experienced the high cost associated with attending private universities and the vast differences between the financial aid offered at both types of institutions. julissa attended a public university with lower tuition for her undergraduate studies; her financial aid award covered most of her costs and allowed her to focus on her education instead of working endless hours to pay tuition. she attended a private university for her graduate degree and, even with a substantial scholarship, she had to take out large student loans and work a considerable number of hours to cover the cost of tuition. class size and demographics many public colleges have larger class sizes than private colleges. on the one hand, the larger class sizes can make it difficult to connect with peers and faculty. on the other, there is often more diversity at public universities so students may have more chances to connect with peers who can ease their transition and support their success. checking out the general class size and student to teacher ratio is fairly easy to do. the number of non-traditional students entering universities is higher than ever before; more students who identify as first generation, low income, transfers, part time, veterans, or other minoritized identities are attending college. this is crucial not only to the diversity of the campus, but also an indicator of how welcome a student will feel as they enter and navigate the university. students tend to enroll on campuses where they are more likely to see others like themselves. the amount of support from trusted others that students receive during these years leads to increased personal development and allows students to thrive and persist to graduation. http://www.chronicle.com/article/costfinancial-aid/145143 https://www.heri.ucla.edu/monographs/theamericanfreshman2015.pdf https://www.heri.ucla.edu/monographs/theamericanfreshman2015.pdf “private and prestigious” do not necessarily equal “perfect fit” jaimie hoffman and julissa garcia allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe our experience. various aspects of class size and demographics impacted our experiences. for instance, jaimie is a firstgeneration college student, attended a private undergraduate university, and was not surrounded by many others with a similar background. this made it difficult for her to navigate the university environment because there were many things she did not know and was afraid to ask in fear she would be viewed as an outsider. options for degrees & involvement since public universities are usually bigger, they often have many more majors for students to choose from which means students are likely able to pursue the major they want. also, public universities, due to their larger size, often provide a larger quantity and greater variety of involvement opportunities in campus life. through engaging in campus life, students often join sub-communities within the university where they feel like they belong which helps them complete their degree. private colleges have fewer majors and often have strong communities and campus activities; they are just not as significant. our experience. one of us attended a small, private university to study music as an undergraduate student to be a middle school music teacher. julissa selected this institution because it was close to home and relocating further away from her family was not an option. unfortunately, since the university did not offer a degree specifically in music education, she did not end up feeling adequately prepared for a career in teaching. when she attended graduate school to gain additional preparation, she chose a very large public institution that had a robust education program for music teachers. about the “p” word many of the universities that are considered “prestigious” are private universities but there are state universities known as leaders in various disciplines, or as “flagship” universities in the state. having said that, it is important to consider what prestige really means. the us news and world report puts together rankings of the “best” universities but the process they use to calculate the rankings does not consider elements of institutional fit that we feel (and research shows us) are very important, especially for people from marginalized backgrounds. for instance, the rankings do not include consideration of things like the feeling of community and inclusiveness on the campus, how many programs are offered, tuition costs and financial aid availability, location (or distance from home), and involvement opportunities. both of us have attended or worked at what some would call “prestigious” institutions and struggled to feel like we belong. so, take it from us, prestige does not necessarily equate to a good fit in university choice. our recommendation: focus on institutional fit not “public or private” as we attempted to point out above, public and private universities have different characteristics and some of those may be more important depending on the student's priorities, values, goals, and personality. the key in selecting the right university is selecting the right fit. research around college choice shows that students whose values and beliefs fit with that of a university were satisfied with their choice of college and ultimately succeeded. consider using the following strategies to find the right institutional fit: “private and prestigious” do not necessarily equal “perfect fit” jaimie hoffman and julissa garcia allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 1. reflect on and prioritize educational goals take some time to sit down, talk about, and list the student’s values, goals, and priorities. think about such things as major choice, cost, campus culture, diversity, co-curricular activities, intercollegiate athletics, location, campus size, distance from home. students should try to envision themselves on the college campus and consider what would make them happy, feel included, and successful. 2. research and collect facts utilize the internet to collect important information about potential university choices, particularly pertaining to the student’s values, goals, and priorities. the national center for education statistics offers a search engine called the college navigator that allows individuals to search a variety of variables to find and compare universities to find the right fit. once top university choices have been identified, it is also useful to consider reaching out to alumni and/or current students to ask about their experiences. sometimes looking through university-related social media pages or groups can also paint a clearer picture about the experience. 3. visit the campus if resources allow, we highly recommend visiting the campus -if not before applying, then at least before making a final decision. much like dating, there is a synergy or connection that individuals should feel when they visit a campus that is a right fit for them. this campus is somewhere they will devote a significant amount of time, and a place many will call home. seeing it in person is optimal. in conclusion, make an educated decision, don’t just follow the allure of “prestige.” about the authors julissa garcia has served as a student affairs professional for the last six years. she is committed to serving the local community and empowering students to achieve their educational goals. her expertise is in early academic outreach, program development, financial aid, and the college application process. julissa’s career interest is in providing resources and educational opportunities to non-traditional student including first-generation, transfer student, and student veterans. she is excited to spend her career effecting change in education after graduating from the educational counseling program at the university of southern california (usc). dr. jaimie hoffman has worked across the higher education landscape for over twenty years. her expertise includes assessment in higher education, student affairs administration, development of college student leaders, inclusion and equity, and use of technology inside and outside of the classroom for advancing student learning and engagement. dr. hoffman’s research interests engage a lens toward inclusive excellence and international perspectives. her research interests include equity and inclusion in higher education, assessment in higher education, and leveraging technology to advance student learning and meet student needs. “private and prestigious” do not necessarily equal “perfect fit” jaimie hoffman and julissa garcia allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe references cho, s., hudley, c., lee, s., barry, l., & kelly, m. (2008). roles of gender, race, and ses in the college choice process among first-generation and nonfirst-generation students. journal of diversity in higher education, 1(2), 95-107. retrieved from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2d2f/46bba4b4887106a2c3c511ef396e943f5988.pdf nora, a. (2004). the role of habitus and cultural capital in choosing a college, transitioning from high school to higher education, and persisting in college among minority and nonminority students. journal of hispanic higher education, 3, 2, 180-208. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192704263189 taylor, h. (2014). cost and financial aid increasingly influence students' choice of college. the chronicle of higher education, retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/article/costfinancial-aid/145143 “private and prestigious” do not necessarily equal “perfect fit” funding our experience. class size and demographics our experience. options for degrees & involvement our experience. 1. reflect on and prioritize educational goals 2. research and collect facts 3. visit the campus ethnic studies: a research summary volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe ethnic studies: a research summary dr. michelle jewett teacher education faculty central new mexico community college in the 1960's ethnic studies initially took the form of black independent schools, afrocentric public schools, tribal schools, and language immersion schools (sleeter, 2011). however, ethnic studies can be traced as far back as the 1900's when educator and historian w.e.b. dubois argued for the teaching of black history in u.s. schools (anderson, 2016). in higher education, ethnic studies began in 1968 after grassroots organizing and student demand sparked programs at san francisco state university, uc berkley, and uc santa barbara (hu-dehart, 1993). a well-known contemporary example of ethnic studies is the mexican-american studies program that began in 1998 at tucson unified school district. although this popular high school elective was shut down by a statewide legislative ban in 2010, a federal appeals court judge overturned the ethnic studies ban in 2017 after deeming it unconstitutional and discriminatory (depenbrock, 2017). ironically, the tucson ban increased awareness and prompted research into the success of ethnic studies, leading to new legislation for its expansion (depenbrock, 2017). for instance, governor jerry brown signed ab-2016 encouraging all districts and charter schools in california to offer high school ethnic studies courses by 2021. following the lead of el rancho usd, los angeles unified, the second largest district in the nation, now requires all high school students to complete a one-semester ethnic studies course to graduate. in other states, a recent bill passed in oregon to enact k-12 ethnic studies standards by 2020 and similar laws have been proposed in washington and texas. with students of color now the majority in u.s. public schools (strauss, 2014), and with one in five speaking a language other than english at home (camarota & zeigler, 2014), many communities are expressing a need for curricula that is inclusive and representative. not only is ethnic studies good and culturally relevant teaching, research indicates ethnic studies leads to significant, positive changes in student performance (cabrera, 2012; dee & penner, 2016; sleeter, 2011). ethnic studies research ethnic studies explore the intellectual and cultural traditions and resources of racial and ethnic groups that are underrepresented and marginalized in the textbooks and curricula of u.s. schools (hu-dehart, 1993). these multidisciplinary courses draw upon the fields of history and literature and often integrate concepts from anthropology, political science, psychology, law or criminal justice. ethnic studies focus ethnic studies: a research summary dr. michelle jewett allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe on the experiences of african americans, chicana/os, latina/os, asian americans, native americans, and other groups, as determined by region and student population (arce, 2016). because group identity is complex and multilayered, ethnic studies also explore how race and ethnicity intersect with other social and cultural elements such as gender, class, and sexuality (hu-dehart,1993). in sum, ethnic studies require students to think critically about relationships between past and present in terms of power and equity by exploring the histories, experiences, and perspectives absent from the traditional curricula taught in most k-12 schools and universities (arce, 2016; hu-dehart, 1993). this holistic, studentcentered instruction allows students to critique and potentially disrupt systematic oppression and the legacy of colonialism through community projects, outreach, and inquiry while focusing on social justice, social responsibility, and social change. in response to the ethnic studies ban in arizona, the national education association (nea) commissioned a review of research to determine how ethnic studies programs relate to student achievement. the resultant report, "academic and social value of ethnic studies" details the positive effects ethnic studies curricula have on student engagement, achievement, and identity development (sleeter, 2011). specifically, evidence indicates that students of color in ethnic studies courses are less likely to miss class, more likely to graduate, have greater self-esteem, and increased test scores compared to students who are not in such courses. however, this does not mean assigning texts about diverse groups will automatically improve student performance. as the nea report details, ethnic studies should integrate the following components to have positive social and academic student outcomes: 1. teachers must have rapport with students and believe they can learn; they must know their content well, including the perspectives of groups they are studying; being of the same ethnic background as most of their students is also helpful. 2. ethnic studies must include critical thinking and active strategies that are engaging and relevant to students' lives; students must be able to connect their everyday lived culture and language to the readings and history they are studying. 3. ethnic studies should be academically challenging and aligned with state standards and assessments; instead of standalone lessons or classes, ethnic studies works best when it is seamlessly integrated into academic subject matter. in addition to the positive impact of ethnic studies on students of color who are members of the group under study, the nea report found that ethnic studies positively affects white students, as well. when taught how to talk about race and specific actions they can take to address racism—including perspective-taking and intercultural communication—white students produce higher levels of thinking and cognitive complexity, and show increases in achievement, engagement, and empathy (sleeter, 2011). ethnic studies content below are outcomes selected from an ethnic studies survey course syllabus provided by the los angeles unified school district. these learning outcomes are aligned with the common core state standards for reading and writing in history/social science and exemplify the kinds of multidisciplinary, culturally ethnic studies: a research summary dr. michelle jewett allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe relevant, and challenging content secondary students explore in ethnic studies courses. although these are taken from a much larger list, note that these outcomes address a number of components discussed above, including the study of relationships between past events and present experience. additionally, these outcomes use high level cognitive verbs such as "examine," "evaluate," and "analyze," indicating that students are required to think complexly about social, political, historical, and cultural content. in this course students will know and be able to: • explore histories, struggles, and triumphs of the lgbtq community in the united states. • examine and evaluate gender stereotypes. • examine and analyze the effects of dehumanization through the capture, trade, and enslavement of africans, within a regional and global context. • examine the role that mendez v. westminster school district played in the desegregation of american schools. • evaluate the impact of immigration policies on latino americans. • evaluate the impact of the reservation system on american indians. • examine push-pull factors that led to asian immigration to the united states. in another example, san francisco unified school district's high school ethnic studies course includes six units, each focusing on two key concepts, such as identity & narrative, systems & power, transformation & change, and causality & agency. each unit integrates cross-cutting values such as love, respect, hope, community, self-determination and is guided by complex essential questions, such as: how have people historically, and in the present, challenged oppression? what role do individuals play in the transformation of themselves, their community and larger society? how do race, ethnicity, nationality, and culture shape identity? similar to the lausd syllabus, sfusd's literacy-based content integrates critical thinking, active strategies, and cultural relevance. the suggested reading list includes contemporary and challenging texts such as paulo freire's pedagogy of the oppressed, octavia butler's parable of the sower, howard zinn's a young people's history of the united states, ronald takaki's a different mirror for young people: a history of multicultural america, and michelle alexander's the new jim crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. the use of cross-cutting values, essential questions, and contemporary readings connect to students' everyday experience while challenging them to apply this content to their communities and lives. ethnic studies and good teaching as research indicates, all students benefit from ethnic studies, no matter what age, race, or ethnicity. however, key components must be present for ethnic studies to fulfill its promise of increased engagement, academic achievement, and student empowerment. diverse texts and discussions about race are not enough. in order for ethnic studies to produce good teaching it must: 1) be taught by instructors who are knowledgeable, engaged, and want to challenge oppressive conditions, 2) explore ethnic studies: a research summary dr. michelle jewett allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe content that is political, social, and economic in local, personal, and critical ways, and 3) use instructional methods that are active, authentic, and connected to students' everyday lived experience. about the author dr. michelle jewett is full-time faculty in the education department at central new mexico community college. she has over twenty years of experience teaching secondary and post-secondary students. michelle studies anti-bias curriculum and how it relates to teacher education and whiteness. references ab2016, alejo. pupil instruction: ethnic studies. assemb. reg. sess. 2015-2016. (ca 2016). anderson, m. (2016, mar. 7). the ongoing battle over ethnic studies. the atlantic. retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/the-ongoing-battle-over-ethnicstudies/472422/ arce, s. (2016). ethnic studies approaches & curriculum unit narrative (series number: ip-wp-x045). ucla center xchange. retrieved from: https://ucla.app.box.com/v/ethnic-studies-approaches cabrera, n. l. (2012). empirical analysis of tucson unified school district’s mexican american studies department, 2010 graduating cohort. tucson, az: report to special master dr. willis d. hawley on the tucson unified school district desegregation case. camarota, s. a. & zeigler, k. (2014, oct. 3). one in five u.s. residents speaks foreign language at home, record 61.8 million. center for immigration studies. retrieved from https://cis.org/one-five-usresidents-speaks-foreign-language-home-record-618-million dee, t., & penner, e. (2016). the causal effects of cultural relevance: evidence from an ethnic studies curriculum (cepa working paper no.16-01). retrieved from stanford center for education policy analysis: http://cepa.stanford.edu/wp16-01 depenbrock, j. (2017, aug. 22). federal judge finds racism behind arizona law banning ethnic studies. national public radio. retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/08/22/545402866/federal-judge-finds-racism-behind-arizonalaw-banning-ethnic-studies hu-dehart, e (1993). the history, development, and future of ethnic studies. the phi delta kappan, 71(1), 50-54. retrieved from http://pages.ucsd.edu/~rfrank/class_web/es-200a/week%201/hudehart%20phidk%2075-1.pdf los angeles unified school district (n.d.) ethnic studies semester course. retrieved from https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/ca01000043/centricity/domain/226/ethnic%20studies%20survey%2 0course%20.pdf san francisco unified school district (n.d.) ethnic studies course overview. retrieved from http://www.sfusdhumanities.org/ethnic-studies.html https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/the-ongoing-battle-over-ethnic-studies/472422/ https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/the-ongoing-battle-over-ethnic-studies/472422/ https://ucla.app.box.com/v/ethnic-studies-approaches https://cis.org/one-five-us-residents-speaks-foreign-language-home-record-618-million https://cis.org/one-five-us-residents-speaks-foreign-language-home-record-618-million http://cepa.stanford.edu/wp16-01 https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/08/22/545402866/federal-judge-finds-racism-behind-arizona-law-banning-ethnic-studies https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/08/22/545402866/federal-judge-finds-racism-behind-arizona-law-banning-ethnic-studies http://pages.ucsd.edu/~rfrank/class_web/es-200a/week%201/hu-dehart%20phidk%2075-1.pdf http://pages.ucsd.edu/~rfrank/class_web/es-200a/week%201/hu-dehart%20phidk%2075-1.pdf https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/ca01000043/centricity/domain/226/ethnic%20studies%20survey%20course%20.pdf https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/ca01000043/centricity/domain/226/ethnic%20studies%20survey%20course%20.pdf http://www.sfusdhumanities.org/ethnic-studies.html ethnic studies: a research summary dr. michelle jewett allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe sleeter, c. (2011). the academic and social value of ethnic studies: a research review. washington, d.c.: national education association. retrieved from https://www.nea.org/assets/docs/nbi-2010-3value-of-ethnic-studies.pdf strauss, v. (2014, aug. 21). for first time, minority students expected to be majority in u.s. public schools this fall. the washington post. retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/21/for-first-time-minoritystudents-expected-to-be-majority-in-u-s-public-schools-this-fall/?utm_term=.95ea5ad1f564 https://www.nea.org/assets/docs/nbi-2010-3-value-of-ethnic-studies.pdf https://www.nea.org/assets/docs/nbi-2010-3-value-of-ethnic-studies.pdf https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/21/for-first-time-minority-students-expected-to-be-majority-in-u-s-public-schools-this-fall/?utm_term=.95ea5ad1f564 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/21/for-first-time-minority-students-expected-to-be-majority-in-u-s-public-schools-this-fall/?utm_term=.95ea5ad1f564 why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public tiina itkonen associate professor of education and political science california state university channel islands politics has become a negative word. when thinking of politics, some of us may have a mental image of that one relative or friend, who goes on and on at the dinner table about something, to the point that it becomes uncomfortable. or the tv news that we turn off. but politics is actually a good word. it comes from the greek word politikos, which means politēs ‘citizen,’ and polis ‘city.’ if interpreted freely, these words basically suggest that people who live in the same area—be it a town or a village—share something in common. they have to interact to make decisions, through some collective process, on what life in the city should look like (stone, 2011). public schools take any public school as an example of politikos: schools are located in some geographical area. people living in that area elect people onto a school board (assuming there is at least one school in the area), to represent them to make decisions. the local school board decides things like the direction of what is taught in schools in that district by, for example, adopting a curriculum (california school boards association, 2007). this is essentially politikos in action – citizens elect fellow citizens to make decisions about schools for the town’s children. public schools then are pillars of democracy. schools educate the public through collective decision making so that children become literate, responsible, contributing, civic minded members of their communities. what does this have to do with vouchers? vouchers refer to parents being given money toward tuition at a private school. (vouchers are not the same as charter schools which are public schools, but which parents get to choose for their children.) arguments in favor of vouchers claim that they promote parental school choice, allow for competition that improves public schools, or that private school education is simply superior (e.g., suarez, 1998). regarding the superiority claim, one of the recent main arguments for vouchers has been that if lowincome parents send their children to a private school, the children will learn more (dynarski, 2016). but studies have yielded mixed results on how voucher programs affect student achievement (center on education policy, 2011; chingos & peterson, 2015). in milwaukee, where these programs originated in why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public tiina itkonen allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the nineties, there was no evidence for higher reading scores (rouse, 1998), but a longitudinal study found that students who had attended a private school were more likely to graduate from high school and attend college (wolf et al., 2013). in a new york city study, the results showed that the vouchers had positive impacts on test scores for african american students, but no impacts on test scores for latino students (bitler et al., 2015). one explanation for these mixed results, besides technical criticism on how the various studies were conducted (kruger & zhu, 2004), is that they may actually reflect whether or not the research was funded and conducted by voucher advocates (lublenski & brewer, 2016). but more recent studies from louisiana (abdulkadiroglu, parthak, & walters 2015; mills & wolf, 2016), and ohio, and indiana (figlio & karbownik, 2016) actually have shown negative effects on learning for voucher students. students’ achievement, which was considered “average,” actually fell from 50th to 34th percentile in math in louisiana after the first year in a voucher program. in april of this year, a large-scale report from the institute of education sciences (2017) found that d.c. students’ achievement was likewise harmed by participation in a voucher program. these new findings (some of which were done by voucher-friendly organizations themselves) raise some questions on vouchers’ effectiveness. dynarski (2016) suggested one explanation is that public schools have gotten better over time. since no child left behind, they have been under heavy pressure to improve test scores across a variety of students, while private schools have not been under similar accountability requirements. hence, randomized group studies of students with similar backgrounds, after two decades of public school accountability policies, suggest that public schools actually fare quite well. why is this important? despite sound research reporting that the achievement gap is narrowing between public and private schools, including for low-income students – in some instances public students even scored above the states’ private school students (e.g., indiana’s 4th graders in reading [dynarski, 2016]) – vouchers remain a favorite policy with the current administration. the president’s proposed budget includes a $250 million voucher-grant program, and secretary of education betsy devos is a long-time proponent and enthusiast of school choice and religious private school vouchers. voucher opponents have cited the conflict between separation of church and state, in that public tax payer funds should not go into funding private education. vouchers have not been an option in california because our state’s constitution prevents any public body, from state down to the local school board, to use public money to go to a religious or private school. the supreme court ruled in 2002 that vouchers do not violate the constitution, since parents (not the school) make the choice on how to use the money given to them. but this may change soon, as the supreme court was about to hear another case on the matter. this case before the court was different, because an elected school board actually created the nation’s first school board-approved school voucher program. students in that district in colorado could apply for a tuition scholarship to attend a private school of their choice. this case could have overturned the so called “blaine amendments” in our state’s and many others’ constitutions, and pave the way for school boards to pass voucher why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public tiina itkonen allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe programs in all 50 states (komer & neily, 2007). in other words, make vouchers possible if a school board so decided. wait…what are blaine amendments? for those interested in history: the name blaine amendment comes from congressman james blaine who, back in 1875, proposed an amendment to the constitution that would have prevented states from funding any religious education. it did not pass back then, but many states included similar provisions in their state constitutions because they believed that public money is for public purposes. but then the supreme court ruled in june 2017 on another private-public school dispute that a faithbased preschool must be granted publicly funded recycled tires for its playground paving, thus rejecting that it would have violated separation of church and state. the court ended up not hearing the arguments in the colorado case on whether a publically-elected school board can actually enact voucher programs (even though it was already on the “docket,” or the list of cases the court had agreed to take). instead it sent the case back to state courts for reconsideration in light of the playground ruling. case not closed, in other words. so what does this all mean? besides the fact that the colorado case will most likely end up back in the supreme court, many things. first, public schools are just that – they are public. if you do not like the decisions or directions of a school board, members serve a four-year term and can be elected to continue, or voted out (elections are actually staggered so that there are school board elections every two years). second, public schools are held accountable. teachers have to hold proper certifications and go through performance reviews. while many of us do not agree with the culture of testing in schools these days, the fact is that test results, among many other district activities and decisions are also made public. last, and perhaps most importantly, the purpose of public schools is to educate the polity: to ensure that education is provided for every child regardless of their cultural, linguistic, family, and ability backgrounds. the idea behind public schooling is for each student to have an opportunity to reach their potential for the good of the nation as a whole. vouchers challenge this. you have to just flip the previous arguments around to see what hidden consequences there are in a voucher program. private schools are – well – private. they use public money for private enterprises. they do not have to disclose what they teach and how, or who they admit. they set up their own entrance requirements and policies that keep out students whom they do not want – often the most vulnerable students. they can also set up tuition rates so that a voucher covers just part of the annual cost. this automatically excludes students whose families cannot afford to pay the difference (thus controlling who they let in). regarding parental rights, there are eight states that offer private school voucher programs for students with disabilities, but the parents must waive their special education due process rights to enroll their child. so private schools can do as they please. as john suarez (1998) put it, it is really the schools doing the choosing, not the parents, regardless of how much “choice” you put in packaging the argument. the public would simply have no monitoring mechanisms of what students are taught, by whom, and whether students actually learn in those schools. there would be no accountability for your tax dollars. most importantly, the public would have no say on whether those schools systematically discriminated against some students and their families. why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public tiina itkonen allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe does this mean that public schools are perfect? no, by all means. but you actually have a say. interestingly, when asked about their own children’s public schools, parents are actually satisfied (national center for education statistics, 2012). when asked about public schools in general, the same parents rate them lower (gallup, 2016). so, the parents actually feel that the schools are doing the job in the politiko – in their own community for their own kids. now what? if you have not been interested in education policy before, this might be a time to check out your own school district’s website, what their stated mission is, and who currently sits on the school board (the district website has a link for school board members, meeting dates and locations, and minutes). many ventura county school boards also include their member bios. even if you do not have school-aged children, you can vote; after all, schools are public organizations, it is your taxes, it is your community. the democratic structure of public education is at the core of american values. according to larry cuban, a former social studies teacher, superintendent, and stanford professor, schools’ primary duty is to “…seriously and deliberately educate students to think and act democratically inside and outside of classrooms” (2003, p. 47). in other words, public education and publically elected decision-makers – school boards – are the only way to protect the politiko. or as george washington put it: “a primary objective should be the education of our youth…who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country.” about the author dr. tiina itkonen is an associate professor of education and political science with over fifteen years of experience in public schools, having served as a special education teacher and a district specialist. she is experienced in positive behavioral supports, inclusive education, collaboration, teacher education, and systemic change. dr. itkonen studies interest group behavior in special education as well as education policy and politics. references abdulkadiroglu, a., parthak, p., and walters, c. (2015). school vouchers and student achievement: firstyear evidence from the louisiana scholarship program. working paper 21839. cambridge, ma: national bureau of education research. retrieved from: http://www.nber.org/papers/w21839 bitler, m., domina, t., penner, e., & hoynes, h. (2015). distributional effects of a school voucher program: evidence from new york city. journal of research on educational effectiveness, 8(3). 419–450. retrieved from: https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/our-publications-and-findings/projects/anevaluation-of-new-york-city-school-voucher why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public tiina itkonen allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe center for education policy. (2011). keeping informed about school vouchers: a review of major developments and research. retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed522161 california school boards association. (2007). school board leadership: the role and functions of california’s school boards. sacramento, ca. retrieved from: https://www.csba.org/~/media/51e3fbb839504700825cb16b7265f3c4.ashx chingos, m., & peterson, p. (2015). experimentally estimated impacts of school vouchers on college enrollment and degree attainment. journal of public economics, 122, 1–12. retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.11.013 cuban, l. (2003). why is it so hard to get good schools? new york: teachers college press. dynarski, m. (2016). on negative effects of vouchers. brookings institute evidence speaks reports, 1(18). 1-5. retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/research/on-negative-effects-of-vouchers/ figlio, d., & karbownik, k. (2016). evaluation of ohio’s edchoice scholarship program: selection, competition, and performance effects. columbus, oh: thomas b. fordham institute. gallup (2016). five insights into u.s. parents’ satisfaction with education. retrieved from: http://www.gallup.com/poll/195011/five-insights-parents-satisfaction-education.aspx institute of education sciences (national center for education evaluation and regional assistance) (2017). evaluation of the d.c. opportunity scholarship program. u.s. department of education. retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20174022/pdf/20174022.pdf komer, r., & neily, c. (2007). school choice and state constitutions. arlington, va: institute for justice. retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ed514959.pdf krueger, a. & zhu, p. (2004). another look at the new york city school voucher experiment. american behavioral scientist, 47(5). 658–698. retrieved from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3386/w9418 lubienksi, c., & brewer, j. (2016). an analysis of voucher advocacy: taking a closer look at the uses and limitations of “gold standard” research. peabody journal of education, 91(4), 455-472. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0161956x.2016.1207438 mills, j. n., & wolf, p. j. (2016). the effects of the louisiana scholarship program on student achievement after two years. university of arkansas school choice demonstration project. retrieved from http://www.uaedreform.org/downloads/2016/02/report-1-the-effects-of-the-louisianascholarship-program-on-student-achievement-after-two-years.pdf national center for education statistics (2012). national household education surveys program 2012 parent and family involvement in education survey. retrieved from: http://educationnext.org/files/2012depted-parents-poll.pdf why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public tiina itkonen allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe rouse, c. e. (1998). private school vouchers and student achievement: an evaluation of the milwaukee parental choice program. quarterly journal of economics, 113(2): 553-602. retrieved from: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5964.pdf stone, d. (2011). policy paradox (3rd ed.). new york, ny: w.w. norton. suarez, j. m. (1998). school vouchers: yesterday, today and forever. secular humanist bulletin, 14(2). wolf, p., kisida, b., gutmann, b., puma, m., eissa, n., & rizo, l. (2013). school vouchers and student outcomes: experimental evidence from washington, d.c. journal of policy analysis and management, 32(2). 246–270. retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pam.21691 why vouchers aren’t good for the (re)public public schools what does this have to do with vouchers? why is this important? so what does this all mean? does this mean that public schools are perfect? now what? about the author dr. tiina itkonen is an associate professor of education and political science with over fifteen years of experience in public schools, having served as a special education teacher and a district specialist. she is experienced in positive behavioral s... references thoughts on the first of may volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe thoughts on the first of may david c. berliner regents’ professor emeritus arizona state university as i write this on may 1st, i think, of course, of may day. over a century ago it was chosen by workers around the world to commemorate the haymarket riot and deaths in chicago, where workers were rallying around the slogan “an 8-hour day, with no cut in pay.” many at the riot were union supporters and workers on railroads, in slaughterhouses, mines, and factories. over a considerable period of time, these workers suffered death, jail, beatings, lockouts, and firings, until they got what was needed for each to have a modicum of dignity. just before may 1st, on a long drive home, i listened to woody guthrie singing songs of the great depression, many of which extolled unions. he explained in his verses why unions are needed, if this land were really ever to belong to you and me. may 1st also brought back memories of my father, who took a job in 1929, at the start of the depression. for years, the owners of that business exploited him and his fellow workers. but when he retired 35 years later, after having to participate in a strike every few years, my father had obtained a 40-hour work week, time and a half for overtime, double time for weekends, medical coverage, and a small pension to augment his social security. the union not only helped him earn enough to keep our family from penury, it also gave him a sense of self-worth, which was just as important. it was his union that let him live with a sense of personal dignity. dignity, crucial to well-being, often stems from some semblance of self-determination, and of being accorded some status. professions confer both: they often have some control over their evaluation and are less likely to be subject to evaluation by others; they often control who comes into the profession, set up systems to police themselves, are less subject to the demands of non-professionals; and they have a say over their pay and hours. we tend to think of physicians and lawyers as professionals. but teachers, most of whom work for governmental entities, are not, despite our continued use of that term to describe them. however, influential unions can fill the gap: they have the same kinds of commitments to their members as do professional associations. union members also have a say in the evaluation of their members; they too can control who enters the profession; and they can affect the hours they work and the pay they receive. the best of them that i know (i.e., the alberta’s teachers’ association) work closely with their provinces’ principals to police themselves. at this point in american history, teachers’ unions and thoughts on the first of may david c. berliner allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe associations, in my estimation, need to become more influential in asserting the needs of their members and protecting them from ludicrous legislation. in the neoliberal environment in which we in the u.s. now live, unions—not just teachers’ unions—have lost their influence. furthermore, the increasing growth of a gig economy, as in high tech and uber-style firms and charter and private schools, makes everyone an individual entrepreneur. this makes unionization all the more difficult. please note that i am not so silly as to think all unions are honest or that they always protect their members. but they have made a huge contribution to the american way of life. unions played a significant part in giving the u.s. a huge middle class, and that certainly has served this country well. but now, when those in charge of the work of teachers abuse their workers, it seems to me that it is time to stand together to fight harder for what is right. public schools are being denigrated through false news. and public school teachers throughout our country are being abused, while little is being done to moderate those trends. neither the national education association nor the american federation of teachers is being anywhere near assertive enough to protect our teachers and the american public educational system. a few years ago, however, i did watch chicago teachers in admiration. they felt their unfair treatment so keenly that they were among the first in my recent memory to call a strike, saying to the politicians who manage their schools: enough is enough! we need to remember that teachers are among the most important of america’s many workers. they are responsible for the nurturance of the social and intellectual growth of america’s youth, including those with special needs and from linguistic minority groups. for our 50 million or so public school students, school teachers are the face of america. and when those teachers are suffering indignities, it will be communicated—as social status always is—and in response, our youth and the country i love will suffer. john dewey commented on this: he wondered how teachers could communicate the essence of democracy if they live in systems that are not themselves democratically administrated? if teachers’ salaries throughout their career are considerably lower than others with equal educational attainment, they know they are looked down upon by society – for how else could that happen? if teachers cannot afford homes in the communities in which they teach, they receive a message that they are among the less valued in our society. the children they teach respond to that message accordingly. if teachers’ competencies are judged by standardized achievement tests that have little validity, then they are surely being abused and yet seem powerless to stop that abuse. if teachers’ classroom instruction is judged by observers who use observation instruments that show too low a level of reliability and who spend too little time in classrooms, teachers are also being wronged. if teachers are not allowed continuing professional development activities to aid them in their professional growth, they receive a clear message that their profession is not complex or evolving; that there is little more worth learning! if teachers work in schools without the appropriate number of counselors, school psychologists, librarians, music and art teachers, sports opportunities, and after school programs, they are being asked to do their job with students who are being handicapped in their personal growth. thoughts on the first of may david c. berliner allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe if teachers in the upper grades are expected to help students write better or grade homework thoroughly, but they have 200 students a week to instruct, they cannot do that job well or frequently enough. and so forth. on top of all this, in my state of arizona we do as little as we can to protect our most vulnerable families—our poor and our language minorities—thus decreasing the chances of so many teachers to be completely successful. as the percent of families in poverty or stress increases at a school site, it becomes much harder to teach. in arizona we have few resources to help single parent families who often cannot afford childcare and/or a quality early childhood program. we have few social workers or treatment centers that can help families with food insecurity or drug and alcohol problems. we have a large population of undocumented family members living precarious lives whose children we try to educate while we also provide solace. we promote private school vouchers and charter schools, and by doing so we take money from the publics’ schools, the schools with the hardest to teach children. we just allocated to our state’s teachers—already among the lowest paid in the nation—a 4/10ths of one percent raise, which is not even enough to cover the teachers’ typical annual out-of-pocket investment in school supplies that they need in their classrooms. we have cut state support for our universities by huge percentages over the last dozen or more years and zeroed out funds for the two largest community colleges in our state. budgets reflect priorities, which suggests that we do not want high quality higher education – so why should we worry about prek-12 education being high quality either? it is past time to play hardball. here is what i am thinking. this may-day has come and gone. but perhaps we all can take a year to think about the many issues needed to make the lives of teachers better, as well the many services needed to improve the lives of the families our teachers want to serve: health care, child care, drug treatment, mental health counseling, job training, nutritional help, and the like. our teachers are needed by our democracy. if they do not have the dignity that is their right, given their calling, the democracy we so value will suffer. the conditions under which they work, and their pay, must be negotiated from strength and that strength will arise from their solidarity. and for those of our citizens who are generally anti-union, i must remind you that states with stronger teacher unions do better in almost all ways than states that do not have such unions. and furthermore, that on the international tests, among the highest scoring nations in the world, teacher unionization is common. teachers really have nothing much professionally left to lose, and something quite akin to a profession to gain, by unionizing and becoming more demanding—a lot more demanding. teachers need to be much tougher in negotiating than i think they are now—not just for their personal gain, but also so our public schools, and thus our nation, can prosper. as teachers and their unions fight for their dignity and the needs of our public schools, i am sure that the ghosts of my father and tom joad will visit them all. they will shake the hands of all our teachers and sing to them about solidarity, a social force that will make america a greater nation than it is now. thoughts on the first of may david c. berliner allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author dr. david c. berliner, regents’ professor of education emeritus at arizona state university, is a member of the national academy of education, the international academy of education, and a past president of both the american educational research association and the division of educational psychology of the american psychological association. he has won numerous awards for his work on behalf of the education profession, and authored or co-authored over 400 articles, chapters and books. he has interest in the study of teaching, teacher education, and educational policy. thoughts on the first of may about the author good teaching volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe good teaching monica duran field placement supervisor and lecturer csu channel islands a university supervisor shares student teacher perspectives on good teaching. when i enter an elementary classroom wearing my elementary teacher hat and am in search of good teaching, i’m looking for ideas to teach content in a better or different way. i might also be looking at bulletin boards and classroom arrangement in hopes of finding something that might better suit the needs of my students. i also want to find a teacher who is enthusiastic and positive about his/her students and their learning. when i enter an elementary classroom wearing the parent hat and hoping my child will be surrounded by good teaching, i’m looking for an educator that is welcoming, willing to listen, attentive to my concerns, and cares about my child. i’m looking for someone who is able to recognize my child’s strengths and weaknesses, and is able to create an environment where my child can thrive. i’m hoping to find a climate of acceptance that celebrates diversity and encourages differences so that my child becomes a better human being, regardless of their reading or math skills. when i enter an elementary classroom wearing a university supervisor hat in search of good mentoring for student teachers, i’m hoping to find a place that is welcoming, cheerful, and kid-friendly. i’m looking for a teacher who understands the importance of good modeling and mentoring, and the patience that those require. i’m hoping to find a teacher who is willing to share their knowledge and their passion with a future colleague because that is how teaching programs work. i’m looking for that special someone who is an expert in their field while at the same time humble enough to know that they still have lots to learn, maybe even from someone just starting out in a credential program. suffice it to say, i think i know what good teaching looks like to me and, as a supervisor of student teachers, i’ve had lots of conversations with my students guiding and directing them toward good teaching. we’ve worked together to identify strategies and techniques that they have observed that demonstrate good teaching. we’ve analyzed good lessons and not so good lessons in an attempt to become better teachers. we’ve attempted to take course content and textbook facts and translate them into applicable skills and knowledge to lead us to better teaching. good teaching monica duran allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe student teachers are in a unique position – straddling the line between student and teacher. they are at once the student who is learning how to teach and what good teaching is, while at the same time practicing being the teacher and attempting to demonstrate their progress toward good teaching. they are only in this position for a short time – about one school year – and they will never again be in this dual role. i asked the students in my methods course to reflect on criteria they would use to determine good teaching. these multiple subject student teachers were in their final semester of methods courses and student teaching, about 10 weeks from earning their teaching credential, and hoping to land their first teaching position. the student teachers identified a wide range of characteristics that they felt were indicative of good teaching based on their time as both observers and participants in the student teaching program – preparation, strong classroom management, a sense of humor, connecting curriculum to real life, understanding content – but there were a few characteristics that recurred over and over again among the cohort. the most common characteristic of good teaching as identified by the student teachers was caring. caring was identified as the most common characteristic – the fact that good teaching begins with teachers caring deeply about their students. the student teachers commented on a teacher’s ability to build genuine relationships with students: connecting with them, enjoying being around them, and valuing their ideas and opinions. the notion of caring was developed further through understanding the needs of the individual, being mindful of cultural differences and learning styles, building community in the classroom, and teaching students to be caring so that they might become “kind, friendly, compassionate human beings,” as one student teacher reflected. it is important to note that those teachers who demonstrated caring toward their students also demonstrated that same level of caring toward those student teachers that they were mentoring. another characteristic that was frequently included was the idea of lessons and activities that were engaging, that engaged the learners. good teaching is hands-on and collaborative, it addresses multiple learning styles, it focuses on the individual, it is purposeful, and it balances academic and non-academic skills. engaged students are excited to learn, they are able to build upon their prior knowledge, they learn to make mistakes, and they are constantly learning. as one student teacher stated, good teaching is “empowering students to be problem-solvers and reach their full potential.” i’ve observed on multiple occasions these student teachers being asked by their mentor teachers to share new and different ways to engage students, thereby also including the mentor teachers as engaged learners. classroom management and building relationships with parents rounded out the list of most frequently stated indicators of good teaching. good classroom management included the idea of creating classroom environments that were inclusive, promoted kindness, and were safe. good classroom management established the teacher as a leader who is firm and professional, but also kind, empathetic and understanding; a leader who has clear and fair expectations that are consistently enforced. the students commented on the need to view parents as teammates, to maintain relationships with parents, to communicate clearly with them, and to demonstrate empathy by considering their perspective. knowledge gained from parents in regard to situations away from school can allow teachers to provide needed support during the school day. as one student stated, “having a positive good teaching monica duran allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe relationship with the students’ parents, it helps (the teacher) to have a greater insight about the students’ needs and home environment.” good teaching, like so much else in the teaching profession, is, to some degree, determined by what we bring to the table – our own experiences in education help to shape our view of good teaching. there will be aspects of good teaching that vary depending upon the level of schooling being considered. a stronger indicator of good teaching in an ap physics class may be the teacher’s content knowledge and student test scores, not their relationship with parents; whereas, good teaching in a 5th grade classroom may be more clearly identified by the collaborative nature of students learning to work together to solve a problem, and less about their actual test scores. good teaching, however, does have some commonalities. of the characteristics that most people would agree on, as identified by the student teachers, caring is certainly near the top of the list. perhaps student teachers identify caring so easily because of their unique role as student and teacher, simultaneously. as a student, they are at the receiving end of that caring, demonstrated by a mentor teacher who shares his/her passion, knowledge and experience with someone preparing to enter the profession. at the same time, as a teacher, they are the givers of that care as they learn to share their passion, knowledge and enthusiasm with their students. i am in complete agreement with the student teachers – good teaching can first, and foremost, be defined by caring. i can still remember my high school math teacher who encouraged me to attend her alma mater and to pursue a teaching career, long before i seriously considered it. as a classroom teacher, i attempted (perhaps not always successfully) to demonstrate caring to both students and families that went beyond the classroom walls and teaching responsibilities. and as a parent, i’m beyond grateful for the many teachers who demonstrated caring by inspiring my children to enjoy reading, to love learning, to find their voice and their true identity – the teachers who were good teachers because they cared. this might explain why, to this day, i remain in contact with some of my own teachers, some former students and their parents, and, most certainly, many of my own children’s teachers. good teaching is caring. about the author monica duran is a field placement supervisor and lecturer at csu channel islands, employed at the site since 2001. prior to that, she was an upper elementary teacher in moorpark. she earned her undergraduate degree from pepperdine university, and her graduate degree from csu northridge. she is married and has two sons (high school and college), and is a staunch supporter of dual language immersion. 0bgiving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe giving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival elizabeth p. quintero professor and chair of early childhood studies csu channel islands dreaming together soñando juntos a dream un sueño we dream los soñamos alone solos reality la realidad we dream nos soñamos together juntos (alarcón, 2005, p. 29) for years i’ve learned to listen to wisdom and experience that puts my own knowledge in the shadows. often muses—knowledgeable and informative—come to us in the persona of learners from all ages and all backgrounds. expertise is seen in the eyes and gestures of a three-year-old (he be-s [sic] mean to me but i want him to like me), the cryptic words of a 90-year-old elder from the anishinabe people in northern minnesota (you’re telling a story: is snow still on the ground?), a nigerian women who escaped from jail in libya and swam to the italian shore when the rubber raft sank (it’s never easy), and an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum in the uk (the normal people of sudan are seeking peace). and we all participate in the community of educating children. of course, in the spanish language and many cultural groups, “educado/a” describes someone who has learned to be polite, respectful, and wellmannered, not only knowledgeable. yet in our current collective reality in 2018, we are reeling from terrible political stories of war, displacement, trauma, migration, stories of decades of sexual assault and abuse. in southern california a 4-year-old girl recently told her preschool teacher: “la migra took my dad. i’m leaving soon to be with my dad. mom said.” to be with ones we love is our connection and the synergy of this love may be our main hope for survival. 0bgiving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival elizabeth p. quintero allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe truth and lies. how do we raise the next generation in this context? over the years through the wisdom of generations of learners i’ve met, there is hope when we listen to each other—often through stories and art. giving and receiving stories but aren’t stories a distraction, an escape from reality and even almost a sacrilege? no, just like “play” is not a useless pastime for children nor a useless distraction for adults. i’ve gained perspective and hope from stories in families, stories in young children’s play, stories in school and work, and yes, stories for activism in this crazy world. stories give us hope for our human condition; stories do support our ability to care for each other. there has been human meaning-making involved in the passion to tell stories and the thirst to receive the stories since the beginning of time. of course, stories do take many shapes and the intended sharing of meaning in stories is always contingent upon the context in which the stories are shared, the relationships among the story-givers and the story-receivers, and of course, the language used to share the stories. translation of stories is not always perfect, to be sure, and this is more dire and consequential within contexts of exploitation, colonialism, war, and oppression. still, there are multiple ways that storying is transformative. and as with most transformations there is a complicated mix of struggle, even trauma, and uncertainty along with the joy. gloria anzaldúa (1999), a long-standing muse for our work in multilingual communities of loved ones from a variety of historical traditions, said: to survive the borderlands you must live sin fronteras be a crossroads. (p. 195) stories are alive and in constant fluidity. through stories we make emergent meaning slowly over time. through story our brains and hearts have “license” to work together to make sense. this meaning can be associated with social and emotional aspects of life, with cognitive and knowledge-building learning, or can open spaces for art to express things that language cannot. and stories don’t require that we categorize and separate the mind from the heart. stories may be the ultimate in integrated learning. children’s author, mac barnett, quotes pablo picasso in a ted talk entitled “why a good book is a secret door”: we all know that art is not truth. art is a lie that makes us realize truth or at least the truth that is given us to understand. the artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. (barnett, 2014) in terms of relating this thought to his own approach to children’s stories, barnett believes art gives us access to a space between truth and lies that he interprets as wonder. he says, “it’s what coleridge called the willing suspension of disbelief or poetic faith, for those moments where a story, no matter how strange, has some semblance of the truth, and then you're able to believe it” (barnett, 2014). he believes, and i concur, that it isn’t only children who can get there. adults can too, and we get there when we share stories in a variety of ways. barnett reminds us that when people go to london and they visit baker street to see sherlock holmes’ apartment, even though 221b is just a number that was https://www.ted.com/talks/mac_barnett_why_a_good_book_is_a_secret_door https://www.ted.com/talks/mac_barnett_why_a_good_book_is_a_secret_door 0bgiving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival elizabeth p. quintero allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe painted on a building, not the actual place in the stories. we all know the characters in the stories aren't real, but our real feelings about them are real and we know them. children combining fantasy, reality, people, and other-than-humans in stories barnett strives for this wonder as he creates stories for children. in his first book (barnett, 2009) he tells a story about a boy who gets a blue whale as a pet, but it sort of ruins his life. the story is fun and is augmented by an ad that offers a free 30-day risk-free trial for a blue whale. the ad says you can just send in a self-addressed stamped envelope and they'll send you a whale. and kids do write in. one letter said, “dear people, i bet you 10 bucks you won't send me a blue whale. eliot gannon (age 6).” what eliot and the other kids who send these in get back is a letter in very small print from a norwegian law firm that says that due to a change in customs laws, their whale has been held up in norway, but finishes by saying that the whale would love to hear from you. the whale has a phone number and the children are invited to call and leave the whale a message. and when they call and leave a message, on the outgoing message, it’s just whale sounds and then a beep, which actually sounds a lot like a whale sound. and the children receive a picture of their whale, too. in the talk, barnett shows a picture of randolph the whale who belongs to a boy named nico, one of the first children to ever call in. he played some of nico’s actual voice messages. the first message from nico said, hello, randolph, this is nico. i haven’t talked to you for a long time, but i talked to you on saturday or sunday, yeah, saturday or sunday, so now i'm calling you again to say hello and i wonder what you're doing right now, and i'm going to probably call you again tomorrow or today, so i'll talk to you later. bye. mac reported that nico called back that day again. and by the time of the ted talk, nico had left over 25 messages for randolph over four years. he played one more message from nico during the ted talk. this is the christmas message from nico. hi, randolph, sorry i haven’t talked to you in a long time. it’s just that i've been so busy because school started, as you might not know, probably, since you’re a whale, you don’t know, and i’m calling you to just say, to wish you a merry christmas. so have a nice christmas, and bye-bye, randolph. goodbye. (barnett, 2014) even though nico knows randolph isn’t a real whale, he wants him to know that whales (real or imaginary) wouldn’t know that school had started. he wanted his whale not to be hurt that nico had been busy and he wanted randolph to know he wished him a merry christmas. nico is making a social/emotional connection and practicing being human as a part of an imaginary friendship. children combine pretend, imagination, and learning as a part of their schooling. a student teacher wrote about 4-year-old fernando,1 highlighting complex issues of traditional ideas about child development, home language, pedagogy and imagination. fernando was in a state-funded preschool in 1 all names have been changed to protect privacy. 0bgiving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival elizabeth p. quintero allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe southern california. while a large percentage of the children are spanish-speaking and learning english for the first time, the school did not promote support of home language except in emergencies or when speaking with parents. pam, herself a bilingual california native, was in a sensitive position of trying to subversively support the 4-year-old’s use of his home language. she wrote a journal report about fernando, the situation, and his potential. the vignette is repeated here as it points to a child who is developing in complex ways using his imagination, involving pretend play, in spite of the misconceptions of many of his teachers. she wrote: i am assigned to sit with 4-year-old fernando who is unable to sit still on the rug during literacy time. since he is unable to control his behavior, and sit quietly crossing his legs (that all children are requested to do) fernando is told to sit in a chair. fernando shows interest in my notebook as soon as he notices i am writing notes. he wants to write his name. i said, “fernando, you may write your name as soon as we go out and play. let’s listen to teacher right now.” “yo escribo mi nombre?” (i write my name?), he asks me in spanish. “si, despues que salgamos a jugar afuera” (yes, after we go to play outside), i answer him back in spanish. “ok, teacher. gracias.” he turns to listen to his other teacher. as soon as we are outside during playtime, fernando runs up to me, “teacher pam, yo hago homework” (teacher pam, i do homework). “you do your homework?” i ask. “no! tu homework!” (no, your homework!). he wants to do my homework? i give him my notepad, unsure what he means. he begins writing. he writes, then looks up, looks around, then writes some more. later pam reflected on what she had learned about fernando and his learning: my new friend, fernando, cannot manage to sit still with his peers, but he’d been observing me and noticed i take notes. it seems that our friendship and what he’s noticed me doing (writing) have become important to him. he likes pretending he is doing homework as i do. and he can communicate it all with me in his home language. i don’t see the “developmental delays” his teachers have mentioned. (mata, 2013) stories from folk histories for transformation in a 1994 memo to the mexican people, zapatista rebel leader subcomandante marcos told the story of the mayan gods bringing colors to the grey world, colors which are contained in the tail feathers of the macaw bird. in 1996, marcos’ text was turned into la historia de los colores, an illustrated storybook with the mexican indian artist domitilia domínguez. in 1998 an el paso-based press received a national education association (nea) grant to publish the bilingual children's book la historia de los colores. however, just as the book was ready to be published, the nea abruptly canceled the grant. they feared that funding a children’s book written by masked mexican guerrilla leader would endanger the nea’s own funding by the republican-controlled congress who wanted to abolish the nea. however, the publicity was a bonanza for the book and the lannan foundation funded the publication. the story is adored by young children who love to read about colors, combining colors, and making new colors. and it is a folk tale about dissatisfaction, and creative possibilities. the world that seems fixed and oppressive can be changed; the ‘gods’ can be anyone, but what they make and do must safeguard against forgetfulness in case the spirit of revolt should become endangered. the story documents http://www.powells.com/book/la-historia-de-los-colores-the-story-of-colors-9780938317715 0bgiving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival elizabeth p. quintero allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe ancient wisdom and certainly maintains an acknowledgment of a cultural way of life that intentionally perseveres without money or political negotiations. the zapatistas still struggle for their autonomous mayan marxist state within mexico. stories from theater arts in a ted talk with the theme of inventions, sarah jones introduces “characters” from her one woman shows. “lorraine levine” is an elderly jewish woman who tells the story of her life; a woman named noraida, a dominican american college student, describes her organization to support dominican mothers and babies; madame bousson, a french teacher in the united nations high school, is a human rights advocate originally from india; and pauline ming from the chinese community in new york city who told the story of parenting a son and daughter who have their own ideas about who they will love and spend their lives with (jones, 2009). sarah jones became known in new york city for her one woman show “bridges and tunnels” that portrayed characters from all parts of the world who were living in new york city in the years following the world trade center tragedy on september 11, 2001. her art has created dialogue among people with differing histories and differing views. she is clearly a vivid example of ways art provides access to story giving and story receiving. and she continues this work. students in my university literacy class responded to her work and made connections to their own work with young children in these times of truth and lies and misunderstandings. one student wrote: after watching the ted talk by sarah jones, something that relates to our class definition of literacy is the way she uses language to express herself and transforms ideas as she takes on these different personalities and characters. she was trying to prove that even though we live in a world with differences of culture, traditions, and language we are still the same. how might i support this type of literacy as a teacher? i can support children with this type of literacy by giving the children the opportunity to play out events that they have observed in real life or from a book. i would also make sure that they are provided with the space and props to explore their real life or imaginary world as they pretend to be another character. (reina, 2018) another university student commented on sarah jones’ work: the definition of literacy that we came up with at the beginning of the course is “a process of constructing and critically using language (oral/written) as means of expression, interpretation, and/or transformation of our lives and the lives around us.” this is spot on what sarah did during her talk. she became different people/characters in order to express herself and her feelings during her talk. through her acting she was able to teach the audience all about different people she has met throughout her life, and open our eyes to many of the different types of people living in the world. (jameson, 2018) author and human rights activist, terry tempest williams, says, “finding beauty in a broken world is creating beauty in the world we find…” (williams, 2000). i believe we find beauty through stories— certainly through children’s stories and stories of those we love, from multiple generations. stories provide access to the hearts and minds of the children we raise, as parents and teachers together. it is through story that our children keep us honest, if not wise. https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village 0bgiving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival elizabeth p. quintero allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author dr. elizabeth quintero is professor and chair of early childhood studies at csu channel islands. her passion is programs that serve young children and families, many migrating from a variety of cultural and historical backgrounds in multilingual communities, including mexico, turkey, macedonia, asylumseekers in the united kingdom, and many areas of the united states. she is author of numerous publications including storying learning in early childhood: when children lead participatory curriculum design, implementation, and assessment (2015), and, with co-author mary k. rummel, storying: a path to our future--artful thinking, learning, teaching, and research (2014). references alarcon, francisco x. (2005). poems to dream together/poemas para sonar juntos: poemas para sonar juntos. new york: lee & low books. anzaldúa, g. (1999). la frontera/borderlands. san francisco: aunt lute press. barnett, m. (2014). why a good book is a secret door. https://www.ted.com/talks/mac_barnett_why_a_good_book_is_a_secret_door jameson, l (2018). unpublished manuscript. camarillo, ca. jones, s. (2009). a one woman global village. https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village mata, j. (2013). unpublished manuscript. camarillo, ca. powell’s books. (2008). synopses & reviews. http://www.powells.com/book/la-historia-de-los-coloresthe-story-of-colors-9780938317715 reina, a. (2018). unpublished manuscript. camarillo, ca. williams, terry t. (2009). finding beauty in a broken world. new york: vintage. https://www.ted.com/talks/mac_barnett_why_a_good_book_is_a_secret_door https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village giving and receiving stories: intergenerational pathways for survival about the author references “your hand’s not raised? too bad: i’m calling on you anyway” volume 1, issue 2 2018 copyright 2016 by alfie kohn. reprinted from www.alfiekohn.org with the author's permission. allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe “your hand’s not raised? too bad: i’m calling on you anyway” alfie kohn author and lecturer: education, parenting, and human behavior doctors in training call it “pimping.” a medical student or junior resident is abruptly put on the spot, sometimes during patient rounds, as an instructor fires off difficult questions about anatomy, diagnostic protocols, or surgical procedures.[1] the practice is defended in pretty much the same way that other forms of humiliation, bullying, hazing, or punishment are defended: keeps ’em on their toes! shows ’em i mean business! toughens ’em up for when other people abuse them later! and of course that old chestnut: i suffered through it; why shouldn’t they?[2] children in school are rarely questioned with such ferocity, but similar moral and pedagogical concerns arise — with particular urgency, in fact, precisely because they are younger: should teachers call on students who haven’t indicated they want to talk and, in fact, have tacitly indicated they don’t want to talk? i recently suggested on twitter that this practice — “cold-calling” — is so fundamentally disrespectful of students that i’d be disinclined to take advice about anything from someone who endorsed it. reactions to my tweet fell into three clusters. the first group basically agreed: “it’s a great way to shame a kid.” “too many teachers actually believe it is a trait of a good teacher, that they can ‘make’ people ‘participate.'” “some teachers torture my 14 yr old with this. i have no respect for them.” one writer likened it to “using grades as coercion,” adding that it was particularly obnoxious to call on (that is, call out) a student whom the teacher believed wasn’t paying attention. the consensus among these folks is that the practice is repugnant because a teacher is basically saying, “it appears you’d rather not contribute to the discussion right now, but i don’t care about your preference and i’ll use my power to force you to contribute.” if this isn’t disrespectful, then that word has no meaning. moreover, the harmful effects aren’t limited to that particular kid. as with “time out,” in which younger children who displease the teacher are forcibly isolated, everyone who watches this happen, thinking, “that could be me next time,” feels less safe. i’m tempted to ask a cold-calling teacher, “how would you feel if an administrator (at a faculty meeting) or a speaker (at a workshop) did the same thing to you?” but that’s not really the right question because some teachers are sufficiently comfortable in the spotlight that they wouldn’t mind. the point is that lots of adults, and even more kids, do mind. our obligation is to imagine the perspective of the specific person with whom we’re interacting, not our own likely reaction in their situation. http://www.alfiekohn.org/ https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe “your hand’s not raised? too bad: i’m calling on you anyway” alfie kohn copyright 2016 by alfie kohn. reprinted from www.alfiekohn.org with the author's permission. allies for education 2018, 1, 2 2018 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe but is it always objectionable to call on kids whose hands aren’t up? that was the challenge offered by a second group of tweeters. one said, “depends how it’s done. if the relationship is good, and it’s a gentle invitation to comment, that could be respectful, no?” another asked: “how about we create a climate where children feel happy & confident to raise their hands instead?” fair enough: a smiling, “gentle invitation” (“chris? i notice you haven’t spoken for awhile. would you like to chime in here?”) — and periodic reassurances that anyone may choose to pass at any time — is completely different from a nonnegotiable demand that everyone must answer. and if the way one does it is relevant, so too is the reason: some teachers just want to support reticent kids in speaking up, particularly when a thought seems to flicker across their faces. others, by contrast, are using their position of power to create a classroom driven by fear: you’d better be prepared because you never know when i’m going to call on you! no matter how awful the latter environment may be for students, it can always be rationalized in the name of “accountability” — the same word, ironically, that’s invoked by policy makers to impose their “do it my way or suffer” version of school reform on teachers. and when students are coerced into talking or listening, there’s a euphemism for that, too: “engagement.” notice that both terms, at least as used here, reflect a behaviorist paradigm. the goal is to produce a certain observable behavior; the experience of the student — his or her inner life — is irrelevant. the practice of mandating student responses as a control strategy is endorsed by people who promote classrooms that are militaristic in other ways, too. i’m thinking of an approach associated with “no excuses” charter schools (mostly attended by low-income african-american and latino students) that’s been aptly described as the “pedagogy of poverty”: memorizing facts, practicing skills, and obeying authority. “you’ll talk whenever i demand that you do so” — training children to perform on command like seals — is, after all, more consistent with a “bunch o’ facts” curriculum than with one rooted in inquiry and meaning.[3] (i’m not talking here about teachers keen to elicit participation in a thoughtful, open-ended discussion — more about which in a moment — but with those who call out short questions that have unambiguous right answers and demand that students spit out those answers in front of their peers.) observe one of these classrooms — there are plenty of stomach-turning examples available for inspection on youtube — and you’ll see that pressuring kids to contribute when they’re not ready meshes quite well with other disturbing values and practices. when that’s not the case, though — when teachers are uncomfortable with a fact-based curriculum or the use of bribes and threats, yet think nothing of putting students on the spot — they ought to confront the inconsistency. they may be giving with one hand while taking away with the other.[4] the third group of respondents to my brief reflection dug deeper into the purpose of, and wondered about alternatives to, cold-calling. several were troubled by the prospect of waiting for students to volunteer. one expressed concern that the raising-hands model means hearing from only “20% of kids in [what is supposed to be a] whole class discussion.” i certainly understand this objection. obviously we want to create what another respondent called “equitable classroom practice.” we don’t want to exclude introverts who are reluctant to speak up and let a few students dominate every conversation. http://www.alfiekohn.org/ https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe “your hand’s not raised? too bad: i’m calling on you anyway” alfie kohn copyright 2016 by alfie kohn. reprinted from www.alfiekohn.org with the author's permission. allies for education 2018, 1, 2 2018 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe (here we’re talking about participation in real discussions, not pimping kids to bark out correct responses.) still, i believe a student’s choice not to talk should be respected. the fact that there are problems with raising hands doesn’t entitle us to turn to the equally flawed option of cold-calling — or vice versa. there’s something deeply objectionable about saying “you have to talk when i say you should” just as there is about saying, in the words of another twitter respondent, “you can talk only if i tell you to.” these two stances are actually more complementary than opposed. and the primary reason to reject the latter isn’t that too few kids will raise their hands. it’s that the classroom remains entirely too teacher-centered. just as it does with cold calling. what we need to develop — with students, not just for them — is a model of discussion that encourages everyone to speak up when they’re ready without forcing anyone to do so, and that supports the community in becoming self-governing rather than giving one person in the room the sole authority to decide who talks when. alongside the strong moral argument for abandoning raising hands and coldcalling, the process of fashioning a third alternative helps students to acquire an enormously useful social skill. giving them the chance to do so is also a powerful signal of the teacher’s trust in them. at this point, i invite you to put this essay aside for 14 minutes to watch a remarkable video of an elementary school classroom in kentucky. in case you’re too busy (or the website is inaccessible), i’ll summarize it for you. the teacher starts the school year by asking her students to brainstorm features of the kind of classroom they want to have. when one student, perhaps recalling the voices of teachers in earlier grades, dutifully proposes “raising hands instead of yelling out,” the teacher doesn’t just agree and happily check off that item on her mental list of rules i hoped they’d suggest. instead, she wonders out loud whether raising hands is really necessary. might there be other ways to avoid having everyone talk at once, ways that don’t vest all the power in the teacher? but the students seem disconcerted by any scenario other than the one they’ve been carefully trained to accept over the years, so the teacher backs off — for awhile. later in the year, she invites them to revisit the issue. at that point most of the kids feel ready to try out a more democratic model of discussion, and the video ends with evidence of how it works: an epilogue shows us the students discussing a story, politely taking turns. rather than controlling the conversation, the teacher listens. ideally, moving beyond hand-raising or cold-calling is part of an ongoing project of creating a democratic, caring classroom community, one in which students are helped to feel a sense of belonging and given continuous opportunities to make decisions, individually and collectively. this larger project plays out in regular class meetings during which they’re invited to propose concrete ideas to make selfgoverning discussions run smoothly and fairly. for example, students might come up with strategies to encourage shy or soft-spoken kids who really do want to talk. they might brainstorm ways to make sure everyone feels as if they can offer opinions and questions without being laughed at. (the teacher also may approach certain students individually to make sure the reason they’re quiet isn’t because they fear being ridiculed and to ask whether they’d be open to gentle invitations to contribute.) students can reflect on the benefit of having regular opportunities to talk in pairs and small groups rather than always as a whole class. as the cooperative learning mavens david and roger johnson put it, “no one gets left out of a pair.” http://www.alfiekohn.org/ https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe https://characterandcitizenship.org/cdp-videos/classroom-manage/item/raising-hands “your hand’s not raised? too bad: i’m calling on you anyway” alfie kohn copyright 2016 by alfie kohn. reprinted from www.alfiekohn.org with the author's permission. allies for education 2018, 1, 2 2018 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe bringing the kids in on this process is not only respectful and a good way to promote their social, moral, and intellectual development — it’s also quite sensible because it produces more good ideas than any individual, including the teacher, can come up with on his or her own. and as the year progresses, kids may start to join the teacher in extending those gentle invitations to a quiet peer: “randy, were you going to say something just now?” at the same time, teachers should be challenging themselves. a decision to avoid cold-calling and handraising isn’t just part of a larger effort to build democratic communities but also part of a larger project of improving pedagogy. most discussions about cold-calling are focused on how to elicit students’ responses to a teacher’s questions. but take a step back: why is the teacher asking most of the questions? students’ willingness to participate, to say nothing of the quality of their learning, might be greatly enhanced if most of the questions (that shape the curriculum) were theirs.[5] likewise, teachers need to resist the temptation to grade students on their class participation, which makes it exceedingly difficult to encourage authentic discussions in which students are interested in the ideas. grades poison everything they touch, undermining intrinsic motivation to learn and warping the whole classroom dynamic. a self-governing conversation is a tall order for very young children and also for very large classes (which lend themselves to listening rather than learning). in such cases, adjustments and compromises may be necessary. but the general rule is that treating students with respect — which means we neither compel them to speak nor determine unilaterally who gets to do so — is ethically appropriate, educationally beneficial, and practically realistic . . . as long as we’re willing to give up some control. notes 1. for example, see http://ow.ly/xyoss or http://ow.ly/xyohc 2. this is a prominent fork in the road of life. some people suffer through the indignity or even brutality of being mistreated as a newbie, only to turn around, once they’ve attained a little seniority, and abuse those who come along after them. other people say, “nobody should have to go through what i did. now that i have some authority, i’ll use it to denounce cruel traditions and work to change the system.” 3. this approach to teaching generally involves a focus on raising test scores (rather than promoting critical thinking); a goal of eliciting mindless obedience (rather than offering opportunities for kids to make decisions); and a reliance on rewards and praise for conformity, on the one hand, and public humiliation for noncompliance, on the other. see my article “poor teaching for poor children…in the name of reform,” education week, april 27, 2011. 4. other examples of this phenomenon: many schools try to create a feeling of community and promote constructive conflict resolution but undercut these efforts by refusing to abandon punitive interventions like time-outs, detentions, and suspensions. similarly, the benefits of avoiding punishment are negated by the continued use of rewards — “sugar-coated control,” as one researcher calls them. and, while one hand may offer a thoughtful curriculum, the other http://www.alfiekohn.org/ https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe http://ow.ly/xyoss http://ow.ly/xyohc http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/poor/ http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/poor/ “your hand’s not raised? too bad: i’m calling on you anyway” alfie kohn copyright 2016 by alfie kohn. reprinted from www.alfiekohn.org with the author's permission. allies for education 2018, 1, 2 2018 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe takes it back by using tests (rather than more authentic assessments) to evaluate students’ progress. 5. i discussed this issue in “who’s asking?”, educational leadership, september 2015, drawing on the work of dennie palmer wolf, eleanor duckworth, and others. about the author alfie kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. his fourteen books include the schools our children deserve, beyond discipline, the case against standardized testing, and the homework myth. kohn lectures at education conferences and universities as well as to parent groups and corporations, and he has been described in time magazine as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.” he lives (actually) in the boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.org. http://www.alfiekohn.org/ https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/questions/ www.alfiekohn.org risk taking in education: a growth experience volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe risk taking in education: a growth experience talya drescher assistant professor of special education csu channel islands i have been a teacher for almost twenty years. currently i teach people who are becoming teachers, but i like to tell my students that in a previous life i taught every grade from kindergarten through twelfth grade with the exception of sixth grade. as a special educator, my credential has the breadth and flexibility to allow me to teach multiple subjects and grade levels, and, over a period of time, i have done just that. of course, every time i teach a new age or subject, i become nervous; it is a risk to move from something comfortable to something unknown. part of the problem is that i am not innately a risk taker. i like things to be in order. for instance, my planner is set to the next school day when i leave in the evening. despite my wish for comfort, calculated risk taking has great value for improving my practice, professional growth and effectiveness in the classroom. during my time in the k-12 environment, i managed to navigate the waters of learning new grade level standards, learning about children at various stages of life, and learning how to work with special and general education colleagues, as well as related service providers and administrators. it was not always easy, but i had support and relied on what i had learned in my teacher preparation program. when i look back, i realize that any risks i took were calculated and the propensity for failure was minimal. ultimately, i relied on the teacher script i had been taught and found success and comfort with that practice. this year, as an assistant professor in the school of education, i had the opportunity to co-teach a course with a colleague, who at the time, i did not know very well. we agreed to teach the course together and that was it. gone were my neat rows of pens and pre-planned lessons; i was taking the biggest risk of my teaching career and it did not hit me until the ink was dry on the contract. it was an opportunity to take risks, experiment with new methods of teaching, and pass along practical advice to my students. over the course of the term, three things occurred that, while exciting, pushed me a bit outside my comfort zone. i could not have done them without putting myself in a new, untested situation. the first risk was that we were combining two distinct groups of students into one heterogeneous group: future content area specialists (general educators) and future education specialists (special educators). we were of the belief that these two groups of future teachers should learn, share and collaborate with each other as they work toward earning their professional credential so that once in risk taking in education: a growth experience talya drescher allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the field, these skills would be practiced rather than new. traditionally, general and special education programs have unique requirements and therefore classes do not overlap. as a result, students lack an opportunity to collaborate with those outside their credential pathway as part of their coursework. teaching this class flashed red signs of “risk” to me, but we proceeded and moved forward with the plan. during the plenary sessions, we discussed how we would teach about co-teaching and knew that we had to address some of the issues that might arise in co-teaching settings. we decided to take our second calculated (but scary nonetheless) risk using an unfamiliar technology. available to us was the opportunity to work with a technology which allows instructors to create a case specific scenario to be played out with a screen projected avatar in place of traditional role play. in this instance, we decided on a co-teaching scenario where a student plays the role of a newer general education teacher and the avatar “george” plays the role of the veteran special educator. we split our class into manageable groups of students and they met george, with whom they had to negotiate a co-teaching relationship. george was ornery because the relationship had gone awry and some of the students in the hypothetical class were not successful, partly due to the breakdown of the co-teaching relationship. one at a time, students interacted with george and their classmates to work through the scenario, and together, find meaningful resolutions to the issues at hand. students reported being scared of interacting with george and to be honest, i was filled with worry about all the things that could go wrong: the technology not working as expected, students refusing to participate, and my own ability to integrate teaching with the tool. the “what ifs?” were overwhelming and at various points, i regretted the decision to pilot this technology. in the end, the groups cycled through the simulation, resolutions were determined, and students left with an understanding of the value of collaboration between general and special educators. at this point, we knew that we had successfully brought together two groups of students to work together toward common goals. due to the nature of the merged class, they learned the art of collaboration across disciplines on course assignments and in class discussion. as a result of interacting with george and each other in the simulator, together, they practiced skills often neglected in teacher preparation – the art of negotiation and navigating some of the difficult conversations among colleagues that many of them will face over the course of their careers. as a capstone to the course, my co-teacher and i decided to take one final risk: to model self-reflection and provide each other constructive criticism during our last class with students. prior to this class, we each created two lists to share. one list noted all the wonderful aspects of teaching together and the other list was comprised of ways to refine our collaborative relationship. i had never done anything like this before in front of an audience and i was nervous. i was nervous about what the students would think, but more importantly, i was nervous about what my co-teacher would think of my reflections and was concerned about hearing her constructive criticism in a public forum. despite shaky hands and nervous laughter, we proceeded to expose the soft underbelly of our co-teaching experience to our students hoping that they would learn from our experiences. the classroom was quiet as we shared one at a time. to be honest, when we were done, i was glad it was over. in the end i wondered how these risks paid off (or not). i learned a tremendous amount from my coteacher and treasure the late night talks about assignments and the hours upon hours of planning and risk taking in education: a growth experience talya drescher allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe negotiating. i found the experience of co-teaching and collaboration more valuable than reading about theoretical models. as for the students, when asked what they liked about this class, overwhelmingly, they responded with expressions of gratitude for being exposed to the collaboration process throughout the course, particularly with students outside of their credential program. in reflection, almost every student found value in the interactions with george; in fact, george made his way into most midterm examinations and personal reflections on the course. many students appreciated the transparency of the instructor experience. when i think about it, the three biggest risks we took had the biggest impacts on our students and certainly on me as i look toward planning future courses. bringing risk into the classroom can be uncomfortable but has the potential to pay out dividends. the merged course created a collaborative experience that was reflective of their future professional experiences. the course also allowed me to experiment with a technology which i will continue to use to help students realize the benefit of working together to find classroom solutions. working with my coteacher helped me see pitfalls in co-teaching and the knowledge gained will help me manage collaborative relationships in the future. finally, our students benefitted from the experience by getting to see real life modeling of a co-teaching relationship and understand the role of self-reflection in teaching. i dedicate this paper to my co-teacher, and now friend, who inspired me to take risks with teaching and not just step, but leap, outside of my comfort zone. about the author dr. talya drescher is an assistant professor of special education at california state university, channel islands. she has over a decade of experience as a k-12 special educator in los angeles area public schools. her areas of research include co-teaching in pre-service programs and the use of mixed reality simulation in post-secondary education. microsoft word 532-99z_article text-1475-1-11-20180919.docx volume  2,  issue  1   2018   allies  for  education  2018,  1,  2   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     invisible  disability,  visible  implications:  eleanor’s   story   talya  drescher   assistant  professor  of  special  education   csu  channel  islands     i  have  what  one  might  call  a  complicated  relationship  with  public  school  education.    in  addition  to  being   the  mother  and  aunt  of  school-­‐aged  children  with  many  friends  of  similarly  aged  children,  i  am  a  former   special  education  teacher  and  current  instructor  of  future  teachers.    my  knowledge  and  experience  in   the  realm  of  special  education  sometimes  complicate  the  roles  of  parent,  friend  and  teacher  educator   when  it  comes  to  the  education  of  children  i  know  because  in  conversation  and  practice  i  wear  many   education  related  hats.    i  hope  that  by  sharing  a  little  bit  of  the  following  story,  parents  of  children  like   the  one  i  will  describe  will  find  some  comfort  in  knowing  they  and  their  children  are  not  alone.    as  a   teacher  educator,  my  wish  is  that  this  story  will  be  taken  into  consideration  as  teachers  prepare   classrooms  and  routines  for  the  coming  year.   without  divulging  the  identity  of  my  children,  family  and  friends,  and  with  the  permission  of  the  family,  i   would  like  to  share  the  story  of  one  child  in  my  sphere  because  i  do  not  think  that  her  story  and   struggles  are  unique.    in  fact,  i  believe  that  at  the  close  of  this  article,  many  of  you  will  be  able  to  relate   in  some  way;  whether  it  is  because  you  have  a  child  with  similar  learning  needs,  a  school  with  the  same   practices  or  just  a  feeling  of  helplessness  that  this  family  felt  as  they  attempt  to  navigate  the  school   system.    i’ll  call  this  young  child  eleanor.    she  is  very  close  to  my  own  children.    she  is  a  special  little   seven-­‐year-­‐old  girl  who  is  very  curious,  loving,  sensitive,  sometimes  mischievous,  and  bright.    she  likes   to  play,  use  tools  to  measure  things  in  the  classroom,  organize  her  desk  area,  assume  the  job  of  light   monitor  and  line  leader  (if  she’s  lucky!)  and  help  children  on  the  yard  who  she  believes  are  lonely.    from   time  to  time,  she  also  does  not  pay  attention  in  class,  lets  naughty  words  slip  and  often  forgets  to  bring   home  her  homework  folder  and  important  notifications.       i  have  known  for  a  while  that  eleanor  has  a  learning  disability,  specifically  in  the  area  of  auditory   processing.    due  to  eleanor’s  ability  to  compensate  utilizing  her  strength  in  visual  processing,  her   academics  are  all  considered  appropriate,  or  technically,  in  the  “average  ranges.”    because  my   professional  role  is  in  the  area  of  special  education,  i  also  know  that  based  on  the  assessments  we  tend   to  give,  when  she  is  assessed  at  this  age,  she  will  likely  not  qualify  for  services  due  to  her  achievements;   at  least  not  for  another  year  or  two.       invisible  disability,  visible  implications:  eleanor’s  story   talya  drescher   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     eleanor’s  auditory  processing  disability  falls  under  the  umbrella  of  “learning  disability”  and  means  that   someone  does  not  process  what  they  hear  efficiently.    it  does  not  mean  that  they  have  sub-­‐average   intelligence.    in  fact,  the  opposite  is  often  true.    in  eleanor’s  case,  the  best  way  to  describe  this  is   through  an  anecdote.  one  day  when  i  went  to  pick  up  my  child  from  summer  camp,  the  children  were   playing  “steal  the  bacon.”  when  their  assigned  number  was  called,  players  competed  to  get  to  the   “bacon”  first  and  return  to  their  seat.    eleanor,  who  was  also  attending  camp,  was  labeled  number  four.   i  watched  a  few  rounds  of  the  game  until  “four!”  was  called.    eleanor  was  paying  close  attention  as   evidenced  by  her  sitting  straight,  leaning  forward  to  hear  the  caller,  and  smiling  in  anticipation,  but   when  “four!”  was  yelled,  it  was  a  good  couple  of  seconds  before  her  brain  processed  it.    by  the  time  she   processed  that  she  needed  to  get  up  and  aim  for  the  bacon,  the  other  child  already  had  the  item.    this   was  the  first  time  i  could  see  her  learning  disability  although  i  had  suspected  for  quite  some  time.    i   could  see  the  delay  in  her  ability  to  process  what  she  had  heard.     learning  disabilities  are  called  “hidden  disabilities”  because  we  cannot  see  them.    in  younger  children,   particularly  those  with  mild  hidden  disabilities,  diagnosis  is  often  elusive  as  the  disability  does  not   necessarily  grossly  affect  their  academic  achievement.  since  we  cannot  see  the  disability,  they  often  go   undiagnosed  for  quite  some  time.    what  happens  during  that  time  socially  is  of  concern  to  me.  i  know   from  the  literature  that  children  with  learning  disabilities  are  often  at  a  social  disadvantage  when   compared  to  non-­‐learning  disabled  peers  (estell  et  al.,  2008;  kavale  &  mostert,  2004;  nowicki,  2012;   nowicki  et  al.,  2014;  vaughn,  elbaum,  &  boardman,  2001).      after  the  “steal  the  bacon”  incident,  i   started  to  notice  that  eleanor  was  often  excluded  from  group  sports.    during  pick  up  time,  i  had  to  walk   through  throngs  of  kids  playing  sports  and  observed  that,  when  the  coach  told  the  team  which  way  to  go   or  which  maneuver  to  make,  it  took  eleanor  longer  to  process  the  directions.    as  a  result,  she  started  to   get  picked  last  for  teams,  and  during  family  and  friend  gatherings,  i  could  hear  her  complain  that  nobody   wanted  her  on  their  team.    eleanor’s  auditory  processing  delay  had  put  her  at  a  disadvantage  on  the   yard.   eleanor’s  learning  disability  also  has  non-­‐academic  implications  in  the  classroom.  almost  two  years  ago,   i  had  the  pleasure  of  volunteering  in  our  children’s  classroom.    i  saw  that  the  teacher  had  a  clip  chart  for   behavior.  when  i  asked  about  the  chart,  the  teacher  explained  that  children  tend  to  move  up  and  down   the  chart  throughout  the  day;  a  child  clips  up  when  they  are  good  and  down  when  they  do  something   naughty.    i  heard  that  eleanor  tended  to  come  home  with  a  naughty  report.    knowing  that  no  child  is   perfect,  i  was  not  concerned  at  first,  but  the  constant  negative  reports  were  beginning  to  wear  on   eleanor  and  her  parents.  during  my  volunteer  time,  i  was  curious  to  see  what  was  happening.    kids  were   indeed  moving  up  and  down  the  chart,  but  not  eleanor.    she  was  staying  in  the  “naughty”  region,  unable   to  clip  up  the  chart  in  the  area  where  the  “good  kids”  ended  their  day.       one  incident  in  particular  sums  up  eleanor’s  inability  to  have  the  same  fluidity  of  movement  on  the   behavioral  chart:  at  the  end  of  a  lesson,  the  children  were  told  to  finish  their  work  and  put  their  name  at   the  top,  put  their  pencils  away,  push  in  their  chairs  and  come  to  the  rug  for  story  time.    the  first  several   children  who  sat  on  the  rug  were  told  to  “clip  up”  on  the  behavioral  chart.    while  the  first  child  got  to   the  rug,  eleanor  had  just  processed  the  complete  set  of  directions  and  was  putting  her  name  on  her   paper.    she  did  not  do  anything  wrong,  nor  did  she  get  in  trouble  for  taking  a  long  time,  but  she  also  did   not  have  the  opportunity  to  clip  up.    eleanor’s  daily  “naughty  reports”  were  not  necessarily  because  she   was  behaving  worse  than  her  peers,  she  was  simply  missing  opportunities  to  clip  up.       invisible  disability,  visible  implications:  eleanor’s  story   talya  drescher   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     in  the  cases  of  the  behavioral  chart  and  on  the  playground,  eleanor  was  left  to  feel  less  than  adequate  in   relation  to  her  peers.    the  chart  was  on  display  in  the  classroom  for  children  and  parents  to  see  just  as   her  athletic  skills  were  on  display  on  the  yard.    when  i  attended  school  events  or  birthday  parties,  i   often  overheard  other  parents  talking  about  the  “behavioral  problems”  of  the  classroom—eleanor  being   one  of  those  problems.       a  few  months  ago,  eleanor  received  a  diagnosis  of  adhd  (attention  deficit  hyperactivity  disorder)  from   the  pediatrician  and  the  family  had  their  first  iep  (individualized  education  plan)  meeting  shortly   thereafter.    the  family  shared  the  reports  with  me  after  the  meeting  and  as  predicted,  eleanor’s   relatively  high  achievement  scores  did  not  qualify  her  as  a  student  with  a  learning  disability  (because  it   does  not  “adversely  affect  her  academic  performance”)  although  it  was  clear  that  she  has  a  large   discrepancy  between  her  auditory  and  visual  processing  abilities.    i  contemplated  encouraging  eleanor’s   family  to  fight  the  good  fight  to  get  her  special  education  services  due  to  the  adhd  diagnosis  but  it  was   clear  that  the  battle  would  be  uphill  and  i  was  not  sure  that  the  services  she  would  have  been  granted   would  actually  be  beneficial  in  the  short  run.    had  eleanor  qualified  for  an  iep,  she  would  have  likely   been  pulled  out  of  her  class  for  part  of  the  school  day  for  academic  support  and/or  instruction.    it  was   clear  from  her  grades  and  testing  results  that  she  was  in  fact  making  academic  progress,  so  that  type  of   support  did  not  seem  beneficial.    because  of  the  adhd  diagnosis,  she  did,  however,  qualify  for  a  504   plan  which  granted  her  the  ability  to  take  tests  in  a  small  group  setting  with  extra  time;  an   accommodation  that  an  iep  would  have  also  afforded.    for  the  moment,  the  504  plan  suffices  and  the   family  will  have  the  opportunity  to  revisit  the  iep  if  needed  in  the  future.   luckily,  this  year  eleanor  is  in  a  class  with  a  strong,  compassionate  teacher  and  is  happily  making   academic  progress.    i  do  know  that  it  is  probable  that  as  she  gets  older  and  school  becomes  more   challenging  her  social  and  behavioral  challenges  are  likely  to  increase.    i  suppose  we  will  have  to  wait   and  see.  i  have  learned  that  as  a  mother  and  friend,  i  am  not  good  at  waiting  especially  because  in  this   case  i  feel  like  we  are  waiting  for  eleanor  to  fail  academically  and  socially.   watching  eleanor  and  her  family  go  through  this  process  has  been  difficult,  partly  because  i  know  that   we  do  not  always  have  systems  and  structures  in  place  for  children  who  match  eleanor’s  profile.     eleanor  and  children  like  her  are  smart,  interested  in  learning  and  desire  to  be  accepted  by  peers.    i   encourage  readers  to  reconsider  some  commonly  found  classroom  and  school  practices  such  as  public   displays  of  behavior  and  academic  progress.    in  eleanor’s  case,  the  “clip  chart”  was  a  no-­‐win  situation   ultimately  resulting  in  public  shaming;  i  can  assure  you,  she  is  not  alone.    i  am  confident  that  in  every   school,  a  number  of  “eleanors”  are  affected  by  hidden  disabilities.    watching  eleanor’s  story  unfold  has   changed  the  way  i  view  teaching,  learning,  and  parenting.    i  hope  that  as  a  result  of  sharing  this  story   teachers  and  parents  will  gain  perspective  and  a  new  understanding  of  potential  implications  of  some   more  routine  classroom  practices.   about  the  author   dr.  talya  drescher  is  an  assistant  professor  of  special  education  at  california  state  university,  channel   islands.  she  has  over  a  decade  of  experience  as  a  k-­‐12  special  educator  in  los  angeles  area  public   schools.  her  areas  of  research  include  co-­‐teaching  in  pre-­‐service  programs  and  the  use  of  mixed  reality   simulation  in  post-­‐secondary  education.  contact  dr.  drescher  at  talya.drescher@csuci.edu   invisible  disability,  visible  implications:  eleanor’s  story   talya  drescher   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     references   estell,  d.  b.,  jones,  m.  h.,  pearl,  r.,  van  acker,  r.,  farmer,  t.  w.,  &  rodkin,  p.  c.  (2008).  peer  groups,   popularity,  and  social  preference:  trajectories  of  social  functioning  among  students  with  and  without   learning  disabilities.  journal  of  learning  disabilities,  41(1),  5–14.     kavale,  k.  a.,  &  mostert,  m.  p.  (2004).  social  skills  interventions  for  individuals  with  learning  disabilities.   learning  disability  quarterly,  27(1),  31–43.     nowicki,  e.  a.  (2012).  intergroup  evaluations  and  norms  about  learning  ability.  social   development,  21(1),  130-­‐149.   nowicki,  e.  a.,  brown,  j.,  &  stepien,  m.  (2014).  children’s  thoughts  on  the  social  exclusion  of  peers  with   intellectual  or  learning  disabilities.  journal  of  intellectual  disability  research,  58(4),  346–357.     vaughn,  s.,  elbaum,  b.,  &  boardman,  a.  g.  (2001).  the  social  functioning  of  students  with  learning   disabilities:  implications  for  inclusion.  exceptionality,  9(1),  47–65.     "assessment overview" by jeanne grier "understanding self assessment" by steven fleisher standardized tests and their impact on students and learning volume 2, issue 2 2019 allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe standardized tests and their impact on students and learning dale jones it’s friday, may 10, and the school year is effectively over. at least that’s what many of my students think. the school calendar says we still have a month left, but for students who have just endured two weeks of daily testing for up to two hours each day, they feel like they’re finished. and why wouldn’t they? we can say whatever we want to them about the testing – that it won’t count on their grades, that it’s just one snapshot (more an epic film?) of their learning, and that we don’t want them to stress over it, but the zeitgeist surrounding the test reveals otherwise. combine the secrecy, security measures, the timing towards the end of the school year, and of course the weeks-long length of caaspp testing and the message to students that this is the most important thing they’ll do this year is undeniable. in my opinion it’s also the most destructive thing that they’ll do this year, and not just because they think school is over when they’re finished and we’ve effectively lost six weeks of teaching and learning. it’s not just the kids who think school may as well be over when testing concludes. teachers are also prone to the same thinking as students, and many of them have also been encouraged or told to compact the curriculum so that all of the standards are covered prior to the onset of testing, out of a sense of fairness to the students, no less. so many teachers cram a 36-week pacing guide into 30 weeks. the resulting acceleration is truly unfair to many students who can’t keep up, and teaching is reduced to test preparation, with little time for reteaching, and no time to allow students to explore their passions and questions. the iterative nature of effective pedagogy, including time for reflection, is dismissed as impractical when coverage of standards takes precedence. this is only one of the ways that the emphasis on testing directly effects pedagogy in a way that is counter to what we have learned about good teaching from both research and experience. i had some hope that computerized testing that adjusts the questions based on the student’s performance may lead to better alignment between the learner and the test. then i watched english learners who had been in our country for just over a year take a test that devastated them. even with embedded accommodations like text-to speech, these students were overwhelmed. even though they standardized tests and their impact on students and learning dale jones allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe had completed a year of tremendous growth and discovery, the start and end of their learning journey was outside of the range of what was being tested. i know a moderate / severe special day class teacher who gives the california alternative assessment to her neuro-diverse students. her classroom is built around learning social and pre-vocational skills. math is taught by selling popcorn each day to the rest of the school and managing all aspects of their microbusiness. some of their profits are taken to the grocery store where they practice shopping, and then cooking. her students are learning to be as independent as possible, and they work very hard for many years on these life skills. then they take the test, and since all students must be taught the standards, they are asked questions about slope, positive and negative integers, and the circumference of a circle. perhaps the greatest danger of standardized testing is that it takes time and political capital away from assessments that may not be quantified, but which have the ability to inform, and if used creatively and without larger stakes, even transform learning. one example is the emergent curriculum that grows from the intense practice of deep engagement and learning to listen to the “hundred languages of children.” reggio emilia is an approach to teaching that is built around assessment practices that lead to further and deeper learning that is unique to each child, and respect time and developmental readiness. in reggio, assessment is a part of the learning process, not an external measurement. i recently had a conversation with a doctor who asked me about caaspp testing. i told her that the testing had no value to me as the school’s instructional leader, and that i thought it actually hurt the teaching and learning process. i explained some of the reasons why i felt this way, including that we don’t receive the results until the following school year and we can’t see how students did on individual test items. this alone reveals that caaspp testing is really not about helping students learn or teachers teach. this doctor told me that every educator she has asked about the testing shares a similar opinion to mine. thinking back, i can’t recall a single conversation with a teacher, principal, or superintendent who feels differently about the testing, but sadly, many have been unwilling to share those opinions publicly. and perhaps that’s why we still have a system of testing and accountability that reduces the miracle of learning to a number, and now an arrow on a gauge. about the author dale jones has been a public school teacher and administrator for over 33 years. he co-founded the south bay chapter of the progressive educators network, and opened a k-8 parent participation school based on reggio emilia. he has no plans to retire! standardized tests and their impact on students and learning about the author no more empty pails: the time is now for great teaching volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe no more empty pails: the time is now for great teaching brian r. sevier dean of the school of education csu channel islands a few years ago, when my then 5-year-old godson thomas was about to enter kindergarten, his mother asked me about the qualities to look for in a school and classroom. “how do you know good teaching is happening…what do you look for?”, she wondered. i remembered that conversation as i thought about writing for allies for education. it really is the question for anyone interested or invested in education. no doubt, there are countless ways to describe the qualities of good or great teaching. when i am asked this question, i recall a w.b. yeats quote: “education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” i love this quote and have used it time and again to describe great teaching and teachers. in one sentence, yeats captures the teaching i experienced and the classroom that changed my life as a 5th grade student in the los angeles unified school district. my teacher, mrs. rhonda levine, lit an education fire in her students, by seeing (and not seeing) us in particular ways, by valuing and using the lives we brought into the classroom, and by allowing us to discover the impact that we could have on our school and community. seeing and not seeing students when i think back on myself and my fellow 5th graders at camellia avenue school in north hollywood, california, i think how easy it might have been to consider us in terms of what we lacked. we were not from what anyone would call “well-off” families; nearly all of us received free or reduced-price lunch at the school cafeteria. we did not come from “educated” households; i knew no one whose parent held a college degree. we were not equally proficient in the english language; many spoke a different primary language at home. if some teachers might have seen deficits, and some surely did, that was not how mrs. levine viewed her students. instead, she saw us, and addressed us every morning, as learners, thinkers, and citizens. long before today’s emphasis on close reading, mrs. levine had us examining non-fiction texts specifically related to our young lives, including op-ed pieces and even, once, the transcript of a trial. she pushed us to think about our world, to examine what we read, and to consider what we took for granted as “true,” including what we believed about ourselves. mrs. levine regularly extolled the virtues of learning as a means to connect with civic life and being in the world. as a firstgeneration college graduate herself, she insisted that each and every one of us could attend college, if no more empty pails: the time is now for great teaching brian r. sevier allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe we chose that path. she spoke to us as no other teacher did, challenging us to make our own futures, just as she had done. valuing student experience the educational “fire” that mrs. levine ignited, however, was the result of more than how she addressed us or what she had us read; she actually created ways to bring our concerns and lives into the classroom. we regularly began the school week with a “monday town hall” where we would discuss issues relevant to ourselves, the local neighborhood, and national/global communities. the issues might come from newspapers or television. more often than not, however, the topics revolved around things we saw, heard about, or experienced. mrs. levine skillfully moderated the town halls, but we chose the topics we deemed important. through this process, she validated our lived lives and established the classroom as a space connected to those lives. in valuing our experiences and concerns, mrs. levine prompted us to explore the issues that kept returning to the topic board, a process that took a dramatic turn somewhere in the middle of the fall semester. until 5th grade, my classmates and i had traversed, and begrudgingly considered “normal,” the rutted streets, missing traffic signs, and rain-flooded intersections that made up our daily walking commute to school. all of us had tales, some very dramatic, of near misses with cars and buses, as well as ruined clothes and shoes, that served as testimonies to this lacking and dangerous infrastructure. these stories came so regularly into our town halls that mrs. levine eventually found a way to use them in her instructional practice and as a spur toward action. encouraging students to find their voice mrs. levine carefully directed us to move from complaining and toward thinking about how to effect change in our immediate community. in what seemed like a natural shift, one that i now know must have been a huge undertaking in instructional planning, mrs. levine (re)oriented the class around a truly interdisciplinary endeavor: helping us determine what we would seek to change and how we would work actively to achieve those changes. and this work would require information and knowledge beyond just our experience as well as the development of some very specific skills. for months, we gathered photographic evidence, documented personal accounts of neighborhood hazards, drafted and redrafted petitions, and sought advice from community members about the financial and material realities of the improvements we wanted. we also researched the process for gaining an audience with the los angeles city council and rehearsed public-speaking strategies that would allow us to present our case to the greatest effect. across these classroom experiences, mrs. levine ensured that her students acquired “academic” knowledge (e.g., the civic histories of our state and county) along with computation, writing, and communication skills in the service of working not like but as engaged citizens. the impact on my office wall is a framed clipping from the los angeles times that documents the day we made our presentation before the city council. the clipping details the infrastructure issues we sought to correct, the steps we took to rally local/community support, and, amazingly, the $300,000 the city council voted unanimously to allocate in response. the newspaper provides powerful documentation of citizens (regardless of age or circumstance) making change, but it cannot begin to capture the real change that occurred for mrs. levine’s students. years after my experience in that class, i am still in awe of her no more empty pails: the time is now for great teaching brian r. sevier allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe teaching. from continued connections with some of my 5th grade peers, i know many of us connect our lives and learning trajectories to this one amazing educator. during my college years and the courses i took in teaching methods, i read countless research articles documenting the effect of teacher expectations on student success and how students perceive themselves as learners. but in mrs. levine’s classroom i experienced the actual truth of that research. i am who i am, in large part, because of her; owing my college degrees, and the phd after my name, to the sole educational “professional” who saw me as college material. the opportunity mrs. levine’s classroom was the only one i experienced in my k-12 years that did not treat students as those empty pails waiting to be “filled” with textbook and lecture content. i have spent a lot of time talking with teachers about the “empty-pail” classroom and trying to figure out its prevalence and resilience. in these conversations, many teachers have confided that fear often prevents them from exploring teaching practices that might deviate from “traditional” classroom experiences; fear that stems from insecurity around the (lack of) administrative and community support they would receive for doing so. but it is important to note that teachers do not seek or start out intentionally to recreate the empty pail classroom. in all my years of working with new teachers, nearly every aspiring educator’s letter of application cites the desire to create engaging, relevant, and meaningful student-learning experiences as the reason to teach. this is why, today, i am more hopeful than ever that the empty pail classroom will become a relic of the past. not only are “new” approaches like maker education, design-based learning and concept-based instruction challenging the traditional classroom, but from new york to colorado to california, new standards for teaching actually describe authentic, culturally-connected, relevant, and rigorous forms of instruction as the expectation for all classrooms. these standards and approaches share the belief that all students are capable of learning and that effective teaching uses what students bring to the classroom to deepen awareness of the world and how to participate in it. there is, however, work yet to do. standards and teaching methods do not teach, they only provide the foundation for creating the classroom experiences i know teachers want for their students. to fully and authentically realize the promise of today’s standards and instructional practices, teachers need support from us, the community of educational stakeholders. everyone with a vested interest in great teaching must communicate clearly that we expect teachers to instruct in ways that see, value, and inspire students. i do not where mrs. levine learned to teach or how she developed her beliefs about education, but i do know she spent just two years in the classroom. perhaps those fears and insecurities cited by the teachers with whom i have spoken contributed to a decision to leave teaching? i have scoured my memory but cannot recall any celebrations or huzzahs from the camellia avenue community, or even my family members, for mrs. levine or her teaching. i wonder how many more students’ lives she could have changed if the larger community had truly championed her classroom practices? how many likeminded teachers might have sought work in our needy school? in years to come, i hope we will not wonder similarly about current teachers. every student deserves to experience a classroom, many classrooms, like mrs. levine’s; that is why i keep the impact of my 5th grade classroom fresh in my mind. today we have a very real chance, perhaps as never before, to help ensure that outcome. http://makered.org/ https://www.cpp.edu/~dnelson/ http://worldview.unc.edu/files/2013/07/getting-the-big-idea-handout.pdf http://worldview.unc.edu/files/2013/07/getting-the-big-idea-handout.pdf http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/pdf/teachingstandards9122011.pdf https://www.cde.state.co.us/educatoreffectiveness/teacherqualitystandardsreferenceguide https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-prep/standards/cstp-2009.pdf no more empty pails: the time is now for great teaching brian r. sevier allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author dr. brian sevier is the dean of the school of education at california state university at channel islands. across his educational career, brian has published in numerous journals and texts representative of the curriculum and instruction spectrum. brian has a strong background in standards, curriculum, instruction, and professional development through his work at the state level, his experience in developing/designing educator preparation programs, and his classroom and district-level experiences. volume 1, issue 1 2017 allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis assistant professor of education leadership california state university channel islands for the last five decades many politicians have disparaged public education, and public school teachers, for stagnant or slow achievement test score growth. these recently increasing attacks are, in many cases, misguided due to lack of knowledge of readily available research, data, and reports. the truth is that educators are performing herculean feats daily in classrooms throughout our country. achievement test scores have improved over time, graduation rates are at an all-time high, and more students than ever are ready for college. these accomplishments—particularly in light of our nation’s history of excluding and underserving many populations (e.g., students of color, low-income students, english language learners) and the rising numbers of these demographics—deserve to be recognized and appreciated, not discredited and dismissed. the motivation for disparaging statements about our public schools may be to promote political ideologies and/or to divert attention from failed policies affecting families living in poverty. apparently, those who believe in the superiority of market-driven public schools through for-profit charter schools are attempting to convince the public that the same public schools that made america the intellectual and financial powerhouse that it is in the world today are now failing. this article confronts common negative political speech about education and sheds light on the facts from readily available sources. the success of public schools the truth, as supported by data and research, is that public schools are successful and continue to accomplish excellent outcomes even with changing demographics of students. today’s students have changed over-time to be more impoverished and increasingly minority and english language learners. the u.s. department of education, national center for education statistics website displays the longitudinal study of the national assessment of education progress (naep). this assessment of student learning has been administered to representative samples of 9, 13, and 17 year olds in schools in each of our 50 states for four decades. the results over the last 30 years show that even though more students who took the naep test are living in poverty (eligible for free or reduced priced lunch) and more are from minority populations than in 1973, naep reading and math scores have improved or remained the same from 1973 to 2008 [see appendix tables 1-5] (national center for education statistics, 2012). uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe in addition, the 4-year high school graduation rate is at an all-time high, more students are challenging themselves with advanced placement (ap) courses that accrue college credit, and more students than ever are ready for college by completing rigorous college preparatory courses. the college boards, who administer ap exams, report that significantly more students are taking these exams nationwide with roughly the same percent passing as in the past (a score of 3 or better). they report that in 1955-56, 1,229 students took 2,199 exams and in 2015-16, 2,611,172 students took 4,704,980 exams with 2,729,043 tests passed, giving credit for this number of college courses (college boards, 2017). the california superintendent of public instruction, tom torlakson, reported that the california class of 2016 graduation rate of 83.2% was an increase “for the seventh year in a row and is now at a record high, with the biggest increases… taking place among english learners and african american and latino students” (california department of education, 2017, para. 1). it should also be noted that american public schools, over the past century, have produced adults who created the most patents, technology, the strongest economy, and the leading country in the free world. disparaging comments about teachers and public schools even with the results shown above, many politicians continue to disparage public schools. the uptick in attacks on public schools may have been inspired by rhetoric in the recent presidential campaign. one of the loudest voices was that of presidential candidate donald trump, whose opinion of public school teachers has been less than favorable for many years (kranish & miller, 2016). even before he began campaigning for the presidency, in a 1997 legal deposition, mr. trump declared that educators lack intelligence, saying that, “i assumed that the people essentially teaching the kids were not stupid. they turned out to be very stupid” (boser, 2016, para. 4). in mr. trump’s 2000 book, the america we deserve, he wrote among other things that graduation diplomas “have been devalued into ‘certificates of attendance’ by a dumbed-down curriculum that asks little of teachers and less of students” (p. 67). in mr. trump’s 2015 book, crippled america, he writes, “i am totally against these programs and the department of education. it's a disaster. we cannot continue to fail our children—the very future of this nation” (pp. 50-51). on the presidential campaign trail, mr. trump rolled these criticisms into a call for “urgent change” for “our government-run education monopoly” (sullivan & brown, 2016). economic policy failures attacking public schools is a clever diversion to prevent the electorate from discussing poverty in america. in general, politicians are reluctant to acknowledge that their governmental policies have not adequately met the needs of families living in poverty while simultaneously creating more families living in poverty. in fact, the number and percentage of families living in poverty has continued to grow over the last two decades from 11% to 13.5% of americans living in poverty (43.1 million in 2015) according to the u.s. census bureau, a division of the u.s. department of commerce. in fact, the greatest rise in people living in poverty in the united states is school aged youth under age 18. in 2015, 19.7% of this group, nearly one in every five children, lived in poverty – up from 16% on 2000. it has been known for fifty years that family poverty is one of the strongest predictors of low achievement test scores. it is clear from these statistics that governmental economic policies have failed families living in poverty and, therefore, stunted their children’s educational growth (u.s. census bureau, 2016). http://articles.latimes.com/1997-06-22/local/me-5945_1_original-spago uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe education policy failures misinformation about education’s success and failures has resulted in the creation of harmful education policy. the reauthorization of the elementary and secondary education act in 2001, renamed no child left behind (nclb), significantly increased standardized testing in reading and math (to annually) in order to rank schools while calling for 100% of students to be proficient by the 2014 school year (a logically unattainable goal). lower ranked schools were required to offer afterschool tutoring by nonteachers and parents were offered a choice to attend a different school (that resulted in white flight and greater school segregation). in addition, these schools were subjected to “turn around” efforts such as firing the staff, closure, restructuring, or conversion to a charter school. at the time that this law was written, little or no high-quality research supported these “turn around” efforts to improve student learning; however, recent research has documented the impotence of these policies. though nclb had the positive effect of spotlighting achievement gaps, it systematically narrowed the curriculum to reading and math instruction only, to the detriment of all other subjects (berliner & glass, 2014; spring, 1997; ravitch, 2010). charter schools have been the subject of federal and state laws for many decades and have been touted as the panacea for improving student learning by instituting free-market competition. as a result, charter schools have blossomed and investing in them has become the latest investment hot ticket. charters have become a multi-million dollar income generating business venture, even though numerous financial failures of for-profit charter schools have been documented in popular media over the past several years. many stories have highlighted schemes concocted by charter operators who embezzled millions in public funds meant for the education of children. charter schools in new york, los angeles, san bernardino, detroit, pinellas, florida, chicago, memphis, and mesa arizona have been closed due to financial improprieties and/or poor student performance. for example, 143 charter schools in texas have closed since the program began in 1998 and 122 have closed in michigan. according to a national center for education statistics report, 2,378 charter schools were closed in the united states between 2000 and 2014, displacing 253,454 students (singer, 2016). by contrast, noncharter public schools are closed at a much lower rate primarily due to declining enrollment. the most comprehensive study of charter schools, prepared by the center for research on education outcomes (credo) in 2009, concluded that: the group portrait shows wide variation in performance. the study reveals that a decent fraction of charter schools, 17 percent, provide superior education opportunities for their students. nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than their student would have realized had they remained in traditional public schools (p. 1). the follow-up study by the same research group in 2013 (center for research on education outcomes, 2013) reported that charter schools had improved in reading performance and mathematics, where they attained scores comparable to non-charter public schools. the report also documented that charters had longer school years by eight days than non-charter public schools. however, they found results similar to the 2009 study in that “charter school quality is uneven across the states and across schools” (p. 3). other studies of charter schools show higher dropout rates, consistent under-enrollment of uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe students with special needs, and highly segregated student populations. these findings strongly suggest that charter schools have supported segregation and that they are not the academic achievement panacea that they were believed to be. the impact of public school disparagement concerted effort over many decades to disparage public schools has resulted in more negative attitudes. annually, phi delta kappa surveys the american public on their attitudes toward public schools, consistently finding that those with greater connections to public schools rate them higher—and the reverse is also true—those with fewer interactions rate them lower. the highest ratings of public schools come from parents of children attending those schools. langer research associates (2016), who analyze survey results, confirm these findings, reporting that parents of children in public schools are more likely to give schools higher marks (a or b grades) than the general public, with 67 percent giving their own child’s school an a or b compared to just 24 percent for all adults. this suggests that public official’s disparagement of public schools have created an image of failing schools that does not reflect the experiences of the majority of those who have regular contact with local public schools. why does this matter? as more and more americans wrongly believe that public schools are failing, the pressure to support them financially through taxes is lessened, which could lead to dismantling the successful public school system in america. the very foundation of our american way of life is based on the free education of our citizens. it has long been believed that in a democracy, an educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people. thomas jefferson wrote the following to james adams in 1787: “educate and inform the whole mass of the people. enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them” (family guardian, 2017, section 39.3, para. 1). he also wrote to richard price in 1789, “whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government” (section 39.2, para. 4). free american public schools must be preserved. in addition, the disparagement of public schools can lead to discouragement of students in their own potential. it also discourages young college graduates from pursuing education as a career, which has resulted in a teacher shortage. this may be the most important topic of our time. abraham lincoln said “upon the subject of education…i can only say that i view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in” (abraham lincoln, 1832, p. 8). his words are more important today than ever before. what is the remedy? just as the purpose of this journal suggests, all people, but especially our leaders, should review educational research, reports, and data before making policy or speaking on the subject to the public. discussions on these important educational issues should take place regularly. the education of our nation is too important to be left to uninformed politicians. uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author dr. charles weis is an assistant professor of educational leadership at csu channel islands and codirector of the collaborative online doctorate in educational leadership offered jointly by csu channel islands and fresno state. he is a retired county superintendent of schools and current school board member for the hueneme elementary school board in port hueneme, california. references berliner, d. & glass, g. 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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/08/trump-pitches-20-billion-education-plan-at-ohio-charter-school-that-received-poor-marks-from-state/?utm_term=.107266d62cc2 http://www.ontheissues.org/crippled_america.htm https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2016/demo/p60-256.html uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix: tables 1-5 table 1 (reproduced from the nation’s report card: trends in academic progress 2012) changes in naep reading average scores and score gaps for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students, by selected characteristics: various years characteristics subgroups score changes from 1973 score changes from 2008 age 9 age 13 age 17 age 9 age 13 age 17 all students all students 13 8 3 race/ethnicity white 15 9 4 black 36 24 30 hispanic 25 17 21 7 gender male 17 9 4 female 10 6 3 score gaps white – black narrowed narrowed narrowed white – hispanic narrowed narrowed narrowed narrowed male – female narrowed indicates score was higher in 2012 indicates no significant change in 2012. uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 2 (reproduced from the nation’s report card: trends in academic progress 2012) changes in naep mathematics average scores and score gaps for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students, by selected characteristics: various years characteristics subgroups score changes from 1973 score changes from 2008 age 9 age 13 age 17 age 9 age 13 age 17 all students all students 25 19 4 race/ethnicity white 27 19 4 black 36 36 18 hispanic 32 32 17 gender male 26 21 female 24 17 3 5 score gaps white – black narrowed narrowed narrowed white – hispanic narrowed narrowed male – female narrowed indicates score was higher in 2012 indicates no significant change in 2012. 1 reading results for hispanic students were first available in 1975. therefore, the results shown in the 1971 section for hispanic students are from the 1975 assessment. 2 score differences between male and female students in mathematics were not found to be statistically significant (p < .05) at age 9 in 1973, 2008, or 2012, and at age 13 in 1973 and 2012. note: black includes african american, and hispanic includes latino. race categories exclude hispanic origin. uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 3 (reproduced from the nation’s report card: trends in academic progress 2012) trend in naep reading average scores for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 4 (reproduced from the nation’s report card: trends in academic progress 2012) trend in naep mathematics average scores for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students uninformed attacks on public education have increased w. charles weis allies for education 2017, 1, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 5 (reproduced from the nation’s report card: trends in academic progress 2012) uninformed attacks on public education have increased the success of public schools disparaging comments about teachers and public schools economic policy failures education policy failures the impact of public school disparagement why does this matter? what is the remedy? about the author references appendix: tables 1-5 0bintegrating yoga practices into school routines volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe integrating yoga practices into school routines christina pabers doctor of traditional chinese medicine naam yoga teacher and curriculum developer an abundance of research in fields such as medicine, exercise physiology, and neuroscience has demonstrated conclusively that activities like stretching, rhythmic and deep breathing, mindfulness and music have powerful impacts on physical health, mental stability, and emotional self-regulation. activities like these are aspects of yoga that some public school educators have started using to improve learning and behavior in the classroom. these practices are particularly effective for supporting children and adolescents facing the effects of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd). alarmingly, almost half of all children in the u.s. have experienced one or more forms of serious childhood trauma, and nearly a third of adolescents have experienced childhood adversity to a degree that is likely to impact their health, physically and mentally, as adults (stevens, 2013). these research findings are essential for educators, parents, and others with young people in their care to understand. trauma affects the nervous system, hormones, and brain, disrupting students’ capacity to learn and to regulate their emotions and behaviors. in other words, children affected by trauma and ptsd have physical and biological reasons for making poor academic progress and having difficulty with selfregulation. they need help in learning how to make adjustments that can enable them to reduce their level of excitement and achieve the state of calm attentiveness required for maintaining focused attention and learning. it is also important to understand that the estimates noted above (i.e., the proportions of american children and adolescents impacted by trauma) are much too low, in some contexts. since some communities are more deeply impacted than others by poverty, racism, crime, violence, home instability, food insecurity, and other deeply rooted social problems, the numbers of children affected by trauma will be much higher in these communities. consequently, some schools will have a much higher percentage of children who need support in learning how to self-regulate and achieve the optimal learning state of calm attentiveness. the need to attend to this reality is nothing short of critical. according to dr. christina bethel, “if more prevention, trauma healing, and resiliency training programs aren’t provided for children who have experienced trauma, and if our educational, juvenile justice, mental health, and medical systems are not changed to stop traumatizing already-traumatized children, many of the nation’s children are likely to suffer chronic disease and mental illness” (stevens, 2013, para. 2). integrating yoga practices into school routines christina pabers allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe with this article, i hope to help bring more attention to the problem of childhood trauma and to encourage parents, educators, health practitioners, and other leaders in our region to work together in understanding and addressing it. more specifically, though, i advocate for the implementation of schoolappropriate yoga practices as a promising intervention for supporting health and learning needs—not only of traumatized youth, but of all students (beauchemin, hutchins, patterson, 2008; kauts & sharma, 2009). school-appropriate yoga practices have not only proven to be an effective intervention for traumatized youth in schools already using it (emerson, sharma, chaudhry, turner, 2009); they are also inexpensive, relatively easy to learn, and require very little equipment or technology. in a later section i will return to the promising potential of incorporating appropriate yoga practices in schools, after providing more background on childhood trauma, ptsd, and their impact on learning. trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and their causes trauma occurs when an individual experiences an event or a set of circumstances that are physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening, and when the individual perceives this event or set of circumstances as having a lasting, harmful effect on their mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual well-being. research has shown that traumatic experiences are associated with both behavioral health and chronic physical health conditions, especially those traumatic events that occur during childhood (trauma and violence, 2017). post-traumatic stress disorder, or ptsd, is a state that results from experiencing a trauma that causes lasting physiological change to the nervous system, hormones, and brain chemicals (neurotransmitters). ptsd affects the brain’s and body’s response to stress, often making the afflicted person’s daily life responsibilities difficult or even impossible to successfully complete. the center for disease control studies trauma resulting from adverse childhood events. these include physical, sexual, and verbal abuse; physical and emotional neglect; having a parent who is an addict or diagnosed with a mental illness; witnessing a mother experiencing abuse; losing a parent to abandonment or divorce; and having a family member in jail (stevens, 2013). the national child traumatic stress network, funded by the center for mental health and human services, examines the traumatic effects of community violence, domestic violence, medical trauma, refugee trauma, school violence, and terrorism. all of these occurrences contribute to the risk of developing ptsd (hamblen & barnett, 2016). the prevalence of trauma and ptsd in minors those making decisions on behalf of students should be aware that almost half of all children in the u.s. have experienced one or more types of serious childhood trauma. according to the national survey of children’s health (nsch) and the center for disease control (cdc), using 2011 data, an estimated 34,826,000 u.s. children (i.e., age 18 and under) had experienced one or more types of serious childhood trauma (stevens, 2013). with 74,200,000 children living in the u.s. in 2011, 47% had experienced significant trauma (stevens, 2013). additionally, it is estimated that 5% of adolescents between the ages of 13-18 will meet the psychological criteria for ptsd in their lifetimes (hamblen & barnett, 2016). clearly, schools across the country are serving a high percentage of individuals affected by trauma and ptsd. given current patterns of school enrollment, in which u.s. children are more https://www.samhsa.gov/trauma-violence https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types https://www.census.gov/popclock/ integrating yoga practices into school routines christina pabers allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe deeply segregated by socioeconomic status than by race (morrison, 2016), it would stand to reason that childhood trauma impacts the great majority of youth in our nation’s most impoverished schools. the effects of trauma and ptsd on learning learning requires many things, including the ability to attend to a topic for a prolonged period of time, the ability to self-regulate, an adequate level of emotional stability, co-operation with teachers and other students, consistency, and persistence. in short, learning requires self control (busch, 2018). unfortunately, adverse childhood conditions place the precious life-preparation years, when skills for self-regulation are most easily developed, at risk. children who have experienced trauma, who continue to experience trauma, and who may suffer from ptsd are likely to have a difficult time participating effectively and consistently in the learning process. as stated earlier, research has indicated that traumatic experiences are associated with poor behavioral health and chronic physical health conditions. substance use, mental health conditions and other behaviors such as self-injury and risky sexual encounters are all linked to traumatic experiences. those with ptsd can display symptoms of increased irritability and arousal, outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, increased development of conflict with people, alcohol and drug abuse, and being prone to isolation (friedman, 2016). as a child’s body responds to trauma and stress, it generates changes in the nervous system and produces hormones that help the child to protect him/herself. while these changes might help to ensure survival, they make activities that require a sense of calm, like academic learning, almost impossible. adrenaline and cortisol are two hormones that are produced in high amounts during stress and trauma. they help the body to have the capacity to fight or flee and may cause the individual to freeze as a final protective measure. effects of adrenaline and cortisol not only affect digestion, vision, and blood pressure; they also increase stimulation of the legs and arms, making children want very much to move. adrenaline and cortisol stimulate the parts of the brain charged with ensuring survival and reduce the imagination and the brain’s capacity for abstract thought required for learning. insisting that children perform academically under these physical conditions adds insult to literal injury. prolonged exposure to these stress hormones destroys brain cells and damages physical development. when these stresses happen repeatedly, the brain can undergo long-term changes that can affect the child even when they are in a calm state. under stress, the brain is flushed with stress hormones that, long term, can be toxic to areas of the brain called the cerebellar vermis and hippocampus. those parts of the brain are in charge of regulating cognitive functioning and converting short-term memory into long-term memory. long-term exposure to stress hormones can also lead to reduction in brain size, lasting irritability, excitability, and hindrance in parts of the brain responsible for learning and behavior (rossen & hull, 2013, p. 25-26; tsatsoulis & fountoulakis, 2006, p. 6). this can affect a person’s perception of their intelligence for a lifetime, causing them to believe they are inherently unable to learn, when in reality they were biochemically inhibited in their youth by stress. addressing childhood trauma: a moral imperative in “childhood trauma and a framework for intervention,” margaret blaustein (2013) wrote, integrating yoga practices into school routines christina pabers allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe it is likely that a significant proportion of children in the classroom, nationwide, are experiencing the effects of past or present trauma or ptsd. as a nation of abundance and high moral values, we need to be actively finding ways to support children and adolescents during this important time of intellectual development when the quality of their future depends upon the progress they make in these years (p. 7) eliminating the problems that lead to widespread childhood trauma will require large, long-term changes in many realms of society, but school-based steps can be taken almost immediately to support traumatized youth. yoga and meditation programs offered in public schools are increasingly employed as both a form of exercise and as a modality for helping children cope with stress. it must be noted that the american psychological association (apa) and conventional medicine indicate that psychological treatment should be provided for individuals who suffer with ptsd and the effects of trauma, but resources are simply not available to adequately address the numbers of children and parents affected. schools represent opportunity, in this consideration of the public good as in so many others. schools are where children and adolescents are. instead of holding educators and children responsible for “accountability” (to the near-exclusion of other concerns actually having to do with teaching and learning), our educators and schools must be supported as the primary context where traumatized youth can learn the strategies they need to reduce their level of excitement and achieve the state of calm attentiveness required for maintaining focused attention and learning. from my medical perspective of the above research, i recommend that parents, educators, and others with children in their care work together to implement systems designed for school populations to ameliorate the effects of trauma and ptsd. the following video links show the impact that simple, inexpensive, time-effective strategies for teaching children self-regulation strategies can have on students’ cognitive, social and emotional development. • rita murphy elementary school, bismarck, nd • robert w. coleman elementary school, baltimore, md yoga as a solution school-appropriate yoga practices, performed in the way i am proposing, include a combination of rhythmic aerobic exercise, rhythmic rapid breathing and progressively deeper slow breath, slow and calming movement, and deep slow breath that accompanies movement (levry, 2015). researchers of these aspects of the above have found therapeutic value for the nervous system, stress, trauma, cognition, and behavior. aerobic exercise has been shown to counteract the negative effects of stress and anxiety. it improves cognition, reduces stress hormone excretion, and reduces anxiety. it has been shown to diminish the immediate and prolonged effects of stress in the moment they are happening. this benefits the physical body and cognitive functioning (tsatsoulis & fountoulakis, 2006). calming movements and activities such as slow, deep breathing and stretching also have their benefits. through the washington state compassionate school initiative, 600 elementary school students participated in calming yoga along with other physical activities. two years later, “test scores rose dramatically, referrals to special education decreased and discipline referrals dropped precipitously” (rossen & hull, 2013, p. 26). other http://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/rita-murphy-elementary-uses-mindfulness-to-refocus-students-after-recess-461387293.html https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meditation-students-mindful-moments-program-robert-w-coleman-elementary-school/ integrating yoga practices into school routines christina pabers allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe yoga programs have been found to successfully address symptoms of ptsd (west et al., 2004; macy, jones, graham & roach, 2015). research findings point to various methods for building resilience to the negative effects of trauma. some of these resilience building strategies are supported by school appropriate yoga practices, including: having a consistent routine, providing ways for children to express themselves without talking, ensuring social support, and intentionality in developing a sense of self-effectiveness (weibler, 2013; rossen & hull 2013; everly & firestone 2013; clark et al., 2014). learning yoga provides independence in practicing a lifelong skill that can be utilized in adulthood and even in elderly years; it can be performed without equipment and can be done alone, to the best of the child’s ability, with or without a teacher. trauma and music therapy music and its therapeutic application can cause immediate changes to the brain, emotions, hormones, and nervous system. one study concluded that “biologically, while listening to instrumental music, neurons are fired in the brain structures involved with motivation, reward, and emotion” (moffic, as cited in sorensen, 2015, p. 48). music therapy is being developed clinically as a technique for children who have experienced complex trauma. it is being used for the development of positive social reciprocity (hussey, reed, layman & pasiali, 2017). in other words, it being used to help develop healthy social interactions in children for whom trauma and ptsd have made this difficult. music therapy can be an integral part of yoga and can include music and rhythm through breathing, coordination activities, vocalization and movement (levry, 2015). music therapy for stress and ptsd has been a topic of research and is currently being utilized in many settings with successful results (garrido et al., 2015). u.s. military programs are using music therapy and yoga extensively to alleviate stress and ptsd (else, 2014). given the current numbers of children affected by trauma and ptsd, their effects on learning, and current, insufficient levels of resources available to address these problems, the implementation of school-appropriate yoga practices can serve as an affordable, effective intervention for supporting traumatized youth and promoting positive, effective learning and self-regulatory behaviors. about the author christina pabers, ph.d., m.a., tcm, l.ac holds her ph.d. and master’s degrees in chinese medicine and a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, exercise physiology. she is a 25-year practitioner of naam yoga and has served as naam yoga curriculum developer for over ten years. she teaches in and oversees yoga certification courses in europe, mexico and the u.s. her medical clinic in camarillo, california integrates acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutrition and yogic practices for health and wellbeing. she is a member of educators doing justice, a coalition of p12, college, and community educators in ventura county. references beauchemin, j., hutchins, t., & patterson, f. 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(2015). yoga for trauma and related mental health problems: a meta-review with clinical and service recommendations. trauma, violence, & abuse, 19(1), 35-57. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1524838015620834 morrison, n. (2016). it’s not race that’s the big divide, it’s wealth. forbes. retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2016/05/31/its-not-race-thats-the-big-divide-itswealth/#19c7e37a7639. rossen, eric & hull, robert (eds.) (2013). supporting and educating traumatized students: a guide for school-based professionals. new york, ny: oxford university press. sorensen, m. (2015). the neurology of music for post-traumatic-stress disorder treatment: a theoretical approach for social work implications. master of social work clinical research papers http://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/528 stevens, j. (2013, may 13). nearly 35 million us children have experienced one or more types of childhood trauma. aces too high. retrieved from https://acestoohigh.com/2013/05/13/nearly-35million-u-s-children-have-experienced-one-or-more-types-of-childhood-trauma/ tsatsoulis, a., & fountoulakis, s. (2006). the protective role of exercise on stress system dysregulation and comorbidities. annals of the new york academy of sciences, 1083, 196-213. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17148741 west, j., otte, c., geher, k., johnson, j., & mohr, d.c. (2004). effects of hatha yoga and african dance on perceived stress, affect, and salivary cortisol. annals of behavioral medicine, 28(2), 114-8. wiebler, l. (2013). developmental differences in response to trauma. in e. rossen and r. hull (eds.), supporting and educating traumatized students: a guide for school-based professionals (pp. 37-47). new york, ny: oxford university press. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1524838015620834 https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2016/05/31/its-not-race-thats-the-big-divide-its-wealth/#19c7e37a7639 https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2016/05/31/its-not-race-thats-the-big-divide-its-wealth/#19c7e37a7639 http://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/528 https://acestoohigh.com/2013/05/13/nearly-35-million-u-s-children-have-experienced-one-or-more-types-of-childhood-trauma/ https://acestoohigh.com/2013/05/13/nearly-35-million-u-s-children-have-experienced-one-or-more-types-of-childhood-trauma/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=otte%20c%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=15454358 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=geher%20k%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=15454358 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=johnson%20j%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=15454358 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=mohr%20dc%5bauthor%5d&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=15454358 integrating yoga practices into school routines about the author references a new guy's suggestion for good teachers volume 1, issue 2 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe a new guy's suggestion for good teachers david lynn graduate student, school of education, csu channel islands math teacher, oxnard high school i have heard and read numerous directions on how to be a good teacher: show care and compassion; manage the classroom effectively; be an empathetic communicator with students; know and organize the area content with compelling lesson plans and a flexible classroom approach; combine an understanding of cognitive constructs with personal connection. there is a lot of research and literature on what makes a good teacher. yet, as so many students, parents, and community members say, they know a good teacher when they see one. i have learned from some good teachers. and there is another characteristic i have seen in teachers that i want to share. be actively accessible. being a credential student, a substitute teacher, and recently a classroom teacher (not to mention a married parent of school-aged children), i see things from somewhat of a unique position. in the last year i have had the opportunity to talk openly with students and observe more teachers in their classrooms (over three dozen in several school districts) than many full-time teachers get to do. i have seen good teachers be actively accessible; not just available, but seeking out the quiet, disconnected students, on their terms. i know, this does not sound like anything new. but consider these stories. as a sub i spent some time in a continuation high school. during an art class, one girl was talking to her friends, and relayed that she got teased in middle school. then, as she put it, she discovered that a good, effective way to get kids to stop teasing her was to punch them in the face. of course this led to a downward path, but she finally made it back to high school, albeit a continuation high school. with help, she now controls her anger and is much better adjusted. what struck me was that she explicitly traced back the start of her issues to what she thought was a lack of concern by a particular teacher in middle school. obviously her path was not the teacher's fault and there were many more issues, but the student's comments made me wonder. i happen to know this teacher, a person known rightfully as a a new guy's suggestion for good teachers david lynn allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe very good teacher. what could have happened if this teacher, or even another teacher, had connected positively with this girl back then? students not only hang on to small things, they also internalize them. i had the opportunity to teach math in a high school summer school class of 28 students for four hours a day. in a first day survey, i asked a few basic things like preferred name and preferred pronouns, along with an open-ended question: “anything else you would like me to know?” two or three students specifically identified themselves as slow learners. i was a little surprised that these students had so internalized this label, and i wondered how it affected their actions. as the class progressed, i ran into two beliefs in at least half the students: “i can't do this,” and “i hate math.” i jokingly pushed the comments aside, and slowly showed these students they could do the work in front of them. and lights came on. in addition to being aware of the big impacts small actions can have, as teachers we also cannot assume that what we think we see and judge is the only reality. i had the chance to hear from an eighth grader who was upset about a fellow math teacher – by most accounts a good teacher liked by students and peers. in less than two weeks, this student developed a very negative opinion of her teacher. her eyes were watering, so she had her head down. the teacher walked over and slapped her hand on the student’s table and smirked, apparently thinking the student was asleep. the girl felt angry and hurt, but did not explain herself. in our conversation, the student explained, with some prompting, that she did not have glasses, so her eyes watered now and then. she had lost her glasses over the summer, during a move, and her mother’s insurance did not allow for a new purchase for a few months. by chance, that school had a pretty good fund for things like glasses for students in need, but what this student really appreciated at that moment was someone who would listen. now understand, this student has not been a model student, and it was easy to assume she was not paying attention. but could a kinder “wake up” have helped? being actively accessible allows for some surprising questions. one day, a student was feeling comfortable with the equations we were working on, but asked what the different types of parentheses were (the difference between regular parentheses, brackets, and so on). i told her that functionally they were all the same; interior parentheses had to be dealt with before outer ones, but the different styles were just that, styles, to help make them look different, so we do not confuse one for another. she understood and things jelled better for her. she then complained that she had tried to ask other teachers about that, but they did not have the time to answer such questions. it surprised me that previous teachers would have had a problem with this. being accessible means we have to be open to questions, especially if the students initiate them. in this particular math case, it was a simple yet important question. these symbols, just like the other terminology, need to be understood to be used, and the question was an easy one. i do not know how she asked in the past, but it is hard for me to image how such a question could have been phrased to warrant dismissal. teachers have taught me to be flexible. one day i worked at some length with a boy on a type of equation. after a while, he got it, and was pleased. the next day i wrote several similar problems on the board for the whole class during the nutrition break. as the kids came in, the boy saw one of the problems, smiled, and went to the board to solve the problem on his own. if i had wanted to stay on my a new guy's suggestion for good teachers david lynn allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe plan, i would have asked him to stop so i could do it with the class, but i saw that it was more useful to let him reinforce his learning with his own, self-guided personal lesson, and then praise him. of course, to be actively accessible is more than being open to their questions. i have learned that teachers need to seek out and approach students in need. recently i watched a teacher i know. there was a boy sitting in a shady corner of the building during lunch, on his computer, minding his own business. she went up to chat for a bit. afterward i asked her about the exchange. she had noticed him sitting alone several times, and just wanted to ask about him and give some encouraging words. could that have made a world of difference? i do not know, but it only took awareness and a couple of minutes on the teacher's part. good teachers have also taught me to let students go off-task at times and use those experiences to build connections. subbing in a class, i noticed a couple of girls talking. when i went over to them (i rove a lot – i can't sit in a class), i found they had finished the assigned task and were working on a farsi word game together. they looked like they had been caught at something. they had their work done, so i encouraged what they were doing, and asked if they could teach me a short, useful phrase. as i walked away, i noticed they both sat up a bit straighter. often we hear that a positive word, an open attitude of caring, with a professional distance, can be the most important thing we can do. this is not a new idea for good teaching. but i have found that small interactions can have big, long-term impacts, and that students internalize all sorts of things. it is rewarding when a student approaches me, but it is not enough to let them approach; i believe i need to find them and approach them. it is so easy to let ourselves get focused on lessons and administration when we have 30-35 students coming in and out of our classrooms five times a day. what we need to ask ourselves is this: what am i going to do to be actively accessible to another student today? about the author david lynn is a graduate student in the school of education at california state university, channel islands. he received his bachelor’s degree from the university of california, berkeley with a double major in human geography and social science, and his mba from pepperdine university. a father of two school-aged children, he is a new teacher of mathematics at oxnard high school. 0bculturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe culturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families adriana fernandez student engagement specialist graduate student, educational leadership csu channel islands for many of us who grow up in latino households, going to college is not just our decision, it is a family decision. family is a strong component of our culture, it is at the root of our traditions and our morals. as latinos/latinas pursuing a higher education, anything we do with our lives has to be supported by our familia. being first-generation students, having a strong educational background has been instilled in us from a very young age. sadly, many parents do not know how to navigate the u.s. education system, which can result in a disconnection between parent and student. as students, we oftentimes find ourselves alone in navigating elementary, middle, and high school. to many young latinos/latinas college may, at times, seem unattainable. parents do not know about college prerequisite courses, college admissions, or sat and act testing. they do not know what it means to be college-eligible. yet, our parents’ support remains and becomes our greatest motivation to achieve success. when some of us “make it” and have the opportunity to attend a four-year university, often our cultural norms may impede us from achieving this success (tornatsky, 2002). to maximize the potential for latino/latina students to attend college, educational institutions must reach parents early to share information regarding how to best support their students (tornatsky, 2002). i have a passion for working with latino families, because i know the great influence they have on firstgeneration latino students and their education trajectory. my goal in life is to give back to my community and to provide families the adequate resources and tools to better support their students. i was very privileged to have a supportive family. from a young age, they were highly involved in my education. my mom would always attend my parent-teacher conferences, would go to my school events, and made sure to do homework with me. however, as i started progressing in school, my mom was able to help less, though her support was still evident. she was my biggest cheerleader and would help me seek out programs that would give me the help she could not, which was how i came to attend college. once i had been accepted to various colleges, she let me decide which institution i would attend. all she said was “que vallas con dios.” i understand that i have been fortunate as a firstgeneration, low-income student, and that inspires me to educate parents about the college-going process and the importance of their support. culturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families adriana fernandez allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe literature expectations and aspirations families have a tremendous influence on students throughout their education. indeed, familial actions, behaviors, attitudes, and their expectations predict a child’s success during their schooling (albin, 2015). if parents keep their academic expectations high, students are more likely to be successful in all aspects of life (albin, 2015). parents who tend to have high expectations see educational attainment as a link to future happiness and satisfaction in life (goldenberg, 1995). many of our family members immigrated to the u.s. to ensure that next generations attain a secure future, a job that pays well and, overall, a much better life than they had. for that reason our parents push us towards greatness, so we do not have to suffer the hardships they faced in their lives. the only way to achieve this “secured future” is by going to school, graduating and, eventually, benefitting from a college education. but along the way, our parents do not want us to lose our traditional values and morals. many believe that ultimate educational success is a combination of meeting both academic and moral goals (reese, 2001). but how are we to achieve educational success when both students and parents do not know how to navigate the education system? parent support and involvement for many first-generation students, their parents do not have much schooling. it becomes difficult to bring homework home that neither mom nor dad can help with. thus, many parents of first-generation students provide moral support rather than academic support (reese, 2001). indeed, many students place significant importance on emotional support and the motivation their parents have provided. according to zarate (n.d) in an article on the involvement of latino/latina parents in an academic setting, students expressed how important it has been to have their parents sit by them while they do their homework or to be involved in their school’s parent teacher association (pta). i have the same opinion, since my mother stopped helping me with my homework in the fifth grade due to her little schooling. however, her support and motivation were essential for me through high school, pushed me through college, and has kept me afloat throughout graduate school. while latino parents make it a point to be involved in their student’s educational lives, much of their involvement falls outside traditional understandings of what parental “involvement” typically looks like (lopez, 2001). my mom may not have been able to help me with calculus, but her words of encouragement were all i needed to help me persevere through my educational career. parent knowledge and going to college in order to encourage first-generation, latino students to attend college, it is imperative that we search for ways to get parents involved in the process of going to college (lopez, 2001). we must share with parents basic knowledge about higher education, expose them to the different pathways available to students, and about the various requirements to make their student college eligible. studies have shown that lack of knowledge about higher education is significantly more evident among parents of firstgeneration students than those who come from families where a parent has attended college (tornatzky, 2002). by educating families from the very beginning, the college application process is demystified. parents who see college in their student’s future support them toward that goal irrespective of their income and other assets (albin, 2015). culturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families adriana fernandez allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe parent programming university culture university culture is one of the programs that has been created through a combination of csu channel islands’ (ci) hispanic-serving institute (hsi) grants. the mission of university culture is to promote a university-going culture in ventura county. we partner with local high schools, community colleges, and community-based organizations to provide resources to achieve academic success. most importantly, we advertise and provide our services in spanish in order to more broadly reach out to local families. having this crucial information delivered in spanish, effectively ensures parents know how to support their students through the education pipeline. curriculum what makes our parent programming unique, is that we meet parents where they are and cater to their needs. this means that we go to our families. we do not expect them to come to us because we know they play many roles. we go into the field – both literally and figuratively – on their lunch breaks, and attend meetings where parents are present both in school and at work. we offer a variety of workshops throughout the academic year and adjust them depending on the needs of parents. the most popular workshops include the following: ayuda financiera where we examine the different types of aid available for students, and break down the cost of attendance hoping to show our parents that money should not be a barrier to attend college; beneficios de un bachillerato focuses on exposing parents to the benefits of receiving a bachelor’s degree and making them aware of the different paths their students can take in order to receive their degree; las diferentes opciones universitarias addresses the different systems of higher education and discusses the requirements within each, and the most popular of all workshop is titled como apoyar a tu hijo/a which focuses on how parents can better support their students throughout the education pipeline. our program focuses on the provision of moral support. though parents may not be able to support their student academically, they are able to provide moral support crucial to creating a college-going culture. noche de familia outreach in spring, our program hosts a culminating one-day conference known as noche de familia outreach. we invite local families and their students to visit ci to gain exposure to a college campus, and to participate in a variety of workshops. participants are split into different tracks: parents, high school students, and middle school students. parents participate in the workshops highlighted above. in addition, they attend a special panel where local parents who have supported their students through higher education provide advice and affirm the value of our programming. students are offered similar workshops but from a student perspective. the one-day conference culminates with ci’s noche de familia which is filled with live music, food, and parent/faculty/student testimonials. many families in our community look forward to this event. every year attendance continues to increase. for example, in our first year we welcomed about 30 participants. by contrast, now on our third year, 163 family members were hosted. culturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families adriana fernandez allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe data at the conclusion of noche de familia, parents complete a questionnaire available in spanish to assess their experiences (appendix a). we ask parents whether they feel more knowledgeable, empowered, and excited for their students’ journey ahead. salient themes that emerge from the data collected include: seguridad, tranquilidad, y agradecimiento. after participating in the program, 98% of parent attendees reported feeling more secure and confident with themselves and with the support they are providing their students. they also indicated that they felt more at ease with the thought of their student going to college. parents were able to gain knowledge on financial aid, college admissions, and realized that going to college is not unreachable as they might have thought previously. lastly, every parent indicated their appreciation for programming geared specifically to meet their needs and delivered in their language. they stated that receiving information in spanish made it easier for them to understand and process. in addition, they appreciate interacting with staff members who share some of the same cultural and familial experiences; it gives them hope that one day their students will achieve the goals they set for themselves. educating parents is the first step to ensure the college-going culture of first-generation latino/a students. parents have the desire to see their students succeed but they need the knowledge and guidance to fully support their student. having culturally-relevant programming makes a difference to our community, and should be offered as part of the fulfillment of ci’s mission as we advance our commitment to community outreach. every time i host a workshop for parents and by witnessing the positive implications of our programming, i leave feeling grateful for the work that i do. about the author adriana fernandez is a graduate student in the educational leadership program in the school of education at csu channel islands. she received her bachelor’s degree from uc davis where she doublemajored in chicanx studies and spanish. she currently works at csu channel islands as a student engagement specialist where she and her students strive to create a college-going culture in ventura county. being an oxnard native, adriana has a passion for giving back to her community and empowering students to achieve their greatest potential. references albin, a. (2015). children more likely to succeed academically if parents believe they’re college bound. retrieved from university of california website: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/childrenmore-likely-succeed-academically-if-parents-believe-theyre-college-bound goldenberg, c., & gallimore, r. (1995). immigrant latino parents’ values and beliefs about their children’s education: continuities and discontinuities across cultures and generations. advances in motivation and achievement, 9, 183-228. lopez, g. (2001). the value of hard work: lessons on parent involvement from an (im)migrant household. harvard educational review, 71(3), 416-37. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/children-more-likely-succeed-academically-if-parents-believe-theyre-college-bound https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/children-more-likely-succeed-academically-if-parents-believe-theyre-college-bound culturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families adriana fernandez allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe reese, l. (2001). morality and identity in mexican immigrant parents’ visions of the future. journal of ethnic and migration studies, 27(3), 455-472. tornatsky, l., cutler, r., & lee, j. (2002). college knowledge: what latino parents need to know and why they don’t know it. los angeles: tomás rivera policy institute. zarate, m. e. (n.d.). understanding latino parent involvement in education. los angeles, ca: the tomas rivera policy institute. culturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families adriana fernandez allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix a culturally relevant programming for spanish speaking families about the author suturing the break: an anti-racist pedagogy column volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe suturing the break: an anti-racist pedagogy column raquel baker what kind of education will it take to grow the society we want to have? one that is as collaborative as it is liberatory. centering anti-racist teaching practices is a necessary part of growing the society we want to have. in this column, i offer some of the issues that animate my thinking about anti-racist pedagogy. i am trying to cultivate an anti-racist pedagogical practice that is collaborative this one is hard! see decolonial here. because students and faculty -and humans in a society -operate within uneven power relations (and histories and institutions and systems) that operate outside of us but that also allow us to make sense to each other, centering an analysis of power is necessary when creating anti-racist pedagogical approaches. collaborative methods aim to create multivocal, generative spaces. interdisciplinary, and in other ways multiple, perspectives allow us to center different questions; consider different entry points; and use different reference texts and methods among other generative synergies, disruptions, and co-creations. collaboration that contributes to anti-racist transformation requires constant reflection on how decision-making occurs within a project. anti-racist pedagogy is relational work in which you have to co-build embodied languages and spaces in which people can do heart work and be vulnerable with themselves and be open to others and engaging across differences in power and awareness of how oppression operates in the everyday – which is already embedded in economic systems and everyday decisions about how resources are used and invested within academic spaces. collaborative work is relational work in which we interrogate power dynamics and build new languages and spaces of belonging. which is to say interpersonal dynamics are related to structural and institutional power, and creating dialogic spaces with students in age appropriate ways means asking hard questions about how we share power and changing teaching practices to redistribute power and reinvest in marginalized communities that are targets of oppressive power. inquiry-driven i aim for an antiracist pedagogy that is process-driven, relationship-building centered, and aimed at developing a mindset—even to the point of not setting the topic and encouraging students to research suturing the break: an anti-racist pedagogy column raquel baker allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe what stokes their intellectual curiosity. within this frame, education becomes about checking in, getting to know each other, and developing processes to allow us to speak and listen deeply when we are tired, confused, anxious, bored, uncomfortable emotionally or physically, or something else. such an educational environment is not a test-driven environment nor one in which i even see myself as delivering content. we, my students and i, are learning methods—how to find resources in a library database, how to skim articles to see if they would be useful to read more deeply—to help us develop better analysis on which to make claims and form knowledge based on what we find and then think through in discussion with each other. our work together should transform my original aims or questions and values and desires as a teacher – our work is multidirectional, not just something i “give” to “students” but ways of understanding the world, ideas, and texts that we have thought through together. my anti-racist pedagogy is grounded in a freirean frame: knowledge itself is a collaborative process that changes you and the world. i aim for an anti-racist pedagogy that engages students in that process in meaningful ways and moves education from a disciplinary process about limits to a collaborative process of examination that allows students to construct new possibilities, identifications, and ways of being. decolonial anti-racist pedagogy aims to disrupt, deconstruct, and provide methods to heal from the structures of minority rule that constrict us. the everydayness of enslavement and settlement lives in our bodies and informs our knowledges of our selves and the world. the material practices and cultural institutions of our contemporary slave-enabled, settler colonial world inform the identifications we move through the world with. i speak as a black educator in the united states of america, living and unlearning on land with integral ancestral and ongoing historical relationship to chumash peoples. anti-colonial thinker and psychiatrist frantz fanon writes about internalized inferiority—the way that colonized peoples come to internalize the lack of value they have within their cultural own milieu. a robust anti-racist pedagogy is about structural critique and healing, constructive transformation. it involves working toward changes in policy outside of the classroom. inside the classroom, it requires acknowledging the material damages caused by our contemporary identifications and ways of being and creating space to reflect on and transform that violence. anti-racist pedagogy is one tool with the space of the classroom. it works inside to prepare us emotionally and materially in terms of building languages, spaces of inquiry and engagement, and knowledges together. it works with policy and systemic change. such change includes rethinking the model of how education is financed, how it is invested in (which is a matter of educational policy), as well as the broader economic practices and institutions in which we as larger national and global cultures are situated within. which is to say that that the graduation gap, outcome gap, completion gap, success gap, opportunity gap in education is related to the extractive histories of settler colonialism that ground ongoing divestment based on racialized modes of knowledge and inequitable spatial practices (think apartheid in south africa in the 1980s or in the usa in 2020, the icon of jim crow in the american south, or la colonia in oxnard). a decolonial approach to anti-racist pedagogy centers radical investment in healing from fracturing institutional, cultural, state, economic, spatial, and educational practices. a decolonial anti-racist pedagogy requires making practices that support systemic oppression visible and developing new practices, which, it turns out, is always related to developing new modes of identification. https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.freire.org%2fpaulo-freire%2f&data=04%7c01%7ckaia-joan.tollefson%40csuci.edu%7c2ef935ff53694c75cd8108d8a074fbb6%7ce30f5bdb7f18435b84369d84aa7b96dd%7c1%7c0%7c637435771593462363%7cunknown%7ctwfpbgzsb3d8eyjwijoimc4wljawmdailcjqijoiv2lumziilcjbtii6ik1hawwilcjxvci6mn0%3d%7c1000&sdata=%2br5szw5aydvvfph9hcbqw2186bzea4bi%2byrmlq92hiy%3d&reserved=0 https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ucop.edu%2finstitutional-research-academic-planning%2fcontent-analysis%2facademic-planning%2fcalifornia-master-plan.html&data=04%7c01%7ckaia-joan.tollefson%40csuci.edu%7c2ef935ff53694c75cd8108d8a074fbb6%7ce30f5bdb7f18435b84369d84aa7b96dd%7c1%7c0%7c637435771593462363%7cunknown%7ctwfpbgzsb3d8eyjwijoimc4wljawmdailcjqijoiv2lumziilcjbtii6ik1hawwilcjxvci6mn0%3d%7c1000&sdata=fu1%2fh2cwa5uwgv5vhwz1lyfbxftsuayajspnvpsfgwi%3d&reserved=0 suturing the break: an anti-racist pedagogy column raquel baker allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe future-oriented an anti-racist pedagogy aims to teach toward our futures – to help to create the conditions of possibility for more sustainable and equitable futures. it seeks to transform oppressive, maladaptive, negating practices, identifications, and imaginaries that our racialized practices give rise to. it seeks to help transform racialized trauma. the investment of anti-racist pedagogy seeds our entire academic community: our students, faculty, staff, groundskeepers, service workers, contract workers, food workers, and the larger communities in which we are all situated. our histories, migrations, and family and community stories are sources of knowledge that help us become who we need to be to build meaningful and ethical ways of being together. anti-racist pedagogy is part of the project of creating new selves because education as a project is deeply imbricated with identity. about the author raquel baker is an assistant professor of postcolonial and transnational literatures in the english program at california state university channel islands and will be teaching a course on reparations and reconciliations in black and indigenous literatures in spring 2021. suturing the break: an anti-racist pedagogy column collaborative inquiry-driven decolonial future-oriented about the author 0bmy journey through injustice volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe my journey through injustice kaitlyn justice respite care provider life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. these are three aspirations that everyone in this country— regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, legal status, or religion—has a right to. unfortunately for many, these three promises remain a dream. public services are often lacking or are not widely accessible, especially those that aim to meet the academic, emotional and material needs of disadvantaged students. when it comes to the role that the public schools play in this problem, ucla professor of education tyrone howard puts it plainly. in an article entitled “we are failing our most vulnerable children,” he wrote: although many courageous and dedicated teachers, staff, and leaders work tirelessly in these schools, the reality is painfully clear: most schools are ill-equipped and under-prepared to understand, let alone address, the depth, breadth, complexity, and seriousness of the challenges that many students face daily. it is difficult to inspire children when they are hungry. (2018, para. 3-4) i have experienced first-hand the dark, depressing reality of being an underprivileged student in modern day america. even though life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ought to apply to everyone, i know differently. this is my story. when you look at me, you see what seems like a normal 25-year-old woman. however, if you could see inside my heart and mind, you would see a scared little girl affected by traumatic experiences and a lifetime of extreme poverty for whom every day is a struggle. all my life i have been a recipient of government aid such as women, infants, and children’s food service (wic), medi-cal, food stamps, welfare, hud housing, financial aid and state grants. my father abandoned my mother, sister, and me when i was seven years old. after he left, our lives spiraled into such chaos and anxiety that, to this day, i have no memory of ages seven to nine. due to the traumas of abandonment, homelessness, and watching my mother fall into a deep depression, i had a miserable experience with education. my psyche was so badly damaged that i was experiencing extreme panic attacks and emotional breakdowns daily. every night brought horrifying dreams that would keep me on edge for days. once i was diagnosed by a psychiatrist, and i was told i had severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, severe anxiety, and depression. although the diagnoses provided an explanation as to why i could not function in school, the pain and fear i experienced didn’t change, and they left me feeling separated from everyone around me. fast forward to high school. at this time, i continued to experience psychological disorders while living far below the poverty line. it was in high school that i began to notice the differential, unethical treatment of disadvantaged students, especially those who were poor, who came from immigrant 0bmy journey through injustice kaitlyn justice allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe families and who had parents who only spoke spanish. for example, the high school i attended is the only public high school in a small city. the area closely surrounding the high school is quite wealthy which means that wealthier families have better access to the school, eliminating the need for these students to commute to school on buses. the farther you travel from the high school, the more disadvantaged people and lower income households there are. my neighborhood stands in the oldest part of town and consists primarily of lower income households, old apartment complexes, and an affordable housing complex. this means that school buses to my neighborhood provided a vital public service. unfortunately, by my sophomore year, the school bus service i relied so heavily on was taken away. the two city buses that were available to ride were often so overcrowded with kids from my neighborhood that many would be turned away and had to wait another hour for the next bus. there were days i had to beg my friends for rides or for bus money. i was so embarrassed and felt increasingly unmotivated to go to school. i wondered who could justify taking this service from disadvantaged children. then i remembered that more privileged families lived closer to the school and that no parents from my area would speak up. most of them did not speak english; in fact, my mother, sister and i are the only white, english-speaking family in our neighborhood. this is only one example of the many social injustices that made attending school more difficult than necessary. throughout my schooling i received free school lunches. i had no other option and was grateful, but how the free lunch program was handled at my high school was utterly shocking. when it was time to get in line for lunch they made students like myself stand in a separate line from everyone else. the food we received was of poor quality, as well. meals were often soggy, microwaved, and very obviously put back out from the days before. it was not until my senior year that i would sometimes have the choice of a day-old salad. little effort seemed to be made by anyone in power to value and treat all students with respect. i always had an interest in school sports and dance teams. however, since i was forced to grow up more quickly than my peers, i never felt that i fit in with the teenagers around me. i dreamed of being part of something bigger, but i knew it would not be possible because the school did not offer extracurricular programs in which disadvantaged, poor students could easily participate. while many of my peers enjoyed playing sports and making friends, students like myself worried daily about finding loose change for a ride home on the city bus. the one extracurricular activity i could take that was “free” was choir and musical theater. what was supposed to be a good experience became quite stressful. we often had to buy special clothes or bring baked goods to sell at concerts, neither of which was a possibility for me. i had to explain to the teacher that i did not have any money, a fact that seemed to be met with annoyance and confused stares from my peers. it was humiliating. i began to note what i saw as blatant favoritism in my choir and musical theater classes toward those who had more and weren’t “problem students.” i loved to sing, and it was the one thing i honestly thought i had a talent for. i decided i wanted to expand my ability. i figured maybe this could be the class which offered that "something extra" i had been hoping for. unfortunately, the teacher—who may have thought he was being helpful by telling me he understood my situation and that he had lived through similar circumstances—ended up making me feel invaded and embarrassed. he knew about my mom being a single parent and once told me he was giving me advice from a “father’s position,” which came across to me at the time as his using intimate knowledge about my life to make me feel guilty. 0bmy journey through injustice kaitlyn justice allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe additionally, some teachers at my school would make degrading remarks about going to community college and related it to being dumb and lazy. i was quite hurt when i heard these remarks because i knew that community college was my only option for higher education. it was upsetting to see my friends get acceptance letters to universities in exciting new places, seemingly without a worry in the world. i could not allow myself dreams of going to a big university after high school. i was too worried about budgeting my family's food costs for the month and about whether my mother would have enough gas to take me to school the next day. many students from poor and marginalized families face similar concerns but few of us have access to the care and services that could help get us to college and university. it is important that our voices be heard. another form of discrimination that broke my heart was to observe some teachers’ reactions when i, or any other student, asked for the accommodations granted in 504 plans.1 i had been in such emotional and psychological pain that i begged for relief in any way possible. when my mother and i attempted to receive a 504 plan, we were met with resistance from the people who were supposed to help us. they tried to convince us that such a plan would not benefit me, and that i did not need it. my mother continued to fight, and eventually convinced the school to set up a 504 plan which allowed me to take tests in a private place. for a brief moment i was relieved until i asked my teachers for the accommodations. in response to the shrug of their shoulders and a sigh, i would quickly say i could try taking my tests in class, since my abandonment issues turned me into a people pleaser who was terrified of disappointing adults. i grew up in a household without access to the internet, cable television or even a cell phone. the only way i could complete much of my schoolwork was by going to the public library to use the computers there. the public library in my town happens to be close enough to walk to from my home. however, since every other student in my immediate neighborhood was in the same situation, i often had to wait for a computer to become available. i would arrive home from school at four o’clock in the afternoon due to inadequate public transportation, and the library closed at five o'clock. there was a slim window of opportunity for me to have the opportunity to do my homework, not to mention the impact my disabilities had on my ability to do the schoolwork to begin with. little did i know, i had undiagnosed attention deficit disorder (add) which i now realize hindered my ability to complete assignments in general. i was not aware of any teacher during those years who recognized my struggling grades as a sign that i needed extra help and compassion. i felt that i was completely on my own. i had given up. i just wanted it to be over. high school is supposed to be the best time of your life. my high school years were the worst. i desperately wanted to be away from the place that made me feel unimportant and unwanted. fortunately, after high school i finally felt free. i went to community college and took advantage of the financial, psychological, and educational aid available to me. it was also in community college that i was diagnosed with add. the services i received adequately leveled the playing field for me. i felt a new and 1 504 plans and individualized educational plans (iep) are both created to make sure that students with disabilities get the services they need to be successful in school. however, an iep is legislated by the individuals with disabilities education act (idea); it is for those who require specialized instruction, and requires documentation of measurable growth. a 504 plan is legislated by section 504 of the rehabilitation act and simply ensures that the student will get the accommodations they need to access the curriculum and be able to succeed (do-it, 2017). 0bmy journey through injustice kaitlyn justice allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe unfamiliar sense of empowerment. i had control of my surroundings. if i did not feel comfortable in one class, i switched to a new one. i had better access to the internet, so i used it. i used the free tutoring and counseling which made me feel strong enough to stop taking the handfuls of anti-depressants i had been taking for eleven mind-numbing years. i graduated with an associate’s degree in sociology with straight a's and as a member of the phi beta kappa honors society. the day i walked on stage to receive my degree was beautiful, yet i was filled with mixed emotions. i felt angry that my academic, emotional, and material needs as a high school student were not met. i could not stop thinking that if i’d had access to the services in high school that i received in college my future might have been very different. i might have attended university on scholarships. i might not have felt so trapped. i might still be singing. i had the sickening realization that my potential to be a great student in an honor society would probably have been recognized in high school if i was not also disadvantaged. as rosenthal and jacobson (1968) found in their classic research project 50 years ago, published with the title pygmalion in the classroom: teacher expectations and pupils’ intellectual development, my teachers might have invested more time with me if i had been seen as a promising student, not a poor one. they might have gladly given accommodations and been more compassionate. i might not have been overlooked and secluded. my story shows the depressing reality of the social injustices that profoundly affected my educational experiences. my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was not guaranteed because i was poor. i felt perceived as the kid you did not want to waste time on because “i probably wasn't going anywhere in life.” i lived with tremendous psychological pain, but i thought, “i'm going to show this school and the rest of the world that your weaknesses are what makes you strong.” so, i looked to the future, took a deep breath, made a leap of faith, and tasted the sweet freedom i had been longing for. children are the future. how they are treated in school is paramount not only to their mental, physical, and emotional growth, but also to community health and to our collective well-being as a nation. professor howard, in recognizing that “a society will only be as prosperous as its young” (2018, para. 16), names three specific things that educators, policymakers, and communities need to do, together, in order to better address the needs of our society’s most vulnerable children: (1) acknowledge the complicated challenges faced by increasing numbers of young people today and reject simplistic responses to the deep levels of inequality, poverty, racism, and sexism in our society that they are trying to navigate; (2) build partnerships across many fields, not just within education, to create solutions for complex educational problems (e.g., public policy, law, medicine, social welfare, and mental health); and last, but certainly not least, (3) “develop the moral conviction to support our vulnerable youth” (para. 15). with moral conviction, we can make the changes we want to see. we can choose to make a difference. we have a responsibility to do so. 0bmy journey through injustice kaitlyn justice allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author kaitlyn justice holds an associate of arts and transfer degree from moorpark college. she currently serves as a respite care provider for families with children who have autism. her background in working with children who have experienced trauma—for example, youths who crossed the mexico-u.s. border on their own, foster children, and children with disabilities—demonstrates her commitment as a social justice worker for children. kaitlyn is a member of the phi beta kappa honors society. she credits the accessibility coordination center & educational support services (access) program at moorpark college for her academic success and for her passion to be of service to children in need. she plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology or family counseling, with longer-term aspirations for graduate school. references disabilities, opportunities, internetworking, and technology (do-it). (2017). what is the difference between an iep and a 504 plan? university of washington. retrieved from https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-difference-between-iep-and-504-plan howard, t. c. (2018). we are failing our most vulnerable children. education week, 37(36), 22-23. retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/06/20/we-are-failing-our-most-vulnerablechildren.html rosenthal, r. and jacobson, l. (1968). pygmalion in the classroom: teacher expectations and pupils’ intellectual development. new york: holt, rinehart & winston. https://www.washington.edu/doit/what-difference-between-iep-and-504-plan https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/06/20/we-are-failing-our-most-vulnerable-children.html https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/06/20/we-are-failing-our-most-vulnerable-children.html my journey through injustice about the author references microsoft word 352-99z_article text-1411-2-11-20180919-1.docx volume  2,  issue  1   2018   allies  for  education  2018,  1,  2   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     community  care  and  concern:  moving  outside   school  to  build  connections     larisa  callaway-­‐cole   lecturer,  early  childhood  studies   csu  channel  islands     with   valeria  huerta   blanca  ramirez   karina  ramirez   ariana  seyssel   brooke  shaffer   emily  wilcox     students,  early  childhood  studies   csu  channel  islands   as  an  early  childhood  studies  lecturer,  i  strive  to  help  my  students  connect  theory  to  practice  and   engage  deeply  in  their  learning  with  children  and  families.  in  my  family  and  community  engagement   course  we  spend  much  of  our  semester  thinking  about  what  it  means  to  live  in  relationship  with  young   children,  their  families,  and  our  communities.  we  are  reconceptualizing  some  of  the  traditional  ideas   about  school  and  family  partnerships  as  existing  solely  in  the  school  or  classroom.  we  know  that  many   families  work,  making  it  impossible  to  be  at  school  during  the  day.  we  know  that  for  some  families   missing  work  means  losing  income  and  therefore  the  ability  to  provide  for  their  families.  yet,  still,  there   is  an  outlandish  notion  that  families  must  be  at  school,  participating  and  physically  present  for  family   engagement  to  happen.  instead,  students  in  my  class  spend  time  in  dialogue  considering  the  ways  in   which  family  and  community  engagement  is  often  happening  outside  of  the  school  community.  we  also   spend  time  thinking  about  ways  in  which  teachers  and  schools  can  engage  families  through  meaningful,   culturally  relevant  and  context  specific  experiences.  these  thoughts  come  together  to  form  community   based  action  plans  that  are  developed  in  collaboration  among  early  childhood  studies  students,  families,   directors,  teachers,  and  children.     one  of  the  most  transformative  experiences  i’ve  engaged  my  students  in  is  participation  at  the  local   micop  (mixteco  indígena  community  organizing  project)  meetings.  every  month  i  attend  the  meeting   community  care  and  concern:  moving  outside  school  to  build   connections   larisa  callaway-­‐cole   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     with  my  students.  we  work  as  volunteers,  helping  to  bag  and  distribute  groceries  to  families  but  also  as   facilitators  of  children’s  activities  to  engage  children  and  support  their  families  in  attending  the  meeting.   in  the  past  three  semesters,  i’ve  become  familiar  with  the  community  organizers  working  for  micop  and   they’ve  come  to  know  me  by  the  hearty  number  of  students  i  bring  and  my  “bag  of  tricks”  filled  with   toys  and  activities  to  help  engage  children  while  their  families  are  in  meetings.  we’ve  evolved  from   hours-­‐long  duck,  duck,  goose  games  when  we  didn’t  know  what  materials  we  could  use,  to  now   multiple  stations  set  for  children  to  work  and  play.  there  are  several  intentions  in  our  attendance,  from   students  learning  about  local  community  based  organizations  (cbos),  to  witnessing  collaborative  and   inspiring  community  organizing.  but  the  biggest  intention  is  for  students  to  engage  with  children  and   families  in  a  context  that  is  familiar  to  those  children  and  families,  but  possibly  unfamiliar  to  the   students.  it  is  often  unfamiliar  to  the  students  because  their  only  experience  working  with  families  thus   far  is  within  the  walls  of  their  classrooms.  but  so  much  lives  outside  the  walls  of  our  classrooms,   including  the  stories  and  experiences  of  our  families.     i’ve  asked  students  this  semester  to  particularly  reflect  and  describe  the  impact  of  attending  the  micop   meeting  on  their  developing  teacher  identity.  following  are  stories  of  my  students,  who  have  deepened   their  understandings  of  family  and  brought  meaning  to  their  work  as  emerging  educators.     reflecting  on  the  use  of  home  language,  karina  describes  her  connection  of  course  content  to   community  experiences  and  conversations.   something  that  was  very  interesting  to  me  was  how  these  families  speak  more  than  one   language.  i  heard  various  families  bouncing  from  one  language  to  another,  usually  between   spanish  and  mixteco.  this  made  me  realize  how  important  it  is  to  value  all  the  languages   families  speak  to  create  a  positive  environment  with  families  and  their  children.  this  reminded   me  of  my  class  facilitation  and  critical  race  theory.  in  a  school     setting  it  is  important  to   recognize  all  the  languages  a  family  speaks  and  their  preferred  language  to  increase  family   engagement.  many  individuals  might  see  these  families’  language  as  a  deficit  since  they  do  not   speak  english.  however,  after  taking  [this  course],  i  see  their  language  as  a  strength  of  these   families  and  how  it  brings  rich  culture  into  our  community.   in  an  experience  that  demonstrated  the  selflessness  of  the  children  she  engaged  with,  brooke  reflects   on  her  experiences  working  with  a  group  of  children. i  met  a  little  boy  who  introduced  me  to  three  of  his  cousins  and  two  friends  from  school.  while   working  with  the  beads,  his  cousin  asked  him  if  she  could  make  a  bead  string.  he  acted  as  a   translator  since  she  didn’t  seem  to  speak  much  english,  and  he  then  asked  me  if  i  could  get  his   cousin  some  beads.  i  put  a  handful  between  them  and  about  five  other  kids  who  were  playing   with  the  beads  and  they  proceeded  to  string  them  in  silence  for  a  few  minutes.  soon  he  noticed   his  cousin  start  to  get  frustrated  because  she  couldn’t  find  any  of  the  beads  she  wanted.  she   was  looking  for  the  same  green  and  yellow  beads  that  the  boy  was  using.  when  he  found  this   out  he  slid  all  but  four  beads  off  his  string  and  gave  them  to  her.  after  she  finished  stringing   them  she  ran  off  to  show  her  mom  and  i  told  the  boy  that  he  was  such  a  sweet  cousin  for   sharing  with  her.  he  then  looked  at  me  and  said,  “she  wanted  one  like  mine  so  i  gave  her  more   beads  so  she  could  have  the  better  one.”  that  statement  really  struck  me.  in  my  house,  i   community  care  and  concern:  moving  outside  school  to  build   connections   larisa  callaway-­‐cole   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     wouldn’t  do  that  for  my  siblings,  let  alone  cousins–i  have  to  pay  my  brother  every  time  i  need   him  to  feed  my  dog–so  i  can’t  even  imagine  the  selflessness  imbedded  into  the  mixtec   community. noticing  how  children  and  families  were  interacting  with  one  another,  blanca  builds  connections  around   her  formative  experiences  as  a  developing  educator. i  saw  young  children  carrying  their  younger  siblings  and  i  saw  families  laughing  and  having   conversations,  but  most  importantly  i  saw  how  secure  and  safe  they  felt.  when  i  become  a   teacher,  i  hope  to  set  up  events,  invite  the  families,  and  get  to  know  one  another  and  have   communication.  for  my  future  classroom,  i  hope  to  inspire  my  students,  allow  them  to  have  big   dreams,  support  them  and  believe  in  them.  my  past  experiences,  my  service  work,  and  my   college  work  have  shaped  me  into  the  teacher  i  want  to  be  and  i  am  glad  to  pursue  a  future  in   teaching  children. while  drawing  with  children,  ariana  noticed  the  dynamics  in  relationships  among  siblings  at  the   meeting. the  thing  that  really  sticks  out  to  me  from  our  time  with  the  children  were  their  relationships.   older  sisters  acted  more  like  second  mothers  to  their  younger  siblings.  it  really  struck  something   for  me,  an  only  child,  to  see  the  care  the  girls  had  for  their  sisters.  the  girls  were  young,  but  they   took  their  role  of  older  sister  very  seriously  and  did  not  engage  in  any  of  the  activities  we   facilitated.  i  had  to  ask  myself  if  this  was  cultural:  were  the  girls  their  mother’s  helpers  from  an   early  age  and  are  they  ‘supposed  to’  watch  over  their  younger  siblings?  one  girl  came  up  to  me   and  asked  if  her  sister  could  draw.  i  knelt  and  asked  the  little  girl  what  color  paper  she  wanted;   she  wouldn’t  look  at  me  but  looked  to  her  sister  and  whispered  something.  the  older  girl  told   me  blue  and  i  handed  over  the  paper.  the  older  girl  shuffled  her  sister  over  to  the  table  to  sit   down  and  stood  behind  her  the  whole  time.  occasionally  the  older  girl  would  lean  over  and  look   at  the  drawing,  but  she  never  sat  down  to  draw  herself.  the  whole  exchange  felt  very  protective   and  i  saw  several  other  girls  watching  their  younger  brothers  and  sisters. making  deep  connections  to  how  we  conceptualize  family  and  their  role  in  children’s  schooling,  valeria   discusses  her  interactions  with  one  child  and  his  family  member. unfortunately,  one  little  boy  hurt  his  head  on  a  pole  while  we  were  playing.  this  young  boy   [spoke]  spanish  so  i  was  able  to  communicate  with  him.  i  asked  him  where  his  mother  was  so  i   could  take  him  to  her.  the  young  boy  looked  at  me  in  the  eye  and  said  “my  mom  did  not  come.   she  is  working,  but  i  came  with  my  godmother.”  he  then  led  me  to  his  godmother  and  i  saw  that   the  godmother  was  concerned  and  hugged  him  as  if  he  was  her  child.  at  this  moment,  i  realized   that  even  though  the  mother  was  not  there  due  to  her  work,  the  young  boy  had  the  support   from  extended  family.  as  a  future  teacher,  there  might  be  times  when  parents  do  not  show  up   to  an  event,  but  it  does  not  mean  that  they  do  not  care.  it  is  because  of  other  circumstances   that  they  are  not  able  to  make  it.  moments  like  these  show  that  as  much  as  parents  want  to   show  up  to  important  events,  there  are  times  where  they  just  won’t  be  able  to  due  to  other   circumstances.     community  care  and  concern:  moving  outside  school  to  build   connections   larisa  callaway-­‐cole   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     in  noticing  the  children’s  engagement  with  one  another,  emily  reflects  on  considering  the  strengths  of   families  and  children  in  planning  for  her  future  classroom.     being  able  to  spend  time  with  and  hear  the  children  talk  about  their  families  was  special.  many   of  the  children  had  multiple  siblings  and  cousins  with  them,  and  they  were  proud  of  that.  many   of  them  were  eager  to  help  their  siblings  and  care  for  them  when  the  parents  were  at  the   workshops.  as  i  reflect  on  this  and  how  it  has  impacted  my  developing  teacher  identity,  it  makes   me  think  about  how  my  background  is  completely  different.  i  think  that  recognizing  how  your   own  background  differs  from  your  students  is  crucial  when  taking  steps  toward  uncovering   cultural  norms  and  practices  to  be  effective  in  your  collaboration  with  families.  i  noticed  that  the   children  in  the  mixtec  community  assume  high  levels  of  responsibility  for  their  age  because  it  is   expected  of  them  and  it  is  a  part  of  their  culture.  if  i  were  working  with  these  children  in  my   classroom,  i  think  it  would  be  apparent  that  some  of  the  strengths  they  may  gain  from  this  type   of  responsibility  would  include:  patience,  discipline,  leadership,  and  communication  skills.   identifying  the  strengths  that  are  gained  from  children’s  cultural  background  and  upbringing  is   something  that  i  would  like  to  continue  to  develop  as  i  assume  a  teaching  role.  i  want  to  develop   into  a  teacher  who  goes  beyond  surface  level  cultural  norms  and  discovers  the  deepest  level  of   students’  culture  to  be  able  to  create  more  meaningful  learning  experiences  that  incorporate   family  values.   i  share  these  stories  to  convey  the  deep  importance  for  all  teachers—whether  they  be  pre-­‐service   teacher  education  students,  teachers  of  adult  learners,  or  the  teachers  of  our  children  themselves—to   engage  deeply  with  their  communities.  this  engagement  lets  us  see  the  children  and  families  in  our   community  in  a  different,  and  i  argue,  more  meaningful  way.  for  me  and  my  students  it  is  an   opportunity  to  build  connections  and  relationships.  these  connections  and  relationships  are  built   amongst  our  community  organizations,  our  classroom  of  learners,  and  most  importantly  with  the   children  and  families.  in  order  to  better  know  one  another,  sometimes  we  need  to  move  outside  the   classroom.   about  the  authors   larisa  callaway-­‐cole  is  a  lecturer  in  early  childhood  studies  at  csu  channel  islands.  she  is  completing   her  ed.d.  in  educational  leadership  through  codel,  ci’s  joint  doctoral  program  with  fresno  state   university.  larisa  is  interested  in  the  importance  of  family  in  young  children’s  lives,  and  her  dissertation   investigates  families’  love  as  transformational  and  resistant  in  our  current  sociopolitical  climate.     valeria  huerta  is  a  student  at  csu  channel  islands  and  she  is  completing  her  undergraduate  degree  in   early  childhood  studies.  valeria  is  interested  in  working  with  younger  children  as  she  has  done  a  lot  of   service  learning  with  preschool  children.  she  eventually  wants  to  be  a  preschool  teacher.   blanca  ramirez  is  an  early  childhood  studies  major  at  csu  channel  islands,  graduating  may  2019.  she  is   currently  working  in  an  infants  and  toddlers  classroom  and  hopes  to  pursue  her  career  in  elementary   education.  blanca  loves  helping  her  community  and  has  a  goal  of  working  with  spanish  speaking  families   to  provide  more  resources  and  services.   community  care  and  concern:  moving  outside  school  to  build   connections   larisa  callaway-­‐cole   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     karina  ramirez  is  a  recent  graduate  of  the  early  childhood  studies  program  at  csu  channel  islands.   karina  recently  welcomed  her  own  child  into  the  world.  karina  is  interested  in  pursuing  graduate   studies.     ariana  seyssel  is  completing  her  bachelor’s  degree  in  early  childhood  studies  at  csu  channel  islands  and   plans  on  continuing  her  education  as  an  education  specialist.  she  believes  in  the  importance  of  building   relationships  with  families  and  strives  to  create  an  inclusive  classroom  for  students  of  all  abilities.   brooke  shaffer  is  a  student  at  csu  channel  islands,  and  she  is  working  on  completing  her  bachelor’s   degree  in  early  childhood  studies.  brooke  is  interested  in  working  with  children  with  special  needs  and   wants  to  incorporate  learning  stories  into  her  special  education  classroom.   emily  wilcox  is  a  graduating  senior  at  csu  channel  islands  in  the  early  childhood  studies  program.  she   has  a  great  passion  for  supporting  and  nurturing  young  children  and  their  desire  to  discover  and  learn   about  the  world.  in  the  future,  she  desires  to  open  an  in-­‐home  childcare  center  to  serve  families  within   her  local  community.   0bsupporting student parents: local needs for early care and education volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education adria taha-resnick faculty, csu channel islands chair, ventura county planning council kaia tollefson professor of education csu channel islands joan karp professor emerita csu channel islands eight of nine student-parents interviewed at a local community college indicated that they planned to transfer to a four-year college after earning their associate's degree. all expressed interest in csu channel islands, but most said it was not a possibility for them because of a lack of childcare services. only one of the eight said she planned to attend csu channel islands. when asked what she planned to do about childcare, she said she had no idea. (karp, lugo, magaña, nieves, rodriguez & veloz, 2012) for the past several years, we (three educator-scholars with over 100 years of teaching, research, and administrative experience spanning infancy through higher education) have been studying the impact of high quality, affordable early care and education with the goal of bringing an early childhood center to our campus. while our focus has been on the lack of affordable childcare services at csu channel islands (csuci), the roots of the problem are much deeper, severely impacted by local, state, and federal policies and funding. the argument we will make in this paper is that the consequences emanating from this problem are so severe and so costly to individuals and to local, regional, and national economies, that its existence not only defies logic but flouts it. after examining resources allocated to affordable early care and education in ventura county and at our university, we have identified three major needs, described below. we offer this detailed perspective on early care and education in our region with the assumption that this snapshot will resonate in other communities across the nation. supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe need 1: early care and education spaces for young children according to the 2015 report of the local planning council of ventura county, 49,464 children from birth to five years of age live in our county (2015). over 23% of ventura county’s children live in poverty, but this overall percentage obscures the fact that child poverty rates in california are much higher for children of color and for children of single-mother families than for white, asian, and dual-parent families (bohn, danielson & thorman, 2017). over half of ventura county’s young children from moderate and high-income families are in child care and education programs for part or all of each day, but far fewer children from the lowest income and ethnic minority families attend preschool programs. in 2014, 37,074 of our county’s children from birth to five years of age were eligible for government subsidized child care, but of these, a mere 14% actually received services (local planning council of ventura county, 2015). in that same year, there were 8,904 children from birth to five living in poverty in ventura county, but only 1,246 of them (again, only 14%) were served by government subsidized programs (2015). a sizeable number of eligible children in california are missing out on the opportunity for early education. figure 1 shows how many eligible children in california are not being served in early childhood programs. it is striking to note that there are twice as many infants and toddlers compared to preschool children who are eligible and not served. figure 1 (melnick, meloy, gardner, wechsler, & maier, 2018, p. 26) this educational under-serving of ventura county’s poorest and youngest children is extraordinarily significant. so much is at stake for the rest of their lives, to them and to our society, consequent to what they learn and experience in their first five years. most of what they will learn throughout their lives is rooted in the earliest years (see figure 2), given that 85% of the core structures in children’s brains are already developed by the time most of them enter kindergarten at age five (national research council and institute of medicine, 2000). supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe figure 2 (nelson, cited in center on the developing child, 2007, #1) lack of early access to high quality care and education for our poorest children is one of the fundamental cracks in their lives that will widen, year by year, to become the achievement gap. by age three, children from middle and upper income families have vocabularies that are 66% larger than those from poor families (hart & risley, 1995). gross disparities in early literacies foreshadow the gaps we see in academic achievement and degree attainment patterns of later years the cost of child care as a percentage of family income is enormous for low income families, as can be seen in figure 3. for example, for a couple with one child and an income at 100% of the poverty level in ventura county, child care costs consume 52.3% of their income. a same-sized family having twice the income spends 26.1% on child care figure 3 (2017 state of the region download, 2017, p. 37) supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe since 2010, california has cut early learning programs’ budgets by $1,000,000,000, despite what is known about the importance of early care and education. these cuts have resulted in 110,000 lost spaces in early care and education programs for children in the state, 4,000 of which were lost in ventura county. 2014-2015 saw the first budget increase to early learning programs in california in 10 years, with an increase of $260,000,000 representing only one-fourth of the funding lost since 2010 (local planning council of ventura county, 2018). first 5 ventura county (2013) identifies lack of facilities first on a list of barriers to pre-k expansion in the region. need 2: access to postsecondary education for student parents early care and education for college-going student-parents is difficult to find and expensive. additional challenges for student-parents are finding options for care that match college schedules and gaining access to programs where state subsidies are available (gault, reichlin, reynolds & froehner, 2014). most centers operate on a typical 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule, which fails to serve the needs of working parents whose college courses are often taken during late afternoon and evening hours. an early care and education center on our campus would allow our university, the only public four-year university in ventura county, to better serve a population that is now substantially underserved. in 2015, our best efforts to ascertain the number of student-parents attending csuci (in the absence of an established mechanism for identifying them) resulted in an estimate of 300, or five percent of the campus’s student population at that time. this is one-third of the national average of student parents attending a four-year university (gault et al., 2014). hundreds of missing student parents at csu channel islands is a significant reality to consider, particularly given the likelihood that they are parents with very low incomes for whom access to education would make a significant difference in their own lives, and in the lives of their children. indeed, 48% of students participating in a family services needs assessment conducted at our university indicated that their income was at or below the federal poverty level (karp et al., 2012). nationwide, women of color in postsecondary education are more likely than other college students to have dependent children. of these females in college, 47% of african americans, 39.4% of native americans, and 31.6% of latinas are mothers. further, student parents of color have lower incomes than white student parents. nearly 71% of black student parents and 68% of hispanic student parents live at or below 200 percent of the poverty level, compared with 49% of white student parents (gault, reichlin & roman, 2014). as stated earlier, for those in the lowest income levels, access to education can change not only their life circumstances but also those of the future generations of their families. however, we must remember that a university’s responsibilities to its student parents extend beyond the question of entry-level access. of those individuals who do make it to college, completion is less likely than for non-parents. as nelson, froehner & gault (2013) found, “being a parent substantially increases the likelihood of leaving college with no degree, with 53% of parents vs. 31% of non-parents having left with no degree after six years” (p. 1). university leaders must recognize that student parents are a unique population whose challenges are significant and in addition to those commonly experienced by students without children. support services for this population makes a difference. findings from a study at monroe community college (mcc) in new york state point to the positive impact of campus-provided child care for student parents (cited in noll, reichlin, & gault, 2017): http://www.first5ventura.org/ supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe mcc students with children under the age of six who used the campus child care center were more likely to return to school the following year than their counterparts who did not use the child care center (68 percent, compared with 51 percent). parents who used child care were also nearly three times more likely to graduate or go on to pursue a b.a. within 3 years of enrollment (41 percent, compared with only 15 percent). (p. 13) need 3: strengthen academic programs and professional development for the ece workforce laboratory learning opportunities in early childhood education are as essential to students in education as science labs are to students in stem disciplines. however, despite having an early childhood studies major with over 400 students enrolled, csu channel islands does not have an early care and education center. student observers and student teachers are placed throughout the county in a variety of centers. finding a sufficient number of field sites for these students is a continuing challenge for us, as it typically is for early childhood programs across the nation (naeyc, 2012). in addition to providing more student teaching placements for early childhood studies, an on-campus children’s center would provide meaningful instructional opportunities for students in many disciplines (e.g., education, nursing, psychology, sociology, visual and performing arts) that are not possible in a university classroom. a learning lab of this kind creates opportunities for students in these many fields to: • integrate theory, research, and practice while learning and practicing the latest developments in the field; • develop skills in observation, assessment, teaching and research, which is a particularly relevant problem given that students who have had the opportunity to have clinically-based preparation are more successful teachers (naeyc, 2012); and • learn and practice collaboration skills with the center’s administrators, teachers, and parents. early care and education centers on college campuses serve significant needs at multiple levels—serving young children, student parents, college faculty and students in many disciplines, and practitioners in the early childhood workforce. conclusion these three major needs are interconnected—lack of spaces for early education and care, lack of funding, and lack of facilities to prepare early childhood educators. together, they demonstrate a failure of our collective responsibility to the youngest, most vulnerable members of our society, despite heroic efforts by professionals in the field to do their essential work with inadequate public support and resources. this failure must be corrected and can be, through purposeful coalition building, creative thinking about needs, resources, and systems, and intentional, collaborative actions across institutions and organizations in our region. csu channel islands is doing incredibly important work in our region and is recognized as being the 18th most effective university in the nation for improving social mobility of low income students (csu channel islands news center, 2017). extending this work to incorporate the needs of student parents is a logical and necessary next step. supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the authors adria taha-resnick is faculty at california state university, channel islands. she has 25 years of experience in early care and education working as a teacher, administrator, and trainer and currently teaches future teachers. in addition to teaching, adria is the vice president for the california association for the education of young children, and chair of the ventura county local planning council. her interests include quality initiatives and building leadership in early care and education. kaia tollefson, ph.d., is a professor of education at california state university, channel islands. dr. tollefson has 35 years of experience as an educator and administrator at p-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels of schooling. she has authored a number of articles and two books, cultivating the learner-centered classroom and volatile knowing: parents, teachers, and the censored story of accountability in america's public schools, all of which seek to promote educational equity and excellence of opportunity for all students. current research interests include social justice in education, leadership, and critical friends groups as a professional development approach for faculty, staff, and administrators in higher education. joan m. karp, ph.d., is professor emerita at california state university, channel islands. after completing over 40 years as a teacher and professor of special education, dr. karp concluded her work at california state university, channel islands as director of the school of education. prior to her work at csuci, she was a teacher, researcher, and grant director at university of minnesota duluth, university of washington, university of california santa barbara and rhode island college. her research examined ways to prepare interdisciplinary educators and educators with disabilities for a variety of leadership roles in education. in addition, she studied organizational change and the integration of young children with disabilities into general education. references 2017 state of the region download. (2017). retrieved from http://civicalliance.org/2017-state-of-theregion-download/?eid=azwyub7cb25v2m6oizz9tdc0xfa5d3azabgdedtraos%3d bohn, s., danielson, c. and thorman, t. (2017, oct). child poverty in california. public policy institute of california. retrieved from http://www.ppic.org/publication/child-poverty-in-california/ center on the developing child (2007). the science of early childhood development (inbrief). retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-science-of-ecd/ csu channel islands news center. (2017). csuci named a top university for helping low income students improve their circumstances. retrieved from https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/2017-socialmobility.htm first 5 ventura county. (2013, dec). 2013 state of the county, first 5 ventura county. 4th annual summit of the business & community leaders alliance of ventura county, ventura, ca. gault, b., reichlin, l., reynolds, e., & froehner, m. (2014, nov). campus child care declining even as growing numbers of parents attend college. washington, dc: institute for women’s policy research. retrieved from https://iwpr.org/publications/campus-child-care-declining-even-as-growing-numbers-ofparents-attend-college/ http://civicalliance.org/2017-state-of-the-region-download/?eid=azwyub7cb25v2m6oizz9tdc0xfa5d3azabgdedtraos%3d http://civicalliance.org/2017-state-of-the-region-download/?eid=azwyub7cb25v2m6oizz9tdc0xfa5d3azabgdedtraos%3d http://www.ppic.org/publication/child-poverty-in-california/ https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-science-of-ecd/ https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/2017-social-mobility.htm https://www.csuci.edu/news/releases/2017-social-mobility.htm https://iwpr.org/publications/campus-child-care-declining-even-as-growing-numbers-of-parents-attend-college/ https://iwpr.org/publications/campus-child-care-declining-even-as-growing-numbers-of-parents-attend-college/ supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe gault, b., reichlin, l., román, s. (2014, april). college affordability for low-income adults: improving returns on investment for families and society. washington, dc: institute for women’s policy research. retrieved from https://iwpr.org/publications/college-affordability-for-low-income-adults-improvingreturns-on-investment-for-families-and-society/. hart, b. and risley, t.r. (1995). meaningful differences in the everyday experiences of young children. baltimore, md: brooks publishing co. karp, j., lugo, j., magaña, p., nieves, r., rodriguez, j. & veloz, l. (2012). family services needs assessment. california state university channel islands: camarillo, ca. retrieved from http://www.csuci.edu/caregivers/documents/family-services-needs-assessment-final-report-v11.pdf local planning council of ventura county. (2018, april). board of supervisors presentation. ventura, ca: ventura office of education. retrieved from http://www.venturalpc.org/portals/0/files/council/04172018%20powerpoint%20for%20lpc%20bos%2 0presentation.pdf local planning council of ventura county. (2015, dec). child care needs assessment. ventura, ca: ventura office of education. retrieved from http://www.venturalpc.org/portals/0/files/reports/needsassessment_4_webposting.pdf melnick, h., meloy, b., gardner, m., wechsler, m., & maier, a. (2018, jan.). building an early learning system that works: next steps for california. palo alto, ca: learning policy institute. retrieved from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/productfiles/building_early_learning_system_works_ca_report.pdf national association for the education of young children (naeyc). (2012). standards for initial and advanced early childhood professional preparation programs. washington, dc. national research council and institute of medicine. (2000). from neurons to neighborhoods: the science of early childhood development. washington, d.c.: national academy press. nelson, b., froehner, m., & gault, b. (2013, mar). college students with children are common and face many challenges in completing higher education. washington, dc: institute for women’s policy research. retrieved from https://iwpr.org/publications/college-students-with-children-are-commonand-face-many-challenges-in-completing-higher-education-summary/ noll, e., reichlin, l. & gault, b. (2017, jan.). college students with children: national and regional profiles. washington, d.c.: institute for women’s policy research accessed at 0-https://iwpr.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/02/c451-5.pdf https://iwpr.org/publications/college-affordability-for-low-income-adults-improving-returns-on-investment-for-families-and-society/ https://iwpr.org/publications/college-affordability-for-low-income-adults-improving-returns-on-investment-for-families-and-society/ http://www.csuci.edu/caregivers/documents/family-services-needs-assessment-final-report-v11.pdf http://www.venturalpc.org/portals/0/files/council/04172018%20powerpoint%20for%20lpc%20bos%20presentation.pdf http://www.venturalpc.org/portals/0/files/council/04172018%20powerpoint%20for%20lpc%20bos%20presentation.pdf http://www.venturalpc.org/portals/0/files/reports/needsassessment_4_webposting.pdf http://www.venturalpc.org/portals/0/files/reports/needsassessment_4_webposting.pdf https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/building_early_learning_system_works_ca_report.pdf https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/building_early_learning_system_works_ca_report.pdf https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/building_early_learning_system_works_ca_report.pdf https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/building_early_learning_system_works_ca_report.pdf https://iwpr.org/publications/college-students-with-children-are-common-and-face-many-challenges-in-completing-higher-education-summary/ https://iwpr.org/publications/college-students-with-children-are-common-and-face-many-challenges-in-completing-higher-education-summary/ https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/c451-5.pdf https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/c451-5.pdf supporting student parents: local needs for early care and education about the authors references making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum volume 2, issue 2 2019 allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum jolan smith assistant professor in advanced studies in education and counseling csu long beach charlie is a 13-year-old african american male in the 8th grade who receives special education services as a student with autism and intellectual disability. he was first diagnosed with developmental delay at the age of 3 and began early intervention services through the local district. he was diagnosed with autism at age 6 during his kindergarten year, and later diagnosed with an intellectual disability in the 3rd grade at age 9. charlie communicates mostly through picture exchange communication system (pecs), a method of communicating where the student chooses the appropriate picture to give to a conversation partner as a form of requesting or informing (e.g., student hands teacher the pizza picture to say “i want pizza”). he also communicates using facial expressions, and gestures (e.g., pointing). charlie’s verbal communication isn’t easily understood by strangers, but he is able to express his desires to family members, classroom staff, and classmates. he receives his instruction in a special day class for students with extensive support needs and works on an alternate curriculum that focuses on adaptive life skills, functional math, reading, and communication skills. charlie has a 3-year review coming up to determine if he still qualifies for special education services, and if so, what services and types of supports will be necessary to support his educational needs. additionally, charlie is due for an individualized transition plan (itp) to identify his goals for life after high school. charlie’s special education teacher, ms. hernandez, wants to do her part to provide an accurate report of charlie’s skills, preferences, and needs. with this purpose in mind, what things should ms. hernandez be sure to consider? who should ms. hernandez consult or work with to achieve the goal? how should she proceed in order to ensure an equitable and just assessment process that focuses on charlie’s growth? students on alternate curriculum for students like charlie with extensive support needs, who cannot access the common core standards without significant modifications, an alternate curriculum teaches functional academics, social skills, life skills, and vocational skills in the classroom and other environments where the skills are necessary (e.g., community-based instruction). functional academics include reading and math skills that will assist a making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum jolan smith allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe person with disabilities in their lifelong functioning, such as reading basic community signs (e.g., stop, caution, etc.) or counting objects (e.g., counting up to 100). students on alternate curriculum require extensive support in academic and adaptive skills instruction, such as repeated, explicit instruction, lessons and tasks broken down into smaller steps, and opportunities to practice the skills in the real contexts and environments where they will be needed. determination of who is placed on an alternate curriculum is made by the individualized education program (iep) team. charlie’s team decided alternate curriculum would be best due to his need to gain adaptive skills such as taking care of himself (e.g., choosing and dressing in appropriate clothing), learning how to perform simple math (e.g., count 20 items), and gaining functional communication (e.g., using pecs to order in a restaurant). although charlie’s particular needs may differ from those of another student with disabilities, all students with disabilities are covered under every student succeeds act (essa, 2015). their progress must be monitored; they must have rigorous standards; they must be included in annual testing; their performance must be included in school accountability reports. this is how the law ensures student success. but what does this mean for ms. hernandez? how is she supposed to monitor charlie’s progress on the alternate curriculum? how can she be sure her students show progress on annual state tests? how can she ensure that charlie’s individual growth and skill mastery is highlighted whether he makes gains on state tests or not? assessment that promotes student growth ms. hernandez knows that charlie has made great gains this year, but she is afraid that his performance on annual tests might not reveal his current skill set. in 6th grade, charlie earned a 649 on his english language arts (ela) california alternate assessment score report, placing him at level 2 with foundational understanding of core concepts. in 7th grade, charlie’s score improved over 100 points, with him earning a score of 757 in ela. however, this score still places charlie at level 2, despite his tremendous growth. what can ms. hernandez do to highlight charlie’s growth, when state tests show that he has not advanced his level of understanding of the core concepts? through ongoing assessment that is embedded in daily instruction, ms. hernandez can begin to collect an array of information and data to highlight charlie’s individual growth over the year. continuous embedded assessment of skills allows the teacher to capture the often small, subtle changes in learning and skills development that occur for students on alternate curriculum. assessment tools used to measure individual student growth include both formal and informal assessment measures. formal measures that are criterion-referenced (e.g., brigance comprehensive inventory of basic skills) are useful for determining student performance on particular skills, and can help guide instruction by indicating which skills a student has yet to master. for example, ms. hernandez administered brigance cibs as part of several assessments given to charlie for his upcoming triennial report. through the assessment, she learned that charlie can use the calculator to compute two 3-digit numbers when doing addition or subtraction (321 + 352 = 673), but he could not correctly compute 3 times 5 with the same calculator (3 x 5 = 15). this let ms. hernandez know that she could likely move on to multiplication, explicitly teaching charlie how to locate the multiplication symbol not only on his calculator, but with any available calculator charlie may use (e.g., smart phone calculator). https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/altassessment.asp making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum jolan smith allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe another formal assessment measure ms. hernandez would want to consider is a transition assessment for charlie’s individualized transition plan, or itp. for students with minimal verbal language and limited intellectual functioning, pictorial or picture assessments can help identify student interests. the picture interest career survey (pics) is such an assessment. on this survey, students are shown a field of three pictures depicting different careers or professions. results from the assessment will indicate different occupational clusters where the student showed interest. ms. hernandez can also use assessment tools that are more informal, but still closely aligned to the alternate curriculum. informal tools include ecological inventories, curriculum-based assessments, student portfolios, teacher-made tests, and observations. for instance, ms. hernandez may want to share charlie’s ela portfolio, where he created a word tree of new vocabulary learned in ela class. she could also graph the results from his curriculum-based assessments that he takes each week in the unique learning system (uls), the alternate curriculum his district has chosen to use for students with extensive support needs. teacher made-tests can also capture valuable assessment data because they are sensitive to subtle student growth or small changes in student performance. this is particularly true when the teacher conducts a task analysis where a larger task is broken into smaller discrete steps for instruction. a sample task analysis might require seven steps to washing hands: turn on water, wet hands, add soap, rub hands (front and back), rinse hands, turn off water, dry hands. the teacher then provides direct instruction and assesses each step of the task. observations are another effective assessment tool to use when working with students on an alternate curriculum. instead of placing a demand task on a student in a contrived, non-natural context or situation, observations are a natural, authentic way to look for evidence of student learning. if charlie is learning money value, ms. hernandez can assess his ability to choose the $5 bill in the classroom, but a more natural setting for the assessment of this skill would be observing during community-based instruction if charlie hands over the $5 bill to the cashier instead of handing over the $1 bill. lastly, ms. hernandez might want to conduct an ecological inventory, interviewing important people in the charlie’s life and observing his performance in various contexts (e.g., home, school, community, leisure, etc.), to determine the skills charlie will need for future life functioning. through knowledge of the different tools of assessment and ongoing, embedded monitoring of student progress, ms. hernandez can focus on formative assessment that is focused on charlie’s individual growth and can help guide instruction that is aligned to a standards-based curriculum. now that ms. hernandez has gathered results from informal tests and other alternative assessments, she wants to make sure her assessment is complete. she has charlie’s formal standardized results from prior annual state tests; she has this year’s data on curriculum-based assessments; she has data sheets completed by her instructional aides on the amount of support they provide to charlie on a daily basis; she has a student portfolio. but is this enough data? is ms. hernandez accomplishing her goal of providing an equitable assessment process for charlie? how can she get charlie the extensive supports he needs to ensure his continued growth and success? assessment that promotes equity in order for assessment to be equitable, one must start with a working definition of equity. equity is a societal value or belief whereby a person receives what he needs in order to bring out his full potential. if assessment is to bring out someone’s full potential, it should be comprehensive, covering multiple making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum jolan smith allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe content or skills areas from multiple sources. for charlie’s comprehensive assessment, ms. hernandez should be prepared to report on charlie’s functional academics, social-emotional skills, independent living skills, vocational skills, and community/leisure skills. additional assessment reports from the school psychologist, licensed speech therapist, school nurse, and adapted physical education will complete the comprehensive assessment. ms. hernandez will also want to include the family’s perspective in a comprehensive, equitable assessment. charlie lives with his mother, grandmother, and two other siblings, an older sister who serves as a third caregiver behind his mother and grandmother, and his young brother who helps charlie with his homework. for all students in special education, we must actively seek parental engagement and input on a child's individualized educational program. this mandate becomes that much more important for students who will require extensive supports throughout life. iep teams must collaborate with families to determine family goals and priorities, identify family values, strengths and resources, and learn about student functioning outside of the school setting (e.g., home, community), identifying which skills have been met, which skills should be prioritized, and where the skills are needed most. interviews with family members, other schooland community-based providers, and the students themselves, whenever possible, can yield valuable information about a student’s strengths and potential. as described previously, ecological inventories allow for careful mapping and matching of environments and needs, and collaboration with key team members to identify student strengths and skills needed to reach one’s full potential. besides ensuring a comprehensive assessment that covers different domains, gathers input from different informants, and draws on family and student strengths, interests, and priorities, ms. hernandez should also consider the accommodations and modifications necessary for charlie to perform best. students with extensive support needs may require test items to be read aloud, or an alternate response option if they are unable to write their response on a typical paper and pencil test. in an equitable assessment, the student gets the required accommodations and modifications to bring out his/her/their full potential, and the needs of english language learners (ells) and students with significant communication difficulties are considered. equitable assessment requires the teacher to accommodate a student by reading a passage to the student who is being assessed on reading comprehension, particularly when the student struggles with reading fluency. equitable assessment requires the job coach to use picture images to teach the step-by-step instructions to complete a vocational task. equitable assessment requires ell students to be assessed in their primary language, particularly when the student demonstrates greater understanding in their primary language. lastly, equitable assessment for students with significant communication needs requires individualization of the student’s assessment to allow for varied response types, including verbal, gestural, or using some type of augmentative or alternative communication device (aac; e.g., picture exchange system, dynavox). through comprehensive, strengths-based assessment that honors the accommodations and modifications necessary for a student with extensive support needs to be successful, schools can ensure equitable assessments for students learning on an alternate curriculum. ms. hernandez works with charlie’s mother and grandmother to learn about charlie’s activities at home and in the community. through her interviews with the family, ms. hernandez learns a great deal about charlie including his interest in music (his younger brother teaches him current popular tunes on the keyboard in the home), and his responsibilities at home and at church (charlie makes the family’s dinner making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum jolan smith allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe plates at home, and serves food after church in the pantry once a month). results from the pics transition assessment revealed a high interest in the food service industry, which is supported by the information ms. hernandez learned from her interview with charlie’s family, and through ms. hernandez’s data sheets from independent living instruction. charlie does quite well on his food preparation task analysis sheets where he usually completes 8 or more of the 10 steps without assistance from staff. with multiple sources of data confirming the same results, ms. hernandez can be assured that her assessment of charlie will identify his strengths, preferences, interests, and needs. assessment that promotes justice the final consideration ms. hernandez should think about for charlie’s equitable assessment centers around the concept of justice. promoting justice in assessment involves an adherence to principles and values that align with best practices for working with students with disabilities and their families. these best practices include fair, respectful, and just treatment of students throughout the assessment and evaluation process. several entities exist to provide ethical and professional guidance on assessing students in fair and just ways. organizations such as the national association of school psychologists (nasp; www.nasponline.org), the american psychological association (apa; www.apa.org), the american speech-language-hearing association (asha; www.asha.org), and four other professional organizations collaborated to create the code of fair testing practices (www.apa.org/science/programs/testing/fair-testing.pdf) to provide ethical guidance on the fair and valid use of comprehensive assessment practices, including who is authorized to administer and interpret test scores, informing parents and students about the purposes of assessment, and other best practices. another source of guidance on providing just assessment to students with disabilities are the high leverage practices (hlps) identified by the council of exceptional children (cec; https://www.cec.sped.org) and the ceedar center (collaboration for effective educator development, accountability and reform, www.ceedar.education.ufl.edu; mcleskey et al., 2017). the 22 hlps identify practices of effective special education teachers, and cover four main areas: collaboration, instruction, social/emotional/behavioral, and assessment. three of the 22 hlps address assessment, highlighting aspects of comprehensive assessments for students with disabilities, including ongoing monitoring, understanding student strengths, collaboration with families and other providers, and more. to learn more about the specific needs of students with significant communication needs, the national joint committee for the communication needs of persons with severe disabilities (njc; https://www.asha.org/njc), a group comprised of nine professional organizations, created the communication bill of rights to guide accommodations for the speech and communication needs of persons with severe disabilities. accommodations and recommendations for just assessment practices for students with severe disabilities include the use of dynamic assessments that assess student learning and accounts for the relationship between the student and the teacher, and ecological inventories as recommended earlier (brady et al., 2016). ms. hernandez displays a great deal of respect in all her interactions with charlie and his family. she is considerate of the family’s efforts and involvement and remains open to learning about charlie’s life outside of school. ms. hernandez is a member of several professional organizations dedicated to individuals with disabilities, and regularly attends professional conferences and workshops. she https://www.cec.sped.org/ https://www.asha.org/njc/ making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum jolan smith allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe continues to learn about ongoing progress monitoring, how to collect and analyze data, culturally responsive teaching, assistive technology and more. ms. hernandez realizes that her responsibility to charlie and all her students is to conduct ethical assessments that are respectful and fair. recommendations for the field as we push towards educational policy and practice that supports the inclusion of students with disabilities in school accountability systems, we must be careful to do so in a way that promotes equitable and ethical assessment practices for our students with the most extensive support needs who are learning on an alternate curriculum. the push to include these students in accountability systems requires support from school leaders and administrators to provide resources, training, and opportunities for teachers of students on alternate curriculum to collaborate with other professionals. school leaders must acquire the appropriate assessment tools and provide proper training on how to administer them. lastly, school leaders and administrators can work with special education teachers to adapt school data systems to the particular needs of students on alternate curriculum, and highlight these systems during professional developments, instructing others how to develop systems to track individual student performance data in the classrooms. for teachers like ms. hernandez who support students on an alternate curriculum, the way to ensure equitable and just assessments that promote student growth is to become knowledgeable of proper assessment procedures. teachers must be advocates for their students, and also self-advocate for what is needed to support the students, such as the proper assessment and curricular materials. effective teachers remain lifelong learners, joining professional organizations, learning new efficient data collection and analysis with technology, and requesting training and additional opportunities to learn such as attending conferences, and observing other teachers or administrations of assessments. lastly, effective teachers who concern themselves with equity and justice in educational practice, should choose assessment practices and considerations that honor the cultural diversity and strengths of students and their families. for students on alternate curriculum, the field needs assessment practices that are comprehensive, on-going, formative, and carefully selected to identify student growth and strengths. it should align with the vision of educational reforms to more fully include students with disabilities in school accountability measures, while also honoring the individualized extensive educational support needs of various students on alternate curriculum. about the author jolan smith, ph.d., is an assistant professor in advanced studies in education and counseling at csu, long beach where she teaches courses on assessment of students with disabilities, transition planning and collaboration, and collaborative models of education for secondary schools. she graduated from the joint doctoral program in special education at csula and ucla. dr. smith earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from stanford university, and a master’s degree in special education with a concentration on moderate-severe disabilities from california state university, dominguez hills. she was a high school special education teacher for nine years, serving low-income high school students with emotional disturbance, intellectual disabilities, autism, and other health impairments in traditional public schools, non-public schools, and home settings. dr. smith’s research interests include underserved minority students and families in special education, juvenile justice-involved youth with developmental disabilities, and cultural considerations in the transition to post-secondary. making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum jolan smith allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe references brady, n., bruce, s., goldman, a., erickson, k., mineo, b., ogletree, b., paul, d., & wilkinson, k. (2016). communication services and supports for individuals with severe disabilities: guidance for assessment and intervention. american journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 121(2), 121-138. every student succeeds act of 2015, pub. l. no. 114-95 § 114 stat. 1177 (2015-2016). mcleskey, j., barringer, m-d., billingsley, b., brownell, m., jackson, d., kennedy, m., lewis, t., & ziegler, d. (2017, january). high-leverage practices in special education. arlington, va: council for exceptional children & ceedar center. retrieved from https://highleveragepractices.org/about-hlps/ making assessment equitable for learners on an alternate curriculum students on alternate curriculum assessment that promotes student growth assessment that promotes equity assessment that promotes justice recommendations for the field about the author references "graded events" by jeanne grier familial wisdom in the classroom volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe familial wisdom in the classroom nadia rosales 9th grade student west linn-wilsonville school district tualatin, oregon danna renee lomax teacher on special assignment multi-tiered systems of support (mtss) ventura unified school district ventura, california at anacapa middle school in ventura, california, many teachers believe that change begins in the classroom at the grassroots level. these educators are working to create units that integrate peace education. what is peace education, and what does it look like in practice? according to bajaj and chui (2009), peace education includes the co-disciplines of development education, human rights education, environmental education, conflict resolution, and disarmament education (p. 449). on this campus, groups of teachers collaborate to create units that focus on peace with ourselves, peace with each other, and peace with the planet. they use a critical framework that asks students to assess their attitudes, beliefs, and actions on a spectrum from isolating to building community. they practice evaluating both local and global events (from bullying to bombing) using this framework and common language. the unit discussed below was developed and implemented in this context. nadia was a 7th grade student in a 4th period english language arts class at anacapa middle school during the 2016-2017 academic year. her teacher, danna, had taught middle school for over 20 years. the unit presented here, what does it mean to be educated?, sought to invite community and family members into the classroom in order to tap into familial wisdom, generate cross-generational conversations, build classroom community, and foster a home-school connection. in this article, danna and nadia (now a ninth grader) describe what they experienced while creating their projects. into: what were you thinking as you began this project? danna : this unit was inspired by my grandmothers. although my parents were loving and involved, my grandmothers, in large part, helped raise me. they cooked, cleaned, groomed, corrected, encouraged, familial wisdom in the classroom nadia rosales, danna renee lomax allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe and loved me. two very different women – pamela mae tirado, my paternal grandmother, and sarah lucy bray, my maternal grandmother – were among the smartest women i know; yet neither of my grandmothers (or grandfathers) went to college, nor did my parents. grandma pam was born in bakersfield, california of mexican and irish first-generation u.s.-born parents, and she did not attend school beyond 6th grade. bright, funny, and inquisitive, grandma pam loved reading the dictionary. she was a true wordsmith who kept daily logs of the details of her life for over 30 years. she wished she had had more formal education, and she would have excelled in school. given access to university, grandma pam would have been an even stronger advocate for students who are socio-economically disadvantaged and those with special needs, or she might have become a famous writer and best-selling author. grandma lucy was born in lamar, arkansas of farming parents. quiltmaker, culinary artist, singer, seamstress, painter, weaver, and gardener, she did graduate from high school, but she did not attend college. if she had had access to higher education, grandma could have thrived in the study of sustainability, agriculture, art, music, nutrition, business, or public policy. it makes me happy to think about my grandmothers. it’s fun to imagine what they would have studied had they gone to college. still, even without having attended university, both extraordinary women lived interesting and full lives. in creating this project, i hoped to somehow bridge home and school, to offer students the opportunity to have meaningful discussions with the adults in their lives and to try to make sense of what it means to learn and to be educated. i hoped they could have the types of conversations i wish i could have today with my grandmas. at our title i school, 66% of students receive free or reduced lunch, and those who will go on to attend college are likely to be the first in their families to do so. like my grandmothers, the adults in many of our students’ lives have not had access to higher education, yet they have a variety of skills and a depth of knowledge that they share with their children. their familial wisdom is a valuable resource in our school community, but it is often untapped. this unit was developed with the intention of offering students a structured opportunity to look more closely at the gifts, talents, knowledge, and values of the adults in their lives and to have conversations about life, learning, and education. in addition, this unit is structured to include live interviews which serve as an invitation for parents to come into the classroom. the essential questions students were asked to consider were: what does it mean to be educated? and is school worthwhile? why or why not? for the project, students were asked to interview an adult in their lives whom they admire and then create a presentation about their loved one’s experiences. nadia : at the beginning of the project, before i even had a topic, i thought it was going to be very interesting to see what everyone had to say about the school system and about what it meant to be educated. i wanted to know what they thought just because i knew that most of my classmates, if given the opportunity, would stop coming to school. when i started this project, i had no clue who i was going to interview and what their skill was going to be. but then i started thinking about the people who have shaped me and my experiences, and my dad instantly came to mind because of everything he’s been through in his life. i thought that his story showed a different form of education that my peers should hear. i wanted them to hear what it was like for someone who didn’t actually go all the way through school. i thought that doing my project on how familial wisdom in the classroom nadia rosales, danna renee lomax allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe he was able to rehabilitate himself (after not getting much education from the school system) would show again a different perspective of the essential question: what does it mean to be educated? through: what was it like to do the interview? how did you feel while you were doing it? danna : i was absolutely amazed by the students’ presentations! students chose the mediums for their work and created presentations, brought artifacts and/or food, conducted live interviews, made films, and uploaded work to youtube. they celebrated family members who cook, play instruments from their home countries, travel, work, parent, or dance all in the context of “what it means to be educated.” i was honored to watch students interact with their family members and listen respectfully to each other’s stories. students learned about one another, heard many adults talk about what it means to be educated, and realized that their families’ stories matter. one student shyly began telling her mother’s story by saying, “well, it’s not a very interesting story, but my mom’s special skill is parenting. she has helped my sister who got pregnant in high school get all the way to college.” i respectfully interrupted the student, and i reassured her that i was really interested in her mom’s story and special skill. i asked for a show of hands of the students who were also interested. nearly every hand was raised. while listening to stories like this one, students practiced empathy, became vulnerable with each other, and built community on a deep level. nadia : students conducted live interviews, created presentations, and made videos. familial wisdom in the classroom nadia rosales, danna renee lomax allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe when i was creating the video, i was nervous. first of all, i was nervous because i knew my classmates were going to see it, and secondly, i was nervous because i thought about the impact this would have on my dad. i didn't want to bring back any bad memories, but i wanted our point to be clear. i wanted kids to see that even if you didn’t get enough school you could survive, but you should still go to school because it opens more opportunities. in my interview, my dad makes it clear that staying in school would have been better because he liked school, and life would have been easier for him and given him more choices. during the video, i was fidgeting with a string because i was just that nervous. about half way through the video my dad said he didn't like where this was going so we stopped to collect ourselves. he was uncomfortable because he felt like he was going to have to talk about all the bad things that happened in the past when he wasn’t in school. so we stopped the video. we decided that was not the point of the interview. the whole point was to prove that although an education is important, it is okay if you go another route. your life can still turn out ok. so we went back to filming and started the interview again. it was scary to film this interview. why? because it was kind of hard to have this conversation with my dad. his past is not normally something i would talk about with him. overall, though, it was good to do this interview because we did get to talk about the impact that not being able to go to school had on his life. nadia's interview video https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isi6pbwts49lkcjh53e1oqjefncn9ian/preview https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isi6pbwts49lkcjh53e1oqjefncn9ian/preview https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isi6pbwts49lkcjh53e1oqjefncn9ian/preview https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isi6pbwts49lkcjh53e1oqjefncn9ian/preview https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isi6pbwts49lkcjh53e1oqjefncn9ian/preview familial wisdom in the classroom nadia rosales, danna renee lomax allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe beyond: how does it feel looking back at this project? what did you learn? what might you have done differently? how will this project impact your work in the future? danna : in room 9, we use the “spectrum of peace” to measure our behavior, attitudes, and responses. the spectrum of peace is a continuum between isolating and building community. when people interact, we analyze their behaviors using this model. does a given action bring people together or separate them? is it neutral? we use this continuum not only to consider our own behavior, but also to reflect on issues that arise at school, topics that come up in the curriculum, and current events. this work borrows from elise boulding’s concept of “peaceableness” which she describes as “an action concept” involving “a constant shaping and reshaping of understandings, situations, and behaviors” that create “well-being for all” (as cited in crews, 2005, p. 78). boulding maintains that it is important to understand the nature and history of conflict, but she encourages us to focus more on the types of interactions that are respectful, collaborative, positive, and peaceful. boulding, professor emerita of sociology at dartmouth college and a renowned peace activist, has focused on imagining and constructing notions of peace that exist as separate from conflict (p. 38). boulding acknowledges the work against structural and cultural violence, yet she advocates for setting up a “parallel system” that focuses on promoting the concept of peace that does not include a discussion of violence (p. 39). in doing so, she has developed the concept of cultures of peace. boulding defines cultures of peace as: a mosaic of identities, attitudes, values, beliefs, and institutional patterns that lead people to live nurturantly with one another, deal with difference, share their resources, solve their problems, and give each other space, so no one is harmed and everyone’s basic needs are met. (p. 39) for boulding, part of the work of promoting peace is “to imagine, play, and daydream about that peace culture” (p. 40). boulding’s definition of peaceableness offers an alternative approach to peace that goes beyond peace as a reaction to violence. this project was intended to be a peace building project. it provided students opportunities to develop empathy as they listened to each other’s stories and realized the complexity of each other’s lives. it also provided them opportunities to imagine together the possibilities for themselves and their families. relationships happen over time, and this project helped students build community and peace in our classroom. during the year, nadia had been a strong, outspoken voice in our class. she confidently spoke her mind about a variety of topics including feminism, the 2016 election, and immigration. it seemed to me that nadia was often targeted because she was willing to voice her opinion. in this project, nadia was honest and vulnerable, and it seemed that, as a result, some students softened toward her. she took a risk, and her colleagues appreciated and reacted to her willingness to show her heart. familial wisdom in the classroom nadia rosales, danna renee lomax allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe nadia : when i presented the video to the class, i was proud of what i made. i thought it was a good interview. re-watching the video nearly 7 months later, i am still proud. now this video has become kind of famous. ms. lomax asked me if she could use it as an example for all of her future classes, and i was honored. then the video was seen by people at the southern poverty law center, and they filmed my dad and me (separately) and asked us questions about it. then ms. lomax told her friend, kaia, about it and she suggested we write an article about the experience. with everything that has happened because of the interview, i am prouder than before. i had no clue when i was watching it for the first time just how big its impact would be. i think the impact is so big because i’m letting people see my dad and me just talk about our lives, and people don’t usually get to see that. in this project, i learned that being educated doesn't just mean graduating and getting a college degree. before this project, i thought that getting a degree was the most important thing in the world, but i now know that not everyone gets a chance to go to school, and it's okay to get your education somewhere else. don't get me wrong, i still think going to school and getting a degree is important, and i definitely plan to go to college. but at the end of the day, it is your education and you can do what you want with it...if you go a different path, it can be ok. my dad has a great life and a great family. my relationship with my dad has grown from this interview because i think that know he knows i respect him no matter what form of education he got. we got to bond over filming with the camera crew from southern poverty law center. we talked about the questions they asked us. another thing i learned from this project is that it is good to share your knowledge, whatever it may be, with other people. i don't think i would've done anything differently. in the video, i think i should've looked up more, but i also think my nervousness gave the video a touch of emotion. i want to be a music teacher when i’m older. i think that i will use projects like this that ask kids about their families and lives so that i can connect with them. mother teresa once said, “if there is no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other” (2008). when we take the time to welcome the community and familial wisdom into our classrooms, to celebrate each other’s skills and knowledge, and to play and imagine together, it becomes clear that we belong to one another. familial wisdom in the classroom nadia rosales, danna renee lomax allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the authors nadia rosales is a 9th grade student in oregon. she is a scholar athlete who plays on the high school soccer team and plays the violin. her college of choice is undecided, yet she is determined to pursue university education. her goal is to be a middle school music teacher. she would like to thank her dad for agreeing to participate in this interview and her mom for being the camerawoman. a mother, bilingual educator, and activist, danna lomax currently serves as the multi-tiered systems of support teacher in ventura, california and lecturer at california state university channel islands. she creates transdisciplinary, project-based units in spanish and english that encourage students to promote peace with themselves, each other, and the planet. danna’s recognitions include: earth charter summit award, pbs innovation award, fulbright teacher award, aauw career development grant, and 2018 excellence in teaching award from teaching tolerance. danna believes that peace education must lead to action. references bajaj, monisha and chiu, belinda. (2009). education for sustainable development as peace education. peace & change, 34(4), 441-455. boulding, e. (1996). toward a culture of peace in the twenty-first century. social alternatives,15(3), 3840. crews, r. j. (2002). a model proposal for peace studies. peace review, 14(1), 73-80. mother teresa. (2008). mother teresa reflects on working toward piece. retrieved from https://legacy.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/teresa/essay.html https://legacy.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/teresa/essay.html familial wisdom in the classroom into: what were you thinking as you began this project? through: what was it like to do the interview? how did you feel while you were doing it? beyond: how does it feel looking back at this project? what did you learn? what might you have done differently? how will this project impact your work in the future? about the authors references concerning fatherhood: one day at a time volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe concerning fatherhood: one day at a time jesse paredes student records system analyst graduate student, educational leadership csu channel islands there are things you may not be told about fatherhood. for example, no one tells you that if the children’s mother leaves, you assume the roles of both mother and father. when my ex-spouse and i decided our relationship was not going to work, i remained committed to ensuring that i would see my children every day. i refused to be absent from their lives. i wanted to be there to kiss them, to wish them well into dreamland and to spend mornings together before rushing off to start our respective days. in my case, becoming the parent with full custody of the children was relatively easy since their mother agreed with my wishes. i was saddened by this turn of events, but also greatly relieved. i knew immediately i needed to find my center, to become the parent who had raised me, the parent who would give everything to ensure the well-being of his children. i returned to my parents’ home where they welcomed me with open arms. there i felt safe. you see, when you go through something as heartbreaking and as gut wrenching as the loss of your first love, while having children, you do not have the option to wallow. i will not deny it, i had my messy moments. i found strength in them and it only made the journey sweeter. during this time, i found that it was okay for the children to slip, at times calling me ‘mom’ instead of ‘dad.’ for a time there, i was mom. i was willing to do anything to protect my children and to treat them with the tenderness that every child deserves. becoming a single parent was a transformative experience. at the same, it was almost as though i was finding my way to becoming a super parent. i say this not to boast, but to express my heightened awareness of my children’s needs, especially at this difficult time. i have made every effort to raise three well-adjusted, well-mannered, social justice warriors. the adjustment to single parenthood was very lonely. i had to find myself again, both as a single person, and as a single parent. i never thought this would be my life. though, from the time i was young, i knew i was different. i knew i wanted to be a hands-on father—whatever that might have meant to me in my adolescence. do not get me wrong, the male figures in my life were beyond amazing. however, in my family, child rearing was typically left to my mother, my abuelita, and my tias. i always knew i wanted to be an active and engaged parent; what i did not realize was that i would raise my children without their concerning fatherhood: one day at a time jesse paredes allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe mother. in my situation, traditional social expectations about fatherhood were not going to work for my new family. i had to adjust my expectations. i had to be more. i had to accept the role bestowed upon me, merge this new identity with everything i knew and become flexible, ready to change at a moment’s notice to meet the needs of all. i may not have it all together, but i manage to keep it all together. having my first child at the age of twenty showed me the importance of timeliness and reinforced the value of my education. prior to her birth, i viewed school as a means of completing a path preestablished for me by my parents. it was a goal that was cemented early in my childhood. you could say that i probably did not take my undergraduate years too seriously before her birth. however, after the birth of my daughter, i understood that my education would serve as an important means to build a better life for myself and my children just as previous generations before me have invested their blood, sweat, and tears into raising me. i am technically a first-generation, mexican-american living the american dream of higher education—although my father had already received his bachelor’s degree prior to my arrival in the world—making the dream, not so much a dream, but a simple reality. i earned my bachelor’s degree my way. i did many things backwards, but i succeeded. as i pursue my education, i have kept the dream alive for another generation. education has rooted itself as a huge part of our family culture. it is a cornerstone, something that is not an ‘if’, but rather a ‘when’. when my children earn their degrees, they will look back on the support they received, on their hard work, and on the hard work of family members who pursued degrees before them. they will feel proud of the pages they will add to our lineage. deciding to go back to school for my master’s degree was not an easy decision. it required lots of planning. luckily, my two amazing parents, who would do anything for me, made the decision a lot easier. being one of the only parents in my cohort has not been easy. and, being the only single father proved to be too much at times. i have fallen many times throughout my master’s program. my children give me a reason to continue on and to make better of myself every day. fatherhood, like all parenting, is no easy task. every day there is something new. every day involves a series of firsts. i am the healer of boo boos, the washer of all, an alarm clock, a post-it reminder – all while working full-time. i am a single father of three children under the age of 12 years. i am a higher education professional. i am a graduate student and my children are learners in elementary school. i think about some aspect of education almost every minute of every day. i also think about everything else that could happen in a given day. i see infinite possibilities and realities that could exist in every decision i make concerning my children. despite our unconventional family, i believe my children will be okay. i am father, i am mother. whatever you want to call me, i am here. about the author jesse paredes is a graduate student in the educational leadership program in the school of education at csu channel islands. he received his bachelor’s degree from csu channel islands, majoring in english with an emphasis in education preparation. he currently works at his alma mater as a student records systems analyst within enrollment management. family and education have been key motivators in jesse’s life. he hopes to continue sharing his passion for both with future thinkers and leaders. concerning fatherhood: one day at a time about the author microsoft word 537-99z_article text-1479-1-11-20180919.docx volume  2,  issue  1   2018   allies  for  education  2018,  1,  2   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     community  engagement:  school  and  family   partnerships  to  support  mutual  learning     carolee  koehn  hurtado   assistant  professor  of  education   csu  channel  islands     community  engagement  can,  and  should  be,  a  dynamic,  reciprocal  relationship  between  families  and   schools.  so,  what  might  community  engagement  in  schools  look  like  when  we  place  parent  voices  at  the   forefront?  can  mathematics  be  a  context  for  this  type  of  community  engagement?  in  this  article,  we   share  our  journey  for  a  family-­‐school  partnership  that  began  with  parents’  vision  for  how  to  meet   educational  goals  for  their  students.     beginning  our  journey   this  journey  began  when  a  teacher  contacted  the  ucla  parent  project  at  the  request  of  her  parent   community.  in  the  first  meeting,  twenty-­‐five  parents  shared  how  they  volunteered  at  the  school,  took   english  as  a  second  language  classes,  and  attended  all  parent  workshops  offered.  they  envisioned  more   –  as  their  children’s  first  and  most  important  teacher,  they  also  serve  as  a  strong  resource  for  their   children  academically.  they  voiced  that  deepening  their  own  and  their  children’s  understanding  of   mathematics  was  their  first  priority:  “teach  these  classes  in  our  language,  so  we  can  better  understand.   this  is  not  another  way  for  us  to  learn  english.  we  want  to  do  mathematics  in  our  language.  math  is  too   important,  i  don’t  want  to  miss  anything.  when  we  learn,  it  helps  our  children  learn  too.”    the  parents   had  already  begun  to  research  grants  to  fund  their  vision.     in  collaboration,  parents  along  with  moffett  teachers,  an  administrator,  and  ucla  co-­‐developed  the   goals,  agendas,  and  structure  of  our  work  together.  we  set  out  to  engage  parents  in  mathematics   through  problem  solving  and  conceptual  understanding,  drawing  upon  research  and  classroom  practice   informed  by  cognitively  guided  instruction  (carpenter,  et  al.,  2015).  goals  included:   • share  our  family’s  experiences  with  mathematics  and  learn  from  others’  experiences   • engage  in  a  community  of  practice  where  we  work  on  mathematics  tasks  together,  share   problem  solving  strategies,  and  consider  how  to  support  our  children’s  mathematical   development  in  both  school  mathematics  and  at  home   • promote  a  love  of  mathematics         community  engagement:  school  and  family  partnerships  to  support   mutual  learning   carolee  koehn  hurtado   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     moffett  elementary  school  is  a  neighborhood  school.  parents  believed  the  best  time  to  hold  the   workshops  would  be  immediately  following  the  start  of  the  school  day  since  many  families  walked  with   their  children  to  school.  parents  worked  with  school  administration  to  invite  more  community  members   to  participate.  they  made  personal  phone  calls  and  hung  large  posters  at  the  school  entrance  to   advertise  the  sessions.  everyone  was  welcome,  whether  they  could  come  to  all  of  the  sessions  or  only   one.     community  engagement  through  mathematics   we  scheduled  two  ten-­‐week  series:  the  first  to  start  at  the  beginning  of  the  academic  year  and  the   second  to  commence  after  the  winter  break.  each  session  was  two  hours  in  length.  we  designed  these   sessions  for  active  engagement:  parents  participated  as  learners  and  reflected  on  how  their  experiences   (both  as  a  learner  in  their  own  schooling  experience  and  as  a  learner  in  these  sessions)  impact  their   views  as  a  parent  of  their  own  children  learning  mathematics.     mathematics  we  explored  in  the  twenty  workshops  included:   series  #1   series  #2   addition  and  subtraction  concepts   fair  share  &  fractions   choral  counting  and  counting  collections   geometry  concepts   grouping  problems:  multiplication  and   division   algebraic  reasoning  in  elementary  school   as  a  community  of  learners,  mathematical  dialogue  was  imperative  for  multiple  reasons.  we  grow  as   mathematicians  as  we  engage  with  others,  and  we  grow  as  people  who  can  support  others  through   sharing  our  own  and  hearing  about  others’  practices.     parents  spoke  on  expert  panels  to  share  their  home  and  cultural  practices  around  how  they  engage  in   mathematics  as  a  family  and  requested  teachers  to  visit  the  workshops  to  share  and  answer  questions   about  classroom  practices  and  goals  around  mathematics.  parents  often  tried  ideas  from  the  workshops   at  home  with  their  children,  such  as  posing  mathematical  tasks,  noticing  how  their  children  solved  those   tasks,  and  asking  questions  to  encourage  their  child(ren)  to  explain  their  mathematical  thinking.  they   would  readily  share  their  ideas,  noticings,  and  wonderings  with  the  group  at  the  next  session.  these   conversations  greatly  shaped  subsequent  workshops  as  we  learned  more  about  our  parents  and  their   children.   workshop  attendance  averaged  25-­‐30  parents  every  week,  with  over  fifty  parents  attending  workshops   that  first  year.  many  parents  did  not  miss  one  workshop.     what  we  learned   parent  involvement  in  schools  can  sometimes  be  limited  to  parents  volunteering  to  help  the  school  with   tasks  such  as  opening  car  doors  during  student  drop-­‐off,  copying  homework  packets,  and  chaperoning   field  trips.  at  moffett  elementary  school,  this  involvement  model  shifted  towards  more  authentic  parent   community  engagement:  school  and  family  partnerships  to  support   mutual  learning   carolee  koehn  hurtado   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     engagement  as  educators  listened  intently  to  what  parents  were  interested  in  and  took  collective  action   to  co-­‐plan  workshops  around  parent  interests.     ucla  started  as  an  external  partner.  respecting  and  starting  with  their  voices  and  goals,  it  was   important  for  us  to  develop  relationships  with  parents  and  educators.  we  custom-­‐designed  these   workshops  based  on  community  interest,  and  continually  engaged  in  ongoing  debrief  and  reflection  to   make  adjustments  as  we  also  learned  from  our  participants.     parents  often  shared  how  they  felt  during  and  after  the  sessions,  in  both  formal  and  informal   conversations.  some  of  these  reflections  are  shared  below:   family  conversations   a  highlight  for  many  parents  was  the  stronger  connection  they  felt  with  their  children.  parents  believed   participating  in  these  workshops  impacted  their  relationship  with  family:  both  with  their  elementary   children  and  older  children.  families  engaged  in  mathematical  conversations  at  home  as  children  grew   interested  in  what  their  parents  were  learning.  parents  and  children  could  each  share  their  problem-­‐ solving  strategies.  parents’  and  children’s  confidence  grew.  a  parent  shared,  “show  me  what  you   learned  mommy.  let’s  do  math  together.”     many  parents  noted  that  before  the  workshops,  children  would  say,  “you  can’t  help  me  with  my  math   work.  that’s  not  how  my  teacher  did  it.”  these  conversations  started  to  change  throughout  the  year,  as   parents,  children,  and  teachers  encouraged  and  prompted  for  more  than  one  way  to  solve  mathematics   problems.  more  mathematical  conversations  were  taking  place,  in  homes  and  at  school.     impact  on  mathematics  identity   some  parents  felt  successful  with  mathematics  before,  and  now  feel  even  more  confident  while  others   changed  their  perceptions  of  themselves  as  mathematicians  and  a  source  of  knowledge  and  support  for   their  children.  through  reflection  and  interviews,  we  learned  a  lot  about  individual’s  dispositions.  a   parent  of  a  second  grader  revealed  that  there  were  many  times  she  struggled  and  felt  like  giving  up.  yet,   her  tablemates  would  not  allow  themselves  to  move  on  unless  the  entire  group  understood.  she   revealed,  “we  are  becoming  a  team  with  other  moms.  i  was  embarrassed  because  i  did  not  have  a   higher  education.  i  would  see  other  moms  participating  a  lot.  there  was  a  time  i  said  i  was  going  to   leave.  why  am  i  sitting  here?  but  it  was  worth  being  here.”  one  of  her  peers  added,  “i  saw  her  being   focused  and  persevering.  she  can  do  it,  but  hasn’t  realized  that.  if  we  don’t  have  opportunity  to  learn,   we  all  have  our  limits.  sometimes  there  are  things  that  stop  us,  but  when  we  persevere,  then  there  is  a   change.”     another  mother  reflected,  “through  our  participation,  i  realized  other  things.  i  did  not  know  i  was  good   at  math.  our  self-­‐esteem  went  up.  we  trust  ourselves  more.  we  interact  more  with  others  and  are  less   shy.  we  learn  from  our  mistakes  as  we  help  each  other.  we  learned  from  our  mistakes  and  maybe  our   mistakes  are  not  that  big.  we  are  becoming  self-­‐assured,  and  we  are  helping  our  children  become   confident  and  self-­‐assured.”   another  parent  added,  “i  would  come  home  after  the  class,  and  my  husband  would  say  you  look  happy,   you  must  have  gone  to  math  class.”   community  engagement:  school  and  family  partnerships  to  support   mutual  learning   carolee  koehn  hurtado   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     developing  a  culture  of  problem  solving  (as  a  learner  and  as  a  parent  supporting  children)   participants  realized  and  appreciated  multiple  ways  of  solving  mathematics  problems  and  applied   reasoning  skills  to  other  life  situations.  parent  comments  indicate  that  this  learning  has  translated  to   understanding  their  children  both  as  individual  learners  and  as  individuals  with  unique  approaches  to   problem  solving.  for  example:     “before  i  used  to  try  to  show  my  child  how  to  solve  the  problems,  asking  him  why  do  you  take   so  much  time,  just  do  it  this  way.  now  i  realize  the  kinds  of  strategies  kids  use  and  how  solving   problems  in  your  own  way,  in  a  way  that  makes  sense  to  you,  can  be  very  helpful”.     “the  teacher  (ucla  facilitator)  told  us  to  get  in  the  shoes  of  the  children,  children  the  age  of  our   children,  to  see  how  they  would  solve  the  math  problem.  for  me  that  was  one  of  the  most   important  things  that  i  learned.  to  put  myself  in  the  shoes  of  my  child.”   these  parent  insights  support  the  notion  that  we  can  nurture  children’s  mathematical  development  by   starting  with  what  they  know,  celebrating  those  partial  understandings  and  building  on  what  they  can   do.  this  creates  spaces  for  learners  to  feel  and  be  seen  as  competent  as  we  broaden  our  notions  of  what   counts  as  knowing  and  understanding  (franke,  2017).  for  many,  this  is  very  different  from  our  own   learning  experiences.     many  adults  may  have  been  seated  in  rows  in  their  k-­‐16  mathematics  classrooms,  quietly  replicating   steps  the  teacher  demonstrated  to  solve  a  problem,  and  turning  in  work  to  find  out  if  it  was  right  or   wrong.  this  approach  to  learning  creates  dependent  thinkers  – students  who,  for  a  variety  of  reasons,   wait  for  the  next  instructions  on  how  to  proceed.  this  has  led  many  learners  to  believe  they  are  not   good  at  mathematics.  this  belief  can  occur  very  early.  my  own  niece  (from  a  different  school),  shared   with  me  that  her  little  sister,  who  had  just  completed  first  grade,  didn’t  like  math  anymore  because  she   always  had  a  lot  of  red  marks  on  her  math  paper.  these  red  marks  did  not  honor  what  she  could  do  nor   help  her  to  grow  as  a  mathematical  thinker.     through  our  time  together,  moffett  parents  gained  a  greater  understanding  of  school  mathematics   while  simultaneously  growing  as  a  supporter  of  children.  for  example,  a  parent  of  four  children,   commented  during  a  workshop,  “i  was  wondering  why  on  my  child’s  homework  last  week,  it  asked  her   to  break  up  12  into  a  10  and  a  2  to  solve  multiplication  problems  involving  12.  and  when  we  solved  the   problems  today,  someone  used  that  strategy.  i  see  how  thinking  about  12  as  a  10  and  2  made  the   problem  easier  for  her  to  solve  today.  and,  i  know  this  is  just  one  way  to  think  about  the  problem.”     academic  support  &  leadership   academic  support  can  be  seen  in  at  least  two  settings:  at  home  and  in  classrooms.  parents  felt  better   equipped  and  confident  to  support  their  children  in  mathematics.  one  parent  shared  that  she  realized   that  although  the  teacher  in  the  classroom  has  many  students,  she,  as  the  parent,  is  her  daughter’s  first   teacher.  the  teacher  is  half  of  the  equation  and  the  parent  is  the  other  half.  together  they  can  make  a   difference  for  her  child.     community  engagement:  school  and  family  partnerships  to  support   mutual  learning   carolee  koehn  hurtado   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     another  parent  described  her  personal  growth  over  the  year,  feeling  that  she  enhanced  her  skill  in   helping  her  child.  she  realized  there  were  many  parents  who  could  not  attend  the  workshops.  a  group   of  parents  partnered  with  teachers  by  volunteering  in  classrooms  during  mathematics  instruction.     advocates  for  education   parents  see  themselves  as  leaders  who  can  affect  change.  a  parent  states,  “this  year  our  school  lost   their  parent  coordinator.  i  know  the  importance  of  having  guidance.  how  can  there  be  a  parent  center   without  a  guide?  so  i  said  i  have  to  do  something.  i  asked  myself  how  can  i  help?  even  if  i  wasn’t  the   leader.  i  could  provide  ideas  to  move  us  along.  a  committee  was  formed  with  five  parent  leaders.  there   had  to  be  a  speaker  among  us  to  move  us  along.”  parents  have  created  their  own  distributed  leadership   model  through  voicing  their  ideas  and  taking  action  for  implementing  their  vision.  administrators  share,   “parents  seeing  their  ideas  heard  was  very  empowering.  the  course  was  practical  and  hands  on.  they   tried  ideas  at  home  and  volunteered  in  the  classrooms.  they  made  it  a  point  to  tell  me  what  they  did.   they  saw  themselves  as  really  capable.  they  are  taking  on  more  and  more  things.  they  are  seeing   themselves  as  leaders.  parents  are  more  understanding  about  the  processes  we  are  handling  at  school.     they  know  the  school  routines,  the  materials,  the  school’s  struggles.  they  help  the  children.  they  help   the  school.  there  are  more  parents  participating.  i  think  the  manner  of  the  class  helped  a  lot.  parents   are  feeling  more  capable,  more  active,  and  speak  up  for  what  they  want.  not  afraid  to  give  their  opinion   and  are  more  insistent  about  their  ideas  being  tried.  now  we  have  a  strong  parent  group  and  there  is   more  voice  in  what  they  choose  to  do.”   possibilities  and  opportunities  continue  to  grow  when  schools  and   parents  engage  in  collective  work   parents  are  their  children’s  first  and  most  important  teacher.  they  are  powerful  allies  in  supporting   children.  children  benefit  when  schools  and  families  engage  in  mutual  learning.  we  can  shift  our  focus   from  what  schools  can  do  for  families  to  include  explicit  efforts  for  schools  to  also  learn  from  families  as   we  work  together  to  support  our  young  people.  this  approach  positions  community  members  as  co-­‐ constructors,  collaborators,  and  valuable  team  members.  at  moffett,  we  see  sustained  engagement   from  all  stakeholders  –  parents,  educators,  and  students  as  we  learn,  take  action,  and  grow  together.   it  takes  a  village  to  create  a  learning  community.  parents’  unwavering  goals  and  commitments  to  their   children’s  success  started  this  effort.  did  children  grow  as  mathematicians?  yes.  did  parents  learn   mathematics  and  deepen  their  understanding  of  the  development  of  children’s  mathematical  thinking?   yes.  but,  this  work  encompasses  so  much  more.  families  and  schools  work  together  to  create  spaces  of   learning  for  children,  parents,  and  educators.  all  are  vital  for  continued  growth.  our  journey  did  not  end   after  one  year.  it  has  since  blossomed  into  a  thriving  five-­‐year  partnership  where  parents  are  facilitating   math  and  science  family  nights  that  draw  in  over  four  hundred  participants.  they  are  leaders  who   positively  impact  their  community.     we  continue  to  learn  and  be  inspired  by  their  work.   community  engagement:  school  and  family  partnerships  to  support   mutual  learning   carolee  koehn  hurtado   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     about  the  author   dr.  carolee  koehn  hurtado  is  an  assistant  professor  of  education  at  california  state  university,  channel   islands.  prior  to  this  role,  she  was  the  director  of  the  ucla  mathematics  project  and  the  ucla  parent   project,  where  she  had  the  fortunate  opportunity  to  bring  teachers  and  families  together  to  support   children’s  mathematical  thinking.  this  work  has  deepened  her  understanding  of  how  mathematics  can   be  a  means  for  challenging  inequities  in  schools.   references   carpenter,  t.  p.,  fennema,  e.,  franke,  m.  l.,  levi,  l.,  &  empson,  s.  b.  (2015).  children's  mathematics:   cognitively  guided  instruction. portsmouth,  nh:  heinemann.   franke,  m.  l.  (2017).  no  more  mastery:  leveraging  partial  understanding.  presentation,  cognitive   guided  instruction  national  conference,  seattle,  wa.   economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick faculty, csu channel islands chair, ventura county planning council kaia tollefson professor of education csu channel islands joan karp professor emerita csu channel islands while being interviewed for a study about how student-parents in higher education manage childcare needs, a young woman described her situation. she has two young children who attend childcare at the community college she attends. she takes two buses to get to the childcare center. when she must attend classes while childcare is not in session and her husband is working, she goes through her neighborhood asking who can help. when the children tell her at the end of the day that “bad things” happened at the neighbors’, she goes through the neighborhood again in search of care for her children. (karp, lugo, magaña, nieves, rodriguez & veloz, 2012) the needs described above provide a local illustration of a national story: current levels of state and federal funding for early care and education are woefully inadequate for serving the needs of families and communities, essential for building a strong and vibrant citizenry and a healthy economy. six decades of research findings consistently document the reality that prioritizing early care and education for all children, while expensive in the short-term, is far more humane and significantly less costly than the alternatives that many of these children will experience in later years because they lacked access to high quality care and education in their earliest years. unfortunately, rather than paying less for universal, high quality care and education for children birth to five, we are instead choosing significantly more expensive “fixes” at multiple levels to make up for the grossly unequal starts in life economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe that american children from different socioeconomic backgrounds receive. these too-little-too-late, costly, and less humane fixes include publicly funded remediation and special education, increased need for health and social services, low-paying jobs, and prisons (palfrey, hauser-cram, bronson, warfield, sirin, & chan, 2005; yoshikawa et al., 2013). figure 1 shows the startling economic impact of investing in early childhood education, as demonstrated by large, long-term, respected research studies on three high-quality early education programs. in this figure, everything above the break-even line is a return on each dollar invested, found in these studies to be anywhere from $3.10 to $8.20. this topic will be further addressed in a later section of this paper. figure 1: total return per dollar invested in early education (five numbers to remember about early childhood development, 2009, number 5) what is frustrating to early childhood scholars and other leaders in the field is the fact that decades of american research on the impact of high quality early care and education are being utilized to improve familial, community, and national health and well-being—but this is happening more outside than within the united states. as rutenbeck’s narrator in the raising of america asks, “if research from our own country’s experiments is inspiring governments around the world, why haven’t we applied these lessons ourselves?” (rutenbeck, 2013b, p. 9). to answer this question, we believe it is necessary to examine context before solutions can be identified. the following statements, explained in further detail below, summarize our understanding of the current context for early care and education in the united states: http://www.raisingofamerica.org/sites/default/files/transcript_arewecrazyaboutourkids.pdf economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe 1. early care and education is viewed inaccurately—as lowly and as “women’s work” that anyone can do—and as such it is not commonly understood as a profoundly significant profession requiring specialized, intensive study and extensive fieldwork. 2. in reality, early care and education is a well-researched, well-documented, uncontested essential for familial, community, and national health and economic well-being. 3. given #1 and #2 above, it would be logical for college campuses to take the lead in making use of current research findings on best practices in early care and education and conducting additional research through university lab schools for early childhood studies. although such centers on college campuses serve significant needs at multiple levels, fewer and fewer are being funded on college campuses across the nation. context issue 1: the problem with “women’s work” societal attitudes and priorities—particularly related to gender norms—help explain the lack of adequate early care and education services, particularly for children in poverty. simply put, caring for children is considered “women’s work” and, thus, is under-valued in the united states. we base this claim on the following: • historically, the care of young children worldwide has been primarily done by women. • 97.2% of the teaching workforce in preschool and kindergarten is female (bureau of labor statistics, 2014). • the national median annual salary for a preschool teacher (defined as one who teaches children in their years prior to kindergarten) is $28,120, or $13.52 per hour. annual earnings of $28,120 compare poorly to the also-unimpressive median salary of $53,760 for kindergarten and elementary school teachers (bureau of labor statistics, 2016). • to be a preschool teacher, the typical entry-level education required is an associate’s degree, with no required work experience in a related occupation and typically no on-the-job training (bureau of labor statistics, 2016). • colleges commonly offer associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in early childhood, but just as commonly fail to offer laboratory learning experiences comparable to those available in other fields (e.g., stem disciplines, nursing). in fact, campus-based child care services themselves— much less laboratory school opportunities for students in early childhood—are declining, despite sharply growing numbers of college students with children (eckerson, talbourdet, reichlin, sykes, noll, & gault, 2016). from 2005 to 2015, the percentage of public 2-year colleges in the united states that offer this service has declined from 53% to 44%; the percentage of public 4-year colleges doing so has declined from 55% to 49% (2016). the inconsistent availability of laboratory learning opportunities for early childhood students in college and the extraordinarily low pay for early childhood professionals are inequities impacting an overwhelmingly female workforce. given decades of research findings indicating that familial, community, and national health and economic well-being are highly correlated with access to high economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe quality early care and education (elango, garcía, heckman, & hojman, 2015; national research council and institute of medicine, 2000; park, ferretti, & ames, 2012), much is at stake when the care and education of young children is consistently and pervasively undervalued. context issue 2: research findings on the impact of high quality early care and education the benefits of high quality early care and education are firmly established, numerous, and significant. many studies support this claim (e.g., business & community leaders alliance of ventura county, 2013; calman & tarr-whelan, 2005; campbell et al., n.d.; first five years fund, n.d.; elango, garcia, heckman, & hojman, 2015; heckman equation, n.d.; rutenbeck, 2013a; schweinhart, et al., 2005). educators, neuroscientists, sociologists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, doctors, and other community leaders agree that children who experience high quality education in their first five years are: • more school ready; • less likely to need special education services; • more likely to graduate and live healthy lives (e.g., avoiding teen pregnancy, obesity, smoking, and depression); • less likely to be arrested; • less likely to be on welfare; • more likely to develop higher intelligence and character; • better prepared to enter the workforce and be productive citizens, have higher-paying jobs, and contribute more in taxes; and • better able to persist and solve problems collaboratively. james heckman, nobel prize-winning economist, analyzed the economic impact of these welldocumented outcomes and found a 7-10% return on investment per child per annum (heckman equation, n.d.; rutenbeck, 2013a). this high rate of return is explained by a reduced need for publicly funded services (e.g., special education; welfare, public health and other social services; criminal convictions and imprisonment) and an increase in civic competence and economic productivity for a greater share of the population. it is important to note that these benefits are broadly enjoyed across social and economic spectrums, lessening rather than contributing to the unequal distribution of wealth in the united states. provision of high quality early care and education for all children is an expensive initial proposition, with an estimated cost of $50 billion to serve just the 3and 4-year olds in the nation (calman & tarrwhelan, 2005). however, economists project that this investment “would create over $213 billion in value, for a net gain of $163 billion” (p. 19) over the next 40 years. findings from the high scope perry preschool study support these projections. a two-year investment of $15,166 per child in high quality early care and education saved the public approximately $200,000 per individual forty years later, as economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe that child grew up better able to contribute to society rather than require continued supports from it (p. 13). as the perry preschoolers continue to age beyond their mid-40s, we can assume the return on the original investment will increase beyond $200,000 as they enter their peak earning years and move more healthily into old age. this scale of public investment is daunting, but we know it is possible; the people of finland are doing it. while we acknowledge the criticisms commonly lodged when finland’s educational reform story is invoked in the united states (e.g., there is less diversity in the finnish population and therefore less educational complexity than exists here; higher tax rates and a socialist approach to funding and providing public services invalidates any economically-based comparison between our two countries; finland’s population is much smaller than ours), we cannot afford the arrogance required to throw actual babies out with this proverbial bathwater. in anticipation of these criticisms, we offer a counter observation. dramatic educational and social achievements occurred over a 45-year period in finland because leaders recognized a need for improvement, implemented research-based strategies for reform, and had the will to sustain those focused reforms over decades—all with the long game in mind from the beginning. there is much to learn from their experience, despite obvious differences in context. in 1972, the finns were unhappy with their educational system’s mediocre performance relative to other nations, and they decided to do what was necessary to improve it (hattie, 2012; partanen, 2011; sahlberg, 2011). a wave of immigration in the seventies from eastern european countries and refugee and asylum seekers from latin america and vietnam increased the diversity and number of non-finnish speaking citizens (korkiasaari & soderling, 2010). in stark contrast to educational reform approaches of the past several decades in the united states, the explicit finnish approach at that time was to ignore the topic of academic achievement until they got equity right (sahlberg, 2011). one initial strategy toward this end was to emphasize and invest in early childhood education, resulting in two realities that would be hard to imagine for american parents: in finland, the cost of private day care is reimbursed, and there is publicly financed support for all types of childcare (hiilamo, 2002; anttonen, 1999). some outcomes of this decades-old decision to invest in early childhood education are that preschool and primary teachers are required to have an advanced degree, they are well-paid, and they are highly respected, autonomous, societally-important professionals. in this largely rural country, finland enacted legislation to provide childcare and preschool education for every child of working parents through municipally funded care (child day care act, n.d.; early childhood education and care policy in finland, 2000). these and other educational reforms are credited with the fact that finland places highly on international comparisons of social, educational, and economic health. they didn't, in 1972 (personal communication, p. sahlberg, november 15, 2012). the top ten countries whose children score the highest educationally all share common educational practices, including highly qualified teachers, equal opportunities for all students, strong early intervention programs, and social support for children and families (morgan, 2014). if the united states were to make a more significant commitment to support children and families, specifically in the form of universal access to high quality pre-kindergarten programs, lynch and vaghul (2015) report that it would take 16 years for resulting benefits to exceed the costs, with benefits nearly doubling the cost in 33 years (see figure 2). economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe figure 2: (lynch & vaghul, 2015, figure 2) context issue 3: early care and education centers are needed on college campuses high quality early care and education centers on college campuses serve significant needs at multiple levels, including: (1) increasing the number of spaces available in a community to serve young children and helping those children to build a strong developmental foundation for learning; (2) facilitating access to and graduation from postsecondary education for parents, particularly for low-income parents; (3) providing authentic teaching spaces and learning experiences for college faculty and students in education and other social sciences; and (4) providing opportunities for conducting and using research to inform the field and enhance professional development for practitioners in the early childhood workforce. investing in this single strategy yields these immediate benefits in addition to a number of long-term social and economic benefits realized by families, communities, states, and the nation. a study at monroe community college (mcc) in new york state (cited in noll, reichlin, & gault, 2017) underscores the importance of childcare for student parents: mcc students with children under the age of six who used the campus child care center were more likely to return to school the following year than their counterparts who did not use the child care center... parents who used child care were also nearly three times more likely to graduate or go on to pursue a b.a. within 3 years of enrollment. (p. 13) federal and state governments must take the lead in funding early care and education centers at colleges and universities. the federal government recognizes the importance of supporting low-income student-parents’ childcare needs, with a $15.1 million dollar annual investment in the child care access means parents in school (ccampis) program (u.s. department of education, 2016). while designed to assist low-income student-parents by partially subsidizing child care so that they can complete their college program and graduate in a timely manner, the program partially funds only a small fraction (3%) of campus-based childcare centers nationally. between 2001-2014, program funding decreased from $25 million on 307 campuses to $15.1 million on 86 campuses (u.s. department of education, 2014). economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe conclusion we do not have a money problem in america; we have a profound values and priorities problem. (edelman, 2008, p. 8) resources are not lacking but our national values and priorities are. donna kerr, writing about teacher education in the united states in the early 1980s, drew similar comparisons that are, sadly, as relevant to our topic and time as they were to her research 30 years ago. kerr stated: by design and by default this country has chosen to turn disease, disputes, and war into profitable career fields. at the same time, it has made most unattractive the activity of educating our young. the question is not whether resources should be dedicated to the maintenance of health, domestic tranquility and international peace. rather, the question is whether any society can afford to make their opposites profitable and to do so at the expense of education. (1983, p. 146) such is the enormity of the problem. imagine the culture shift required to make careers in serving children as profitable as many of those serving the pathologies of disease and war. we believe this is a culture shift worth imagining and striving for, on our campus at csu channel islands and in regional, state, and national contexts. in the long term, high quality early care and education is irrefutably cost effective. however, since the benefits accrue to children, to families, to communities, and to society as a whole—rather than to individual investors—private investment in early care and education is unattractive from a capitalistic perspective. what is needed is vision and a sincere, sustained commitment to this topic from local, state, and federal policy makers. therefore, federal and state governments must take the lead in funding early care and education centers at colleges and universities. our initial project several years ago was to understand the scope of need for an early care and education center on our campus. we have learned so much more. until citizens unite to support university, state, and federal funding of early care and education initiatives, the burden of caring for children will continue to fall disproportionately on the shoulders of women. we call for united action that goes beyond new programs in our schools for threeand four-year-old children. we call for early care and education programs that are affordable for families, allowing parents the option of working or attending post secondary educational programs. we call for colleges and universities to build and support early care and education centers on or near campus to serve student parents and students who are studying children’s growth and development. it bodes well for the future of children and for the nation that many of america’s leaders in male-dominated professions are at long last joining with early childhood educators to call for expanded access to early care and education. they are aspiring, finally, to the “women’s work” of caring for and raising successful citizens. this essential undertaking requires, among other things, our collective will to support all of america’s children, our commitment to fund high quality early care and education, and our shared appreciation for this work in building a stable, just, and prosperous future. economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions adria taha-resnick, kaia tollefson, joan karp allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the authors adria taha-resnick is faculty at california state university, channel islands. she has 25 years of experience in early care and education working as a teacher, administrator, and trainer and currently teaches future teachers. in addition to teaching, adria is the vice president for the california association for the education of young children, and chair of the ventura county local planning council. her interests include quality initiatives and building leadership in early care and education. kaia tollefson, ph.d., is a professor of education at california state university, channel islands. dr. tollefson has 35 years of experience as an educator and administrator at p-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels of schooling. she has authored a number of articles and two books, cultivating the learner-centered classroom and volatile knowing: parents, teachers, and the censored story of accountability in america's public schools, all of which seek to promote educational equity and excellence of opportunity for all students. current research interests include social justice in education, leadership, and critical friends groups as a professional development approach for faculty, staff, and administrators in higher education. joan m. karp, ph.d., is professor emerita at california state university, channel islands. after completing over 40 years as a teacher and professor of special education, dr. karp concluded her work at california state university, channel islands as director of the school of education. prior to her work at csuci, she was a teacher, researcher, and grant director at university of minnesota duluth, university of washington, university of california santa barbara and rhode island college. her research examined ways to prepare interdisciplinary educators and educators with disabilities for a variety of leadership roles in education. in addition, she studied organizational change and the integration of young children with disabilities into general education. references anttonen, a. 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(2016). fy2015 list of ccampis awards. retrieved from www2.ed.gov/programs/campisp/awards.html u.s. department of education. (2014). funding status. retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov./programs/campisp/funding.html https://www2.ed.gov./programs/campisp/funding.html economic, social, and moral imperatives of early care and education: understanding the national context and finding solutions context issue 1: the problem with “women’s work” context issue 2: research findings on the impact of high quality early care and education context issue 3: early care and education centers are needed on college campuses conclusion about the authors references reflections on self-care and (in)justice: commemorating the 4th anniversary of educators doing justice (edj) volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe reflections on self-care and (in)justice: commemorating the 4th anniversary of educators doing justice (edj) edj collective social pollution threatens our humanity. we are in survival mode. depleted low on oxygen, low on light, low on food, low on icu beds, low on hope and kindness environmentally contaminated, socially toxic emotionally drained from continually trying to heal from the wounds of apathy, disrespect, sexism, racism, poverty, and neglect unemployment, food lines, evictions black lives gone. let’s begin … again. our eyes look out onto the world; train them to look inward. now is the time for taking stock. imbalance happens when i engage in the woke/critical/radical/revolutionary olympics. imbalance happens when only anger feeds my action and i can tell others the things i cannot tell myself. when i have to have all the answers, because i am afraid to say, “i don’t know.” imbalance happens when i think i’m a savior, when i’m the only one. let’s begin, again. reflections on self-care and (in)justice: commemorating the 4th anniversary of educators doing justice (edj) edj collective allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe now is the time for action, and yet good things take time it takes time to build coalitions that weave a tight-knit community of support to honor the beauty of ventura county to speak truth yes, i am building, too. if good things take time, let me enjoy the journey. i tell my students just do the best you can. focus on what you can do. i can say that to myself too! if good things take time, let us enjoy this journey. the best learning comes from humility and being in community. listening to our realities is an ongoing challenge. in our school districts in oxnard, simi, santa paula, hueneme the seeds of institutional racism and exploitation were planted centuries ago in the missions, in segregated schools in the fields. look around you. who is reaping the benefits of this harvest? let’s begin. again. in every situation, examine equity: job, housing, and food security, comforts not afforded to all. let’s move forward with agency. we trust that we know what is best for our students and community we will be brave to decolonize our minds to improve our part of the world while we’re here we will sustain our social justice family. teach the whole person. focus on supporting students' basic needs. acknowledge our responsibility. share our wealth, share our light. with students and families reflections on self-care and (in)justice: commemorating the 4th anniversary of educators doing justice (edj) edj collective allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe food, clothing, shelter. in solidarity with others from the individual to the collective, from the well-known to the unknown, and back around. connect, hold space for families and students affinity spaces in languages families speak to share the weight of caring. inviting and welcoming the whole child into all learning spaces into libraries, classrooms, zoom, into our hearts and minds sharing. pull the curtains. throw open a window. let the light in. feel the ocean breeze over silver strand, and the oxnard plain, nyland acres, saticoy, and fillmore from saviers to the avenue embracing the possibilities for transformation and connecting our communities. let’s begin again. i affirm that ... i keep my heart protected so it doesn’t get damaged in the unjust world. i keep my heart content because therein lies my balance. i keep my heart singing because i learned that from nature. i keep my heart rested so i can serve when i see troubles weigh down others’ hearts. i keep my heart colorful to reflect the beauty around me. i keep my heart safe. it’s the only one i have. i keep my heart. reflections on self-care and (in)justice: commemorating the 4th anniversary of educators doing justice (edj) edj collective allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about edj edj requires of its members a firm commitment to upholding the equal dignity, worth, and humanity of all people and to promoting educational equity, access, and success for all students. these ideals are inspired by martin luther king, jr.’s wisdom, that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and by audre lorde’s caution, that “the master’s tools will never be used to dismantle the master’s house.” we understand these teachings to mean that those who pursue justice only for themselves (e.g., white feminists who are racist, for example, or racial equality workers who are heterosexist, or advocates for people with disabilities who are classist), can achieve only limited gains in their singleissue efforts. we believe, with lorde, that “there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not lead single-issue lives.” edj is committed to cultivating and enacting a coalition mindset, networking with other inclusive justice workers in the region, and building a system for shared communication and positive, productive action in pursuit of social justice in and through education https://www.educatorsdoingjustice.org/ https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.educatorsdoingjustice.org%2f&data=04%7c01%7cmarco.ruiz%40csuci.edu%7c74aa0b82f23241511b5d08d8a2ed32d4%7ce30f5bdb7f18435b84369d84aa7b96dd%7c1%7c0%7c637438486937974810%7cunknown%7ctwfpbgzsb3d8eyjwijoimc4wljawmdailcjqijoiv2lumziilcjbtii6ik1hawwilcjxvci6mn0%3d%7c1000&sdata=gttmdpgth%2btz2e1xrcv89by37ed0bgjgtclq9wmdxxk%3d&reserved=0 reflections on self-care and (in)justice: commemorating the 4th anniversary of educators doing justice (edj) about edj gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe gender identity awareness and inclusion— developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter talya drescher in 2016, california ab-329 was enacted to support a healthy and supportive learning environment for all students regarding sexuality and the inclusion of all people regardless of sexual preferences. section 651933-6 pointedly states that “instruction and materials shall teach pupils about gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes.” while families can choose to opt out of comprehensive sexual health education, california education code 51932b does not allow the opt out option for instruction outside the context of sexual health education, including lessons on gender diversity. this policy allows professionals the ability to address gender diversity in a safe classroom environment, ensuring accurate information is disseminated using age appropriate language and instructional methods. due to the dedication of national and california lawmakers, we have made much progress in addressing the needs and interests of our gender diverse communities and classrooms. this paper will demonstrate how one small california school district is expanding upon the framework that has been mandated by the state to also protect and educate our youngest students and create a foundation in their school and community for acceptance and equity. oak park unified school district (opusd) is located in a micropolitan area in ventura county and consists of three elementary schools, a middle school, a traditional high school, an independent learning k-12 school, and a continuation high school. the authors of this article, holly baxter, an elementary counselor and the coordinator for diversity and equity for opusd, and talya drescher, a teacher educator and parent of opusd students, came together for reasons both personal and professional to share the work of opusd regarding the implementation of a gender diversity program. a brief history of opusd’s work in this arena, lessons learned, and a description of the curriculum are presented along with general guidelines which provide a compass for those undertaking this work. gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe opusd began considering the need for an elementary level gender diversity lesson plan in fall, 2018 in response to ongoing concerns for the support and well-being of gender nonconforming students in the elementary school setting. merriam webster defines gender nonconforming (gender nonconforming, n.d.) as “exhibiting behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits that do not correspond with the traits typically associated with one's sex : having a gender expression that does not conform to gender norms.” this definition encompasses many students, including transgender, non-binary, and gender fluid students. it also includes students who challenge gender stereotypes, such as girls who wear their hair short and prefer sports during recess and boys who enjoy art and theatre or have their ears pierced. human rights campaign released the california lgbtq youth report (p. 11, 2018) which states that only 10% of california lgbtq youth report that their school staff is supportive; that 50% report being teased or bullied due to their sexual or gender identity (hrc, p. 13); and 28% have been threatened with physical violence (hrc, p. 13). opusd serves gender nonconforming students at every elementary site and in most grade levels and also works with students who have gender nonconforming family members. due to the possibility of negative outcomes after self-identification, it is difficult to determine exact numbers of gender nonconforming students or families in the district, however the wide variety of gender expression in opusd students merited acknowledgement and acceptance. these students and their families had worked closely with their school counselors, teachers, and principals over the preceding two years to develop individualized strategies and supports to ensure wellbeing, safety, and inclusion. as these students matured, it became clear to the teachers, counselors, and principals that their needs could no longer be met without involving the larger student body in the conversation about gender diversity. for example, comments about students’ actual and perceived gender identity were being made on the playground and during before-and-after school times. transgender and non-binary students and their families were expressing concerns about safety in the wake of bullying, and staff reported overhearing disturbing conversations between students that included the use of derogatory terms for gender diverse individuals. in light of these developments, and to ensure the safety of all students, opusd deemed it imperative that the topic of gender diversity must expand beyond merely working with individual students and their classes of immediate peers. with encouragement from the district superintendent, a small committee was formed in december of 2018 to investigate and develop a program to support gender nonconforming students and educate all students in the district’s elementary schools. the committee that was formed to address the needs of these students consisted of the co-author, the opusd director of student safety and support, and the opusd director of curriculum. over a period of approximately three months, the format and content of a k-5 (kindergarten through fifth grade) lesson plan began to take shape. for this work, the committee looked to organizations such as teaching tolerance, the human rights campaign, glsen, and welcoming schools for suggestions as to lesson topics and framework. the advocacy and diversity work of san francisco public schools, palo alto unified school district, seattle public schools, and british columbia public schools were also looked to as models for integration into classroom learning and staff involvement. in this review, it appeared to the committee that, although there were recommendations for teacher-led lessons and classroom activities, there was not yet a district that had implemented a comprehensive, social-emotional learning driven, district-wide lesson plan for each elementary https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gender%20expression https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/youthreport-california-final.pdf https://www.tolerance.org/ https://www.hrc.org/ https://www.glsen.org/ http://www.welcomingschools.org/ http://www.welcomingschools.org/ https://www.healthiersf.org/lgbtq/intheclassroom/curriculum.html#elem https://www.pausd.org/student-services/lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer-and-questioning-lgbtqq https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/one.aspx?portalid=627&pageid=15935 https://www.sogieducation.org/ https://www.sogieducation.org/ gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe classroom which specifically promoted inclusion, acceptance, and celebration of gender nonconforming individuals. understanding that without a community and culture of acceptance, gender non-conforming youth suffer much higher rates of mental illness, suicidal ideation, and bullying, a parallel initiative of teacher and staff education was also undertaken (rafferty, 2018; toomey et al, 2010). it was the opinion of opusd that without staff support and understanding of gender diversity, neither the proposed gender diversity program nor our gender-diverse students could flourish. over the period of the following year, administrators, teachers, and other selected supervisory personnel participated in three mandatory and one optional training focused on gender diversity, acceptance, and inclusion. in january, 2019, a proposed initial k-5 lesson plan trajectory was determined by the committee. this consisted of six distinct lessons, one for each grade level. all but one was accompanied by fictional literature that introduced the topic and sparked the conversation in a developmentally appropriate and accessible manner. the kindergarten lesson (see table 1) focused on acceptance of one and all, including different genders, abilities, and races. the third grade lesson expanded upon concepts of gender diversity with the introduction of a character who does not conform to gender norms in clothing. the gender spectrum as a concept was introduced in the third grade and this proposed lesson plan trajectory concluded in the fifth grade with a definition of transgender and non-binary descriptors. each lesson also contained an art component or activity which allowed students to express their own relationship to the material. it is important to note that the implementation and delivery of the lessons intentionally falls under the umbrella of the school counseling department and its existing character counts lesson plan format. elementary counselors in the opusd already visit classrooms monthly to deliver lessons on topics such as kindness, determination, responsibility, and to provide anti-bullying training and conflict resolution skills. these lessons are incorporated into this existing structure and are taught by the school counselors rather than classroom teachers. this delivery format allows for the topics to be addressed in a socialemotional context and provides assurance to elementary faculty that they are not required to become experts in a new field. once the initial lesson plan trajectory was determined by the committee, every care was taken to ensure that all stakeholders had the ability to review and understand its content. the committee presented the lesson plan content to district standing entities such as the safe kids task force, the curriculum council, district leadership, the parent faculty association, and, ultimately the school board, which approved its implementation with a unanimous vote. after this stage, there were no changes made to the lesson plan from what had been originally developed by the committee and all stakeholders voiced their support for the initiative. the lesson plan trajectory was then publicized on district websites, garnered attention in local news media, and was available for viewing at every elementary school site and elementary back to school night with parents and community in attendance. it was during this process that voices in opposition first asked to be heard and the decision was made to delay implementation of the proposed lesson plan until the committee and district leadership felt that the community was able to express their concerns. https://www.oakparkusd.org/page/10315 https://www.oakparkusd.org/page/145 https://www.oakparkusd.org/page/145 https://www.oakparkusd.org/page/7 gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe many individuals were invited to meet personally with an appropriate staff or board member to discuss their concerns; close to two-dozen such meetings were held. individuals who were not directly associated with opusd were informed of the board meeting calendar and the ability to voice any concerns to the board directly. in addition, the district added a parent/community information evening to the calendar which provided education not only about the proposed lesson plan, but also allowed an outside expert to educate the community about gender diversity. over 300 parents were in attendance. at the parent/community information evening, many questions were answered in a public forum and those that could not be answered due to time constraints were answered by email and then published on the district website. concerns generally focused on age appropriateness, religious viewpoints, and how the school would respond if questions about biology or sexual identity were raised by the students during lessons. throughout the process of hearing parent and staff feedback and comment, the committee continued to evaluate the proposed lesson plans and make changes which would better reflect the community of stakeholders and their concerns. as a result of these communications, an initial change was the removal of a music video that was originally proposed for the fourth grade lesson and a refocus on literature for this lesson. this change was made in order to better control the content of the lessons and its interpretation. after much deliberation, it was also decided that the proposed book for the fifth grade lesson would be removed as we evaluated whether each definition given in the proposed book was developmentally appropriate for our students. to solve both of these concerns, a single book was adopted for use in the fourth and fifth grades with slight differences in how it would be presented to the differing age groups. lastly, the first and second grade lessons were swapped because the committee determined that the introduction of non-binary concepts would be more developmentally appropriate for second graders (see included table 1 for links to the final lessons per grade). it was also decided through this process that the lesson schedule would be posted publicly and that families would be directly informed of the date and content of their class lesson one week prior to its delivery. despite requests to do so, in accordance with california education code, an opt-out provision was not provided to parents. gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 1 grade literature topics introduced k “it’s okay to be different” by todd parr ● diversity in all forms, including gender ● kindness towards others 1st “red, a crayon’s story” by michael hall ● difference between internal and external expression ● our “outsides” might not reflect what is on the “inside” ● we all express our gender differently 2nd “neither” by airlie anderson ● discussion of exclusion vs. inclusion ● introduction of binary vs. non-binary concepts ● acceptance of all 3rd “sparkle boy” by lesléa newman ● the meaning of gender ● the gender spectrum ● gender stereotypes ● being an ally 4th “jamie is jamie” by afsaneh moradian ● the gender spectrum ● non-binary individuals ● acceptance and inclusion ● being an ally 5th “jamie is jamie” by afsaneh moradian ● the gender spectrum ● non-binary individuals ● acceptance and inclusion ● being an ally ● pronouns in october, 2019, the first lesson was delivered in one fourth grade classroom. students actively engaged in the lesson, asking pertinent questions, rooting for the characters in the story, and employing critical thinking to challenge biases. the counselors leading the lessons reported student observations https://drive.google.com/file/d/0b8qwnxk1d-6aa1bolwzuulbxbhfqylnyeg1wymitv1z6avq0/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/0b8qwnxk1d-6asl9wqmtsvw5qugpcmk5ozursqwqxdtnisgpj/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oxd7c4rllpnucn2bwe4a7frasbkgkczr/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dybkihdttcoh7bu91bdqvwo6qom49081/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/18e0tkflovsyuqtff27aov2ozfbwoqhe5/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/18e0tkflovsyuqtff27aov2ozfbwoqhe5/view gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe such as, “that’s a gender stereotype!” and “i can be who i want; my gender doesn’t define me.” in one classroom, a student exclaimed to the class that the focal character in the book was similar to their classmate. this classmate they were referencing later wrote a thank you card describing that moment as “one of the best days of my life” and went on to say, “the kids in my class now know that not all kids are just boys or girls. i’m proud to be in this school district.” in the months following, the response from k-5 parents, students, and staff was overwhelmingly positive. parent responses included, “i’m sure it’s going to make such an imperative difference in their lives and help kids grow into more kind individuals” and “thank you to all of you for making the very best environment for not only my children but all of the children of oak park.” teacher comments included “the lesson was meaningful and the conversations that happened were great,” and “i thought that the lesson was age appropriate and that the students responded positively to the lesson.” additionally, the district was excited to receive inquiries from other districts and even private schools to learn more about the program, the process that was undertaken to develop it, and suggestions for best practices in developing similar programs elsewhere. when beginning initiatives in any social justice arena, there is bound to be debate, critique, and opposition. the development of this district’s gender diversity k-5 lesson plan was not exempt from such debate. due to the smaller size of the district, it was possible to hear these concerns on an individual basis through personalized, individual meetings that allowed for connection and understanding, a hallmark of any social justice work. in these meetings, great care was taken to listen openly to all concerns, acknowledge the personal beliefs of the meeting attendants, and keep the meetings personable. at each meeting, the lesson materials were available for reference and review which often resulted in concerns being solved on the spot. meetings such as these were not always easy but instrumental to address opposition to the message of acceptance and understanding. in fact, in some cases, despite differing opinions, the community was made stronger by these open and frank discussions as they allowed for open dialogue between school staff and the parents and the provision of factual information regarding the topics and content of the lessons. some of the unique attributes of this district in regards to size, existing programs, and surrounding community, created both hurdles and bridges for implementation of what might be perceived as a controversial lesson plan. however, common best practices can be derived from our process that can be considered for any district or school considering such an initiative. these are: be overt rather than covert. processes and decision making should be readily accessible for any and all to see. in each step of the process, involve the necessary stakeholders to hear feedback and offer comments. keep track of these efforts and publicize them to ensure families of the intention towards transparency and openness. in opusd, the program was initially publicized to the community with a letter from the district superintendent which was sent electronically to all parents. a website containing all pertinent information, lesson descriptions, and lesson schedules was publicly available. to begin the school year, an information table was set up and staffed at each elementary site’s back to school night; the program was announced to attendees at these events. brochures outlining the program were also available at gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe each school. prior to this, teachers were presented with the lesson plan at mandatory staff meetings, were given a printed teacher toolkit and were encouraged to review the materials and raise any concerns. build a base of internal support. through education and information, identify the core group of allies who are able and willing to be stalwart supporters of the work that is being done. utilize the many wonderful resources available online or in the community to educate staff members at staff meetings, through staff development opportunities, and in written form. connect those members of the staff who voice positive support with each other and encourage them to share their thoughts with their respective grade level teams. initiate the message of inclusion and acceptance from a district level to provide a level of assurance that staff will be supported as they introduce these topics in their classrooms. consider creating a toolkit of materials for each staff member providing answers to commonly asked questions. opusd was able to identify these allies by first looking to those who had been a part of previous individual discussions to support gender nonconforming students. the counseling department had already discussed the needs of these students in other forums and became important members of the implementation efforts. teachers who had worked with transgender, non-binary, or gender fluid students in their classrooms were wonderful voices of support. lastly, the parents of gender nonconforming students helped provide resources and personal perspective. keep the message clear and simple. all information about any new program should be readily available on your own website or common method of information dissemination. information presented should be kept simple, highlighting the main points and written using accessible language. translation should be considered depending on your community. inquiries should be directed to this source to ensure continuity in the message. avoid linking to other organizations or materials that you cannot control; this can confuse the message and erroneously suggest that other topics are being introduced or discussed. opusd’s program was specifically designed through a collaborative and organic process to meet the needs of its community. when links were provided to other organizations, community members easily became confused between what was part of the program being enacted in opusd classrooms and other organizations’ materials that addressed topics such as sexual identity, transitioning youth, or biology and human development. additionally, social media conversations would often provide erroneous information. rather than engaging in this forum, opusd controlled the message by referring all inquiries to our website and the district controlled message provided there. this article provides a brief overview of the process that one district took to create a gender diversity k5 lesson plan trajectory and related lesson plans. our hope is that by describing this process and deliberations, we provide material for further discussion, debate, and conversation within districts, communities, or school sites. it is our job as educators to support and educate all students under our care, even when it is not comfortable or easy; it is at those times that we know we are doing the most meaningful work. gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students holly baxter; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the authors holly baxter, ma, pps, mft is a school counselor with oak park unified school district. she has worked with children and adolescents in the therapeutic and educational settings for over twenty years and serves as the coordinator for diversity and equity for opusd schools. dr. talya drescher is an assistant professor of special education at california state university, channel islands. she has over a decade of experience as a k-12 special educator in los angeles area public schools. her areas of research include co-teaching in pre-service programs and the use of mixed reality simulation in post-secondary education. references human rights campaign foundation. (2019). california lgbtq youth report. human rights campaign. https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/youthreport-california-final.pdf merriam-webster. (n.d.). gender nonconforming. in merriam-webster.com dictionary. retrieved september 10, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gender%20nonconforming rafferty, j. (2018). committee on psychosocial aspects of child and family health committee on adolescence. ensuring comprehensive care and support for transgender and gender-diverse children and adolescents. pediatrics, 142(4), e20182162. toomey, r. b., ryan, c., diaz, r. m., card, n. a., & russell, s. t. (2010). gender-nonconforming lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: school victimization and young adult psychosocial adjustment. developmental psychology, 46(6), 1580. gender identity awareness and inclusion—developing and implementing a k-5 lesson plan trajectory to support all students about the authors references book review: the purpose of power: how we come together when we fall apart. volume 3, issue 2 2021 allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe book review: the purpose of power: how we come together when we fall apart. alicia garza, one world, 2020. monica pereira alicia garza didn't have to become a community organizer. but she did. the purpose of power has been over 20 years in the making, and it is clear that garza’s personal transformation has been fueled by her life experiences and the knowledge she gained through her formal education. this potent dialectic has changed the way she thinks about finding the power to build community, and the purpose of that power. this book describes her journey. the purpose of power is divided into three sections, a description of garza’s personal journey, what her organizing experience taught her, and how movements grow. throughout the book garza shares some of the wisdom of her experiences, and about the ideas she learned. the significance of how she transformed those ideas and experiences into personal action on behalf of a community is an integral part of her narrative. working with people across a spectrum of political, religious, and social strata, and learning to listen to those she may not have agreed with are perhaps crucial in the work of creating livable communities. alicia garza, patrisse cullors and opal tometi are the three black women who seeded and nurtured the black lives matter movement. garza’s book is a reminder that black women have often been made invisible or relegated to supportive positions in social and political movements. part of her intent with this book is to counter any misapprehension that black women lack agency in these arenas. for each black woman’s name we might have heard, rosa parks, fannie lou hamer, anita hill, and countless others who have given their energies to creating a different world for us, their contributions are not a substantive part of the historical record of this country. garza’s book also reminds us that in an era of social media, it is in-person encounters that have the power to change lives, reminding us that “what people are willing to do on social media doesn’t always translate into what they’re willing to do in their everyday lives” (p. 144). social media is just one tool to disseminate information, but it cannot and should not supplant face-to-face interaction if the change we work for is to have solid foundations. working for substantive change requires elbow grease, book review: the purpose of power: how we come together when we fall apart. monica pereira allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe commitment, and a willingness to learn from what makes us uncomfortable. garza recommends that we embrace discomfort. the purpose of power is a persuasive rendering of the value of understanding how governance works, and the importance of engaging with government at local and national levels to design communities that are healthy and sustainable. in retrospect, the purpose of power is really about growing our ability to discover our own power of purpose as we become the leaders we wish for our communities. about the author monica pereira is a librarian at csu channel islands and a member of educators doing justice (edj). book review: the purpose of power: how we come together when we fall apart. about the author preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? volume 2, issue 2 2019 allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? melissa anne spence assistant professor california lutheran university tymika wesley assistant professor california lutheran university research focused on the academic achievement of k-12 students indicates that students from historically non-dominant communities continue to receive inequitable and/or ineffective educational opportunities (ladson-billings, 2006; national research council, 2002). these historically non-dominant communities include culturally and linguistically diverse students as well as students with disabilities. traditionally acknowledged as an achievement gap, this disparity in academic achievement between historically non-dominant student populations and their peers creates barriers to the achievement of a quality education for all, despite federal legislation to do so (e.g., every student succeeds act, 2015). disproportionality, or the overrepresentation of marginalized groups in special education, further threatens equity in educational practices (carter, skiba, arredondo, & pollock, 2017). to ensure the achievement of all students, it is necessary for educators to embrace and leverage the diversity existing in today’s classrooms by designing equitable instructional experiences that affirm and validate students’ diverse ways of learning and knowing (kea & trent, 2013). however, for this to occur, teachers must (a) be prepared to delve into culturally responsive teaching practices, and (b) understand how to design instruction in a culturally responsive fashion. the onus of responsibility thus falls to teacher preparation programs to not only ensure teacher candidates are prepared to engage diverse learners but to adequately assess their candidates’ readiness to bring their knowledge to their students. in the following paper, we examine the literature regarding culturally responsive teaching practices and teacher-efficacy in implementing such practices. we further reflect on the alignment of our own teacher preparation program to the current literature and how we assess teacher candidates’ ability to design equitable instructional environments for diverse learners. preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? melissa anne spence;tymika wesley allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the current landscape the every student succeeds act (essa, 2015) requires states to annually evaluate teacher education programs to ensure teacher candidates are learning skills and building the necessary disposition to provide instruction to culturally and linguistically diverse students (darling-hammond et al., 2016). the california department of education (cde) has created teacher performance expectations (tpes) which require teacher candidates to demonstrate proficiency in employing inclusive pedagogical practices (cde, n.d.). further, the individuals with disabilities education act (idea, 2004) demands academic rigor and opportunity for all students with disabilities, offering safeguards to protect against misidentification and placements in restrictive, segregated learning environments. however, despite legal protections and state mandates, many students continue to fall through the cracks. students of color are disproportionately represented in special education classrooms (shealey, mchatton, & wilson, 2011; sullivan & bal, 2013). a 2016 national report found that american indian/alaska native and black students had the highest percentages of students served under idea (16% and 15% respectively) followed by students who are white (13%), hispanic (12%), pacific islander (11%), and asian (6%) (musugillete et al., 2016). further, once deemed eligible for special education services, students of color are more likely to receive services in more segregated settings (i.e., an isolated special education classroom vs. an inclusive general education setting) (skiba et al., 2011) and are more likely to miss academic instruction. at a rate of 48.4%, black students, both male and female, are suspended from school at far higher rates than their asian (11.2%), white (21.4%), and hispanic (22.6%) peers (musu-gillete et al., 2016). further, linguistically and culturally diverse students are less likely to meet academic learning standards (garcia, arias, harris murri, & serna, 2010). for the 2018 california statewide assessment, asian (75%) and white (64%) students were more likely to meet or exceed standards than their hispanic (38%) and black (32%) peers (cde, 2018). while this data highlights an achievement gap, the challenges are much more complex than mere differences in achievement. an achievement gap is a scholastic disparity between groups of students (ladson-billings, 2013a). however, the term achievement gap ignores underlying historical, political, and economic factors for such academic discrepancies (flores, 2018). more recent literature reframes conversations regarding student achievement to include systemic causes of inequities in educational attainment, such as reduced access to: well funded and adequately resourced schools, certified and experienced teachers, rigorous curriculum, and student-centered practices (boykin & noguera, 2011; gorski, 2013). thus, the term opportunity gap often replaces achievement gap in the literature (gorski, 2013; ladson-billings, 2013b). opportunity gaps not only acknowledge the societal and systemic inequities leading to student underperformance but shifts our cultural lens from achievement resulting from reactive responses (e.g., removal from inclusive settings) to opportunity resulting from proactive measures (e.g., designing instruction accessible to all students) (ladson-billings, 2013b). culturally responsive teaching in teacher preparation programs conceptual and pedagogical models have emerged to assist teachers in envisioning proactive planning and instruction as a way to minimize opportunity gaps. for example, culturally responsive teaching (gay, 2000) and culturally relevant pedagogy (ladson-billings, 1995) focus on planning instruction that leverages students’ cultural assets and responds to students' specific academic needs. culturally preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? melissa anne spence;tymika wesley allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe sustaining pedagogy (paris, 2012) highlights the critical importance of including students’ cultural references and funds of knowledge in instructional decisions and designing instruction that affirms students’ cultural ways of being and knowing. pedagogical design capacity (pdc) frames pedagogical planning and can be helpful in assessing pedagogical planning skills in pre-service teachers. pdc is a conceptual framework examining selfefficacy in infusing one’s personal resources (i.e. knowledge, beliefs, identity, orientations) into external curriculum (lim, son & kim, 2018). the pdc framework supports culturally responsive pedagogical practices, offsetting the limitations of traditional and standardized curriculum materials typically designed for wide, rather than targeted, student audiences. in order to directly target diverse student needs, pdc allows teachers to modify and adapt curriculum in ways that affirm diverse cultural experiences and capitalize on students’ assets (beyer & davis, 2012; brown, 2009). the pdc framework describes three patterns, or strategies, of curriculum use—offloading, adapting, and improvising (brown, 2009). offloading refers to using the provided curriculum with fidelity. adapting uses the provided curriculum as a resource but adds, deletes, or modifies elements as needed. improvising refers to designing instruction from scratch, minimally assisted by existing resources. in terms of curriculum use, adapting seems to be the most effective strategy for teacher candidates. lim et al. (2018), examined teacher candidates’ capacity for lesson planning and found that when given the option to design lessons using any of the pdc strategies, pre-service teachers were most skilled in adapting. those who employed this strategy also reported greater self-efficacy regarding their lesson design and implementation. improvising was the most difficult strategy. pre-service teachers struggled to independently design lessons that effectively addressed learning objectives, utilized students’ background knowledge, and responded to students’ academic needs. lastly, the center for research on education, diversity, and excellence (crede) created a set of standards focused on providing effective instruction to diverse student populations. the crede standards (2006) include: joint productive activity (collaboration), language and literacy development (developing academic language across content), contextualization (connecting students’ prior knowledge and lived experiences), challenging activities (adding depth and complexity to instruction), and instructional conversations (encouraging academic dialogue). rather than a strict reliance on curriculum, these standards offer practical guidance for teachers to create instruction incorporating best teaching practices. despite these resources, preparing teachers to effectively plan and implement instruction for diverse learners remains a consistent challenge for teacher preparation programs (kea & trent, 2013; shealey et al., 2011). in examining classroom-based research studies, researchers found that less than one third of classroom teachers utilized culturally relevant pedagogy as a way to promote academic success and cultural competence (young, 2010). many first-year teachers enter the field feeling underprepared to handle the level of skill and expertise required to effectively instruct diverse students (delpit, 2006; paris, 2012). new teachers often struggle to support students in ways that promote cultural responsiveness (kea & trent, 2013; shealey et al., 2011). even veteran teachers have difficulty contextualizing and consistently creating learning environments in which instruction connects to the lived experiences of their diverse student populations. preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? melissa anne spence;tymika wesley allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe assessing equitable planning our teacher preparation program is situated at a small private institution in southern california. we currently utilize a traditional lesson plan template and rubric to assess teacher candidates’ readiness to design equitable instruction for diverse student populations. but are we succeeding in this endeavor? we wanted to accomplish the following goals while examining our program’s instructional design: (a) determine the percentage of students who score ‘proficient’ or above on lesson planning assignments, and (b) review the department’s current lesson plan rubric to ensure its components adequately assess teacher candidates’ ability to design equitable instruction. currently, teacher candidates receive a score from 1-4, with 1 deemed ‘unacceptable’ and 4 rated as ‘superior.’ an analysis of rubric data from the last two years indicates the majority of our candidates (97%) score at ‘proficient’ or above (scores of 3 or 4) on lesson plan development. yet, to what degree does this performance indicate their ability to provide equitable and inclusive instruction? in comparing the criteria described in our grading rubric against the crede standards, we found that our current lesson plan rubric focuses heavily on language and literacy development and contextualization. for example, the lesson plan encourages academic language development activities and prompts candidates to connect learning goals to students’ prior knowledge. it does not, however, specifically assess candidates’ ability to utilize the crede standards related to depth, complexity, and the use of academic discourse (i.e., challenging activities and instructional conversations standards). a further comparison using the pdc framework highlights the high degree of improvising our lesson plan requires. candidates are required to create a lesson plan from scratch, rather than adapt from the curriculum utilized in their student teaching environment. an improvised lesson plan model often proves challenging for preservice teachers, as it requires them to design culturally responsive and inclusive instruction with minimal curricular support. a basic and improvised lesson plan is not enough for us to ensure our teacher candidates are ready for diverse student populations. instead of encouraging candidates to create equitable instruction from scratch, we should focus on having candidates adapt district provided curriculum in ways that attend to students’ diverse learning needs. yet, while adjusting the lesson plan and rubric are a start, larger challenges still exist. candidates must observe and interact with culturally responsive teachers and classrooms with diverse students to practice designing culturally responsive instruction (kea & trent, 2013). do our candidates have enough time to know and understand students’ diverse learning needs in order to design culturally responsive lesson plans? do our veteran master teachers and clinical supervisors have the self-efficacy and skills to model culturally responsive teaching to candidates? it is worth further investigating strategies to assist candidates in designing instruction that meet all of the crede standards and follow the pdc framework without adding stress and anxiety to an admittedly challenging task. preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? melissa anne spence;tymika wesley allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the authors dr. mel spence is an assistant professor in the department of learning and teaching in the graduate school of education. she has 13 years of professional experience working with individuals with autism with 10 of those years spent with the los angeles unified school district. dr. spence’s research focuses on promoting the instructional efficacy for non-verbal students with autism and helping teachers implement evidence-based practice within their classrooms. dr. spence teaches courses on assessment, iep development, instructional strategies, and non-academic supports. she has been recognized by the dadd division of cec for the tom e.c. smith early career award and best practitioner research. dr. tymika wesley is an assistant professor at california lutheran university. dr. wesley teaches courses in the department of learning and teaching on instructional design and culturally and linguistically diverse k-12 student populations. dr. wesley’s research focuses on creating effective learning environments for students from historically non-dominant communities, k-12 teacher performance and effectiveness, culturally relevant pedagogical practices, and cultural proficiency in teacher preparation programs. dr. wesley’s work around cultural proficiency is important because it addresses both individual and systemic impacts on k-12 student populations that are often under-addressed in educational research. references beyer, c., & davis, e. (2012). developing preservice elementary teachers' pedagogical design capacity for reform-based curriculum design. curriculum inquiry, 42(3), 386-413. brown, m. w. (2009). the teacher-tool relationship: theorizing the design and use of the curriculum materials. in j. t. remillard, b. a. herbel-eisenmann, & g. m. lloyd (eds.), mathematics teachers at work: connecting curriculum materials and classroom instruction (pp.17-36). new york, ny: routledge. boykin, a., noguera, p., & association for supervision and curriculum development. (2011). creating the opportunity to learn: moving from research to practice to close the achievement gap. alexandria, va: ascd. california department of education (2018). california assessment of student performance and progress (caspp) results for english language arts (ela) by ethnic designation. retrieved march 1, 2019 from: https://caaspp.cde.ca.gov/sb2018/search california department of education (n.d.). equity and access. retrieved october 20, 2018 from: https://www.cde.ca.gov/qs/ea/ carter, p.l., skiba, r., arredondo, m.i., & pollock, m. (2017). you can’t fix what you don’t look at: acknowledging race in addressing racial discipline disparities. urban education 52(2), 207-235. center for research on education, diversity & excellence (2006). standards: development of crede standards. retrieved october 15, 2018 from: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/coe/credenational/the-credefive-standards-for-effective-pedagogy-and-learning/ https://www.cde.ca.gov/qs/ea/ preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? melissa anne spence;tymika wesley allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe darling-hammond, l., bae, s., cook-harvey, c., lam, l., mercer, c., podolsky, a., stosich, e. (2016). pathways to new accountability through the every student succeeds act. palo alto: learning policy institute. delpit, l. (2006). lessons from teachers. journal of teacher education, 57(3), 220-231. every student succeeds act, pub. l. no. 114-95 § 114 stat. 1177 (2015-2016). flores, o. (2018). (re) constructing the language of the achievement gap to an opportunity gap: the counternarratives of three african american women school leaders. journal of school leadership, 28(3), 344-373. garcia, e., arias, m.b., harris murri, n.j., serna, c. (2010). developing responsive teachers: a challenge for a demographic reality. journal of teacher education, 6(1-2), 132-134. gay, g. (2000). culturally responsive teaching: theory, research, and practice. new york, ny: teachers college press. gorski, p. (2013). reaching and teaching students in poverty: strategies for erasing the opportunity gap (2nd ed.). new york, ny: teachers college press.individuals with disabilities education improvement act, 20 u.s.c. § 1400 et seq. (2004). kea, c.d., & trent, s.c. (2013). providing culturally responsive teaching in field-based and student teaching experiences: a case study. interdisciplinary journal of teaching and learning, 3(2), 82-101. ladson-billings, g. (1995). toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. american educational research journal, 32(3), 465-491. ladson-billings, g. (2006). from achievement gap to the educational debt: understanding achievement in u.s. schools. educational researcher, 35(7), 3-12. ladson-billings, g. (2013a). "stakes is high": educating new century students. the journal of negro education, 82(2), 105-110. ladson-billings, g. (2013b). lack of achievement or loss of opportunity? in p.l. carter & k.g. welner (eds.), closing the opportunity gap: what america must do to give every child an even chance (pp. 1-16). oxford, uk: oxford university press. lim, w., son, j., & kim, d. (2018). understanding preservice teacher skills to construct lesson plans. international journal of science and mathematics education, 16(3), 519-538. musu-gillette, l., robinson, j., mcfarland, j., kewalramani, a., zhang, a., & wilkinson-flicker, s. (2016). status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups (nces 2016-007). washington, dc: u.s. department of education, national center for education statistics. national research council (2002). minority students in special and gifted education (committee on minority representation in special education, m. s. donovan, & c. t. cross, eds.). washington, dc: national academy press. preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? melissa anne spence;tymika wesley allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe paris, d. (2012). culturally sustaining pedagogy: a needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. educational researcher, 41(3), 93–97. shealey, m.w., mchatton, p.a., & wilson, v. (2011). moving beyond disproportionality: the role of culturally responsive teaching in special education. teaching education, 22(4), 377-396. skiba, r.j., horner, r.h., chung, c., rausch, m.k., may, s.l., & tobin, t. (2011). race is not neutral: a natural investigation of african american and latino disproportionality in school discipline. school psychology review, 40, 85-107. sullivan, a.l. & bal, a. (2013). disproportionality in special education: effects of individual and school variables on disability risk. exceptional children 79(4), 475-494. young, e. (2010). challenges to conceptualizing and actualizing culturally relevant pedagogy: how viable is the theory in classroom practice? journal of teacher education, 61(3), 248–260. preparing teacher candidates for diverse learners: are we doing enough? the current landscape culturally responsive teaching in teacher preparation programs assessing equitable planning about the authors dr. tymika wesley is an assistant professor at california lutheran university. dr. wesley teaches courses in the department of learning and teaching on instructional design and culturally and linguistically diverse k-12 student populations. dr. wesley... references reset initiative®: practical strategies for supporting educators and students volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe reset initiative®: practical strategies for supporting educators and students christina pabers thérèse walsh the reset initiative® is an online or live, 7-minute per day, social and emotional learning program designed to support educators, students, and families. reset, which stands for respiratory exercises for social and emotional teaching, originated in mexico city under the name of más respiración consciente and continues to be implemented there in kindergarten through 12th grade. the techniques that make up reset are aligned with the five social and emotional competencies identified by collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning (casel). this article highlights some of the key features of reset and the experiences of educators and students in schools in the us. when society fosters a nurturing and health-stabilizing environment for educators, administrators and students, everybody benefits. the reset initiative® offers a set of core practices that support the brain, nervous system and entire body in the process of teaching, learning, self-regulating and successfully interacting with each other. these practices are aligned with mind/body wellness and social emotional wellness principles. specifically, each of the techniques that make up a reset session can be categorized into one or more of the five social and emotional competencies identified by the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning (casel). the five social and emotional competencies are tools for living a healthy and balanced life. these five skills, according to casel, are self-awareness, self-management, good decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills. reset utilizes 7-minute protocols which can be led by classroom teachers, counselors, para-educators, administrators, and students themselves. these protocols are meant for use at the beginning of the school day, and they are composed of a series of 1and 2-minute exercises. these 1and 2-minute exercises can also be used throughout the day as needed, whether to focus attention, use up excited energy, or calm the mind and nervous system. each reset protocol integrates casel’s five core competencies to support the development of social and emotional learning through balance, respiratory fitness, and academic readiness. additionally, many reset exercises are designed to give students and educators an opportunity to move, breathe, stretch and vocalize so as to break up periods of inactivity, improve blood circulation, and oxygenate the body while enhancing academic readiness. lastly, a key feature of this program is the process of connecting the voice to the breath in order to project vocal strength, to enunciate, to produce musical sounds, and to create rhythm. these elements https://casel.org/ https://casel.org/ reset initiative®: practical strategies for supporting educators and students christina pabers; thérèse walsh allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe of music therapy are integrated into each 7-minute protocol to stimulate the cerebral cortex, enhance breathing, and increase student confidence in using their voice. the videos below provide information about the philosophical and scientific underpinnings of reset and how it is being used in schools. videos overbrook educational center reset initiative® interviews of educators and administrators on their experience of reset. this video includes footage of classroom 7-minute protocols. date filmed, fall, 2019 view principal meredith foote of overbrook educational center overbrook educational center’s principal meredith foote speaks about the virtual application of reset and especially the ‘intention of the week’. date filmed, september, 2020 view 7 minute reset protocol with ashley winn this video is a sample of a seven-minute protocol that can be played in class or virtually as well as learned by the educator or student and taught live in the classroom. date filmed, august, 2020 view children talk about reset to hueneme school district meeting two elementary students talk about reset at a board meeting and a reset coach teaches one exercise to the entire room. date filmed, spring, 2019 view reset initiative® and the brain and nervous system this video is a discussion on the functioning of the brain and nervous system and the mechanisms of reset exercises. date filmed, august, 2020 view as reset protocols are used for increasing lengths of time, their effects on teacher and student wellness, academic performance, and school culture will be observed. a research project for this purpose was initiated by professors in the school of education at csu channel islands in 2020. we hope that educators who undergo the process of learning and performing reset exercises on their own and with students will elicit deeper conversations about and commitment to the essential project of supporting wellness for educators, students, and families. https://jsbl-ojs-media.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/afe/v3n1/ojs_afe_v3-1_walsh_reset_overbrook-educational-center-reset-initiative.webm https://jsbl-ojs-media.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/afe/v3n1/ojs_afe_v3-1_walsh_reset_principal-meredith.webm https://jsbl-ojs-media.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/afe/v3n1/ojs_afe_v3-1_walsh_reset_reset-for-a-positive-day.webm https://jsbl-ojs-media.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/afe/v3n1/ojs_afe_v3-1_walsh_reset_hueneme-school-district.webm https://jsbl-ojs-media.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/afe/v3n1/ojs_afe_v3-1_walsh_reset_reset-initiative-the-brain-nervous-system.webm reset initiative®: practical strategies for supporting educators and students christina pabers; thérèse walsh allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe to learn more about reset initiative in the united states or más respiración consciente in mexico visit resetinitiative.com and masrespiracionconsciente.com. about the authors christina pabers phd, ma tcm, l.ac has served in the field of health and fitness for over 33 years. her phd and master’s degrees are in oriental medicine from american university of complementary medicine and yo san university respectively. her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, exercise science is from california state university northridge. she teaches internationally and writes curriculum on the topics of anatomy/physiology, neurology, chinese meridian physiology, exercise safety and the effects of meditation on the brain, nervous system and endocrine system for the naam yoga teacher certification programs. she owns and runs a medical clinic called harmonyum healing center in camarillo, california. thérèse walsh has been practicing yoga since 1994, has completed two 200-hour yoga teaching certifications and has taught adults and children of all ages and abilities. she is an institute for integrated nutrition health coach and a heart math, add heart® facilitator. she has a bachelor of science degree from pennsylvania state university. before devoting her work full time to reset initiative, she worked in the supply chain industry where looking for ways to do things better became a daily habit. “with my lean six sigma training i realize the importance of addressing root causes, getting the right people involved, and creating a problem-solving culture where you start small, build, sustain and grow.” this business mindset along with her interest in the science of breath attracted thérèse to the reset philosophy of creating a streamlined way for people to incorporate intentional breathing as a daily habit and lifestyle. https://resetinitiative.com/ http://masrespiracionconsciente.com/ reset initiative®: practical strategies for supporting educators and students videos overbrook educational center reset initiative® principal meredith foote of overbrook educational center 7 minute reset protocol with ashley winn children talk about reset to hueneme school district meeting view reset initiative® and the brain and nervous system about the authors das ist leben volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe das ist leben alexander drescher talya drescher our family temporarily moved to germany from ventura county at the start of this school year. my partner and i can work remotely and in germany, covid-19 is being handled in such a way the children have been able to attend school in person from the start of the school year. my kids have dual citizenship so we thought that we should take advantage of the opportunity to immerse them in the language and culture for a length of time that would be unheard of typically due to our work in the united states. after a few months of being here, we see that this is not the exciting adventure some think we are on; this is not vacation, nor is it necessarily fun. my partner and i are working u.s. hours (usually into the early morning here) while the children go to school during the day. when they come home, hours are spent doing homework and helping them navigate their new world. of course, there are tremendous benefits to our situation. our children are now largely bilingual and bicultural, we have made friends and celebrate cultural and religious events new and exciting to us, we are learning about an agrarian lifestyle, and…there is snow! while we have not been in a complete lockdown due to covid, we ae spending a lot more time together due to closures of public and indoor places. my son, alex, started keeping a journal so that he can share his experiences with his classmates and friends upon our return to the united states. we thought it would be fun to write together, and this piece is a product of that endeavor. alex’s words are written in plain text and my interpretations and explanations are italicized. hello. my name is alex. i’m in the 5th grade, or at least i would be if i were in the united states. i’m in germany right now because of covid-19 and here in germany the covid situation is better than in california. we decided that because our kids have dual citizenship, we’d take this opportunity to live overseas where the schools are open and the covid rates are relatively low. the word “better,” used by my son, is a matter of opinion. it may be better from the perspective of children being able to go to school and socialize with peers. in terms of the ability to move around the region, go to playgrounds, enjoy the four seasons and be immersed in a new culture, it’s better. “better” is relative though, and my son feels the das ist leben alexander drescher; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe need to share his thoughts about schools here in relation to the tradeoff for other “better” qualities that were named above. i’m here to tell you about the schools and my experience where i live in germany. first, compared to my classmates in the united states, the people, boys specifically, are not welcoming. for example, they say a ton of bad words and believe it or not they are all in english. my mom and i think that they don't know what the words mean, but they also say them in german sometimes, so i think that they do. i think that they say these inappropriate things because they want to feel like they are growing up faster. oddly, it is seemingly true; the language i have heard the school children use is, by my standards, pretty vulgar. by the way the words are used, i am not sure if the meaning is truly understood but i suppose kids say bad words sometimes to get a rise out of others. alex has definitely increased his english vocabulary in the realm of profanity! in terms of “growing up faster,” kids here do have more responsibility at a younger age. for example, alex is in the fifth grade and is in high school (it is called “gymnasium”). he has a schedule which changes class by class and daily. he must monitor the online communication system for frequent changes in the schedule and navigate complex social situations more typically experienced by older children in the u.s.. he went from elementary school to a school comprised of grades five through 13. if you forget a form or bring the wrong book, it is your bad luck. there are no exceptions or supports for foreign or new students who are learning the language. when we asked a teacher about this and similar practices, the response was “das ist leben” or “that’s life.” in other words, get used to it. the second thing about the students at my school is that they make fun of me for being different. one example where i wish “difference” was celebrated is in the realm of religion; when the children were enrolled in school, religion must be indicated. we noted that in the computer system, our selected religion was marked as “other.” based on this information, children either take one of two religion classes; catholic or evangelical; or an ethics class, starting in the first grade. i have heard kids and adults alike ask if you are in a “religion class” or the “nothing class.” i never thought of islam, judaism buddhism, etc. as “nothing.” alex is made fun of regularly, and he proclaims that he is “bullied” for being different. i do not doubt this to be true, and it’s troubling. we have spoken with a few teachers about some of his stories and complaints. two of the teachers simply said, “das ist leben” and implied that it will make him stronger and he will learn. perhaps that’s true, but as a parent, i think it is also true that the perpetrators will learn that their behavior is acceptable and “difference” is something that can be frowned upon and shamed. now about the teachers at my school. they are very nice and respect every question asked, but if your class is very loud or annoying then the teacher will flip out. my teachers say things like, “hold your beaks!” or “shut up!” out of frustration. my class is really loud and doesn’t listen a lot of the time so there is some yelling. i have a hard time following what the teachers are saying because the class is so loud and i’m trying to understand in another language (and with masks on!); it’s hard. from the tales i hear daily, classroom management seems to be a challenge. it might be due to the challenging times world-wide but there do not appear to be systems in place outside of the punitive. i am guessing that positive behavioral supports would go a long way... das ist leben alexander drescher; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe because i am in gymnasium, we have a new class about every 45 minutes. for each different class you have a different teacher or sometimes we have double hours which means that we have a class for 90 minutes. i am used to elementary school where you are in a class for the whole day with one teacher and all of my books were in a desk. the first week here, i had 30 pounds in my backpack every day but then my teacher looked in my bag in front of my classmates and said that i should carry only the books i need for the classes on that day. this was confusing and embarrassing to me, but i learned how to read the “stundenplan” which tells you what classes you have each day of the week. in the beginning, i didn't understand the idea of the studenplan and that's why i put 30 pounds on my back. i was afraid of forgetting something and the teacher getting mad and shaming me in front of the class. this was indeed a big shift for my son – elementary to high school, english to german, one class to multiple classes, and all from one day to the next. the first weeks were indeed rough and there were many tears resulting from language misunderstandings and sheer exhaustion from trying so hard to do things “right” but not quite getting it. we are not used to the public shaming which seems to be the norm. we had to tell alex that he does not need perfect grades and we try to impress upon him how proud we are that he is learning a new language and culture on top of a rigorous academic program. this does not help much when the teachers announce everyone’s grades in class and he is not near the top. as a recent immigrant, the policy is that he should not receive formal grades for a year to help with the language acquisition process. that has not happened, and his exams come home covered in red. i have come to accept that it is really a sink or swim kind of experience and he is working hard every day to stay buoyant in what feels like a pool of oil. some of the different subjects at school are math, english, religion or ethics, german, sport, nature, geography, art, and theater. in sport right now we have swimming and i need to memorize the way to the swim center so i can walk there to and from school. i once wore the wrong shoes and my socks got soaked in the snow because i did not think about needing to leave the gymnasium to go to sport class. during sport i used to have something called “circus” where we learned how to ride a unicycle and walk on a ball. my dad bought me a unicycle and we practice when it’s warm enough outside. the variety of subjects they have in the fifth grade is pretty amazing and even though he comes home with red on his papers, alex is learning about such a wide variety of topics. we are quite impressed. walking to and from the sport facility is a bit more independent than we were accustomed to, but over the last months we have noticed an independence and confidence that i think will serve him well in middle school upon our return. my mom and dad say that we will stay here a while longer and i want to go home but i also want to stay. i have friends in both places and i see that there are both good and bad things no matter what. it’s confusing. my heart ached when i read alex’s final paragraph. the current time is indeed confusing and it’s a confusion i cannot explain and clarify to a child. i don’t know what tomorrow will bring in terms of covid, and being a foreigner to this culture myself, i too don’t understand the unspoken rules of our adopted temporary home. alex is insightful; there are pluses and minuses to every situation. das ist leben, indeed. das ist leben alexander drescher; talya drescher allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the authors alexander drescher is currently in the fifth class in gymnasium in southern germany. if covid-19 had not hit he would be in the fifth grade in ventura county, california. alex is a storyteller, a coin collector, and a protective brother to his little sister. in his free time, alex likes to write stories about the california gold rush, research old coins and have conversations about the meaning of life. talya drescher is alex's proud mom. the education commodity proposition volume 2, issue 2 2019 allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the education commodity proposition zachary stein scholar ronin institute the education commodity proposition first appears in institutional cultures as a simplification of decision procedures. it is comparable to the simplifications in decision-making that accompany what political economists call the “labor commodity proposition” (bowles & gintis, 1986). one of the foundations of the capitalist economy is the idea that individuals are free to sell their labor as a commodity that is fundamentally no different from other commodities, being part of a marketplace with price competitions governed by supply and demand. the labor commodity proposition (i.e., that labor is just like any other commodity) justifies, among other things, the persistence of efficiency-oriented decision procedures and data-driven management strategies in which labor is represented as if it were simply another purchasable component in the production process, to be sought for as cheaply as possible and utilized with maximal efficiency. it is the labor commodity proposition that provides the terms for justifying the existence of sweatshops and not providing a living wage. of course, labor is actually unlike other commodities (such as a tv or car), because labor is inalienable from the person who “sells” it. you cannot separate the laborer from the labor. when i sell you my tv in exchange for a sum of money, you walk away with the tv and i walk away with the money. but when i sell you my labor, i must live through the work to be done. the valuation of my labor (assigning it a numerical, cash value) and my fulfillment of the employment contract (exchanging my labor for what it is deemed to be worth) implicate me both physically and psychologically in a way that the exchange of my tv for cash does not. the analogy between labor and other commodities breaks down once the economy is understood not merely as a system of exchange, but also as a system of employment. it is not just things that are caught up in market dynamics; there are also people being exchanged, their capacities and time being purchased. framing economic issues in terms of the analogy “labor is a commodity” removes considerations about the human side of the labor-exchange relationship, simplifying its representation in terms of monetary units, and depoliticizing it by turning it into an impersonal relationship (like the selling of a tv) to be negotiated and determined in terms of what the market will bear, as opposed to what justice requires due to the involvement of persons. an oversimplification similar to the labor commodity proposition accompanies the use of large-scale standardized testing infrastructures. it is this oversimplification that i have referred to as the education commodity proposition (stein, 2016; 2019). the education commodity proposition zachary stein allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe testing can be used to put a number on a “unit” of education, giving it a quantitative value and making it amenable to certain kinds of decision-making calculations, such as cost-benefit analysis and the estimation of returns on investment. that is, testing allows educational processes to be conceived as if they are no different from other commodities, simplifying their representation to monetary transactions that can be considered in terms of economic efficiencies. i discuss the education commodity proposition in both of my books. in this guest column i offer only an overview of the problem space. on the return of investments in education the clearest examples of the education commodity proposition involve those who invest in educational processes, such as governments, philanthropies, and venture capital. simply put, if the amount of education you are getting for your investment is represented (only or predominately) by the numbers generated on tests, then moving these numbers becomes the only way to “see” those changes in the value of the educational process, which is the intended result of the investment. if you do not measure it you cannot monetize it, and if you cannot monetize something then you cannot technically “see” if an economic investment has worked. this summarizes the main problem facing governments that invest tax dollars in public education and are then required to demonstrate that this public money was well spent. the watchword here is “accountability.” in these situations test scores are used to translate (or re-represent) the value of educational processes in economic terms. the same kind of decision procedures are used by philanthropic donors and venture capitalists, both of whom must demonstrate due diligence when putting money toward the improvement of education. improvements can only be monetized if they can be measured in ways amenable to quantitative demonstrations of return on investment. the education commodity proposition also frames the decision-making of those who are responsible for organizing educational institutions. it impacts the thinking of school leaders who are concerned about their own budgets and the effectiveness and efficiency of their internal policies. for example, the value of a new math curriculum is easily turned into a question about the relationship between its cost and the test-score gains that result. if the math curriculum that produces the best scores is too expensive, then the next best affordable option will be chosen, often irrespective of other salient differences between the two curriculums. curricular decision-making becomes guided by the calculus of costbenefit analysis, which removes a wide variety of complex considerations from the table by distilling the problem down to its “essence”: economic efficiency. more importantly, suppose this next best curriculum produces test-score gains but causes students to dislike math, creates misunderstandings not detected by the test, or results in teacher burnout. these are just a few examples of differences in educational value that easily and regularly escape measurement and therefore are not included in the official calculation of what a curriculum is “worth.” because of the ubiquity and pressure of economic issues in schools, even the most well-meaning leaders often find themselves trapped by the terms and “logic” of the educational commodity proposition. on the “value-added” by teachers teachers occupy a unique position in school systems because, according to the terms of the education commodity proposition, they can be understood as selling a distinct type of educational labor. that is, they exchange their ability to teach for the means of their livelihood. this is important because above all other educational goods potentially conceived as commodities (from books to computers), it is teaching the education commodity proposition zachary stein allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe that has the most potential to add value to educational processes. it is also one of the most expensive aspects of schooling. therefore, teaching is (and has been since the late nineteenth century) one of the central focuses of testing-intensive determinations of the value of educational processes. yet like all forms of labor, teaching is inalienable from the teacher. unlike improved school buildings, lunch programs, or technologies, determinations of the educational value-added by a teacher concerns the work done by an individual who can adapt the nature of that work to the methods used to determine its value. teachers often come to understand their own work according to the measurement categories used to determine its value, which can distort educational processes in profound ways. the problem of determining the educational value-added by individual teachers easily lends itself to simplification through cost-benefit analysis via testing. two cheap inexperienced teachers whose students show moderate gains can be hired for the price of one veteran teacher whose students show gains that are only slightly larger, controlling costs while providing for twice the number of students. of course, there are countless undetected forms of educational value provided by teachers that are not factored into such calculations, such as their ability to foster independent thinking, deal with interpersonal struggles, or bring hope and humor into the lives of their students. likewise, bad teachers can raise test scores while off-loading the collateral damage done by their pedagogy onto unmeasured facets of students’ lives by creating toxic levels of stress, promoting mind-numbing test prep approaches to learning, or by simply focusing attention only on those students whose improvements are key to raising the aggregate class score (e.g., ignoring the top of the class who will score well regardless, as well as the bottom who will score poorly even if they show gains). this is how the education commodity proposition comes to structure the thinking and actions of teachers: they adapt their teaching to the terms used to quantify it. the full range of educational values made possible through a teacher’s abilities cannot be represented in terms of test-score gains, so teachers put their energies toward those values that can be. while tenure and seniority can limit the impact of this approach to quantifying educational value, they do not eliminate it. this is because students (and their parents) and administrators often perceive a teacher’s value according to the terms of the education commodity proposition, even if the teacher does not (ravitch, 2013). on students as consumers and products students themselves are subject to the terms of the education commodity proposition in more complex and ethically fraught ways than any other participants in the educational system. according to the terms of the education commodity proposition, students are cast as consumers of educational goods who are free to make complex judgments about the value of the institutions they choose to enter. of course, younger students technically have no choice because their parents or guardians choose for them as proxies, but the idea remains that families have an interest in making informed decisions about the value of their educational options. because school systems are routinely ranked according to test scores, test results often determine what neighborhood or suburb a family chooses to live in; the more affluent the family, the easier it is to make that educational criterion a top decisive priority. regardless of where students go to school and the range of options that are open to them, in the united states they are forced by law to spend a large portion of their waking hours in school until the age of 16, or 18 in some states. even at the college level, where students are finally free to choose for themselves where to go or whether to go at all, the economic drawbacks of not attending college are perceived to the education commodity proposition zachary stein allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe be so great that it has become a kind of forced choice. those who do not attend typically describe themselves as unable to go (usually for financial reasons); they do not describe themselves as unwilling or as not wanting to go (darling-hammond, 2010). this means that the marketplace for education is unlike the marketplaces that exist for other goods. markets for the vast majority of other goods are not predicated on legally mandated consumption or long-term negative drawbacks resulting from a failure to consume (notable exceptions are the health care and insurance industries). the contemporary rhetoric concerning “school choice,” which leans heavily in favor of a privatized school system that functions more like a “true marketplace,” tends to ignore the fact that the vast majority of marketplaces are entered and exited voluntarily (ravitch, 2010). however, educational primary goods are not commodities, they are entitlements—access to these goods is a basic right—and their just dissemination requires decision-procedures that transcend but include those emphasized by the education commodity proposition (stein, 2016). student loan debt in the united states alone constitutes one of the largest speculative bubbles in modern times. to get a sense, i simply used a common internet search engine to answer basic question about the state of student indebtedness. the debt crisis is no secret and does not require special research skills, and our complacency is yet another sign of how the education commodity proposition has saturated into our culture. currently the total student loan debt in the united states is estimated to be approximately $1.5 trillion and growing daily (close to $3,000 per second by some estimates). the average individual owes over $37,000, but a growing percentage owe over $150,000. the average monthly payment is $393, but ranges up to over $1,000 for some private loans and/or combinations of loans across multiple financial service providers. student loans are paid off over an average of 20 years, with many only finally being settled in old age, if ever. approximately 5 million federal student loan debtors are in default, a number that is also growing daily. at any scale this is a lot of money. more disturbingly, at the rate things are going it appears that much of the educational debt currently owed will never be repaid. a loan is taken out to get certain skills, which then lead to a job providing reimbursements insufficient to repay that loan. this pattern is systemic. this is why i called the student debt situation a speculative bubble. all parties are banking on the diploma being worth a certain amount on the labor market, but often it is not. understand also that many schools and colleges are themselves in various forms of debt. the same financial institutions loaning to schools that want to build new classrooms are also loaning to students who want to fill those new classrooms. the schools take the student loan money and use it to pay off debt, essentially paying the bank back with the bank’s own money. at the end of the day it is the students who are paying interest for decades after graduation, essentially footing the bill for the whole operation. this is similar in structure to the speculative real estate bubble that contributed to sinking the u.s. economy in 2007–2008. in that case it was the same banks financing developers to build houses that also financed the mortgages of people who wanted to live in those houses. these schemes all work fine until one of the parties fails to come through, which is inevitable. it is usually the person taking out the mortgage or the student loan who pays the price when the spreadsheets need to balance out (harvey, 2016). the point here concerns the broad injustice and inefficiency of running a debt-based system of education, which requires that vast populations take on personal debt to gain access to basic educational goods. thoughts of future debt payments influence how students choose their major and the education commodity proposition zachary stein allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe then their job, and prospects of taking on more debt limits access to graduate school. those who attend school do so knowing that the cost is perpetual indebtedness. this encodes a monetary logic into the educational experience—the “logic” of the education commodity proposition. the role of student-as-consumer undermines the role of student-as-learner. when a consumer has taken out a loan to make their purchase, they tend to be quite concerned about their return on investment and will often pull “the customer is always right” card. this blurring of the distinction between student and consumer is the root of some difficulties on college campuses, where students are increasingly seeking to censor the ideas they disagree with. they are aware that each moment they are on campus is costing them future income and freedom; they are consumers going into debt to be in school. they are thus entitled to “have it their way,” as they would when purchasing any other commodity. where the consumer is always right, the learner is actually interested in being proven wrong and in benefiting from that experience. because education is presented as a commodity (and not as a basic right) some students understand themselves merely as consumers of educational goods. as important as these reflections are, the idea of school choice and the related analogy of the studentas-consumer can sometimes obscure the fact that students are also the product of the educational system. children are not mere customers in the market for educational goods, they are also the product or “output” of the educational system. school systems want to measure the quality of their output, so test scores are used to objectively represent changes in students’ abilities (i.e., “learning” is understood as test-score gains). the terms of the education commodity proposition allow us to literally represent students’ psychological lives as objects with quantitative properties that can be monetized. when an educational process is evaluated in these terms students are understood as an “outcome” or “product” of the educational system. students are the depositories of the value-added by investments in a new curriculum or teaching staff. it is in student’s skills and capabilities where the value-added measurement must be detected. if more money is put into a school, then better students ought to come out. in order to know how much better the students are, their intellects and skills must be rendered quantifiable. this way of thinking characterizes students as a kind of “raw material” that is worked over as it makes its way through production processes. this way of thinking provides a framework for efficiency-oriented educational reforms, which can proceed as if schools are factories or start-up companies (stein, 2013; 2019). this way of thinking gives roots to the growth of testing-induced injustice, which penetrates the very structure of our thought and action. towards a decommodification of educational relationships once the “logic” of the education commodity proposition becomes clear, the situation appears unacceptable. in the interest of efficiency and objectivity, educators have been measuring, quantifying, and redescribing students as if they are commodities. this view of the situation would have part of educational reform focus on the decommodification of education. this begins with the disentanglement of economic incentives from educational activities, as socrates argued long ago in his debates with the sophists. an educational relationship, like the relationship between parent and child, is not reducible to a market transaction without it becoming fundamentally distorted. when the sons (sic) of the ruling class paid the sophists to teach them rhetoric, it was solely for the return on investment it provided in the realms of commerce and politics. socrates was interested in actually teaching these young men the education commodity proposition zachary stein allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe what they needed to know (which is that they truly know nothing); he was opposed to merely teaching what is useful to know and thus worth investing in, which is not true education but mere sophistry. some of the most important work educators must undertake involves insulating their work from being reduced to a transactional and exchange relationship. the realms of teaching, learning, and student life are realms in which non-strategic and non-instrumental forms of relationship should be primary. we must be cautious about the degree to which the measures and “logic” of the education commodity proposition colonize the lifeworld of educational institutions (habermas, 1987; young, 1990). this means working to design new practices for the organization of school governance, curriculum and assessment, funding structures, and a host of other major social systems (as i outline in stein, 2019). however, these things take time. students, teachers, and administrators can begin right now to understand themselves and each other differently. let us explicitly address the elephant in the room: teachers, students, and administrators are all subject against their will to the terms of the education commodity proposition. the politics of education are no longer really about within-school conflicts between students, teachers, and administration (and all various combinations and alliances), as it has been since the 1960s. today the situation is one in which everyone involved in education can embrace a shared concern about the encroachment of approaches that are hyper-quantified, over-financialized, market-driven, and pedagogically naive. the education commodity proposition is the keystone of the broader framework of reductive human capital theory, which i discuss at length elsewhere (stein, 2013; 2019). if the keystone is removed, the whole edifice crumbles. innovations in the decommodification of education are potentially massively powerful leverage points for social change. about the author dr. stein’s interests are in the practices of justice and education. these involve his specializations in developmental psychology and ethics. he studied philosophy and religion at hampshire college, and then educational neuroscience, human development, and the philosophy of education at harvard university. while a student at harvard, dr. stein co-founded what would become lectica, inc., a nonprofit dedicated to the research-based, justice-oriented reform of large-scale standardized testing in k12, higher-education, and business. dr. stein has published on a wide range of topics including the philosophy of learning, educational technology, and integral theory. his work has appeared in a variety of academic journals including, american psychologist, new ideas in psychology, mind, brain, and education, integral review, and the journal of philosophy of education. he has taught classes at harvard university, meridian university, and jfk university. his invited speaking engagements span a wide range of venues, from the national security agency to off-the-grid spiritual retreat centers. references bowles, s., & gintis, h. (1986). democracy and capitalism: property, community, and the contradictions of modern social thought. new york: basic books. darling-hammond, l. (2010). the flat world and education: how america’s commitment to equity will determine our future. new york: teacher's college press. http://lectica.org/ the education commodity proposition zachary stein allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe habermas, j. (1987). the theory of communicative action, vol. 2: lifeworld and system: a critique of functionalist reason. boston: beacon press. harvey, d. (2016). the ways of the world. new york: oxford university press. ravitch, d. (2013). reign of error: the hoax of the privatization movement and the danger to america’s public schools. new york: knopf. stein, z. (2013). “ethics and the new education: psychopharmacology, psychometrics, and the future of human capital.” journal of integral theory and practice, 8(3-4), 146-162. stein, z. (2016). social justice and educational measurement: john rawls, the history of testing, and the future of education. new york: routledge. stein, z. (2019). education in a time between worlds: essays on the future of schools, technology, & society. san francisco: bright alliance. young, r. e. (1990). a critical theory of education: habermas and our children’s future. new york: teachers college press. the education commodity proposition on the return of investments in education on the “value-added” by teachers on students as consumers and products towards a decommodification of educational relationships about the author references 0bshared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families volume 2, issue 1 2018 allies for education 2018, 1, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families annie white assistant professor, early childhood studies csu channel islands this qualitative study examined whether the influence of learning stories, a narrative assessment approach, impacts relationships for low-income, underrepresented young children who are homeless, living in transitional housing, or at risk for stable housing as a means to support healthy development. the project focused on relationships, parent and teacher collaboration, and the theoretical framework of ghosts and angels in the nursery as a lens to understand how childhood memories can impact child rearing practices and influence adult and child interactions (lieberman, padrón, van horn, & harris, 2005). findings included the following themes: a) individual development of children; b) children addressed directly and viewed as important; c) attention on positive attributes of the children rather than deficits; d) open communication occurred between educators and parents; e) teachers show deep care for children; f) parents’ care of children; and g) teachers’ deeper reflection about children’s learning experiences. research findings reveal learning stories, a narrative formative assessment approach, provides opportunities that influence positive educator and child, parent and family relationships. introduction positive relationships are critical to fostering the healthy development of very young children (thompson, meyer, & mcginley, 2006); however, young children who are homeless may be in jeopardy of not experiencing trusting, caring relationships. it is uncertain if building secure relationships can impact development and growth for low-income, underrepresented young children who are homeless, living in transitional housing, or at risk for stable housing. the objective of this qualitative study was to examine whether the influence of learning stories, a narrative assessment approach, impacts relationships as a pathway to support the healthy development of young children. this study examined the influence of the learning stories assessment approach to document children’s learning and its impact on the interactions and relationships among teachers, parents, and children. shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families annie white allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the learning stories method was developed in new zealand and is used as the primary early childhood education formative assessment (carr, 2001). this method includes documenting children’s learning experiences with written observations through a storytelling format, directed to the child in first person narrative. this unique approach helps teachers write observations as “stories” which are written directly to the child instead of about the child (carr, 2001; carr & lee, 2012). instead of teachers writing anecdotal observations of children’s developmental progress, teachers write observations as stories to the child about children’s learning and growth (carr, 2001; carr & lee, 2012). learning stories was examined to explore ways teachers and parents create and share written observations to build positive relationships. parents are involved in constructing learning stories and are encouraged to write responses back to their child regarding the “story” the teacher wrote about their child’s learning in a classroom setting. parents also write their own “stories” to capture children’s learning through writing about their lived experiences and connecting home to school experiences. learning stories is an innovative assessment approach which offers educators and parents the opportunity to partner in the education of young children through the sharing of written stories describing children’s learning experiences. educators have found the value of family voice as integral to the assessment process as teachers engage with families to understand and honor their unique perspective. the learning stories serve both as a guide and tangible artifact documenting the child’s learning experiences through teacher analysis and reflection. learning from one another, families and teachers deepen their understanding of the child, and identify possibilities to support growth in multiple contexts. learning stories facilitates reflective practice in learning community models while promoting sensitive curriculum planning attuned to the children’s interests and strengths with family context woven into the process. as a result, learning stories create a pathway where multiple voices and perspectives are honored and valued. this study examined if learning stories creates an opportunity for teacher and parent collaboration and the possible impact on relationships between teachers and parents, teachers and children, and (ultimately) parents and children. group interviews were conducted with teachers from early education centers who serve vulnerable young children and families who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. parent-child relationships were examined to determine if children felt understood, accepted, and loved through the sharing of teachers’ and parents’ learning stories narrative observations (carr, 1998; carr, 2001; carr & lee, 2012). the study focused on the possible impact the learning stories method has on relationships and children’s development of security and self-worth as a means to lessen the cycle of maltreatment and trauma experienced, caused by stressors such as homelessness or lack of stable housing. perspective(s) or theoretical framework the study draws upon the theoretical framework of “ghosts and angels in the nursery” (lieberman, et al., 2005) to understand how young homeless children may benefit from supportive adult relationships through the sharing of narrative stories between teachers and parents. the theoretical framework of “ghosts and angels in the nursery” (lieberman, et al., 2005) suggests sharing of childhood memories is shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families annie white allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe deeply connected to care practices. this is because strong exchanges shared between parents and children provide young children with a core sense of self-worth. furthermore, lieberman et al. (2005) proposes that messages of inherent goodness and unconditional love constitute the essence of “an angel.” as parents share about their own lived experiences, they unknowingly evoke angels from their childhood into their own young children’s “nurseries.” in this way, the message of the “angels in the nursery” is transmitted from parent to child in the form of the deep caring relationship which influences development. the framework of “ghosts and angels in the nursery” helps to create an understanding of how teachers and parents who share young children’s positive learning experiences through learning stories create new “angels” and replace the “ghosts” of the past. this study examined the sharing of learning stories between teachers and parents which replaces old “ghosts” with new “angels” and helps create new memories with a strong image of the child as competent and capable, resulting in the child’s developing sense of self. the sychrony of parent and child relationships through the sharing of learning stories can be understood through the theoretical framework lenses of “ghosts and angels in the nursery” to examine the impact of learning stories on the these relationships. data sample participants were recruited from two early childhood education program sites. the first early childhood education program has a toddler classroom, a head start classroom, and a state preschool program. this early childhood education program serves children from two to five years of age. only the toddler teachers were included in this study. from this program, three toddler teachers and one administrator were recruited for this study. the second early childhood education program has an infant classroom and a toddler classroom. this program has six infant and toddler teachers and two administrators who were recruited. the combined sample consisted of n=12 teachers and administrators. the sample race and ethnicity comprised of n=8 latinos, n=4 caucasians. the sample gender included n=12 females. the study was approved by an institutional review board (irb). data collection the primary source of data for this study consists of transcripts from five group interviews. interviews were conducted to examine teacher and administrator responses of their use of learning stories written narrative observations and the possible impact on parent-child relationships. group interviews followed a protocol tool designed to guide the dialogue through a sequence of questions regarding the use of learning stories. these group interviews ranged from 30 to 45 minutes each for a total of approximately 175 minutes of audio recordings. group interviews followed a prepared, semi-structured protocol. transcription totaled over 76 pages of double-spaced text. audio recorded group interviews were transcribed by a professional transcription service agency. transcriptions were carefully reviewed to understand and interpret the data. upon completion of all transcriptions, detailed themes emerged which later formed the basis for the coding system. methods shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families annie white allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe a qualitative case study method was used to analyze the data. the qualitative software maxqda was utilized to code the teacher and administrators group interviews. maxqda is a pc-based program that helps to systematically evaluate, interpret, and code transcripts (creswell, 2009). open axial coding was used to analyze the teacher and administrator group interview responses about their use of the learning stories approach and to investigate the impact on relationships. open coding was used to develop labels. axial coding was used to identify relationships between identified codes and selective coding was conducted to extract the main themes that emerged from the data analysis (yin, 2009). a process of identifying categories, incorporating open coding, and utilization refined through axial coding, allowed for identification and deeper understanding of emerging themes (merriam, 2009). analysis took place in order to extract what merriam (2009) refers to as the “deeper meaning” from the group interviews. multiple levels of codes were created into lists, and sub-codes and themes emerged during transcription analysis. results this research study’s findings show that relationships were influenced and strengthened from the process of sharing the learning stories in the following areas: a) teacher focus on the individual development of children; b) the addressing of children directly and viewing as an important element that parents responded to positively; c) attention on the positive attributes of children rather than deficits; d) open communication that occurred between educators and parents; e) teachers showed parents they care deeply for children; f) the care parents provide for children; and g) opportunities for teacher’s deeper reflection about children’s learning experiences. research findings reveal learning stories help teachers and parents focus more closely on children’s learning and development. learning stories provides opportunities that influence positive parent-child, teacher-parent, and teacher-child relationships. the influence of caring, loving relationships have a positive impact on children’s self-worth and self-esteem. study significance the study findings suggest incorporating observation and assessment practices, such as learning stories, builds positive relationships and fosters development of young at-risk children. healthy child development depends on the quality and consistency of relationships with adults, both within and outside the family (national scientific council on the developing child, 2004). the importance of building relationships is essential because it establishes emotional connections for young children, starting from birth, through trust and closeness (howes & ritchie, 2002; thompson, et al., 2006). young children experience the world through relationships, which ultimately affect many areas of development (herbers, cutuli, monn, narayan, & masten, 2014; masten et al., 2014; national scientific council on the developing child, 2004). through positive relationships, children discover who they are and learn about others (hartup & rubin, 2013). when young children have experiences with caring and thoughtful adults who delight in them, they approach the world with openness and eagerness, and they grow to be respectful, responsive, and loving people (lally & mangione, 2017). children benefit when families collaborate in partnership with educators and commit to work together on the behalf of children (mendez, 2010). children who have teachers that collaborate with parents and shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families annie white allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe include them in the education of their children are more likely to experience positive outcomes (bryk & schneider, 2003; howes, 1999; raver & knitzer, 2002). often though, low-income, underrepresented families are not included in the education of children and can result in weakening relationships with educators (friedman, bobrowski, & geraci, 2006; mcallister et al., 2005; robinson-zanartu & majeldixon, 1997; tveit, 2009). teachers who engage families in assessment practices, through sharing observations such as with learning stories written narratives, help to strengthen home-to-school connections. sharing narrative observations, which focus on children’s positive learning experiences, provides opportunities to celebrate children’s growth and development. for families who may be struggling to provide secure and stable housing, sharing narrative observations of children’s learning can be a powerful collaboration tool and support the child with developing an identity as a learner. learning stories observation approach appears to benefit young children through enhanced family engagement. furthermore, it demonstrates the importance that early childhood education programs integrate assessment practices that include the voices of diverse, underrepresented families. early childhood education programs need to continue to explore ways to adapt observation and assessment methods to provide opportunities for collaboration between teachers and parents that include authentic dialogue and children’s lived experiences in multiple contexts. it is vital that early childhood education programs include families in the assessment practices through innovative approaches to observation so that diverse students, especially vulnerable young children who are homeless, living in transitional housing, or at risk of losing stable housing, may potentially benefit. about the author dr. annie white is an assistant professor with the early childhood studies program at california state university, channel islands (csuci). she has extensive work experience with early head start (ehs), head start, and state preschool and family childcare home programs. dr. white has taught early childhood education courses at california community colleges in addition to her current work at csuci. she is passionate about learning stories and incorporates the formative assessment approach in her university courses, including infant/toddler curriculum and assessment, student learner identity through “my story,” and as part of community service learning. her research interests include formative assessments, learning stories, and family engagement. references bryk, a.s. & schneider, b. (2003). trust in schools: a core resource for improvement. russell sage foundation. carr, m. (1998). assessing children’s learning in early childhood settings: a professional development programme for discussion and reflection—support booklet and videos: what to assess, why assess, how to assess? wellington, new zealand: nzcer press. carr, m. (2001). assessment in early childhood settings: learning stories. london, england: sage publications. carr, m., & lee, w. (2012). learning stories: constructing learner identities in early education. london, england: sage publications. shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families annie white allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe creswell, j. w. (2009). research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. friedman, b. a., bobrowski, p. e., & geraci, j. (2006). parents' school satisfaction: ethnic similarities and differences. journal of educational administration, 44(5), 471-486. hartup, w. w., & rubin, z. (eds.). (2013). relationships and development. psychology press. herbers, j. e., cutuli, j. j., monn, a. r., narayan, a. j., & masten, a. s. (2014). trauma, adversity, and parent–child relationships among young children experiencing homelessness. journal of abnormal child psychology, 42(7), 1167-1174. howes, c. (1999). attachment relationships in the context of multiple caregivers. in j. cassidy & p. r. shaver (eds.), handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 671-687). new york: guilford press. howes, c.h., & ritchie, s. (2002). a matter of trust. new york: teachers college press. lally, j. r., & mangione, p. (2017). caring relationships: the heart of early brain development. young children, 72(2), 17-24. masten, a. s., cutuli, j. j., herbers, j. e., hinz, e., obradović, j., & wenzel, a. j. (2014). academic risk and resilience in the context of homelessness. child development perspectives, 8(4), 201-206. mcallister, c. l., wilson, p. c., green, b. l., & baldwin, j. l. (2005). “come and take a walk”: listening to early head start parents on school-readiness as a matter of child, family, and community health. american journal of public health, 95(4), 617–25. mendez, j. l. (2010). how can parents get involved in preschool? barriers and engagement in education by ethnic minority parents of children attending head start. cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology, 16(1), 26. merriam, s. b. (2009). qualitative research: a guide to design and implementation. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. national scientific council on the developing child. (2004). young children develop in an environment of relationships: working paper no. 1. retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu. raver, c. c. & knitzer, j. (2002). ready to enter: what research tells policymakers about strategies to promote social and emotional school readiness among threeand four-year-old children. new york: national center for children in poverty. robinson-zanartu, c., & majel-dixon, j. (1997). parent voices: american indian relationships with schools. journal of american indian education, 36(1), 33-54. shonkoff, j.p., & phillips, d.a. (2000). from neurons to neighborhoods: the science of early childhood development. washington, dc: national academy press. http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu/ shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families annie white allies for education 2018, 2, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe thompson, r.a., meyer, s., & mcginley, m. (2006). understanding values in relationship: the development of conscience. in m. killen & j. smetana (eds.), handbook of moral development. mahwah, nj: lawrence erlbaum associates. tveit, a. d. (2009). a parental voice: parents as equal and dependent—rhetoric about parents, teachers, and their conversations. educational review 61(3), 289–300. yin, r. k. (2009). case study research: design and methods (4th ed.). thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. shared voices: a pathway to strengthen relationships with homeless young children and families about the author references curricula for meaningful work through listening in a different voice volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe curricula for meaningful work through listening in a different voice devon almond “it is not more vacation we need – it is more vocation.”– eleanor roosevelt (zur, 2010) curricula for meaningful work is becoming increasingly important in today’s societies and cultures. as we enter into the third decade of the 21st century, it is no longer acceptable for education to ignore the critical dimensions of meaningful work. this is especially important because right-brain dimensions, such as meaning, empathy, and the creative capacity to synthesize divergent perspectives are essential for success in education, life, and work in the 21st century (pink, 2011). despite the fact that most students desire meaningful work, there are few indications that curricular practices to facilitate meaningful work are being widely implemented at k-12 schools, colleges, and universities. while the purposes of education are certainly more comprehensive than mere preparation for work, it is problematic that many college graduates never experience meaning in their work (bates-gallup, 2019). this problem in education, which impacts human flourishing and well-being, might be addressed by implementing curricular practices that facilitate students to listen in a different voice—that is, to listen for vocational callings. the quest for meaningful work is an age-old phenomenon that necessitates imminent attention in today’s k-12 schools, colleges, and universities. for many people, working to pay the rent or to satisfy one’s ego simply is not enough; rather, we seek vocational callings that are tied to a sense of life purpose and meaning (zur, 2010). to demonstrate, a recent gallup report indicates that while 80% of american undergraduate students seek purpose and meaning in their work, less than half of these students actually fulfill this desire after graduation (bates-gallup, 2019). the same report identifies that only 28% of undergraduate students participated in a college class or program that helped them think about meaningful work. notably, college graduates who experience meaningful work are nearly 10 times more likely than college graduates with low levels of meaningful work to report overall well-being (bates-gallup, 2019). curricula for meaningful work through listening in a different voice devon almond allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe this connection between life purpose, meaningful work, human flourishing, and well-being is of particular interest to positive psychologists. for instance, martin seligman and his former student, angela duckworth (2016) offer abundant evidence of the benefits of meaningful work infused with a sense of purpose. defining purpose as the intention to contribute to the well-being of others, duckworth goes to great length to articulate a curricular lexicon that weaves together passion, persistence, and purpose in service of meaningful work. clearly, the benefits of a life-affirming curricula for meaningful work are not only personal, but also extend well beyond the self. human flourishing and well-being are increasingly coming to the forefront of education, life, and work. as such, it is beneficial for students, parents, educators, and administrators in k-12 schools, colleges, and universities to recognize how the nature of work is evolving well beyond industrial-age manual work, past information-age knowledge work, to post-information age conceptual work. best-selling author daniel pink (2011) explains: “we are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computerlike capabilities of the information age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathic, big-picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the conceptual age” (p.1-2). these changes mean that reliance on externally-defined jobs and careers is lessening. coming to the cultural forefront is work that people are called to do. educational activist parker palmer (2000) voices this vocational calling in the form of a poignant question: “is the life i am living the same as the life that wants to live in me?” (p. 6) thanks to increasing societal and cultural affluence, these more personal, expansive, and integrative possibilities for education, life, and work are becoming increasingly available. for instance, the scarcitybased survival drive that actively declares “i need to take a job to get by right now” (e.g. working to pay the rent) is increasingly growing into the future-oriented strive drive that actively declares “i want to plan a career to achieve my personal and professional goals” (e.g. working to satisfy one’s ego). as this affluence continues, a thrive drive tied to a sense of life purpose and meaning emerges to reflectively ask and listen in a different voice. more than actively declaring, this voice first reflectively inquires: “what is it that i am here to offer the world? how do i uniquely connect with and through the world? how i am called to uniquely serve the world?” consequently, the asker is oriented to listen to intuitive faculties, prior to actively declaring a professional direction. this trajectory, which draws on abraham maslow’s (1943) self-actualization theories, suggests that when students are coming from an inner and outer place of sufficiency, the scope of one’s world expands. as this happens, new and richer possibilities for education, life, and work are also revealed. importantly, these more expansive possibilities involve genuinely connecting with and contributing to an ever-expanding world. indeed, the earlier declarations of “i need to take a job to get by right now” and “i want to plan a career to achieve my personal and professional goals” point to an “i” independent of connecting with the world. in contrast, the reflective inquires that are oriented towards inner listening tap into a deeper dimension to ask how this authentic self might serve the world. such an inquiry is grounded in interdependence, intuition, and a contextual logic that necessitates attention, seeing, and listening in a different voice. referring to this more authentic self in terms of soul, parker palmer (2000) elaborates in his book, let your life speak: listening for the voice of vocation, stating that: the soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting, and trustworthy conditions. the soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. if we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out. curricula for meaningful work through listening in a different voice devon almond allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe but if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious wildness we seek. (p.7-8) like the traditions of indigenous vision quests that support walking quietly into the woods to catch a glimpse of one’s precious wildness, listening in this different voice can open people to a homecoming of profound belonging. this was certainly the case for jane goodall (1999) whose research with chimpanzees in the jungles of west africa came from listening to a quiet inner voice that intuitively guided her actions. responding to and outwardly materializing the intuitive impulses that emerge through this type of pilgrimage are inherently life-affirming. management scholar otto scharmer (2008) describes this sojourning process using a u shape to facilitate questions, such as “who is the self? what is my work?” importantly, these inquires come after a “letting-go” process and prior to a “letting-come” process. viewed through this life-affirming lens, the 20th century curricular practices that prematurely push students into “i” oriented jobs and careers omit an important dimension. like palmer’s (2000) thesis that prevailing education models prematurely close off alternatives from truly letting our authentic selves speak, dania quirola, a sustainability practitioner in ecuador, critiques prevailing education models that “… prepare us for a diploma, but not for a life-affirming future. by ‘life-affirming,’ i mean that our learning and interactions should really contribute to better knowing ourselves, to cooperating in creating alternatives that benefit society, and to living in balance within ourselves and with our environment” (n.d.). a framework to deepen our understanding about how people orient to education, life, and work is offered by management scholar amy wrieznewski (1997), who, along with her colleagues, identify three different orientations to work: (1) jobs, (2) careers, and (3) vocations. these orientations range from the externally-held directive of the more left-brained socialized self to the internally-rooted nature of a more right-brained authentic self. problematically, prevailing education models, which were initially effective to mold the socialized self into meeting the industrial needs of the 19th century, overwhelmingly support the job and career orientations at the expense of vocational callings. indian philosopher jiddu krishnamurti (2008) succinctly states that “… (w)e are turning out, as if through a mold, a type of human being whose chief interest is to find security, to become somebody important, or to have a good time with as little thought as possible” (p. 9). beyond the concrete interest of security (i.e. survive drive of job orientations) and the subtle pursuit of becoming important (i.e. strive drive of career orientations) is the curricula for meaningful work. these curricula support the thrive drive of vocational callings. when it comes to curricular practices that inform, influence, and inspire meaningful work, we are wise to access, include, and then integrate a different voice into education, life, and work. this missing voice operates on a contextual logic that includes emotion, body, and relationships. this intuitive voice is attentive, sees new perspectives, and firstly listens to the more authentic self. this means noticing our noticing, seeing what is and is not seen, tapping into unconscious influences, and listening for the voice of vocation. this means slowing down, caring for all of humanity, and gently and patiently attuning to allow what wants to emerge to emerge. this relational, open, and receptive voice clearly reflects a more feminine voice. curricula for meaningful work through listening in a different voice devon almond allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe to learn more about this different voice, i briefly turn to psychologist carol gilligan (1993, 2011), who in her book, in a different voice: psychological theory and women's development, addressed a problem in psychology: studies in human development were based on boys and men. in doing so, she contrasts the feminine logic of care with the masculine logic that operates on justice, principles, and rules. gilligan notes that because the voices of girls and women were omitted, the very measure of humanity was equated with masculinity. a consequence was that the lives of males, like jobs and careers, appeared interesting, while the lives of females, like vocational callings, were subordinate, uninteresting, and different. in closing this article, i suggest that it is time that we as students, parents, educators, and administrators in k-12 schools, colleges, and universities give voice to this different voice. curricula for meaningful work does not mean diminishing the masculine voice of job and career orientations, but instead this means including and integrating an important and missing voice: the voice of vocation. indeed, it is this voice from which the very word, vocation, originates. it is also this voice that forms best-selling author steven covey’s (2005) 8th habit—finding your voice and inspiring others to find their voices. let us all come together to facilitate students to listen in a different voice—that is, to listen for vocational callings! about the author devon almond has worked with various rural and remote-serving colleges and universities across north america, spanning from the yukon territory to hawaii island. his guiding purpose—to evoke a sense of purpose in education, a sense of place in life, and a sense of meaning in work—is shaped by his professional and academic background in conventional and alternative higher education. he lives with his wife and daughter in the woods near chapel hill, north carolina. references bates-gallup (2019). forging pathways to purposeful work—the role of higher education. retrieved october 1, 2019 from https://www.bates.edu/purposefulwork/files/2019/05/bates_purposefulwork_final_report.pdf. covey, s. (2005). the 8th habit: from effectiveness to greatness. new york, ny: free press. duckworth, a. (2016). grit: the power of passion and perseverance. new york, ny: simon & schuster. gilligan, c. (1993). in a different voice: psychological theory and women's development, boston, ma: harvard university press. gilligan, c. (2011). looking back to look forward: revisiting in a different voice." classics@9. center for hellenic studies. retrieved january 12, 2020 from http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn3:hlnc.essay:gilligan.looking_back_to_look_forward. goodall, j. (1999). reason for hope: a spiritual journey. new york, ny: warner books. krishnamurti, j. (2008). education and the significance of life. san francisco, ca: harper collins. maslow, a. h. (july 1943). a theory of human motivation. psychological review, 50(4), 370–396. palmer, p. (2000). let your life speak: listening to the voice of vocation. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. https://www.bates.edu/purposeful-work/files/2019/05/bates_purposefulwork_final_report.pdf https://www.bates.edu/purposeful-work/files/2019/05/bates_purposefulwork_final_report.pdf http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:gilligan.looking_back_to_look_forward http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:gilligan.looking_back_to_look_forward curricula for meaningful work through listening in a different voice devon almond allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe pink, d.h. (2011). drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. new york, ny: riverhead. quirola, d. (n.d.), mcdonaldization for all: why are we still forgetting issues about fairness, access, content and education for sustainable living? retrieved january 9, 2020 from http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/mceducationforall.htm. scharmer, otto. (2016) theory u: leading from the future as it emerges. oakland, ca: berrett-koehler. wrzesniewski, a., mccauley, c., rozin, p., and schwartz, b. 1997. jobs, careers, and callings: people’s relations to their work. journal of research in personality, 31, 21-33. zur, o. (2010). explore your vocation... find your calling. zur institute. retreived january 22, 2020 from https://www.zurinstitute.com/vocation/. http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/mceducationforall.htm https://www.zurinstitute.com/vocation/ curricula for meaningful work through listening in a different voice about the author references ethnic studies and the enduring legacy of movements for racial justice in california volume 3, issue 2 2021 allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe ethnic studies and the enduring legacy of movements for racial justice in california nicholas f. centino an interdisciplinary field, ethnic studies examines race, ethnicity and indigeneity with a special focus on four groups that have been historically racialized in the united states and beyond: african americans, asian americans & pacific islanders, chicanas/os & latinas/os, and native americans. the historic passage of california’s assembly bill no. 1460 (ab1460) in 2020 calls for all incoming students across the california state university (csu) system to complete a course in ethnic studies in order to graduate. for many supporters of ethnic studies, the signing of ab1460 into law is a long overdue recognition of the impact of ethnic studies to better prepare university students for a twentyfirst century world that still grapples with systemic racism and inequity. rooted in the racial justice struggles of the 1960s, proponents of ethnic studies argue that the field’s pedagogical and epistemological tools allow for the self-representation of communities that have been historically mischaracterized and misrepresented. as such, ethnic studies prioritize equity and agency by its empowerment of students of all backgrounds to be voices for change. my journey in ethnic studies a common story about ethnic studies is the way in which the classes, professors and experiences transform the lives of the students in profound ways. documented extensively by ethnic studies scholars like jennie luna (2019), collette chapman-hilliard and samuel t. beasley (2017), and others, ethnic studies has made a positive impact on students at both the secondary and higher education levels. i, certainly, am no exception. i grew up far away from the cultural epicenters of los angeles and the bay area, in the small farmworking community of lompoc, california. growing up in a mixed asian and chicana/o-indigenous home, i had a sense of cultural difference, yet found difficulty in articulating language to describe the challenges my working-class family faced. admitted to ucsb as a declared history major, i stumbled upon chicano studies (now chicana and chicano studies) whose classes opened my eyes to the ways in which the challenges and barriers my family had faced for generations were linked to more than just poor judgement on their behalf. i learned about how historically the exploitation and disempowerment of communities of color in the state of california were the results of intentional policy in service of enriching those who already held positions of power. declaring a chicana/o studies major changed the trajectory of my life, as it allowed ethnic studies and the enduring legacy of movements for racial justice in california nicholas centino allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe me to develop meaningful mentorship relationships with professors, forge solidarity and peer support networks with fellow majors, the close working relationships and shared theoretical underpinnings with other ethnic studies departments such black studies, asian american studies and indigenous/native american studies opened my eyes to the scholarship and tools of critical analysis honed across the diverse field of ethnic studies. as a first-generation college student, i knew nothing of graduate school, nor did i have any sense of what it took to earn a masters or phd. it was through the mentorship of my ethnic studies trained professors that i could see myself in their shoes, impacting and encouraging students just like myself. the centering of the experiences of people like me kept me engaged and committed to my classes, driving me to challenge myself to achieve and convincing me to pursue a graduate degree. now, a little over 20 years later, i have come full circle, teaching in the ethnic studies discipline of chicana/o studies at csu channel islands, not too far from my hometown that i left in pursuit of my educational and career goals. in this way, my story is just one of many of experienced by students impacted by over fifty years of ethnic studies in california. what is ethnic studies and how was it created? the genesis of the academic disciplines that make up ethnic studies lie in the movement of students fighting for racial justice in the 1960s. in california, the black student union at san francisco state university was joined by other student-of-color organizations to form the third world liberation front (twlf), a student coalition fighting for demands such as the establishment of courses that examined the experiences of native americans, chicanas/os/xs, african americans and asian americans. (csu task force on the advancement of ethnic studies, p. 12). since then, ethnic studies programs and departments have been established nationwide. on college and university campuses, as well as k-12 institutions, ethnic studies exist in the form of a singular comparative ethnic studies department/program, or as independent black studies, chicana/o/x and latina/o/x studies, asian american and pacific islander studies, or native american studies departments/programs, respectively. in recent years, many programs and departments established in the discipline’s infancy celebrated their fiftieth anniversary, including san francisco state, whose college of ethnic studies traces its roots to the twlf strike in 1969. while ethnic studies programs and departments may have different names from campus to campus, a handful of core tenets are held to by all those trained in the field. first and foremost, ethnic studies is more than just a focus on historically racialized groups. in other words, just because a course may examine a minoritized group, it does not mean that the course automatically qualifies as ethnic studies. crafted over five decades and drawing on intellectual traditions both new and ancient, ethnic studies has evolved and developed its own approaches to research and pedagogy. hallmarks of ethnic studies research are “the self-reflexivity of the researcher and educator, a refusal to demonize subject communities, a political concern for subaltern peoples, an acknowledgement of intersecting hierarchies of power, and the eschewing of universal claims in order to focus on situated knowledges” (centino, 2021, p. 16). above all else, is the centering of voices of people of color to frame and narrate their own experiences in research and pedagogy crafted in the ethnic studies tradition. ethnic studies and the enduring legacy of movements for racial justice in california nicholas centino allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe in addition to bringing these attributes into the classroom, ethnic studies educators strive to empower their students to becomes voices for change on the intersectional challenges that face them. as ethnic studies professor roberto d. hernandez states, “ethnic studies is about the understanding of sociohistorical processes of racialization and other forms of domination, in order to not only challenge said processes but to collectively build a different way of existing in the world free of the various -isms that continue to divide us” (hernández, 2021). impact of ethnic studies in a report of the national education association (nea), the nation’s largest professional association representing 3.2 million educators across the country, the impact of ethnic studies was supported by several studies denoting a positive relationship between ethnic studies pedagogy and the academic achievement of students from minoritized communities. (sleeter, year?). among those studies are those conducted by s. a. baptiste (2010); r. r. daus-magbual (2010); j. lipka et al. (2005); l.j. watahomigie and t.l. mccarty (1994); d.s. pollard and c. ajirotutu (2001) and many more (tintiangco-cubales, 2015). despite its origin in institutions of higher education, the report also documents studies pointing to the impact of ethnic studies in the k-12 system. as scholar christine sleeter writes, “although commonly perceived as touchy-feely and non-academic—even as lowering academic standards . . . ethnic studies curricula are academically based, usually designed to improve students’ academic performance, and sometimes explicitly focus on university preparation. (sleeter, 2011, p. ?)” despite the positive success of ethnic studies classes nationwide, a 2014 study examining the implementation of ethnic studies in the san francisco school district found persistent impediments and opposition to ethnic studies in public education but also provided key practices to adequately prepare teachers to offer ethnic studies curriculum (tintiangco-cubales, 2014). ethnic studies in the 2020’s: achievements and threats the beginning of the 2020’s saw both victories and challenges in the field of ethnic studies. introduced by california assembly member shirley weber, ab 1460 was signed into law by governor gavin newsom in the summer of 2020. the legislation mandates the completion of, at minimum, one three-unit course in ethnic studies at all of the 23 campuses in the csu system. weber, who served as a professor in the department of africana studies at san diego state, cites the positive benefits of ethnic studies in the bill’s language. among other organizations, the california faculty association and black lives matters la endorsed the bill and lobbied for its passage. this ethnic studies graduation requirement commences with incoming students admitted for academic year 2021-2022 and is not mandated for students admitted in previous years. with the passage of ab1460, california is the first state in the nation to require a public four-year university system to offer ethnic studies as a graduation requirement. the passage of ab1460 follows the passage of assembly bill 2016 (ab2016) in 2016, which calls for the creation of a model curriculum for the implementation of ethnic studies in the public k-12 system of the state of california. shortly after the passage of ab1460, then-president donald trump issued an executive order (eo) in september 2020 to prohibit employee training that employs the use of critical race theory (crt) for all ethnic studies and the enduring legacy of movements for racial justice in california nicholas centino allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe federal agencies and contractors. crt examines policies and practices and the ways in which race and racism play a role in explicit and implicit ways resulting in societal inequity. as published in the ethnic studies review, “one of the tenets of crt is to challenge dominant ideologies that sustain power relations” (campbell, et. al. 2019). as such, crt is a prominent analytical framework used commonly in ethnic studies and is commonly used in professional equity and diversity trainings in both the public and private sector. this eo was rescinded by the biden administration in january of 2021. resources and further reading in ethnic studies compiled by dr. jose alamillo and the csuci ethnic studies council reading list on ethnic studies https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jqua6pdp2vycuourbtmco-zfdy2pp2eo/view ab-1460 california state university: graduation requirement: ethnic studies https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billstatusclient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200ab1460 core competencies for ethnic studies systemwide graduation requirement https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cti83tjvw86kdkw4i6lowj1bekwy8owj/edit historical timeline of ethnic studies at csuci https://docs.google.com/document/d/1srceel1youav8nnt6lkhetigxa3herlco_gappy70c/edit?usp=sharing csuci ethnic studies speaker series 2020-2021 webinar recordings https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ne0caeqzqngzqdpgk8audmfswhcejmzbs1alj5sgbzw/edit?usp =sharing to contact the ethnic studies council at csuci please email: ethnicstudiescouncil@csuci.edu about the author born and raised on the central coast, nicholas f. centino, ph.d., earned his doctorate in chicana & chicano studies at the university of california, santa barbara. inspired by the alternative youth cultures he encountered growing up in the rural farmworking community of lompoc, dr. centino’s work examines the popular cultural practices of chicanas/os & latinas/os as strategies of survival and negotiation. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jqua6pdp2vycuourbtmco-zfdy2pp2eo/view https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billstatusclient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200ab1460 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cti83tjvw86kdkw4i6lowj1bekwy8owj/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1srceel1youav8nnt6lkhetigxa3herlc-o_gappy70c/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1srceel1youav8nnt6lkhetigxa3herlc-o_gappy70c/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ne0caeqzqngzqdpgk8audmfswhcejmzbs1alj5sgbzw/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ne0caeqzqngzqdpgk8audmfswhcejmzbs1alj5sgbzw/edit?usp=sharing mailto:ethnicstudiescouncil@csuci.edu ethnic studies and the enduring legacy of movements for racial justice in california nicholas centino allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe references baptiste, s. a. (2010). moving beyond black history month: how three teachers interpreted and implemented the new jersey amistad legislation. (unpublished doctoral dissertation). rutgers university. centino, n. f. (2021). razabilly: transforming sights, sounds, and history in the los angeles latina/o rockabilly scene. austin: university of texas press. chapman-hilliard, c., beasley, s.t., mcclain, s., cokley, k.o., nioplias, a., & taylor, d.s. (2016). do culturally empowering courses matter? an exploratory examination of cultural identity and academic motivation among black collegians. journal of pan afircan studies, 9 (8) p. 43-67.csu task force on the advancement of ethnic studies (2016). report of the california state university task force on the advancement of ethnic studies. california state university. https://www.calfac.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/fall2016_ethnic_studies.pdf daus-magbual, r. r. (2010). political, emotional, powerful: the transformative influence of the pin@y educational partnerships. (unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of san francisco. hernández, r. d. (2021, march 11). opinion: experts have shown ethnic studies’ value for 50 years. it’s time for california to listen. san diego union-tribune. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2021-03-11/opinion-ethnicstudies-evidence-student-excel lipka, j., hogan, m., webster, j., yanez, e., adams, b., clark, s., et al. (2005). math in a cultural context: two case studies of a successful culturally-based math project. anthropology & education quarterly, 36(4), 367–385. luna, j. (2019). 1999 twlf at uc berkeley: an intergenerational struggle for ethnic studies. ethnic studies review, 42 (2): 83–98. sleeter, c. e. (2011). the academic and social value of ethnic studies: a research review. national education association. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/84024/academicsocialvalue.pdf?sequence=1&is allowed=y tintiangco-cubales, a. kohli r., sacramento, j., henning, n., agarwal-rangnath r. & sleeter, c. (2015). toward an ethnic studies pedagogy: implications for k-12 schools from the research. the urban review, 47:104–125. watahomigie, l.j. & mccarty, t.l. (1994). bilingual/bicultural education at peach springs: a hualapai way of schooling. peabody journal of education, 69 (2), 26-42. https://www.calfac.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/fall2016_ethnic_studies.pdf https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2021-03-11/opinion-ethnic-studies-evidence-student-excel https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/story/2021-03-11/opinion-ethnic-studies-evidence-student-excel https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/84024/academicsocialvalue.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/84024/academicsocialvalue.pdf?sequence=1&isallowed=y ethnic studies and the enduring legacy of movements for racial justice in california as a first-generation college student, i knew nothing of graduate school, nor did i have any sense of what it took to earn a masters or phd. it was through the mentorship of my ethnic studies trained professors that i could see myself in their shoes,... about the author references binary converginary: front lines, a world apart collide volume 3, issue 2 2021 allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe binary converginary: front lines, a world apart collide allison graham this was written as beat poetry to be performed as spoken word by two people. the voice of person 1 is represented in non-italics. person 2 is represented in italics. the centered text is spoken in tandem. red words interjected in the column in the opposite format (e.g., a red italicized word in the middle of a nonitalicized section) represent an interjection from the other speaker. it is to be read left column until the centered text, right column until the centered text, then center column. as a kid i was told i could be anything, be whatever i want, dream dream big! reverie in rainbows, late night shows, unicorns, endless possibilities, opportunities, probabilities, capabilities endless encouragement, confidence. i was essentially loved, family tensions, nuclear detonations. optimism, affirmations, aspirations, college degrees. possibilities i was left at a gate, five-months did i wait, isolated alone insulated, prohibt-tat-ed, left behind, my life to be defined. i was adopted by whites, given rights, parents for scary nights, inc-u-bated gestated indoctrinated, cerebral-lated, intelligence, expectations, postulations, demonstrations, aspirations identity binary converginary: front lines, a world apart collide allison graham allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe conceptualize, revolutionize, opportun-alize. college degrees, privilege-izations. that’s how we got our start. i went to a private catholic school growing up. discipline, religion. take your catholic medicine, in nomine don’t be late, christ can hate, priests can speak the word of god, no one thinks that’s kinda odd? pater nuns stay on bridal knees, god herself does not need, repeat exactly what is said, or you’ll meet the devil’s end, he will take your soul away. just be good. sanctus do as told et spiritus please do try and fit this mold. filius. nuns beat, ductus knuckles red, put religion in my head, exemplo white shirts, plaid skirts, penny loafers, pink and green, popular girls we are mean! corporal punish principals, wooden paddles, spank bad apples, i’d misbehave until last bell, mother never took it well, fulminate and criticize, please go out and proselytize. daily religious classes, for the lord to feed her masses, volente beatings, lashes, deo acolyte smashes. we do appreciate, godliness to subjugate, silence! is a golden rule, for the church to be so cruel, bad things happen under stairs behind closed doors no one cares. i am now a recovering catholic. binary converginary: front lines, a world apart collide allison graham allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe i remember where i was when gay marriage was announced. i remember where i was when gay marriage was announced. june 26th, two-thousand fifteen. much of my life was lived in the dark, a red scarlet mark, marry on love’s societal fringe, on a binge, overdoing, whomever slightly abusing, having a blast, you love! will always last, teachings from my past. i was taught this way. much of my life was lived in the light, front-line was my fight, fight? with impertinence, insolence, brazenness. stigmatized, classified, marginalized, discrimi-nal-lizied, characterized. rights? when growing up gay, without marriage why stay? i was taught this way. love is love salt lake city one day, the worst place to be gay. fighting haters, discrimanators, chased down dark alleyways, beer bottles thrown my way. fighting back on the attack. please don’t speak that way, it’s hard enough to be gay. pasadena one day, the best place to downplay. deceiving investigators, bypassing interrogators, performing as straight, how long should i wait? morally complicit, led by the elicit, fit to the mold, expectation, anticipation knowing my fate, will it be too late? to be authentically me in this city i see? never give up; always tits up! what the hell are you talking about? progress brings change. binary converginary: front lines, a world apart collide allison graham allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe reclaiming, renaming, reframing, reappropriating, white privilege separating fragmentating, have many people heard? bi-an-ary, conversionary cis-patriarchy equity, multiplicity, reciprocity, diversity, social constructivity, heteronormativity, non-conformity yes, i’ve heard. i teach these words. i get more words to use now. she gets a bit of it now. am i alone? she’s not alone. new identifiers? modifications, trans-dictionaries self alterations revis-o-nations individual flags? one rainbow incorporated identification amalgamation integration associations, interpretations, privilege-i-zations insert-ation maintaining rights, for court fights all marching in the street, fights fighting defeat we keep the beat. now today, we teach-preach a whole new way. excitement to feel free something denied to me finally, we have the right, to love with all our might our people died for we. conquering, vanquishing, overpowering! you’re not going to make the jump if you don’t take the leap. about the author allison l. graham is a global learning technologist, an immersive storyteller, and a social media historian. binary converginary: front lines, a world apart collide about the author academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice volume 2, issue 2 2019 allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero director of academic advising csu channel islands the question of whether evaluation of policies and practices promotes growth, equity, and justice is one that i consider every day in my work as the director of academic advising at california state university, channel islands. as an hispanic serving institution (hsi), one of my goals is to ensure that we are truly hispanic serving, and not just hispanic enrolling. one way to do this is to critically examine our policies and procedures through the lens of equity and justice while applying what we know from the field of higher education retention and student success. another way is to see how we can structure policies and procedures with a built-in understanding of the student population. in academic advising, one area in which we wrestle with the question of evaluation and how we apply it to students is in regards to how we evaluate student petitions. at some universities, academic advisors manage the evaluation of petitions, while at others it is the responsibility of the registrar’s office, also known as the records and registration office on other campuses. those who evaluate and decide whether to approve or deny student petitions have to balance institutional requirements and individual student circumstances. the work and expertise of academic advisors lies at the intersection of these two areas. advisors must be experts on institutional requirements and are representatives of the university (and its rules and regulations) in their interactions with students. however, they also serve as advocates for students and their individual experiences. based on the literature and my own professional experience, i argue that academic advisors are the individuals best qualified to evaluate petitions and that this contributes to institutional equity because of advisors’ expertise in university policy and individual student experiences. to understand this topic, we must first define the term student petition. these are requests initiated by students for some sort of exception to a stated rule or policy. some examples are adding or withdrawing from a course after the published deadline, exceeding the number of enrolled units allowed in a term, allowing exceptions to university degree requirements, or allowing exceptions to university policies on repetition of courses. in these cases, students are often given a chance to submit a written explanation/justification for their request as well as any supporting documentation. in just these few examples, one can see that the decisions a university makes on these types of petitions can have longacademic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe reaching implications for a student’s time to degree, gpa, and even degree completion. as a result, those who evaluate these petitions, and the processes they use to make these evaluations, play a central role in student success and retention. yet there is surprisingly little written on how universities determine who should evaluate petitions and whether the process for this evaluation is equitable and properly considers its student population. in making the case that academic advisors are best suited to evaluate these cases, we must first understand what academic advising is and its role in student success. terry kuhn defines academic advising as, “situations in which an institutional representative gives insight or direction to a college student about an academic, social, or personal matter” (kuhn, 2008, p. 3). in order be successful at giving insight or direction, advisors must have a deep understanding of the institution, its curriculum, policies, and procedures, and of the students they serve. this understanding of the student is firmly grounded in the theoretical underpinnings of student development theory, which is a critical component of any academic advisor graduate program (brown, 2008). student development can be defined as “the ways that a student grows, progresses, or increases his or her developmental capacities as a result of enrollment in an institution of higher education” (rodgers, 1990, p. 27). particularly with students of color, it is imperative that advisors have a strong grasp of the needs, demographics, and unique experiences that different populations bring with them (torres, 2006; clark & kalionzes, 2008; museus, 2014). in this sense, advisors take on the role of cultural navigators who help students negotiate higher education successfully (strayhorn, 2015; glaessgen et al., 2018). to make the case that academic advisors are the most qualified group of professionals on campus to evaluate petitions, it is important to contrast the dual expertise i describe above with the expertise and duties of individuals in a registrar’s office, which is the other entity that typically evaluates student petitions. traditionally, a university registrar is the custodian and manager of records (lanier, 2006). writing in the american association of collegiate registrars and admissions officers’ (aacrao) scholarly journal, college and university, lanier goes on to underscore the role of business practices as central to the mission of the registrar. he states, “the registrar has become a leader in campus technology planning, implementation, and operation,” and that “the position of the registrar plays a central role in coordinating these real-time operations” (p.17). lanier’s overarching argument is that the responsibilities of the registrar center on business and technological practices and that “highly trained, knowledgeable people with a variety of skills are required to administer, maintain, and improve these systems” (p.19). at no point does he mention registrars needing an understanding of student success research, student development theory, or the student experience in general. in this same aacrao journal, pace (2011) interviewed selected registrar and enrollment managers at medium and large public and private institutions, asking them about what an ideal registrar’s office would look like. in regards to staff qualifications, of the eight elements identified by the interviewees as necessary for the ideal registrar’s office, only one mentioned students, stating that staff, “would interact well with students and faculty” (p.4). the other elements centered on managing data, reporting systems, and technology. in terms of professional preparation, they only identified having a bachelor’s degree and having, “strong interpersonal, communications, and technical skills” (p.4). the most recent aacrao registrar career profile report (2018) supports this last point of not needing background in a specific discipline. in their survey of university registrars, the position typically requires a master’s academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe degree (67%), followed by bachelor’s degree (30%), though it does not specify a specific discipline for those degrees. additionally, the council for the advancement of standards (cas) in higher education states that registrar program personnel be trained on areas such as institutional policies pertaining to the functions or activities they support, privacy and confidentiality policies, and laws regarding access to student records (2015). this is in contrast to the evidence i presented above describing how academic advising graduate programs emphasize understanding of the student experience. also in contrast to the required qualifications for registrar’s office staff, academic advisors typically require graduate study in fields related to higher education. in an article published by the national academic advising association, mcmahon found that most academic advising positions require master’s degrees in higher education or college student personnel (2008) because these programs convey a comprehensive understanding of models of student personal, social, and intellectual development as well as the foundations of higher education, faculty governance, and student affairs. the cas professional standards for academic advising echo this by recommending that advising staff be trained in theories of student development and comprehensive knowledge of the institution’s programs, policies, and procedures (2015). in summary, registrar office staff tend to focus on processes, data management, and record systems maintenance and are not expected to have a background in the student experience or higher education. academic advisors work directly with students, helping them navigate the university as a whole. they are also expected to have completed graduate studies in higher education. this dual expertise in both the institution and the student are what make academic advisors the most qualified professionals on campus to evaluate petitions holistically. holistic evaluation of petitions as a result of the expertise in both the institution and the student, i argue that when academic advisors evaluate petitions it should be labeled a holistic evaluation of petitions. i am defining holistic evaluation of petitions as taking into consideration the totality of the student’s academic record and interactions with the university as well as their personal experience and current life circumstances outside of the classroom and university. this is very similar to how ferguson defined one component of holistic, person-centered academic advising, as looking “at all aspects of the student’s experience, including reviewing notes from previous meetings with the student and looking at his or her overall academic performance, major choice and work path, course enrollment and life outside the classroom” (2010, p.12). those not in the field of academic advising may not understand the complexity involved in evaluating petitions holistically in a way that ensures equity, the institution’s needs, and an understanding of the student population. at my previous institution (ucla), academic advisors were solely responsible for evaluating all late add, withdrawal, additional unit, and ge substitution petitions. as an advisor and trainer for new advisors in the college of letters and science there, it was my job to both evaluate petitions like these and prepare new advisors to do the same. to better understand all of the factors that went into the review of a petition, i will describe the process we used at ucla, using the example of a student petitioning to withdraw from a course after the published deadline. academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe most universities allow some flexibility in accommodating extenuating circumstances when students file such a petition (ramachandran & wyandotte, 2016). at ucla, petitions to add or withdraw from a course after the deadline required consultation with the instructor. in these cases, instructors had to sign off on the petition before my office could even consider it. in practice, unless the instructor had a strong objection to approving the petition, the vast majority of faculty deferred to advisors’ judgement on whether an exception was warranted or not. once in our office, the petition was entered into the student’s record and was forwarded to a standing committee in our office that consisted solely of advisors. according to my former supervisor, the rationale for use of a committee rather than one individual advisor is that it results in greater consistency, accountability, and equitable treatment of students (c. hollis, personal communication, june 11, 2018). our commitment to students was that they would receive a response to their petition in no more than ten working days. in most cases they received a response in less than five. in addition to evaluating the extenuating circumstances precipitating the need for an exception to the stated deadline, the committee would also consider how the withdrawal would impact the student’s degree progress. factors here included: • when will the course be offered again and does the student need it to graduate? • is the course a prerequisite for other more advanced courses? o if so, when can the student take the course again and will they stay on track to graduate? • has the student used up repeated courses for grade forgiveness? • will an “f” put the student on probation or academically disqualify them? • how close are they to graduating? • can they exercise another option like taking the course on a credit/no credit basis? in regards to taking into account the student’s background and looking at the entire situation from a more holistic perspective, the advisor would consider questions such as: • has this student been advised about the petition process before or are they a first year student who is unfamiliar with university rules and regulations? o is the student also first-generation and therefore even less likely to be familiar with university rules, regulations, and the long-term repercussions of a withdrawal? • does the student want to withdraw because they are failing the course or merely because they perceive they are failing? • has the student taken advantage of tutoring, mentoring, and other study skill resources on campus? • is the student working? academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe o how many hours? o could they benefit from enrolling as a part-time student? o are there other financial barriers at play that could be addressed by university resources? • has the student been misadvised by another office on campus regarding the withdrawal deadlines? is there a record of this? this is just a sampling of the questions i would consider when reviewing a student’s petition, but it illustrates the thought process well. i would look at how the potential withdrawal would impact the student’s degree progress through a review of their degree audit and transcript. additionally, i would examine the student’s background through their written explanation, additional questions sent to the student, advising notes, and grades earned thus far in the course (at ucla, advisors had access to any grades posted by instructors through the learning management system). finally, i would view all of this through the lens of my knowledge of student development theory by considering, for example, is this a first-generation college student with limited knowledge of bureaucratic procedures in higher education? i would use all of these elements to arrive at a decision that was equitable to the student and took into account the broad range of their experiences but that also considered the institution’s needs and requirements. in other words, it takes deep knowledge of both the curriculum and the student’s unique circumstances in order to evaluate a petition holistically. as important as the holistic review of petitions is to equity and student success, an equally important effect of housing this function in an academic advising office is that it contributes to a reduction in administrative barriers for students, such as having fewer offices to visit to take care of administrative matters. administrative barriers as barriers to equity administrative barriers are part of the university experience. in fact, probably the most widely cited researcher on university retention and departure, vincent tinto, has argued that one of the keys to retention is the degree to which students integrate socially and academically into the university culture, which includes its bureaucratic structures (1993). this is no small feat, particularly for first-generation college students who face an organizational structure that is often highly fragmented, compartmentalized, and resistant to coordination (schroeder, 2013). students’ lack of this college cultural knowledge and the institutional assumption that they will somehow figure it out can lead to a lack of trust in the institution (musoba, collazo, & placide, 2013). the greater the difference between students’ expectations for fairness in institutional interactions and the reality of those interactions, the more likely they are to become disillusioned and leave the institution (braxton & hirschy, 2005). housing the evaluation of petitions in an academic advising office can address this particular administrative barrier. academic advising is often the first university resource students reach out to when they are experiencing difficulties that may require withdrawing from courses or the term. by being able to advise them on the petition process while simultaneously reviewing their record, the advisor can determine if a academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe petition is the best option and, if so, how to submit the petition. this greatly reduces the administrative barrier of having to navigate the complex environment that is characteristic of most universities today (kalsbeek, 2013; schroeder, 2013). torres (2006) cites eliminating these bureaucratic hurdles as an area in need of improvement, especially as it relates to first-generation latina/o students. advisors as the campus student success experts: perspectives from the field if we agree that universities should promote equity and justice in how it serves its students, then it stands to reason that the policies and procedures related to students should be equitable and just. similarly then, the ways in which a student interacts with the institution should reflect this same equity and justice. student petitions are fundamental vehicle through which students interact with the “administration” of a university. if we hope to instill equity into these interactions, i argue that the university representatives who engage in and oversee these interactions should be those with the greatest knowledge of both the institution (curriculum and policies), and the literature on student development, success, and retention. on the vast majority of campuses, these are academic advisors. very few offices on a university campus have the same concentration of professionals specifically trained in higher education administration and student development, success, and retention. here at csuci for example, every advisor on my staff has at least one master’s degree in higher education administration and/or university advising. such education uniquely prepares each advisor to understand and uphold the integrity of the university while also being able to appreciate the hurdles faced by our mostly first-generation student population. this level of academic preparation was the same at my previous institution academic advising offices that are responsible for evaluating petitions provide similar justifications. for example, l. madolora, an academic advisor at san josé state university, stated: our office is in charge of the petition process since we are somewhat seen as the office full of experts on university policy as well as being fair to students in their specific situations. we also have knowledge of student resources that we can refer students to. (personal communication, april 2, 2018) when asked why ucla feels that academic advisors are best suited to evaluate petitions, my former supervisor said: since academic advisors work directly with students, they are better able to judge petitions holistically. for example, they can determine when it is appropriate to give a “one time only” approval because of a particular situation, such as allowing a student to add a class late, because that will graduate the student rather than requiring him to stay for an additional term, or because a required course will not be offered again in a timely manner. (c. hollis, personal communication, june 11, 2018) conclusion student petitions like the ones i described are generally reviewed by either registrar or academic advising offices. i argue that because of their different training and expertise, academic advisors are better suited to review petitions in a way that ensures the integrity of the record but also considers the academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe totality of the student experience. while registrars serve a vital function on campus as record and data managers, their focus is on data processing and using business practices to improve data management systems. in short, they record and maintain official university records. academic advisors, on the other hand, while having an understanding of these inner workings of the university, also must understand the student, their entire academic record, and how to bridge these two worlds. as a result, having advisors review petitions can serve a vehicle for greater student equity and justice. in summary, colleges and universities, because they exist to create and promote knowledge, are naturally inclined to promote equity and justice. however, being inclined to do something is not the same as being destined to do something. we as educators must work to ensure that the structures and processes we create in our universities promote that more noble inclination. having academic advisors, with their specific training and expertise, oversee petition evaluation and management is one way to accomplish this. about the author dr. ernesto guerrero is the director of academic advising at csu channel islands and an adjunct professor of educational leadership at california lutheran university. he has over nineteen years of experience in academic advising and student success programs having previously worked and taught at ucla. dr. guerrero studies student success and retention, specifically in underrepresented student groups. references american association of collegiate registrars and admissions officers. (2018). registrar career profile: summary of the aacrao career profile survey (2nd ed.). washington d.c. retrieved from https://www.aacrao.org/docs/default-source/research-docs/career-profile/registrar-career-profilereport-nbsp---march-60-second-survey.pdf?status=temp&sfvrsn=9c3fc9f3_10 braxton, j.m., & hirschy, a.s. (2005). theoretical developments in the study of college student departure. in a. seidman (ed.), college student retention: formula for success, (pp. 61–87). westport, ct: american council on education and praeger publishing. brown, t. (2008). critical concepts in advisor training and development. in v.n. gordon, w.r. habley, et al. (eds.), academic advising: a comprehensive handbook. (pp. 309-322). san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. clark, e.c., & kalionzes, j. (2008). advising students of color and international students. in v.n. gordon, w.r. habley, et al. (eds.), academic advising: a comprehensive handbook. (pp. 204-225). san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. council for the advancement of standards in higher education. (2015). cas professional standards for higher education (9th ed.). washington, dc. academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe ferguson, h.b. (2010). injecting warm fuzzies into cold systems: defining, benchmarking, and assessing holistic, person-centered academic advising. retrieved from http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll127/id/383151 glaessgen, t.a., macgregor, c.j., cornelius-white, j.h.d., hornberger, r.s., & baumann d.m. (2018) first-generation students with undecided majors: a qualitative study of university reacculturation. nacada journal, 38(1), 22-35. kalsbeek, d.h. (2013). framing retention for institutional improvement: a 4 ps framework. in d.h. kalsbeek (ed.), reframing retention strategy for institutional improvement, new directions for higher education, no. 161, (pp. 5-14). san francisco, ca: wiley periodicals, inc. kuhn, t.l. (2008). historical foundations of academic advising. in v.n. gordon, w.r. habley, et al. (eds.), academic advising: a comprehensive handbook. (pp. 3-16). san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. lanier, d.c. (2006). the mission of the registrar: a ten-year retrospective. college and university journal, 81(2), 15-19. mcmahan, a.b. (2008). how to become an academic advisor. retrieved from nacada clearinghouse of academic advising resources website https://www.nacada.ksu.edu/resources/clearinghouse/viewarticles/become-an-advisor.aspx museus, s.d. (2014). the culturally engaging campus environments (cece) model: a new theory of college success among racially diverse student populations. in m. b. paulsen (ed.), higher education: handbook of theory and research (pp. 189–227). new york, ny: springer. musoba, g.d., collazo, c., & placide, s. (2013). the first year: just surviving or thriving at an hsi. journal of hispanic higher education, 12(4), 356–368. pace, h.l. (2011). the evolving office of the registrar. college and university journal, 86(3), 2-7. ramachandran, s., & wyandotte, a. (2016). the neglected case of the ‘w’: waste or wisdom?. journal of the scholarship of teaching and learning, 16(6), 56-71. rodgers, r.f. (1990). recent theories and research underlying student development. in d. g. creamer & associates, college student development: theory and practice for the 1990s (pp. 27-79). alexandria, va: american college personnel association. schroeder, c.c. (2013). process and progress in action: examples of what works. in d.h. kalsbeek (ed.), reframing retention strategy for institutional improvement, new directions for higher education, no. 161, (pp. 71-80). san francisco, ca: wiley periodicals, inc. strayhorn, t.l. (2015) reframing academic advising for student success: from advisor to cultural navigator. nacada journal, 35(1), 56-63. academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice ernesto guerrero allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe torres, v. (2006). a mixed method study testing data-model fit of a retention model for latino students at urban universities. journal of college student development, 47, 299-318. tinto, v. (1993). leaving college: rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2nd ed.). chicago, il: university of chicago press. academic advising and the evaluation of student petitions: a vehicle for student equity and justice holistic evaluation of petitions administrative barriers as barriers to equity advisors as the campus student success experts: perspectives from the field conclusion about the author references our minute in history volume 3, issue 2 2021 allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe our minute in history richard yao i was recently battling a bad case of insomnia my mind was racing as i tried to process the death of daunte wright. this was extremely troubling to me, but these feelings were especially exacerbated by the recent derek chauvin trial – and having to relive the death of george floyd in traumatizing detail. i then thought about army 2nd lieutenant caron nazario being threatened and pepper sprayed, and the tragic death of 13-year-old adam toledo. on top of everything, we are reeling from numerous mass shootings, with several occurring in multiple cities. in addition, we are still grappling with the rise in asian pacific islander racial violence across our nation. and i know this is all just the tip of the iceberg – there are countless acts of violence that do not make the headline news. as i continued to process, i engaged in several discussions about whether we’ve made any progress – especially when considering the momentum created from last year’s black lives matter global protests for racial and social justice. it was clear that the weight of this continued violence and loss of life can easily result in us giving up hope, and some i spoke with even raised the possibility that our efforts to make racial and social justice a reality may be futile. this reminded me of a text exchange with a close colleague back in january after the insurrection, and his words impacted me on many levels and will continue to be with me moving forward. he stated, while these tragedies are so debilitating for us, we can never allow it to steal our hope. once we become totally cynical about our efforts, all hope is gone… without hope, there are some days i would not be able to get out of bed. we cry. we are depressed. we curse. and then we get up and put on the armor of hope and press on. as warriors, we do not have a choice in the matter. giving up is not an option. we are fighting the long game. and i hope you will remain hopeful as well. this powerful reminder of hope was reinforced when another colleague sent me a journal article entitled “teaching: the lessons of hope” where hope was conceptualized and defined as “a perceived capacity to produce clear goals, along with the routes to reach these goals (pathways thinking) and the motivation to use those routes (agency thinking)” (snyder, 2005, p. 72). snyder went on to discuss how goals will only sustain our motivation and efforts if they are of “sufficient importance and value to people” (p. 73), and the importance of dedicating much of our motivation to developing new routes when we face challenges and impediments to our goals. our minute in history richard yao allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe this conceptualization of hope was so meaningful, especially when considering that our inclusive excellence action teams were convening for the first time last week. as you know, our inclusive excellence action plan is the top priority of my interim presidency and focuses on cabinet level accountability; broad engagement across divisions at all levels; and is designed to bring more people into this work while ensuring we have the necessary expertise to be in full alignment with theory, research and best practices. perhaps most importantly, this framework has the potential to provide us with clear goals, a more tangible, actionable path moving forward, and the motivation to persevere and find new pathways when faced with challenges. this work, coupled with my unwavering faith in the resilience, leadership and values of our faculty, staff and students is what continues to fuel my hope moving forward. i sincerely believe that each one of us is in a precious minute, right now, with an opportunity to focus our prodigious, collective energies on realizing racial and social justice. whatever happens in the coming weeks and months, whether in response to the derek chauvin trial or other news in our centuries-old march toward racial and social justice, let us do good things with our minute in history. about the author richard yao, ph.d., serves as interim president of california state university channel islands (csuci). dr. yao initially joined csuci in june 2018, where he served as the vice president for student affairs. prior to csuci, he resided in las vegas, nv for 23 years, where he was an active member of the higher education and mental health communities. references snyder, c. r. (2005). teaching: the lessons of hope. journal of social and clinical psychology, 24(1): 7284. our minute in history i was recently battling a bad case of insomnia my mind was racing as i tried to process the death of daunte wright. this was extremely troubling to me, but these feelings were especially exacerbated by the recent derek chauvin trial – and having to ... as i continued to process, i engaged in several discussions about whether we’ve made any progress – especially when considering the momentum created from last year’s black lives matter global protests for racial and social justice. it was clear that t... about the author references such a beautiful family volume 3, issue 2 2021 allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe such a beautiful family lori mei mcmanus age 7. elementary school “meet me by the bike rack at recess,” i say to ana acosta, “i’ll tell you all about me.” “it’s a thrilling tale,” i begin. “mere hours after birth, i was left at a gate in china.” my hand indicates the iron school gate as an example as i speak. “from there, i was adopted by my mom and dad.” i proudly embark on retelling the story my dad had retold to me so many times over the years-how he and my mom went to the white swan hotel, eagerly awaiting a knock at the door announcing the arrival of their baby. i spare no detail of the excitement and anticipation my parents felt. three hours later, anna acosta, having ruminated on my story asks, “do you like being adopted?” as i open my mouth to respond, carrying on our conversation from recess, miss bianca, swoops down upon us. “do not ask about that ever again,” she tells ana sternly. with the same frowning face, she beckons me into the back office and closes the door. “are you okay?” she asks me in earnest. “yes,” i tell her, utterly bewildered and a bit embarrassed to have been singled out. why wouldn’t i be okay? age 7. victory park “push me higher!” i call to my dad, flying parallel with the treetops as the swing arcs upward. at the peak of its swing, i jump off, landing catlike on the wood chips, and run off into the distance. a complete stranger, a woman, approaches me, “do you know that man who was pushing you?” she inquires. “yes,” i tell her. “are your parents here?” she persists, her eyes scanning the park. such a beautiful family lori mei mcmanus allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe my ears prick up on high alert. something isn’t right here. if i answer “yes” will she hurt my parents? if i answer “no” will she hurt me? after a moment of hesitation, i respond, “yes, my parents are here.” she walks away to stand under a tree, still observing with concerned eagle eyes as i continue to play. she looks worried as my dad catches me at the foot of the slide. she scans the playground looking for a man or woman who might be my parent. age 15. kidspace children’s museum “we have a lost child,” a voice echoes over the walkie talkies, “he says his name is jacob and that he’s here with his mom. he’s 4 years old, african american, wearing a green t-shirt.” my fellow staff members and i leap into action, scattering to find jacob’s mom. my eyes scan the museum floor, looking for a woman with signs of distress on her face. my eyes linger a little longer on each black woman. i wonder vaguely if it would take longer to find a parent who does not look like their child. age 16. high school the bell has yet to ring. mr. alb is pacing the classroom, setting up his space and greeting us as we file in. he approaches my desk. “lora! i met your parents at back to school night. they look so different. they are white, and you are so oriental. i don’t get it. how can that be?” i stare at this 40+ year old teacher with a master’s degree and wonder what to say. “i don’t know,” i mumble and laugh awkwardly. mr. alb walks away. i look down at my hands in my lap wondering why when the simple two words, “i’m adopted,” got lost on their way to my mouth when i used to tell my story with such pride and gusto. miss bianca’s words echo in my head, “don’t ever ask about that again.” age 17. southwest airlines “remember to put your own mask on before assisting your child,” the flight attendant says to me, making eye contact and indicating the young boy in the middle seat adjacent to me. i nod. i suppose it seems so improbable that the white man in the aisle seat is actually our father. she chose to speak to me, her brain somehow rationalizing the mere 7-year age difference between me and my “child” which seemed far more logical to her than the possibility that the three of us could be one family. such a beautiful family lori mei mcmanus allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe age 22. faculty meeting “and here we have our school climate survey data broken down by families of color versus white families.” i raise my hand. “how are families of color determined?” i ask. “it’s by parents’ race,” dr. kodak explains. i make a mental note that, by these metrics, transracially adopted students would be categorized as a white family. age 24. victory park “you should play with me. i’m nice,” a confident black girl says, no more than 4 years of age. we begin to play. i glance around looking for her grown up. my eyes land on a black family eating burgers at a nearby picnic table. swinging from the monkey bars, she reaches for the next bar, but her 4year old wingspan falls just short. she tumbles to the woodchips below and begins to wail. not wanting to approach closer than 6 feet, i look over to the burger-eating family wondering if they notice her crying. out of nowhere, a white woman with greying hair comes and scoops up the crying child. “is she yours?” i ask with what i hope is a polite smile. she nods. i leave her to calm and soothe her child. in the background, i hear her teacher-like voice, “are you crying because was that mostly surprising or mostly hurt?” i want to say something like those contrived phrases that my parents and i used to get, you have such a beautiful family. but i was still too lost in my own assumptions. age 24. home i lie awake as my fiancé slumbers next to me. she and i are frequently mistaken for sisters, or friends, or mother & daughter. i know that we may someday be called such a beautiful family. i think back to that moment in the park four days ago when the emotional-less backhanded compliment of you have such a beautiful family almost slipped off my tongue. i think what i really mean was it is nice to see another family like mine. about the author a china-born native californian, lora mei mcmanus is a graduate of cal state channel islands. she currently serves as the pk-12 chair of equity & instruction at the blake school in minneapolis where she leans heavily on her experiences as a transracial adoptee to inform her work around intersectionality. such a beautiful family age 7. elementary school age 7. victory park age 15. kidspace children’s museum age 16. high school age 17. southwest airlines age 22. faculty meeting age 24. victory park age 24. home about the author interventions of undergraduates and universities in healthcare inequities volume 3, issue 2 2021 allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe interventions of undergraduates and universities in healthcare inequities violet lurz as a student who is soon entering the healthcare field, i recognize the importance of sharing what i have learned and what i am learning about the roles of students and university staff in issues of healthcare inequities and discussions at academic levels. to provide some related background on myself, i am a founding member and president of the pre-nursing club at csu channel islands. in our organization we promote the development of a supportive and inclusive community of pre-nursing and health science students as they pursue their academic and professional careers. we emphasize the importance of a non-competitive atmosphere, provide resources for prerequisite courses and application processes, and have recently begun discussing the necessity of diverse academic cohorts that are prepared to enter a culturally diverse world as health professionals. last december, i had the incredible opportunity to attend the american association of colleges of nursing’s inaugural diversity symposium with dr. lasonya davis. this conference was designed to encourage nursing staff and faculty from around the country to come together and discuss issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and develop ideas and actions to bring back to their campuses and communities. i had my first lessons on the history of medical practices and research that have abused disadvantaged communities and populations, and how those events still affect the accessibility and trust of our healthcare system. i attended three breakout room presentations involving the effectiveness of radical listening in communities of learning, breakthrough learning modules to educate nursing students on sensitive and appropriate practices with lgbtqia+ patients, and the benefits of the implementation of student-led academic centers for nursing students. i took away new perspectives on the creation of safe spaces in academic environments, holistic approaches to education and applications specifically in nursing programs and the necessity of being an advocate for progressive change in academic communities. following this symposium, i brought these lessons and ideas back to my student organization and peers and will connect them to my ideas throughout this paper. most recently, i was appointed to a student representative position on a campus inclusive excellence action team for realizing a campus culture of inclusive excellence. although much of my experience revolves around pre-nursing, i will be relating my ideas to pre-health undergraduate students and institutions. using the lessons and interactions i have had from the previously mentioned opportunities, i will be discussing the role i believe universities have in partnership with pre-health undergraduate interventions of undergraduates and universities in healthcare inequities violet lurz allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe students, to advance education on these long-standing racist and discriminatory practices, and the involved yet undetected biases that we hold. the three levels of action and intervention i will be discussing are: 1) universities and programs, 2) learning communities and courses, and 3) student organizations and action teams. universities and programs before issues of racism, discrimination, and related bias are being addressed within majors and programs, ensure that it is being addressed at a university level. we can ask ourselves: how is the university supporting an inclusive and diverse community of students that can talk openly and critically about these pressing issues? are these universities educating and involving their educators on their roles in these issues, and the manner in which they should approach culturally sensitive topics of conversation? finally, what working policies, action plans, or initiatives are in place in universities to address their standings on inclusive excellence, cultural awareness, and equity at a university community level? these are all questions that universities or programs need to address first and foremost to set an environment for effective and engaging conversations within various programs and majors that need to happen now. learning communities and courses next i will discuss the specific interventions with pre-health students the area that needs the most attention related to my topic. i must first begin by introducing the role that learning communities play at csu channel islands, and my experience in one. csu channel islands introduces and describes learning communities as follows: “first year students have a variety of options to live the ci mission through academic success and integration into the life of the university, both inside and outside of the classroom. participating in these communities is shown to improve student learning, persistence to the second year, time to graduation and stronger relationships with peers and faculty” (csu channel islands, 2021a). these communities also “promote academic success and students’ transition to university life aligned with a ci mission pillar” (csu channel islands, 2021a). my freshman year at ci, i enrolled in the healthcare integrative learning community: a group of freshmen interested in pre-nursing, health science, and other related healthcare fields. some of the perks in this community included priority registration in prerequisite classes, an introduction to university life, a curriculum that surrounded the ci mission pillars, and a beloved embedded peer mentor. my time in this community provided me with my first academic discussions on the meanings of culture, and the intersectionality of our lifestyles and experiences that make us all so diverse. it also familiarized me with the positive influences involved with being a member of a close community of peers and classmates with the same goals and desires. following this brief explanation on learning communities, i hope you can see the beginning opportunities available to access and educate communities of healthcare students early on in less clinical, and more personal settings. the opportunities to have open and critical student-centered conversations. the opportunities to educate students about the history of medical experiments backed interventions of undergraduates and universities in healthcare inequities violet lurz allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe by racist practices, and how these atrocities still influence our healthcare interactions today. the opportunities for students to learn about their own unconscious biases, where they stem from, and best bias management strategies. we should also know the possible opportunities for intervention in pre-health courses and prerequisites. generally, healthcare programs have rigorous application processes that include the applicant to have taken a variety of prerequisite courses. these programs could implement a multicultural course requirement for students to apply for admission. science prerequisite course curriculum could be modified to include case studies, examinations of personal implicit biases, and the damage and mistrust this is causing in our healthcare systems. an article from the american association of medical colleges by janice a. sabin, titled “how we fail black patients in pain” says, “to be effective, though, education about implicit bias must be grounded in science, appropriate to the audience, inclusive, and nonjudgmental. education also must include effective strategies for reducing the impact of bias on patient care, such as using clinical guidelines and standardized checklists” (sabin, 2020). this is a great example of how it could be beneficial to introduce these lessons into our science courses. finally, avoid instructor-centered lectures and transition to open course discussions encouraging students to share related opinions and experiences. on a greater spectrum, these topics of cultural inequalities and discrimination in healthcare should have an equal level of importance to other topics of discussion within pre-health. i am not suggesting that the learning community or course interventions provide all the answers. i am only implying that i believe it is a great focus-point or blue-print for how campuses can incorporate these communities and curriculum changes to provide students with the materials and resources to prepare them for entering an intense world as healthcare professionals. i know these topics can be heavy, so along with these suggestions i have mentioned, i know that students also need to be encouraged and excited to enter programs and careers and become a part of making these changes. this brings me to my final idea for intervention. student organizations, councils, and action teams i have talked about the roles of universities, faculty, and instructors of pre-health undergraduate programs and institutions in recognizing very current healthcare practices and beliefs that put bipoc communities at risk. now i want to talk about the roles and responsibilities of students. this was a question i had at the end of the earlier mentioned diversity symposium, and a question i believe a lot of students are stuck with right now. what is my role in these situations and my education? i asked, and got an answer that was somewhat obvious, but something i needed to hear. communities of students need to come together and take initiative to educate each other, their communities, and uphold the words and actions of staff and the university. student run councils or clubs provide students with opportunities outside of class to grasp an understanding of these issues and the roles that they have, to unite as a community and begin student-led initiatives. some examples that i have seen or believe could be beneficial with this point are student organizations implementing officer roles whose job is to promote inclusion and equity in their club. another example i have practiced is hosting socials or setting aside time in meetings to hold these discussions, which is one idea the pre-nursing club has been incorporating. i left the symposium inspired to bring back what i had learned to my peers and members https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain interventions of undergraduates and universities in healthcare inequities violet lurz allies for education 2021, 3, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe in the pre-nursing club. this semester we have had discussions on the attributes of a culturally aware nurse, the necessity for diverse academic cohorts that are prepared to interact with and treat patients as individuals, and our roles as students in our education. student-led councils and action teams are more campus-wide initiatives but have an equally important role on campus. the university recently introduced a diversity and inclusion student council in partnership with our multicultural dream center. their mission “is to empower students to build an inclusive campus environment that is safe and welcoming for all” (csu channel islands, 2021b). pre-health students and programs should use these campus-wide councils to their advantage by sending representatives to relay information to and from their program to effectively engage and contribute to these initiatives and conversations. students are at the center of their universities social and educational reform. the roles of these organizations' initiatives should be to promote the university’s stance and actions, not make up for how they are lacking in these areas. conclusion i have discussed the role universities have in partnership with pre-health undergraduate students to advance education on racist practices and implicit bias in healthcare by introducing my ideas for three levels of intervention. these examples, if executed correctly, could promote effective education, and benefit the future of healthcare. about the author violet lurz is a sophomore at cal state channel islands, where she will begin her journey as a nursing student this fall. she is a founding member and president of the pre-nursing club on campus where her passions for student leadership, inclusive educational communities, and health advocacy were brought to light. violet serves as a student representative on a campus inclusive excellence action team and the healthy campus coalition. references csu channel islands. (2021a). about our communities. https://www.csuci.edu/academics/learningcommunities/about-our-communities.htm csu channel islands. (2021b). diversity & inclusion student council. multicultural dream center. https://theisland.csuci.edu/ongoing-support-events/ko2ktjhqdl8m0p65xwh9k1dnfemohl sabin, j.a. (2020, january 6). how we fail black patients in pain. american association of medical colleges. https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain https://theisland.csuci.edu/ongoing-support-events/ko2ktjhqdl8m0p65xwh9k1dnfemohl https://www.csuci.edu/academics/learningcommunities/about-our-communities.htm https://theisland.csuci.edu/ongoing-support-events/ko2ktjhqdl8m0p65xwh9k1dnfemohl https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain interventions of undergraduates and universities in healthcare inequities references the fallacy of approaching education reform through a singular lens volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the fallacy of approaching education reform through a singular lens russell craig helmstedter “students in poverty… learn less because they are taught less.” (dudley-marling & dudley-marling, 2015, p.42). with marksmanship accuracy, the authors direct what tollefson (2008) refers to as the spotlight of accountability squarely at teachers. dudley-marling and dudley-marling (2015) offer a tantalizing solution. since it is teachers who limit the potential of students in lower track classes, which are disproportionately filled with poor students and students of color, by not offering the same engaging curriculum as students in the high-level tracks, schools should get rid of tracking. the authors attempt to support this idea by providing two examples of schools that found success after detracking. however, the authors commit two logical fallacies. the first is a red herring. they blame all disparities in student achievement on teachers employing deficit thinking towards students in poverty while ignoring extenuating circumstances faced by students in poverty. the second fallacy is post hoc ergo propter hoc, or rather, after this because of this. while it is true that all schools have found success after detracking, dudley-marling and dudley-marling fail to account for all of the factors outside of detracking that account for success in the cases they cite. a tale of two schools to illustrate their point that detracking is the solution for closing the achievement gap, dudley-marling and dudley-marling (2015) first offer the example of the preuss school (tps). tps is a public charter high school in san diego. low-income students, who have been identified as high potential, are selected through a lottery system. the school offers a singular college prep pathway in both mathematics and english language arts. over the span of six years, 2004-2009, 84% of graduates attended a four-year university. however, the authors have omitted key details about the program that have led to success. to elucidate the magnitude of this omission, consider de anza academy of technology and the arts (data), a title 1 middle school in ventura, ca. table 1 features demographics of both tps and data. for the 2018-2019 school year both schools were comparable in the number of students and served large populations of low-income students. that is where the comparison ends. the fallacy of approaching education reform through a singular lens russell craig helmstedter allies for education 2020,3 , 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 1 comparison of school characteristics of data and preuss schools in the 2018-19 school year data preuss difference students 839 836 -3 annual instructional minutes 54900 74669 19769 teachers 25 42 17 student:teacher ratio 33.6 19.9 -13.7 math classes with 33+ students 42.1% 3.2% -38.9% counselors 2 3 1 expenditures per pupil $7,478.00 $14,255.67 $6,777.67 mean teacher salary $69,185.00 $87,504.25 $18,319.25 three year mean suspension rate 7.1% 2.1% -5.0% free and reduced lunch program 71.0% 97.2% 26.2% english language learners 26.5% 9.0% -17.5% students with disabilities 14.8% 4.2% -10.6% note: data collected from california department of education (2020a), and california department of education (2020b) tps outspends data by $6,778 per student per year, a percent increase of 90%. in other words, tps spends nearly double what data spends per student. tps employs 17 more credentialed teachers than data despite having three less students. also, any struggling student has access to after school tutoring, counseling, and family counseling. every student with a gpa below a 2.5 attends mandatory saturday school (tps, 2020). most notably, tps allocates 74669 annual instructional minutes each year, approximately 20,000 more than the state minimum. this means a high school student who attends tps for four years accumulates an additional 80,000 instructional minutes equating to more than a fifth year the fallacy of approaching education reform through a singular lens russell craig helmstedter allies for education 2020,3 , 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe of instruction. detracking is undoubtedly a defining characteristic of tps. however, tps also has a highly motivated student body, and the school builds in multiple layers of support for struggling students and their families. the curious case of railside dudley-marling and dudley-marling (2015) provided another example of a school that saw success due to detracking. boaler and staples (2008) researched detracking as a reform for equity in mathematics. the study includes a trio of high schools in northern california. railside school is a school that locals refer to as being on the “‘wrong side’ of the tracks” (p. 609). railside is the most diverse of the three schools in the study, with 30% of students being ell and 30% of students being low-income. the study found that after detracking, students at railside outperformed the other whiter, more affluent schools. specifically, while railside students had a lower mean score for the year 1 math pretest, they outscored the other schools by the end of year 2 math. moreover, 41% of students at railside took calculus, compared to 27% on average at the other two schools. however, that success cannot be attributed to detracking alone. the remainder of this section will explore the factors outside of detracking that lead to railside’s success. a methodological discrepancy students at the other two schools in the railside study (boaler & staples, 2008) were either placed in remedial math or offered a choice between a ‘traditional’ mathematics pathway and a pathway that centered on group work and applied problems. it is notable that because of the smaller sample size, students who chose the alternative group work and applied problems pathway are not included in the statistical analysis. this means that all students, including high achievers, were included in the mean scores at railside. at the other two schools the pathway that typically consists of high achievers is not included in the analysis. potentially, this could have an impact on the mean scores the study did not explore. scheduling scheduling was another source of success at railside (boaler & staples, 2008). students attended the same classes for 90 minute periods every day, with class sizes of 20 to 1. thus, a course that is a year long at most schools is a semester long at railside. students were able to take two math courses each year, therefore, allowing students who fail multiple courses the chance to still reach calculus by senior year. moreover, railside students took year 1 math over the course of two semesters to ensure that foundations are taught with depth. this is the equivalent of taking year 1 math over the course of two years at the other schools. so although railside students outperformed the other two schools on the year 2 math post-test, they had at least 54,000 additional instructional minutes in which to learn the same content than the other two schools. curriculum in addition to detracking, railside students experienced a completely reformed curriculum designed around complex instruction with cultural awareness and equity in mind. expectations and norms were put in place so that students knew they were responsible for the learning of others as part of the reformed curriculum. teachers practiced assigning competence to student ideas by highlighting individual contributions to the whole class, increasing student efficacy. the final component of complex the fallacy of approaching education reform through a singular lens russell craig helmstedter allies for education 2020,3 , 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe instruction was the idea of multidimensional classrooms. teachers posed complex problems that could be solved in multiple ways and created a culture in which various approaches were valued. staffing apart from the curriculum, railside has a unique math department. veteran teachers would deliberately teach lessons one or two days ahead of more novice teachers. the idea was that more novice teachers were able to observe, reflect, collaborate, and refine lessons taught by venteran teachers before having to teach the same lesson themselves. the study found math teachers put in 650 minutes of planning per week despite only getting paid for 450 minutes of preparation. the culture of the department was such that teachers were expected to work outside of contract hours without compensation. finally, the math department also had control over recruitment and hiring. the majority of the department had been working and collaborating for years. new teachers were hired if they fit into the common vision for the department. to illuminate the uniqueness in department control of staffing, consider data once again. teachers at all middle schools in ventura unified school district teach six periods out of a six period day. there exists no opportunity in the schedule that would allow teachers to observe each other. meanwhile, one quarter into the 2018-2019 school year, district administration removed a teacher from a ventura unified high school for breaking state law and misusing district funds meant for the girls’ basketball team (d’angelo, 2018). the superintendent held an optional staff meeting informing data staff that the teacher would be placed at data because he was in need of a ‘fresh start’. subsequently, district administrators took a teacher from data to cover the now open position at the high school. as cited in the railside study (boaler & staples, 2008), consistency and quality of faculty matters. the dangers of promoting a single solution dudley-marling and dudley-marling (2015) adduce the detracking at tps and railside as exemplary while neglecting to mention the systems, funding, and support required to facilitate such reform. in both cases, successful detracking coincided with other supports and interventions such as counseling services, expenditure per student above the state mean, increase in instructional minutes, a high-quality and consistent staff, small class sizes, a common vision shared by the faculty, and mandatory tutoring. detracking may be a piece of the puzzle, but it must be accompanied by other reforms. moreover, if we believe that lack of access to prenatal and early childhood care (dudley-marling & dudley-marling, 2015), and adverse childhood experiences (hughes & tucker, 2018) disproportionately impact students of poverty, we must acknowledge disparity exists amongst the social stratification of socioeconomic statuses and address those disparities accordingly. to promulgate detracking as a feasible reform in closing the achievement gap, without acknowledging the systemic changes required to implement that reform, sets teachers and students up for failure. to paraphrase adichie (2009), the danger of presenting a single solution is that it robs teachers of their dignity. the fallacy of approaching education reform through a singular lens russell craig helmstedter allies for education 2020,3 , 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the author russell helmstedter is an alumnus of csuci through and through. after receiving a b.s. in mathematics with an emphasis in education, he went on to earn a single subject teaching credential in mathematics. furthermore, he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, also at csuci. he has been a public school teacher for seven years. in the classroom, his passion is creating or presenting problems and scenarios that pique student curiosity and help students develop reasoning. references adichie, c. n. (2009). the danger of a single story [video]. ted global https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transc ript?language=en#t-1107598 boaler, j., & staples, m. (2008). creating mathematical futures through an equitable teaching approach: the case of railside school. teachers college record, 110(3), 39. california department of education (2020a). school accountability report card for de anza academy of technology and the arts. retrieved from https://www.sarconline.org/sarc pdfs/temp/37683383731189.pdf california department of education (2020b). school accountability report card for preuss school ucsd. retrieved from https://www.sarconline.org/sarcpdfs/temp/37683383731189.pdf d’angelo, a. (2018, november 30). buena girls basketball coach was removed for allegedly misusing funds, violating laws. ventura county star. https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/education/2018/11/30/buena-basketball-coach-daveguenther-public-funds-law/2114145002/ dudley-marling, c, & dudley-marling, a. (2015). inclusive leadership and poverty. in scanlan, g. & theoharis, m. (eds), leadership for increasingly diverse schools. routledge. hughes, m., & tucker, w. (2018). poverty as an adverse childhood experience. north carolina medical journal, 79(2), 124–126. https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.79.2.124 the preuss school. (2020). retrieved from https://preuss.ucsd.edu/ tollefson, k. (2008). the inversion of visibility. in volatile knowing: parents, teachers, and the censored story of accountability in america’s public schools. lexington press (pp. 131-140). https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript?language=en%23t-1107598 https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/transcript?language=en%23t-1107598 https://www.sarconline.org/sarc https://www.sarconline.org/sarcpdfs/temp/37683383731189.pdf https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/education/2018/11/30/buena-basketball-coach-dave-guenther-public-funds-law/2114145002/ https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/education/2018/11/30/buena-basketball-coach-dave-guenther-public-funds-law/2114145002/ https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/education/2018/11/30/buena-basketball-coach-dave-guenther-public-funds-law/2114145002/ https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/education/2018/11/30/buena-basketball-coach-dave-guenther-public-funds-law/2114145002/ https://preuss.ucsd.edu/ the fallacy of approaching education reform through a singular lens a tale of two schools the curious case of railside a methodological discrepancy scheduling curriculum staffing the dangers of promoting a single solution about the author references microsoft word 354-99z_article text-1416-4-11-20180920.docx volume  2,  issue  1   2018   allies  for  education  2018,  1,  2   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     on  mothering,  teaching  and  learning:  the  maternal   thinking  of  doctoral  student  mothers  and  their  quest   for  social  justice  in  and  through  education     dr.  nancy-­‐jean  pément   faculty,  school  of  education  and  graduate  writing  studio  instructor   csu  channel  islands     all  human  life  on  the  planet  is  born  of  woman.   adrienne  rich,  1976   in  the  book  the  essential  conversation:  what  parents  and  teachers  can  learn  from  each  other,   lawrence-­‐lightfoot  (2003)  devoted  a  chapter  to  exploring  the  intersection  of  parenting  and  teaching,   and  the  fragmented  roles  that  women,  in  particular,  experience  in  educating  children  and  young  people.   it  is  no  surprise  that  the  important  work  of  raising  and  educating  children  is  still  largely  pursued  by   women  in  an  economic  and  political  context  that  not  only  devalues  the  labour  of  caring  for  others  but   that  fails  to  recognize  the  importance  of  caretaking  and  educating  in  the  interest  of  the  common  good.   many  of  the  teachers  interviewed  by  lawrence-­‐lightfoot  indicated  that  their  roles  as  mothers  had   implications  for  them  in  their  professional  lives.  most  notably,  teachers  who  were  mothers  claimed  to   better  understand  the  complexities  of  childhood  development  and  of  learning,  and  felt  they  were  less   judgmental  and  more  forgiving  of  individual  foibles  among  both  students  and  parents.  as  one  teacher   indicated  when  she  became  a  mother,  “i  finally  recognized  the  way  in  which  mothering  breaks  your   heart”  (lawrence-­‐lightfoot,  2003,  p.  194).     this  article  explores  the  overlapping  and  intertwined  ways  in  which  mothering  informs  the  educational   endeavour  in  both  p12  and  higher  education  with  a  focus  on  maternal  thinking  and  the  role  of  mothers   in  advancing  social  justice.  while  laurence-­‐lightfoot  illuminated  the  lives  of  women  at  the  intersection   of  teaching  and  mothering  in  the  p12  context,  i  interrogated  the  multi-­‐dimensional  roles  of  doctoral   student  mothers  in  higher  education  (pément,  2013).  this  narrative  inquiry  into  the  experiences  of  16   doctoral  student  mothers  in  the  united  states  was  guided  by  rich’s  (1976)  notion  of  motherhood  as   both  experience  and  institution.  she  argued  that  motherhood  must  be  understood  in  two  contexts—one   that  is  grounded  in  personal  experience  and,  the  other,  that  recognizes  the  implications  of  the  political   institutions,  such  as  capitalism  and  patriarchy,  that  constrain  it.  further,  this  work  was  informed  by   critical  feminism  (hooks,  1994,  1999)  that  acknowledges  gendered  power  differentials  (among  others),   on  mothering,  teaching  and  learning:  the  maternal  thinking  of  doctoral  student   mothers  and  their  quest  for  social  justice  in  and  through  education   dr.  nancy-­‐jean  pément   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     and  by  post-­‐structuralist  notions  which  suggest  there  cannot  be  any  theoretical,  research  or  pedagogical   efforts  without  questioning  what  it  means  to  teach  and  to  conduct  research  in  a  world  that  is   fundamentally  unjust  (lather,  1991).     a  narrative  inquiry  is  a  qualitative  methodology  which  draws  upon  strategies  both  traditional  and   innovative,  with  opportunities  to  explore  new  ideas  and  to  ask  new  qualitative  questions  (chase,  2008).   narrative  researchers  pay  particular  attention  to  the  language,  the  stories,  and  lived  realities  as   expressed  by  participants  allowing  for  the  complexity  of  human  experience  to  shine.     in  in-­‐depth,  semi-­‐structured  interviews,  participants  told  me  about  their  experiences  as  mothers,  as   doctoral  students  and  as  professionals  in  education.  all  had  worked,  in  some  capacity,  in  schools,   colleges  or  at  universities  before  undertaking  their  doctorates  in  higher  education.  their  ages  ranged   from  27  to  58  years  with  an  average  age  of  42  years.  half  of  participants  identified  as  women  of  colour,   and  the  other  half  as  white.  most  were  married.  taken  together,  participants  were  actively  parenting  25   children.  the  average  age  of  their  children  was  approximately  12  years  old,  ranging  from  a  few  months   to  25  years  old.     i  met  doctoral  student  mothers  at  their  offices  on  university  campuses,  and  in  their  homes  as  they  cared   for  their  children.  consistent  with  findings  reported  by  lawrence-­‐lightfoot  (2003),  the  realities  of   motherhood  informed  the  professional  lives  of  these  women  in  ways  that  were  both  overt  and  covert.   not  surprisingly,  they  described  their  lives  as  deeply  enmeshed  with  those  of  their  children.  these   powerful  bonds  were  enacted  and  re-­‐enacted  in  schools  and  universities  everywhere.  what  follows  is   my  attempt  to  play  fair  witness  to  the  storied  experiences  of  doctoral  student  mothers  as  they  spoke   about  how  mothering  informed  their  thinking  as  well  as  their  quest  for  social  justice  on  behalf  of  their   own  and  other  people’s  children.     mothering  and  maternal  thinking  as  practice  and  intellectual  activity     every  student  mother  with  whom  i  spoke  described  herself  as  a  lifelong  learner.  as  doctoral  students,   without  doubt,  educational  activities  were  prominent  in  their  lives.  however,  beyond  their  experiences   as  students,  these  women  relied  on  informal  and  formal  educational  strategies  to  enlighten  both  their   mothering  and  professional  practices.  not  surprisingly,  however,  popular  discourse  is  replete  with   notions  that  implicitly  demean  the  learning  efforts  of  mothers.  several  commonly-­‐held  views  in  popular   culture  are  crystallized  in  pejorative  language,  including  references  to  “mommy  brain”  or  “baby  brain”—   “a  modern  affliction…which  like  ‘senior  moment’  is  a  cheery  synonym  for  abrupt  mental  decline”   (ellison,  2005,  p.  3).  in  discussing  her  transition  to  maternal  thinking,  nichols  (2009)  shared  that  her   cognitive  style  changed  given  her  emerging  mothering  practices.  she  wrote,  “it  is  maternal  thought  that   has  become  my  dominant  style  and  that  by  struggling  with  the  internal  conflicts  of  maternal  practice  i   have  embraced  an  “outlaw”  [beyond  dominant  norms]  approach  to  mothering  which,  in  turn,  has   altered  my  approach  to  research”  (p.  231).  indeed,  several  participants  told  stories  about  how  they   engaged  in  serious  research  efforts  to  learn  how  to  best  care  for  their  child  while  simultaneously   working  towards  their  doctorates.  for  example,  one  doctoral  student  mother  undertook  an  exhaustive   review  of  literature  regarding  pediatric  nutrition  when  she  discovered  her  child  had  food  allergies.   others  mentioned  how  their  mothering  directly  informed  their  professional  and  academic  work.  as  one   participant  stated:   on  mothering,  teaching  and  learning:  the  maternal  thinking  of  doctoral  student   mothers  and  their  quest  for  social  justice  in  and  through  education   dr.  nancy-­‐jean  pément   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     it’s  really  hard  to  separate  my  life  experiences  from  what  i’m  doing  and  saying…i’m  a  parent  and   i  deal  with  parents  in  my  work…so  i  really  do  know  what  it’s  like.  i  think  about  how  [mothering]   informs  my  work  in  school…i’m  in  a  diversity  class  right  now  and  i’m  thinking  not  just  about  how   does  this  impact  my  work?  i’m  thinking,  how  does  it,  as  a  parent,  impact  me?  or,  what  are  the   implications  for  parents,  not  just  students?   the  emergent  and  fluid  cognitive  strategies  necessary  to  navigate  the  arrival  of  a  child  and,  later,  in   raising  growing  people,  came  to  characterize  participant  experiences  as  both  learners  and  as  teachers  at   home  and  in  institutions.  indeed,  it  was  difficult  for  participants  to  disentangle  their  narratives  about   their  lives  as  mothers  and  as  doctoral  students  since  these  roles  intersected  at  the  juncture  of  two   tremendously  important  tasks  both  requiring  significant  emotional  and  cognitive  resources.  as  o’reilly   (2009,  p.  298)  stated,  new  forms  of  thinking  emerge  in  mothering  that  render  “motherwork  inherently   and  profoundly  an  intellectual  activity.”   as  lifelong  learners,  several  doctoral  student  mothers  spoke  about  how  they  came  to  the  field  of   education  initially  to  become  better  advocates  for  their  own  children  by  working  in  the  classroom,  by   substitute  teaching  or  in  taking  other  jobs  at  the  schools  their  children  attended.  several  of  these   women  eventually  sought  teaching  credentials  and  found  themselves  on  a  career  path  they  had  not   anticipated.  one  participant  told  of  how  she  became  an  educator  in  response  to  her  child’s  diagnosis  of   a  learning  disability.  she  said:   i  never  wanted  to  be  a  teacher…  it  wasn’t  meant  to  be  in  a  sense,  to  get  into  special   [education]…but  my  first  child  got  an  individualized  educational  plan  (iep)  and…being  a  mother  i   wanted  to  know…  i  went  from  being  a  safety  coordinator…to  becoming  a  teacher  because  i   wanted  to  know  what  i  had  to  do  to  take  care  of  my  [child].     similarly,  another  participant  explained  how  she  “really  got  into  university”  by  visiting  the  campus   where  one  of  her  children  was  attending  college.  with  her  children’s  encouragement,  she  enrolled  in   classes  and,  eventually,  completed  a  master’s  in  education.  later,  she  embarked  upon  a  doctoral   program.     in  another  case,  one  participant  told  how  her  chronically  ill  child  required  medications  and  a  special  diet.   by  getting  a  job  on  a  university  campus,  this  doctoral  student  mother  was  able  to  stay  close  to  her  child   while  undertaking  her  master’s  in  early  childhood  education.  at  the  time  we  spoke,  this  woman  was   completing  her  doctorate  in  higher  education.  the  university  provided  a  safe  place  guaranteeing   proximity  to  her  child  while  she  fulfilled  her  aspiration  to  seek  a  doctorate.   another  participant  who  became  a  single  mother  at  an  early  age  articulated  the  profound  significance  of   education  in  her  life  and  its  connection  to  motherwork.  she  said,  “mothering  made  me  study.  i  guess   [becoming  a  mother]  has  made  [education]  very  personal.  being  a  parent  is  what  got  me  back  full-­‐time   into  the  university  as  an  undergraduate…i  had  to  create  a  life  for  us.”  for  this  doctoral  student  mother,   attending  university  became  a  tangible  expression  of  her  dedication  to  the  care  and  advancement  of  her   child.   on  mothering,  teaching  and  learning:  the  maternal  thinking  of  doctoral  student   mothers  and  their  quest  for  social  justice  in  and  through  education   dr.  nancy-­‐jean  pément   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     motherhood  informs  a  commitment  to  advance  social  justice     intricately  tied  to  the  idea  that  mothering  inspires  new  cognitive  processes  is  the  expressed   commitment  to  social  justice  originating  in  the  experiences  of  doctoral  student  mothers.  as  one   participant  stated:     as  i  think  about  college  students,  i  think  the  whole  experience  of  being  a  parent  in  general,  whether  i   had  a  child  in  college  or  not…allows  me  to  look  at  a  student  from  a  different  lens  not  just  as  an  educator   but  as  a  person  who  has  a  prior  level  of  care  or  concern.  i  think  that  all  that  wanting  the  best,  not  just   for  my  own  kids,  but  for  other  people’s  kids—because  i  really  view  that  as  a  high  responsibility— supporting,  encouraging  and  serving  other  people’s  kids.     yet  another  participant  recognized  access  to  higher  education  as  an  important  means  for  emancipation,   not  only  for  herself  but,  ultimately,  for  her  child  and  for  other  people’s  children  as  well.  she  told  me:     i  began  to  see  the  potential  for  education  to  be  a  mitigator  against  oppression,  marginalization  and   powerlessness…  education  can’t  do  everything  for  everybody  but  in  an  economy  and  a  society  like  ours   it’s  pretty  important…  my  [child]  has  given  me  a  tangible  reason  for  that…  the  human  being  that  i’m   hoping  to  cultivate  in  [my  child]  is  the  same  person  that  i  care  about  in  my  research—other  people’s   children  and  my  own  child—where  those  two  things  come  together.     doctoral  student  mothers  spoke  eloquently  about  how  higher  education  not  only  contributed  to  their   personal  practice  as  mothers  but  how  mothering  labour  extended  into  and  informed  their  professional   lives.  this  idea  was  illuminated  by  one  participant  who  described  her  commitment  to  social  justice  and   equity.  she  said:   [social  justice]  was  important  to  me  before  i  had  kids.  but  now,  it  is  even  more  important   because  i  have  kids  who  are  going  to  go  through  education  systems  and  who  are  going  to  go   into  higher  education…i  hope  it  will  be  more  inclusive  and  more  open  to  them.  my  kids  are  bi-­‐ racial…[the]  work  that  i  do  is  important  at  different  levels.  i  do  want  to  make  a  difference  and   have  an  effect  on  policy…  [this  work]  is  not  just  helping  society  but  helping  even  my  own  family,   my  own  kids.     given  the  gendered  economic,  political  and  cultural  contexts  in  which  women  enact  their  everyday  lives,   this  study  found  that  doctoral  student  mothers  were  able  to  negotiate  institutional  cultures  to  meet  the   needs  of  their  own  children  which,  tangentially,  had  implications  for  the  interests  of  other  people’s   children  as  well.  essentially,  they  understood  their  work  in  schools  and  universities  as  crucial  to  ensuring   care  for  their  own  children  while  also  advancing  social  justice  interests  more  broadly.     conclusion   much  like  the  teacher  mothers  whose  experiences  were  interrogated  by  lawrence-­‐lightfoot  (2003),   participants  in  this  study  indicated  that  mothering,  learning  and  teaching  are  profoundly  intertwined   activities.  andre  (2009)  has  written  that,  “motherhood  has  analogues  in  many  other  central  human   activities.  teaching  is  the  obvious  first  analogue,  but  there  are  many  others”  (p.  70).  consistently,  matta   (2013)  described  the  changes  she  experienced  after  becoming  a  mother  in  the  following  way:     on  mothering,  teaching  and  learning:  the  maternal  thinking  of  doctoral  student   mothers  and  their  quest  for  social  justice  in  and  through  education   dr.  nancy-­‐jean  pément   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     i  am  a  stronger  woman  and  teacher  because  i  am  an  experienced  mother…mothering  influences  my   interactions  with  [my  students],  my  listening  skills…watching  my  own  children  grow  has  also  helped  me   to  develop  a  keen  interest  in  students’  intellectual  growth  and  development  (p.  147).     in  contemporary  economic,  political  and  cultural  contexts  in  which  there  are  competing  labour  demands   placed  on  women,  participants  in  this  study  proved  to  be  resourceful  in  their  reliance  on  educational   institutions  to  satisfy  personal  interests  as  they  strived  to  meet  the  needs  of  their  own  children  and,   ultimately,  as  they  worked  towards  improving  conditions  for  others.  this  study  revealed  that  children   are  formidable  sources  of  inspiration  for  the  advancement  of  social  change.     in  the  absence  of  comprehensive  social  programs,  schools  and  universities  continue  to  be  important   sites  for  advancing  social  justice.  understanding  the  experiences  of  mothers  who  teach  in  schools  and   universities  helps  to  acknowledge  mothering  as  an  ontological  standpoint  (quinn,  2004)—in  other   words,  as  an  important  and  distinguishing  way  of  being  in,  and  knowing  the  world.  beyond  mitigating   the  gendered  demands  placed  upon  women,  beyond  the  minimizing  banter  relating  to  women’s   cognitive  skills  reflected  in  the  notion  of  “mommy  brain”,  beyond  the  erasure  of  women’s  needs  and   interests,  we  must  recognize  the  legitimacy  of  a  mother  worldview  (o’reilly,  2009)  that  shapes  all   aspects  of  the  lives  of  women  who  parent  children.  without  doubt  mothering  informs  academic  and   intellectual  activities,  yet  “all  that  hard-­‐won  knowledge  is  [too  often]  excluded  as  if  it  were  a  betrayal  of   our  commitment  to  the  life  of  the  mind,  when  the  real  cause  for  exclusion  is  persistent  sexism,  a   dismissive  belittlement  of  everything  that  smacks  of  the  maternal”  (sanders,  2008,  p.  248).  the   narratives  of  participants  in  this  study  revealed  an  interest  in  new  opportunities  for  shaping  education   on  behalf  of  those  who,  historically,  have  been  denied  representation  in  informing  the  institutional   cultures  of  schools  and  universities—in  this  case,  women  and  children.     about  the  author   in  another  life,  dr.  nancy-­‐jean  pément  was  a  researcher  and  strategic  planner  with  the  ministry  of  the   solicitor  general  and  at  the  department  of  justice  canada.  her  research  on  victim  policy  and  legislation   informed  amendments  to  the  criminal  code,  as  well  as  programs  and  policies  relating  to  the  national   family  violence  initiative  and  the  national  crime  prevention  council  among  others.  she  has  taught  in   the  faculty  of  social  sciences  at  the  university  of  ottawa—the  world’s  largest  bilingual  french-­‐english   university—and  at  the  collège  d’enseignement  général  et  professionnel  in  québec.  in  california,  she   worked  at  csu  northridge  on  its  reaccreditation  and  for  the  vice-­‐provost.  currently,  she  teaches  in  the   masters  of  higher  education  leadership  program  at  csuci.  her  research  interests  include  the  sociology   of  higher  education,  women’s  lives  in  the  academy,  doctoral  study,  the  sociology  of  law,  victimization   and  peacemaking.  nancy  enjoys  poetry  and  has  been  published  in  literary  magazines  in  the  us  and   canada.  she  is  jackson’s  mom.   references   andre,  j.  (2009).  the  virtue  of  honouring  oneself.  in  a.  o’reilly  (ed.),  maternal  thinking:  philosophy,   politics,  practice  (pp.  79-­‐90).  toronto,  canada:  demeter  press.     on  mothering,  teaching  and  learning:  the  maternal  thinking  of  doctoral  student   mothers  and  their  quest  for  social  justice  in  and  through  education   dr.  nancy-­‐jean  pément   allies  for  education  2018,  2,  1   https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe     chase,  s.e.  (2008).  narrative  inquiry:  multiple  lenses,  multiple  approaches.  in  n.k.  denzin  &  y.s.  lincoln   (eds.),  collecting  and  interpreting  qualitative  materials 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 experience  and  institution.  new  york,  n.y.:  w.w.   norton.     sanders,  j.  (2008).  in  dreams  begin  possibilities—or,  anybody  have  the  time  for  a  change?  in  e.  evans  &   c.  grant  (eds.),  mama  ph.d.:  mothers  write  about  motherhood  and  academic  life  (pp.  247-­‐250).  new   brunswick,  nj:  rutgers  university  press.   connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax shannon lopez brittnee veldman monica pereira introduction community is an essential part of the human experience. we are social creatures who require connection. the health of our bodies and of our societies depend upon deep and meaningful relationships. jay dostal emphasizes that there are foundational supports needed before academic learning is addressed (figure 1); in many cases, school tops the pyramid (blanchard, 2020), which essentially flips the hierarchy. given these extraordinary times, people are seeking connection across isolation, and teachers are seeking innovative ways to build relationships with and among students as they face distance learning. community circle is one method to address this need. figure 1. covid-19 hierarchy of needs for schools (blanchard, 2020). connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the purpose of circle is to create community and connectedness among people. whether this occurs in a classroom, or is part of a restorative justice initiative, circle has a place for growth and healing, and over time, with sustained effort, participants co-create caring spaces in which deep learning is possible. both are important for the whole child; both are important for the whole adult. creating vibrant and self-determining communities can begin with building circles of trust and acceptance. as distance learning becomes a reality, as does the overwhelming stress and trauma of the covid-19 pandemic, circle can help all of us learn to speak and listen from the heart. additionally, circle is a way to focus energy on the connections between academic life and our lived experiences. we endeavor to lay out the method of teaching and building community with circle, along with key changes to adapt it to the online class setting, as needed. traditionally, education in the united states tends to treat academic content and lived experiences as separate. the eventual outcome is that one learns to be objective because content is to be studied, and then regurgitated during testing. however, learning is far more than testing, and as our schooling continues, these fissures can develop into unbridgeable gaps, and our intellectual growth is separated from our social and emotional learning (sel). other cultures and societies often privilege the knowledge of communities, community building, and the environments that communities occupy as part of growing up and belonging. it is this sense of belonging that helps us to make sense of who we are, and our place in society and the world. we do not have to accept feeling divorced from our communities when schools do not address fractures that result when children from different cultural backgrounds share the same learning spaces. normalizing one culture over a diversity of others upholds white supremacy and does not teach children to value all cultures, or to see how solutions to conflict may be arrived at in different ways. by extension, this hegemonic view extends into communities and exacerbates the divisions that can exist there. schools are notorious for conservatizing spaces where many students’ race, ethnic background, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and religion are implicitly ignored or, worse, denied. asking students to leave their identities at the door is unacceptable. circle offers a counter-hegemonic practice, welcoming the lived experiences and identities of all students. circle is a way to dismantle what freire calls the banking model (2000), and what sir ken robinson (2009) refers to as the factory model of education, in that circle acknowledges the cultural strengths of all students and prioritizes students’ stories (lived experiences). with this outcome in mind, circle can also create opportunities for examining implicit bias and privilege in all our lives. circle can be an antiracist practice where the students’ or participants’ lived experiences are centered. the learning that occurs in circle can affect the dismantling of one-way communication of content in a traditional classroom. circle is multidirectional and relies on the presence and the contributions of each of its members. as students relate stories from their own lives, their cultures and backgrounds are brought into the circle, and those narratives and lessons become part of the shared knowledge of that circle. all participants hold the potential to be teachers and learners. the stories shared in circle are not random; they are precious additions to the curriculum. these stories reveal students’ inner processes and speak to where students are developmentally. learning expresses a more revelatory dimension and becomes more clearly visible. connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe as liz kleinrock writes, “your north star is always centering your most marginalized and under resourced students” (2020). centering students’ lived experiences counters the traditional hegemonic space of the classroom community and moves us towards decolonizing those spaces. however, simply organizing a circle does not mean that teachers themselves are sensitive to their own need to be decolonizers, counter-hegemonists, or anti-racists. the dominant culture of the united states fosters and extends its own dominance through its institutions, of which a predominant one is the classroom. becoming antiracist is the work of a lifetime, and circle is not simply a performance, or proof against the need to work for greater change. however, circle is a start because it centers all members’ lived experiences. what we experience in circle affects how we perceive and interact with the environment outside of it. the hope is that participants begin to experience the world differently. when students’ experiences and perspectives, are centered, white educators, in particular, have the privilege to truly get to know their students. then they can begin the process of debiasing themselves and their curricula. the format of circle is designed to be non-hierarchical and originates with many first peoples’ expressions of community (brown & di lallo, 2020). the value of storytelling and listening closely to each other within a community, consensus-building, decision making, and knowledge building are shared experiences that help communities to cohere. these practices have been adapted to classroom and group settings; trained educators bring circle into their classrooms. in particular, we acknowledge the work of joe provisor, who provides a strong foundation in the use of circle, and upon whose work we are building (circle ways, 2020). acknowledging that these practices originated with indigenous people, it must also be emphasized that when we employ circle, we do so on unceded indigenous lands (chalmers, 2019; christensen, 2016), and as such, begin with decentering whiteness from the moment circle begins. in the classroom, the community circle is a versatile practice that can be utilized for a variety of purposes. primarily circles are used to create and build community, support academic learning, restore relationships after harm is done, and promote student inquiry; their uses are only bound by the imagination of the participants. given the unique circumstances caused by the global pandemic, and the need for remote or distance learning, teachers are reimagining how they will begin the year and build community with their students. strategies for building relationships that they have employed in the classroom will have to be adapted, and teachers will need to find alternative ways of getting to know their students. this paper focuses primarily on community building circles. a follow-up paper on integrating academics and circles will be written later. one note about community building circles that the authors feel is important to point out is that these community building circles are designed to foster relationships and teach social and emotional competencies. sel is a discipline in its own right, and students need opportunities to practice these competencies. community building circles are not to be used in a “sneaky pete” sort of way in the service of academic content. we have seen some teachers use sel to let students get out their emotions, so they are ready to do the real work. it is the authors’ stance that sel and community building is real work, and in the process of being in circle, students learn and acquire skills that transfer to their lives. especially at this time of global pandemic, it is important to “lead with love, not lessons,” as wendi pillars points out in larry ferlazzo’s blog in edweek (figure 2). connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe as we begin to consider implementing circle, it is important to note that the process of creating community using the circle format is one that must be done in a careful and considered manner. the format of a circle is important to guide participants toward a state in which they are willing to open up figure 2. 7 tips for remote teaching (ferlazzo, 2020). and share their experience and insights with the group, as well as be prepared to listen receptively to others. it is recommended to use a circle planning template (see appendix a) to ensure that all segments of the process are included. we always use this template to plan circle, and we find that planning circle with a colleague is most effective. we have found this to be true because there is so much to consider when planning circle: the timeframe and purpose of the circle, the students’ interests, and the quality of questions. multiple perspectives remind us that we do not all bring the same experiences to this work. having another person’s eyes on the circle can offer a check and balance on the questions and process. this is especially true if the planning process is informed by diverse perspectives. potential pitfalls, such as questions that may offend or cause harm, are more likely to be avoided when teachers work together to consider their students’ interests, strengths, needs, and challenges. collaboration also builds community among practitioners and yields better circle outcomes. the template is both your dribble (gets the group where it needs to go) and your backboard (prevents the connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe session from leaving the safe place of the circle). it provides a scaffold for teachers that supports their creation of circle. we trust this process. in section 2, we present the main aspects of how to prepare for circle, including how to design the physical space, how to prepare for holding circle in virtual spaces, how to lay the groundwork with participants, and how to set guidelines for the practice. we will also address how to use circles to build community in different classroom settings, particularly for the beginning of the year and considering constraints of distance learning on relationship building. in section 3, we review each part of the community circle template (appendix a), providing a description and purpose of each part of circle as well as examples, tips and cautions to consider while planning, and how to adapt the circle for online environments as needed. section 2: preparing for circle set-up when preparing for circle face-to-face, it is important to create the appropriate physical space. circle is non-hierarchical; everyone, including the teacher, will sit in a circle, either on the floor or in chairs. it is crucial that all members can see, and be seen, by all participants, creating a space wherein the potential for deep connections remain optimal. if the classroom space is inadequate, find an alternate learning environment like an empty classroom. another option, especially if circle is done regularly, is to teach students to rearrange the class to create the space. in the center of the circle, the teacher will place various objects, including a small bowl filled with water, with stones or shells placed around it, and objects to serve as talking sticks (stuffed animals, etc). the bowl and stones/shells are used for dedications, while the other objects serve as talking sticks. figure 3 shows such a layout, with furniture placed appropriately, and several options for talking sticks in the center of the circle. having a center point of a circle gives students a place to rest their eyes and focus their attention. circle begins as a conscious act of the group; some teachers like to use a gong or a rainstick to start the circle, but it is not necessary. just like with teaching, each teacher will personalize the circle with their own style. figure 3. optimal layout for circle, showing several “talking stick” objects, dedication bowl with water and stones in the center. photo curtesy of d. lomax connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe while speaking is a significant aspect of sharing experiences and insights, silence is also a valuable addition to circle. each person may choose to speak or be quiet. there may be occasions when a student is not able to speak to a topic or is unable to speak due to personal experiences, or shyness. the goal of circle is to build a community of trust, but we cannot assume that trust is already there; we want to give students the option to respond or not respond to particular questions. having said that, as we build relationships with students, we may notice that some students never speak and their voices and lived experiences are missing from the circle. we have sometimes, after many circles in which they have not spoken, reached out to students to ask them why they are not speaking and encouraged them to share their stories, or even participate in a speed round. ultimately, the decision is theirs and we need to respect their personal, socio-developmental journey in finding their voice. in an ordinary classroom, certain voices can dominate, including the teacher’s. to remedy this in circle, students are seated in a circle, and a talking stick is passed person to person around the circle to indicate who is able to speak. lamm (2020) provides a brief history of the talking stick, and identifies five main reasons to use it: ● everyone has an opportunity to speak. this gives every person an opportunity to share as each person must touch and pass the talking stick whether they speak or not. whoever is holding the talking stick has the right to talk; all others need to remain silent. ● the process encourages everyone to listen more carefully. it is essential to explain that those who are not speaking have a role to play as well, that of active listeners. explaining to the students how to be an active listener and to focus truly on each person’s response rather than planning their own is important. ● when everyone has a turn, it reduces competition for time and attention. each student has an opportunity to be seen and heard. ● it builds trust and safety in the community. this is a way to ensure that circle remains non-hierarchical. ● respect for the ideas and contributions of others is the process. this is how our stories get told, and it is also how stories are affirmed. the talking stick is only passed clockwise which honors the indigenous roots of this practice, so a student may not request the talking stick in order to speak out of turn. typically, we have used a variety of meaningful objects that we use as talking sticks: rocks from a special place, charms that were given as gifts, beautiful feathers or sticks from nature, or stuffed animals from our kids’ youth; really any objects can be used especially if they have significance to you or to the class. one consideration is to have a variety of sensory textures and densities. educators, particularly in secondary, have noticed that many 612 classrooms do not offer students access to soft things. objects like stuffed animals can be difficult to clean, yet soft textures can be of comfort to students. in k-12 students have enjoyed having multiple talking sticks to choose from the center of the circle, but you certainly could hold a circle with just one designated talking stick. in a face-to-face circle, we allow connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe students, who share in a particular round, the option to go to the center of the circle and swap out talking sticks. if changing the talking stick becomes too much of a distraction, it does not have to be part of circle. however, in our experience, allowing students to move to the center of the circle and be “seen” offers them an opportunity to get attention from the group beyond verbal participation and provides an opportunity for movement for all students. while this set-up and seating arrangement may seem time-consuming, unnecessary or distracting, altering the environment is a visual signal that a different type of learning will happen where everyone’s voice matters and all voices are equally valued. it is a way to match the physical environment to the mental shift that must occur for circle to happen. how to move community circles into virtual spaces as some of us are forced by the pandemic and health concerns to conduct classes virtually, educators face many challenges, particularly the difficulty of building relationships at the start of a new year when we are only able to connect online. our students are likewise adapting to continuing their education in a less than optimal setting to build community with their peers or connect with their instructor on top of having to learn without the usual collaboration and in-person feedback from body language, tone and vocalizations. reading the room online is a very different challenge from face-to-face encounters. as many studies have shown (brown, 2020; loeb, 2020; stommel, 2020; wood et al, 2017) feeling supported and connected to the course, teacher and other students is a major predictor for student success and retention. it takes a while to feel competent in facilitating circle; be patient. facilitators grow in confidence as they practice initiating and orchestrating the experience so all attendees feel included. the intention of circle is to build trust in the community, as well as pave the way for connections over the curricular content and making it meaningful in a holistic way. moving circle to a virtual setting requires alterations to the setting, but not the structure of circle. the template of circle remains constant, as does the goal of creating a space for all participants to engage in circle safely and productively. circles can be planned or impromptu to serve the needs of the community. when creating virtual circles, practitioners are not afforded the same, often comforting, control over the physical space. though this may be difficult, embracing this lack of control and trusting the participants to help each other create and hold a safe space for circle virtually will help to strengthen the emerging community that you are trying to nurture. in fact, the priority is not to exert outward control, but to help foster in all participants the practice of creating calm and safe spaces within ourselves and our circle learning community. traditions and signals that circle is about to begin are still needed but our control of the space is not. one effective method to create the visual cues of a circle online is the use of a slide with participants' names surrounding a central image. the use of the slide is three-fold: it sets the spatial relationship of participants or the circle, creates a visual signpost for your circle practice, and gives a place to show the question being asked in that round. the simplicity of this visual solution also helps to mitigate several logistical and equity issues. using one image in a slide is useful, as many online meeting tools do not display the same arrangement of connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe participants on each screen, which leads to confusion in the flow of circle. for example, zoom™ changes the order of participants if they turn on their camera. it also serves as a way for everyone to learn each others’ names and creates a place for each participant even if they cannot or do not wish to use their video or audio feed. it may be tempting to require participants to use their video or audio feeds during sessions, but if part of the circle process is to build trust and community that can be uncomfortable for some students and lead to alienation or disengagement. students may not want to disclose aspects of their lives that a video or audio feed may force them to share. again, circle is nonhierarchical. by this we mean that each student is the expert of their own experiences and they themselves make decisions about how much of their story they are ready or willing to share. in figure 4a (created using bubbl.us), the image of a campfire was selected because it harkens back to the communal activity of sitting around a fire, and invokes the indigenous roots of circle practice among indigenous peoples. additionally, the fire could come to represent passion, learning or spirit. other images that evoke a sense of community or unity could also be used, but starting each circle with the a b c d figure 4a. participants names prearranged using a mind-mapping tool; b. speed round opening question; c. single question per slide keeps participants in the moment; d. witness round acknowledges the stories that were shared. connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe same image creates a visual cue that prompts participants to be present, just like when we meet in person. the authors have not typically removed participants who are absent, but hold their spot in the circle. when it would be their turn, if they are not present, the turn passes to the next person. this is generally a quick process as it becomes clear who is absent during a speed round, holds space for all participants, and saves disruption of changing the circle if someone joins later. the final structural aspect of the circle slide is to give a visual reminder of the question being asked in that round (figure 4b). to help follow the agreements of being present, speaking from the heart, and deeply listening to the current speaker, it is recommended that only the question for that round be displayed. listing all questions at once can distract participants, and prompt anticipation as to where the circle is headed rather than participate in deep listening and community building. a copied slide deck also allows for back-up questions to be available, or the option to change the questions quickly to be adaptive to the needs of the circle. to begin circle, speed rounds are often used to check in and refamiliarize students with the process of circle. these are generally low-stakes questions. however, a seemingly innocuous question like, “how are you feeling today?” can have a heavy cognitive load for some students. generally, however, these speed rounds are simple and easy for students to answer. visuals, such as a feelings list, and sentence starters, especially for our emergent bilingual students, can be helpful for students even in these speed rounds. in the subsequent rounds, the questions probe a bit deeper into students’ experiences. the question in figure 4c asks students to identify a line in the text and then tell the story of why it speaks to them. often these questions are at higher levels of bloom’s taxonomy and require students to analyze or compare and contrast another person’s experience with their own. the final round in circle is often a witness round. in this round, students simply say, “i heard someone say …” and they repeat what resonated with them (figure 4d). students do not comment on why what someone else said resonated with them. simply students repeat what they heard and in this way show that they were listening and they bear witness to others’ experiences. preparing participants for circle the first time that you implement circle, we encourage you to use slides such as the guidelines and the zones of comfort (school reform initiative, 2017) as shown in figure 5. before participating in their first circle, students are introduced to the indigenous origins of circle and the meaning of the talking piece. they also learn the guidelines. finally, they have the opportunities to define the zones of comfort. the comfort zone is in the center of the three concentric circles. in this space we feel relaxed and at ease. when we are doing something that is easy for us, we often find ourselves in the comfort zone. the second circle is called the risk zone, also called the learning zone. in this space, we often have to stretch to engage with new learning. finally, the third zone is called the danger zone. this zone represents challenge that may be beyond a student’s capacity. in this place, no learning is possible, and harm may be done. for example, if a student who is ready to learn multi-digit connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe multiplication only practices single digit addition, they are in their comfort zone. it is easy, but they are not learning much. when they follow a lesson and try a new skill, they are in their risk zone. they may make mistakes, but new learning is happening. if we gave this student a calculus problem, they would be in the danger zone. no learning would happen, and the student would likely end up frustrated with the experience and their learning attitude may shut down altogether. when students hear this example, figure 5. example of slides to introduce participants to the guidelines and purpose of circle they are often able to transfer this concept to their participation in circle. if they only share superficial experiences, they remain in their comfort zone. when they take a risk and open up on a topic, they can learn about themselves and others. when they share parts of their story that they may not have been ready to share, they might be in their danger zone. this framework helps students realize their agency in their own social and emotional development, and circle provides an excellent opportunity for students to practice sel competencies. guidelines like in all academic activities, students need to know the expectations for their participation and behavior so they are successful. the teacher will explain that the lesson will proceed differently with the incorporation of a circle. the teacher will then review the following guidelines with students. (in our experience, it is helpful to have these guidelines displayed on a slide or a poster, but it is not required and may be unnecessary if circle is a regular part of the class.) centuries ago, indigenous groups in the northeastern part of the united states were at war with each other. a great leader, deganawidah, known as the great peacemaker, encouraged the warring tribes to lay down their weapons. he buried the weapons and planted a tree on top of them. in order to make peace, the members of the various tribes, who later became the iroquois confederacy, had to listen to each other carefully. in order to do this, they used a talking stick. it is worth pointing out here, that circle is not a dialogue. students are sharing their stories as openly and honestly as they are able. oftentimes, when someone is sharing, other students may agree with them or want to support them. in order to show their silent assent or support, students can wave “jazz fingers” by raising their hands and wiggling their fingers to the person. this is a way to actively listen and communicate with the speaker without interrupting them. they can also use snaps, touch their hearts, connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe or any other form of expression agreed upon by the group, that maintains the focus on the speaker while signaling agreement or empathy. face-to-face online ● speak if you want to speak. ● “pass” if you don’t want to speak that round. ● speak if you want to speak. ● “pass” if you don’t want to speak that round. ● speak only when you have the talking stick ● speak only when it’s your turn ○ each person can have their own talking stick and “pass” it by showing it to the camera ○ the speaker will say “i pass to the next speaker” ○ the speaker will type “i pass to the next speaker” in the text box ● silence when someone else is sharing ● silence when someone else is sharing, including the chat box ● possibly the host can set chat to only go to everyone i.e. no private chat. that is not controlling but protecting the space. note: chat option may be set chat so messages go only to the host. ● you can exchange the talking stick/toy if you share that round ● all participants can collect their own talking stick that means something to them. they can “pass” their stick to the next speaker using video or post an icon, like the raise hand in zoom, if not using video. ● participants may simply say the name of the person who follows them in the circle so that the talking turn is passed to the them. ● “jazz” fingers if you agree with what someone else says ● “jazz” fingers if you agree with what someone else says (or icons in chat) section 3: the how to’s of circle in this section, we will explain each section of the community circle template and provide examples of activities, questions, and tips for adaptation to the virtual setting. connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe agreements part of the purpose of circle is to build students’ capacity for agency. as a result, we begin with agreements. students, of course, must agree to each. agreements cannot be mandated; they must be agreed upon and revisited to see if they still function well in guiding the group. the following are proposed agreements. so far, in our experience, students have agreed to the 5 statements as accepted principles for appropriate student engagement in the practice. if a student were to disagree with any of the agreements, a discussion as to why would then take place. prior to opening circle, set the stage by reading the agreements with students. these are statements that the group needs to agree to in order to have respectful, honest dialogue. ● listen from the heart. (practice suspending judgement.) ● speak from the heart. (practice suspending judgement.) ● speak spontaneously. (practice sharing in the moment.) ● “keep it lean.” (say just enough.) ● confidentiality the first agreement returns to that idea of active listening, where we take someone’s experience and the way they share it for what it is without questions or judgements. we practice listening from the heart and suspending judgement to listen to understand how someone sees the world instead of listening to judge how they see the world. this is important to build trust as students can expect to be heard without being judged for their lived experience. the ability to listen while withholding judgement is an important skill in interpersonal communication, both personally and professionally, and rarely do we have a chance to practice this. the second agreement, speak from the heart, encourages students to share what they really feel or have experienced, without packaging an “answer” that they think the teacher or their peers would want to hear. learning to speak honestly of one’s experiences is a lifelong skill that helps students develop self-awareness and identity, as well as suspending judgement of themselves. the goal is to get it real, not get it right. it is an active practice of naming their feelings and discerning what to share and what not to share. the third agreement, to speak spontaneously, can prevent students from planning their response the entire time rather than listening actively. it is important to value what is shared in circle, and not be distracted by preparing a response to what is said. speaking spontaneously is likewise a skill that students can practice in circle, learning to trust their own words, and their ability to express themselves authentically. the fourth agreement, keep it lean, encourages students to share their story without taking up the whole time for circle. this can be challenging for certain students, and it can be helpful to talk to students individually after a circle if they have monopolized the sharing at the expense of others’ time. of course, participation in circle is a work in progress and it may take some students longer to learn how to listen more, just as it may take other students longer to speak out. one non-threatening way to remind students of this, is to say “be aware of airtime” to remind students to self-monitor. we have found having some phrases ready for common issues helps the community understand the expectations connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe and saves the teacher the emotional labor of having to think on the spot. in order not to put one student on the spot, you might say this at the end of a round. finally, the last agreement is confidentiality. we remind the students that what is shared is not to be spread to other people. the issue of confidentiality teaches students that others’ narratives are not the property of the listeners. however, we usually caution students that they want to be thoughtful if sharing something that could be hurtful to them with the whole class. additionally, teachers need to remind students that they are a mandated reporter and explain that if they did learn of something bad happening to a student, they would be responsible to get them help. opening the circle circle can be opened with a variety of actions: using a rain stick, a gong or having everyone clap at once. the purpose of opening the circle is to formally begin the process and also to mark the transition from preparing ourselves for circle with a review of guidelines and agreements to actually begin the process. dedications we all come to our work with things that weigh on our mind, including people who are important to us. to honor that, we set aside the beginning of circle for dedications. participants can “bring someone into circle” who is on their mind by going to the center of the circle and placing one of the pebbles or shells into the bowl. for example, students might say “i am thinking of my grandpa because he is sick,” or “i want to dedicate this circle to my mom because she is a single mom and always takes care of me.” this is an option, and not every student needs to participate. usually, the teacher can model this, but then leave a period of silence for students to choose whether to dedicate the circle to someone. when practicing circle, each educator can modify the process so that they feel comfortable. context is everything, and educators will need to create circles that fit their teaching style and pedagogical philosophy. in our district, a colleague who practices circle regularly, shared that she is not comfortable with starting with dedications. she prefers a “bare bones” circle approach. no elaborate center, no dedications; she opens circle, asks questions, and closes circle. as with any lesson, you will need to develop a practice that aligns with your style. speed rounds speed rounds are a short way to warm up the process by asking questions that would have immediate and brief answers that do not require any in-depth responses. an example of a question might be: how are you feeling today (in one word)? (we usually provide a feelings chart for students see appendix e). additional questions would start the students thinking about the topic, whether it is success, friendship, love etc. for example, “who or what comes to mind when you hear the word __________?” speed rounds are a low-stakes, non-threatening, opportunity for participants to listen to each other, and to introduce their own voices to circle, especially when participants are new to the practice. the talking stick is used throughout the circle to ensure fairness in airtime. for each round, the teacher introduces the question, then the talking stick is passed around the circle giving students a chance to respond. when the talking stick returns to the teacher, they introduce the next question and the talking stick travels around again. connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe games can also be a low stakes activity to introduce circle and familiarize students with the process and skills necessary to participate fully. games that encourage participants to create a gesture along with their words is a particularly useful practice for emergent bilinguals. for younger children, but not exclusively, movement and drawing can be included in to a circle. students can “pass” dance moves or draw to a prompt on a paper plate, then on a signal, everyone can pass around the plates till it gets back to the artist. please see the appendix c for introductory circle games. again, this depends on the group and how familiar students are with circle. text when planning circle, the teacher may choose a “text” to focus the circle on. the text may be an actual article, photograph, video, etc., or the topic may refer directly to the participants’ lives. it is important to be clear about the purpose of the circle in order to plan accordingly. for ‘getting to know you’ circles, the authors have found both types of circles helpful. if a text is chosen, the “text” needs to be short enough to process in about 5-10 minutes. teachers could choose something completely new to students, a text that builds on what is being learned in class, or even an excerpt of a larger text the class has already read. choosing high interest and culturally sustaining texts helps ensure engagement. after speed rounds, the teacher will introduce the text. students can be provided a copy of the text to read silently, or the teacher can read the text aloud. we recommend passing out the text at this point in circle so that students are not reading it ahead of time and can focus on each part of the process. usually, the teacher passes a stack of texts to either side of the circle and students pass them around and take one. when conducting online circles, the teacher may put a link to the text in chat, create a slide with the text, or read the text aloud. offering multiple modalities in which students can engage with the text, for example displaying the text on a slide while it is being read, supports all students including those who are english learners or have special needs. in some cases, students can be given the text ahead of time, but this usually occurs in circles that support academics. questions about the text once students have “read the text”, the next series of questions will ask them to connect their understanding of the text to their own experiences and beliefs. there are typically three questions about the text: identifying something in the text, compare/contrast and going deeper. the first question will ask students to identify a part of the text that resonates with them. this can be a word, phrase or sentence. if using a video or image, teachers can ask students to point to a part that touched them and say why (color, music etc). teachers can use sentence starters to help students explain their choices: the part that stood out to me was when the author said __________ because ________. or: i chose the quote ____________ because _______________. connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe this provides an opportunity for students to step into the discussion by referencing the text directly. the next question asks students to tell their story about why that word or phrase resonates with them. they compare and contrast the text to something they already know in their own experience. again, using sentence starters helps the students step into the process of sharing: i can connect this text to ____________ because ____________. or: this reminds me of ___________ because________________. or: this connects to ____________because ________________. the idea behind this question is for students not to be able to just regurgitate what the text is saying, but to be able to understand it through the lens of their unique experience. we often remind the students that there is no right answer and that every person reads a text differently because of what they know and understand from their experience. and it is this very diversity of experiences that contributes to widening perspectives through circle. the last question asks students to go deeper by thinking about how to apply what they learned from the text or each other. this question asks students to either imagine, evaluate or apply the text. for example, if you are discussing success at the beginning of the school year, we can ask students “what would success look like for you this year?” students can create a new idea with this question that is based on the topic, but extends beyond. it is helpful for teachers to use costa’s levels of questioning to help write the questions. we have found it helpful to reference appendix d when writing a circle. the first question (identify something in the text) will use one of the verbs in level 1 gathering, the second question (compare/contrast) will use a verb from level 2 processing, while the final and most difficult question (going deeper) will use level 3 applying verbs. by using this progression of questions, students are being tasked to think about more and more difficult questions; if students are able to articulate their thoughts verbally, they are much more able to translate that higher-level thinking into writing later on. their contributions, both in sharing and listening, help them master the speaking and listening skills required for 21st century learning. question creation is a key aspect of circle. for more on question creation, see section three. witness round the purpose of the witness round is for the class to coalesce the circle by bringing together all of the things the class heard and saw throughout the circle. typically, we ask all students to participate in this round, because they are able to honor the people who shared and demonstrate their understanding of what they heard their peers state. students are asked: what’s one thing you heard here today that stayed with you? connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe again, teachers can provide a sentence frame to help students get started: one thing that i heard today is _________________. this helps develop their listening skills and restating what other students have said. it also allows each student to report back on what most resonated with them and for students whose comments are mentioned to feel recognized and heard. this is the final time that the talking stick will travel around the circle. closing the circle just as it was important to open the circle to establish a separate space for this type of sharing, closing the circle acknowledges that we have been in a separate space listening and learning from one another, but are now transitioning back into class. circle can be closed in a variety of ways, but usually we have participants send a clap around the circle. each person extends their hands to their neighbor; their right hand will rest on top of their neighbor to the right’s left hand, while their left hand will go under their neighbor to the left’s right hand. then, the teacher will move their right hand to “clap” their neighbor to the left’s hand and that person will pass it on around the circle. debrief the process after circle is completed (with a clap, or other closing gesture), there is a need to examine how the process was carried out. this helps students learn what went well in circle and how they can improve in subsequent circles. it is also a time for the teacher to point out any concerns that came up in the circle, but primarily led by students/participants. the teacher can ask questions like: “how well did we keep our agreements?” or “what did we do well in circle and what can we improve on next time?” the students do not all need to respond and can volunteer responses in the format of a normal classroom rather than passing the talking stick. it is made clear that this is not a form of judgment but rather an apprehension of process to improve it. as with all human interactions, matters can always use improvement to ensure that all feel safe, and are aware of what is happening, and also underscore that there is room for everyone in circle. harvesting round: applying what is learned in circle one thing to consider in planning the circle is what the next steps after the circle will be. this will change based on the type of circle and text used. the goal is for what students learned in circle by listening and speaking from the heart to be translated into “head” or academic work. for example, if students are sharing a personal story in preparation for writing a narrative, the “harvesting” might include some prewriting questions and a lesson on how to plan out a narrative. if a poem was the focus text, the harvesting round may move to analyzing it through elements of literature, still keeping what was learned in circle in mind. for example, we might ask, “now that you have heard the lived experiences of the people in the circle in response to this poem, what can we say about this poem?” note on harvesting: joe provisor (circle ways, 2020) cautions teachers to avoid “teaching content” during this part of circle. we are connecting the text to our lives. this practice is more about the heart than the head. joe tells this story of when he was first teaching. joe was excited to begin a poetry unit connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe with the middle schoolers in his class. when he told the students they were going to learn about poetry, the students groaned. he felt so surprised and disappointed. a lover of poetry himself, joe wondered where this response came from. he maintains that the traditional approach to teaching poetry takes the joy out of the form. conclusion circle is a counter-hegemonic practice for building community that puts students’ stories at the center of the learning experience. teachers need a variety of strategies to build community online with students who are in isolation because of the covid-19 pandemic. circles provide a model for fostering relationships, practicing social and emotional learning competencies, and building a classroom community in both face-to-face and virtual settings. we strongly encourage the practice of circle as a way to build community and de-bias the curriculum. about the authors danna lomax is a teacher on special assignment for ventura unified school district, a lecturer at csuci, and a member of educators doing justice (edj). shannon lopez teaches english at anacapa middle school in the ventura unified school district and is a member of educators doing justice (edj). brittnee veldman teaches chemistry at csu channel islands and is a member of educators doing justice (edj). monica pereira is a librarian at csu channel islands and a member of educators doing justice (edj). references blanchard, t. (2020). supporting english learners: tips & strategies for distance learning. sanger, ca, sanger unified school district. https://bit.ly/distanceeld boyes-watson, c., & pranis, k. (2015). circle forward: building a restorative school community. living justice press. brown, b. (2013, dec. 10). brené brown on empathy, royal society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and commerce. https://www.thersa.org/discover/videos/rsashorts/2013/12/brenebrown-on-empathy; spanish subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd28k7dr8d4 brown, m. a., & di lallo, s. (2020). talking circles: a culturally responsive evaluation practice [article]. american journal of evaluation, 41(3), 367-383. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214019899164 chalmers, j. (2019). settled memories on stolen land: settler mythology at canada's national holocaust monument. american indian quarterly, 43(4), 379-407. http://summit.csuci.edu:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2303742250?acc ountid=7284 connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe christensen, d. r. (2016). "the ground you walk on belongs to my people": lakota community building, activism, and red power in western nebraska, 1917-2000 [ph.d., university of nevada, las vegas]. ethnic newswatch. ann arbor, mi. http://summit.csuci.edu:2048/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1812328885?acc ountid=7284 circle ways. (2020). circle ways. circle ways. retrieved august 19 from https://www.circleways.org/ ferlazzo, l. (2020, apr 14). infographic: '7 tips for remote teaching'. classroom q & a with larry ferlazzo. https://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/classroom_qa_with_larry_ferlazzo/2020/04/infographic_7_t ips_for_remote_teaching.html freire, p. (2000). pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed.). continuum. kleinrock, e. (2020). anti-racist work in schools: are you in it for the long haul? (64). https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/antiracist-work-in-schools-are-you-in-it-for-the-long-haul lamm, c. (2020). the story of the talking stick. epcc, inc. retrieved august 23 from https://www.educatorsforpeacefulclassroomsandcommunities.org/resources/peace-tools/thestory-ofthe-talking-stick/ loeb, s. (2020). how effective is online learning?: what the research does and doesn't tell us [article]. education week, 39(28), 17. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/03/23/how-effectiveis-onlinelearning-what-the.html robinson, k. a. l. (2009). the element: how finding your passion changes everything. viking. school reform initiative. (2017). zones of comfort, risk and danger for youth engagement. school reform initiative. retrieved mar 3, 2020 from https://www.schoolreforminitiative.org/download/zonesof-comfort-risk-and-danger-for-youthengagement/ stommel, j. (2020). how to build an online learning community: 6 theses. retrieved august 15 from https://www.jessestommel.com/how-to-build-an-online-learning-community-6-theses/ the ojai foundation. (2020). the ojai foundation. the ojai foundation. retrieved august 13 from https://ojaifoundation.org/ wood, j. l., harris iii, f., & delgado, n. r. (2017). struggling to survive, striving to succeed: food and housing insecurities in the community college. https://www.luminafoundation.org/resource/strugglingto-survive-striving-to-succeed/ https://www.circleways.org/ https://www.circleways.org/ connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix a: community circle template* agreements: listen from the heart. (practice suspending judgement.) speak from the heart. (practice suspending judgement.) speak spontaneously. “keep it lean.” (say just enough.) confidentiality 1. open circle clap together./rainstick./other 2. dedications who is on your mind? is there someone locally globally/from your past, present, or future that you would like to bring into the circle? 3. speed round #1 simple question. how are you feeling today? 4. speed round #2 name one word about __________________ 5. going deeper identify something in the text. 6. going deeper compare and contrast. (text to self, text to text, text to world) 7. going deeper imagine, evaluate, apply. 8. witness round: what’s one thing you heard here today that stayed with you? 9. close council: cross handshake. debrief: how was this process for you? how well did we keep our agreements? harvesting activities outside of circle. *for a variety of pre-made circles, please refer to boyes-watson, c., & pranis, k. (2015). connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix b: getting to know you community circle example agreements: listen from the heart. (practice suspending judgement.) speak from the heart. (practice suspending judgement.) speak spontaneously. “keep it lean.” (say just enough.) confidentiality 1. open circle clap together. /rain stick. /other 2. dedications who is on your mind? is there someone locally globally/from your past, present, or future that you would like to bring into the circle? 3. speed round #1 simple question. how are you feeling today? 4. speed round #2 name one word about online learning. 5. going deeper how did march 13, 2020 (stay at home orders) affect your life? 6. going deeper imagine, evaluate, apply. what is one thing that you would like to be true once this pandemic is over? 7. witness round: what’s one thing you heard here today that stayed with you? 8. close council: group hug. debrief: how was this process for you? how well did we keep our agreements? harvesting activities outside of circle. connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix c: samples of games for ice-breakers and openers group juggle (adapted from http://schoolreforminitiative.org/doc/group_juggle.pdf) purpose to provide a playful opportunity to learn each other’s names and build community process 1. as the facilitator, explain that you want to create a pattern of tossing the ball as a team by calling out a person’s name and then pretending to throw an object to her/him. it is important to remind participants that they must remember the person whom they choose to throw the imaginary object because the pattern will remain the same. the facilitator begins the process and times the rounds. 2. after the person whom the facilitator has called on by name pretends to receive the object, she/he thanks the thrower by name, then throws it to someone else in the group until everyone has thrown and received the ball only once. 3. ask the group to remember the pattern and try the pattern again to make sure that they know to whom they throw and from whom they receive the ball. 4. after the object is passed through the group the time is noted. usually the first round is substantially longer than the subsequent rounds. 5. after 2 or 3 rounds, ask the group to set their own goal of what they believe they can accomplish and then invite them to try again. (ex. can we toss to everyone in under a minute?) processing questions • how would you describe your feelings related to the juggle from the beginning, middle, and end? • how would you describe the group’s effectiveness from the beginning, middle, and end? • what did it take for us to be successful as a group? • as we work to strengthen our learning community as a staff, what do we need keep in mind? what might we do differently with our students as a result of this experiment? • what problems were we trying to solve? • how did we solve the problems we faced? • was there any fear of failure minimized by the activity and/or the group? • how did the establishment of a goal impact on our ability to work together and solve the problem? • what kinds of reflection, intervention, staff development/remediation, or redirection took place to improve your effectiveness? • are there connections between group success in this activity and your work? http://schoolreforminitiative.org/doc/group_juggle.pdf http://schoolreforminitiative.org/doc/group_juggle.pdf connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe zoom, zoom, skirt purpose: to playfully opportunity for students to get used to speaking online and taking turns in a circle process 1. teacher displays an online visual circle with students names listed around the circle 2. to begin, the teacher explains that students have the option of saying “zoom” which passes the 3. zoom to the next person listed on the circle image in the clockwise direction or they may say “skirt” which means that the direction is reversed and the turn is passed in the opposite direction 4. students pass the zoom and skirt, until invariably two students say, “skirt” back and forth at least two times. when this happens, the teacher says, “traffic jam! take it ____.” 5. the teacher then passes the turn to another student on a different side of the circle. 6. the teacher continues the game until students’ interest seems to wane just slightly (usually 5-10 minutes) processing questions how did you feel in this learning experience? what were some strategies you used to keep the game going? was it more of a risk to you to say “zoom” or to say “skirt”? what are some skills that you used in this game that you can apply to online learning? connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix d: notes on question creation and troubleshooting while it is tempting to craft a circle quickly, the creation of good questions lay the foundation for the meaning making done in the circle. questions push the circle community to consider their feelings and personal stories more than their thoughts about a topic. this is a primary way in which circle differs from socratic seminar and other approaches to classroom discussion. questions are multifaceted. questions present opportunities for students to share either a light (positive) or shadow (negative) side of their experiences. for example, “give a shout out to someone you are grateful for (light/positive) or apologize to someone you have hurt (shadow/negative).” in this way, the range of emotions expressed is broadened. traditionally, a relatively narrow band of emotions is available to students in a school setting. how often are students invited to share the totality of their experiences at school? for example, when do we see students express grief or joy at school? if educators say they are dedicated to teaching “the whole child,” then we have to hold space for the atlas of human emotions to be expressed at school. we use costa’s levels of questioning when crafting questions. the level of cognitive load increases as we move up costa’s levels; at level 1, we begin with questions that are easier to step into, and, as we move on to levels 2 & 3, the questions increase in difficulty. typically, we want questions that move student responses from “i feel _____,” to “i fear _______” to “i found ______.” in this case, what students find about themselves and the world around them requires a higher cognitive load and therefore come at the end of the progression. students begin by identifying feelings within themselves, move to a deeper understanding of emotion regarding their interaction with others and the world, and end with discovering something about themselves. this helps students articulate how their emotions are connected to the actions they take; helping them recognize this allows for a deeper self-analysis and creates an opportunity for students to have more agency in their actions. additionally, if circle is used throughout the year, questions can increase in cognitive load through various circles as students become more skilled in the sharing process and more open and vulnerable as a community. similar to spiraling in curriculum, circles can also have macro and micro spirals built into the question sequence; each individual circle goes deeper with each question and the sequence of circles over the course of a year invites students into deeper and deeper reflection. as stated within the article, the best way to write a circle is in collaboration. circle’s intention is to build community, and creating the questions with other teachers is another type of community building and results in better questions and therefore a better circle. each teacher brings their own expertise and experiences to bear in writing the questions and those nuances lead to questions that address all students’ needs. for example, in writing a chemistry circle, a science teacher brought up that for some students that are drawn to the sciences might find a standard speed round question such as “how are you feeling today?” to be threatening. working in collaboration also really allows the teachers to uncover the deeper purpose of the circle what is it that the teachers hope the circle achieves? without the conversations that arise in developing the circle together, the circle might not actually center on the purpose of the circle. connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the next step is to clearly identify the purpose of the circle. what competency are you working to develop in your students as a group? for example, the goal can be to create a space for people to be vulnerable, with their feelings and with the things they don’t know yet. in writing the questions, we rely on the costa’s levels of questioning. while there has been some pushback against the levels as being too rigid, we find that the levels of questions provide structure for circle, and support both emotional and academic learning. in the taxonomy of building community we start out with identifying our one’s feelings and one’s self our self. the five levels of socio-emotional competencies are: self-awareness, self management, social-awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. these competencies support and intertwine with the social justice standards as well, which help students move from understanding their identity and the identities of others to understanding just and unjust systems and actions and finally moving to taking action. just as we move from the concrete to the more abstract to support student understanding, we also move from the present how are you feeling now, what is happening now, to expanding to experiences and finally to imagining other possibilities. having a framework supports teachers knowing that their questions are building toward student learning. it also helps students if they have a framework: what is gender equality? this concept pairs with the bechdel test (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blf6saamb4s). how do we deal with trauma? this concept pairs with maslow’s hierarchy of needs. similarly, using costa’s levels of questioning also supports students learning how to process and therefore answer different kinds of questions. we prefer costa’s over bloom’s due to its simplicity. we know that writing questions is more cognitively demanding than answering questions, and this framework helps students. similarly, in writing, students need to be able to ask questions as that leads to revisions and deeper understanding of what they wrote. in writing the questions, it is important to discuss with each other why we are asking each question. good questions bring participants’ stories and their connections to the surface rather than having an “answer.” there may be academic learning elements (such as what is the theme), but this is not the primary goal of circle. the goal of harvesting after the circle is to connect those individual stories and experiences to the academic learning. in writing the questions, teachers also need to trust that the circle’s format will hold whatever students bring to it and that the teacher will know how to guide and if circle isn’t working: (behavior or all students passing) • ratchet down the levels of questioning (return to lower level of questions) • exchange the question for a question that connects to the students in the room (what is your favorite song) • if you don’t know students ask a non-threatening question every student can participate in (food etc.) possible modification: who in your past or present has made it possible for you to be in this place today? whose shoulders do you stand on? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blf6saamb4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blf6saamb4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blf6saamb4s connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning danna lomax; shannon lopez; brittnee veldman; monica pereira allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix e: bilingual emoji emotion sheet/feelings chart connecting in isolation: utilizing community circles to build relationships in online learning introduction section 2: preparing for circle set-up how to move community circles into virtual spaces preparing participants for circle guidelines section 3: the how to’s of circle agreements opening the circle dedications speed rounds text questions about the text witness round closing the circle debrief the process harvesting round: applying what is learned in circle conclusion about the authors references appendix a: community circle template* appendix b: getting to know you community circle example appendix c: samples of games for ice-breakers and openers appendix d: notes on question creation and troubleshooting if circle isn’t working: (behavior or all students passing) appendix e: bilingual emoji emotion sheet/feelings chart ojs_afe_v3-1_pereira_social-just_galley volume 3, issue 1 2020 allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira danna lomax brittnee veldman this paper provides a summary of the presentation given at the 11th annual conference for social justice in education on april 6, 2019 at california state university, channel islands.1 in addition, it provides a rationale for teaching and integrating the teaching tolerance social justice standards (sjs) with the social and emotional learning (sel) competencies outlined by the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning (casel). the sel competencies and sjs are examined and an argument is made for lifelong engagement with both frameworks. the presentation included a demonstration of how to use literature as a way to guide the process of examining underlying feelings and needs in order to make wise choices. the story, after the fall by david santat (2017), was read aloud, and paused, at points, just before the protagonist had to make choices. in this way, the story unfolded, and the conference attendees were able to discuss the feelings, needs, and choices of the protagonist, before the reading continued. the discussions were grounded in the santat text. the no-fault zone® game (hart & kindle hodson, 2009) provided a structure for examining the protagonist’s underlying feelings and needs and the range of choices within the story. this game asked participants to check in with the character, and, using evidence from the text, make claims about the character’s feelings and needs and then predict what action would be most beneficial for the character. then the reading continued, and the protagonist’s choices were revealed. the iterative process of pausing the story, discussing the feelings, needs and choices available gave the attendees a glimpse of how this method could work in a classroom setting. it also served to reinforce or expand the participants’ vocabulary around feelings and needs. 1 the presentation slides are in appendix a. social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe there are two critical points to be made in identifying the choices available to fictional characters. first, feelings and needs identified by participants must be supported by evidence from the text. for example, if a participant says, “the character feels afraid because their need for safety is not met,” it is necessary for the teacher to ask something like, “what in the text makes you say that?” we are not able to truly put ourselves in the position of other people, even fictional ones. the danger here is in asking students to draw upon experiences of which they may not have knowledge. this is one of the problems with using simulations in the classroom. we are, however, able to identify what people are feeling by supporting our claims with evidence. second, all choices have consequences that may impact others or society at large. if a protagonist feels angry because some need is not met, they have choices about what they can do to meet their needs. they could lash out at another character, but it is important to ask if this action will meet the need in the most beneficial and productive way. understanding the impact of the choices we make to meet our needs is critical, and discussions of the consequences of decisions affords opportunities for growth, regardless of the age of the learner. what are the social justice standards? in the presentation, the social justice standards were introduced and integrated with the sel competencies. the social justice standards, developed by teaching tolerance,2 were created in order to help teachers engage in anti-discrimination education and aim to provide k-12 students “ageappropriate learning outcomes divided into four domains: identity, diversity, justice and action (idja)” (teaching tolerance, 2016, p. 2). when engaged with the sjs domains of identity and diversity, students learn to acknowledge and celebrate the multiple identity groups that make up their own unique, developing identities, and they learn to acknowledge and be curious about people both similar and different from themselves. when engaging with the sjs domain of justice, students learn to recognize stereotypes, unfairness, the harmful impact of injustice, and power and privilege within society. students become aware of how group identities advantage or disadvantage individuals and communities. this awareness can shed light on the societal frameworks and institutions that privilege some individuals and groups over others. ultimately, the teaching tolerance social justice standards focus on prejudice reduction and collective action. teaching students about such injustices is a key aspect of social justice education. with a deep understanding of power, privilege and injustice, students are ready to engage with the fourth domain of the sjs, action. the standards in the action domain include students expressing empathy, recognizing their responsibility to stand up to prejudice, to speak out against bias, to make principled decisions, and to take collective action against injustice. as stated in the sjs, “collective action challenges inequality directly by raising consciousness and focusing on improving conditions for under-represented groups” (teaching tolerance, 2016, p. 2). 2 an overview of the anchor standards and domains of the teaching tolerance social justice standards is in appendix b. social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe what is social and emotional learning? social and emotional learning (sel)3 as described by the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning (casel) is comprised of five competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. these affective and interpersonal competencies can be cultivated and nurtured throughout a person’s lifetime. sel encompasses: ... the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. (casel, 2017, para. 1) in the g-16+ environment4 developing the sel competencies enhances academic achievement (ashdown & bernard, 2012; schonfeld et al., 2015), encourages student engagement (kwon et al., 2017), promotes responsible decision-making (payton et al., 2000), and fosters healthy brain development (immordino-yang et al., 2019; jones-schenk, 2019). in addition, the sel competencies can be integrated with a social justice mindset (cohen, 2006) such that learners are prompted to act in support of their communities. developing a critical lens, and embracing the sjs and sel, help foster civic-mindedness, and sustain democratic engagement. these tools will prove invaluable to social justice advocates of all ages. when young learners enter colleges, universities, and the workforce, issues will arise that require the sjs and sel competencies. for example, advocating for quality and affordable childcare, struggling with food and housing insecurity, and retaining one’s dignity as an undocumented person, are just a few such challenges. any of these pressures serve as reminders that distressing circumstances are all too real. it is incumbent on all of us to use the sjs and sel in ways that are critical to changing the civic and social landscape. practicing the concepts of the sjs and sel contributes to meaningful institutional and societal change and more inclusive learning environments. clearly, dismantling institutional and policy biases is lifelong work (tatum, 1997; yosso, 2006). that extends beyond the educational setting. similarly, connecting with our social and emotional selves is a lifelong endeavor (casel, 2017). therefore, the impact of both the sjs and sel is the ongoing responsibility of learners at all stages of life. 3 for an overview of social and emotional learning as outlined by casel see appendix c. 4 the use of g-16+ reflects the understanding that learning begins from gestation through p-12, includes learning in college and university, and extends throughout a person’s lifetime. references to learners and students in this paper are understood to apply to individuals of all ages, even though the presentation was geared to an audience working in the k-12 setting. social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the no-fault zone®: using a practical, literature-based approach to teaching sel as stated earlier, sel helps build competence in acquiring and applying the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. developing sel skills in interpersonal relations can also prepare learners to apply those same skills in unpacking assigned texts, social media, and other visual and textual artifacts. there are several methods for introducing sel concepts. the presentation used a learning experience called the no-fault zone® game (hart & kindle hodson, 2009). the no-fault zone® game is based on a nonviolent communication paradigm developed by rosenberg (2003), to help identify feelings and needs on which decisions may be based. the assumption is that all feelings have underlying needs that are met or unmet. in this nonviolent communication paradigm, the assumption is that if a person has positive feelings then their needs have been met. hopefully, their needs have been met in ways that are beneficial. conversely, when a person experiences negative feelings, they have some need that has not been met. the object of the game is to think of ways in which one can have one’s needs met in ways that are most beneficial. in order to be able to identify feelings and needs, participants are given a red deck of feeling cards, and a yellow deck of needs cards. these cards are used to expand participants’ understanding of, and vocabulary for, feelings and needs that comprise human experience. for example, if a character feels afraid, it may be that their need for safety is unmet. one of the goals of sel is self-awareness, and teaching vocabulary around feelings and needs gives students words to more fully express their experiences. on can learn about nuances of feelings, and the needs behind them. in the same way that the feeling cards are used, the needs cards can teach participants about why they might be feeling as they do. unmet needs lead to choices one has to make in order to fulfil those needs. the cards are played against a game board that has areas of color matching the cards decks, and also two black and white corners that represent black and white thinking. the ‘game’ progresses through an exploration of how we feel in our bodies in terms of feelings, needs and choices (f/n/c). in order to make the experience suit the numbers of people in the audience, the exploration of f/n/c was applied to the main character of the children’s book, after the fall (santat, 2017). the audience, working in pairs, was supplied with the game board, card sets and game pieces. the story was read, with four pauses in the story, to have the audience discuss their observations on the f/n/c of the main character. social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe teachers often make the choice to model a teaching and learning strategy with texts that are easily accessible so that students can then transfer their skills to texts that are more complex. in this way, students are focused on learning the skill, rather than on learning the skill and focusing on academic content. the art, science, intuition and transformational aspects of teaching come into play here. teachers must use their professional judgment and intuition in choosing texts to use with the no fault zone® game (hart & kindle hodson, 2009). cultural relevancy, cognitive and developmental readiness, primary language, levels of proficiency, and students’ interests need to be considered when choosing a model text. to further connect sel and sjs, teaching tolerance offers an extensive library of strong social justice literature and other resources for every age group. as a note of caution, it must be emphasized that the purpose of this game method is not to guess how a character feels, or oversimplify her choices. although we can imagine an experience, that imagined instance can never be understood to be the same as a person’s lived experience. for example, a citizen might imagine what it feels like to live as an undocumented person, but can never truly experience the same suffering, stress and trauma of actually living as an undocumented person, with all the oppressions inherent in such a situation. as drake (2008) points out, simulations can reduce vulnerabilities to mere intellectual exercises, and worse, can lead to retraumatizing learners who may identify with characters in a story. during the presentation, the objective was for the audience to read closely, and provide evidence from the text to support claims. operative questions throughout the game included: • what makes you say that? • what evidence from the text do you have for that claim? • how do you know? figure 1: the no-fault zone® game board social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe probing for evidentiary details in the text is an essential part of this process. personal feelings are not superimposed on a character, which might be the case if this were a simulation. the medium of ‘text’ might be extended to audiovisual artifacts, and observed words and behaviors. this process allows time to examine the reasoning that leads to conclusions (ocasio & marzano, 2015, p. 5). the reader paused at key points to examine feelings, needs and choices of the protagonist in ways that did not judge subsequent actions. this was also a significant facet of the process because judgment of the protagonist’s circumstances was not a part of the reasoning out of the evidence. each pause in the story arc was selected to focus on the feelings of the protagonist, the needs underlying these feelings, and the choices available. in doing so, the audience, as player-pairs, examined the words and visuals in the story to find evidence for the feelings and needs of the protagonist. the audience, in learning about the protagonist’s experiences and dilemmas, made predictions based on evidence in the story for subsequent actions. then reading continued and the protagonist’s actual choices in the story unfolded. in recognizing the feelings and needs of the character, audience members empathized by reflecting on what they might feel or need in similar circumstances, but the significant step was to look for direct evidence in the story. the process of responding to a situation with empathy is a discrete event from the claims, evidence, and reasoning (cer) process described above. empathy is a key part of both sel and the sjs. developing these competencies can help learners of all ages to engage in their various communities, be aware of their emotions, needs and choices, manage stress, and enhance social interactions. the sjs and sel components complement and support each other (pettiway & phillips, 2018, p. 5). as the sel competencies are built, the sjs bridge a learner’s internal awareness and understanding of themselves, others, systems, and anti-racist action. intellectualizing a problem can be as damaging as a solely emotional connection to others’ circumstances. the delicate tension between understanding another’s point of view must engage with one’s own self-awareness. the goal of integrating sel with the sjs is action; knowing translates into behaviors and actions that fulfill needs. as self-awareness grows (sel), the potential for self-management can increase (sel), and knowing oneself is tantamount to knowing one’s identity (sjs). confidence in one’s identity makes interacting with others less stressful. social awareness (sel) makes one aware that others may have different feelings and needs, and that there is diversity (sjs) in the range of feelings and needs to which one is exposed. social awareness (sel) also leads to acknowledgement of systems of oppression (patriarchy, heteronormativity, capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy) and discussions about justice (sjs) in local communities, and in society at large. communicating with others, and teamwork, are relationship skills (sel), and becoming aware of stereotypes, bias, discrimination and injustice is inherent in the justice anchor standards (sjs). in taking action (sjs) on behalf of oneself and others in a responsible manner (sel), one embodies the integration of sel and the sjs. while this interlacing of standards appears simple on the surface, its execution requires a deep understanding of the sel and sjs competencies and standards, the connections to curricula, one’s own social and emotional development as a teacher, and each learner’s capacity for growth. the development of sel and the sjs is an ongoing, lifelong endeavor that can teach learners successful coping and negotiation skills, and inculcate an orientation towards social justice activism. through readings and selected media, learners can be exposed to elements of implicit bias and can actively social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe interrogate systems that appear unjust. opportunities can be designed across content areas for practicing the skills that enhance self-efficacy, promote active listening, foster critical thinking, require reflection, and deal with disagreement in civil and constructive ways. such a process prepares learners for the relationship-oriented skills of cultural proficiency, equity work, social engagement, team-building and community activism. ultimately, the goal for teaching both sel and the sjs is its real-world application, and actionable outcomes. our hope is that students, as a result of building sel competencies and integrating the sjs, become more self-aware, self-managing, socially aware, and better able to make responsible decisions resulting in a safer, more just, democratic, and inclusive society. about the authors monica pereira is a librarian at csu channel islands and a member of educators doing justice (edj). danna lomax is a teacher on special assignment for ventura unified school district, a lecturer at csuci, and a member of educators doing justice (edj). brittnee veldman teaches chemistry at csu channel islands and a member of educators doing justice (edj). references ashdown, d. m., & bernard, m. e. (2012). can explicit instruction in social and emotional learning skills benefit the social-emotional development, well-being, and academic achievement of young children? early childhood education journal, 39(6), 397-405. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-0110481-x casel. (2017). casel's widely used framework identifies five core competencies. casel. retrieved november 3 from https://casel.org/what-is-sel/ cohen, j. (2006). social, emotional, ethical, and academic education: creating a climate for learning, participation in democracy, and well-being. harvard educational review, 76(2), 201-237, 285. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.76.2.j44854x1524644vn hart, s., & kindle hodson, v. (2009). the no-fault zone® [ventura, ca], kindle-hart communication™. http://thenofaultzone.com/the_no-fault_zone.html immordino-yang, m. h., darling-hammond, l., & krone, c. r. (2019). nurturing nature: how brain development is inherently social and emotional, and what this means for education. educational psychologist, 54(3), 185-204. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2019.1633924 jones-schenk, j. (2019). social and emotional learning: why does it matter? the journal of continuing education in nursing, 50(2), 57-58. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20190115-03 kwon, k., hanrahan, a. r., & kupzyk, k. a. (2017). emotional expressivity and emotion regulation: relation to academic functioning among elementary school children. school psychology quarterly, 32(1), 75-88. https://doi.org/https://doi.org.summit.csuci.edu/10.1037/spq0000166 social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe ocasio, t. l., & marzano, r. j. (2015). examining reasoning: classroom techniques to help students produce and defend claims. learning sciences marzano center. payton, j. w., wardlaw, d. m., graczyk, p. a., bloodworth, m. r., tompsett, c. j., & weissberg, r. p. (2000). social and emotional learning: a framework for promoting mental health and reducing risk behavior in children and youth. journal of school health, 70(5), 179-185. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2000.tb06468.x pettiway, a., & phillips, h. j. (2018). the teaching tolerance social justice standards: a professional development facilitator guide. southern poverty law center. https://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/tt-social-justice-standards-facilitator-guideweb_0.pdf rosenberg, m. b. (2003). teaching children compassionately: how students and teachers can succeed with mutual understanding. puddledancer press. santat, d. (2017). after the fall: how humpty dumpty got back up again. roaring brook press. schonfeld, d. j., adams, r. e., fredstrom, b. k., weissberg, r. p., gilman, r., voyce, c., tomlin, r., & speese-linehan, d. (2015). cluster-randomized trial demonstrating impact on academic achievement of elementary social-emotional learning. school psychology quarterly, 30(3), 406-420. https://doiorg.summit.csuci.edu/10.1037/spq0000099 tatum, b. d. (1997). why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?: and other conversations about race. basicbooks. teaching tolerance. (2016). social justice standards: the teaching tolerance anti-bias framework. southern poverty law center. http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/tt-social-justicestandards-june-2019.pdf yosso, t. j. (2006). critical race counterstories along the chicana/chicano educational pipeline. routledge. social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix a social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix b http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/tt-social-justice-standards-june-2019.pdf social justice and social and emotional learning in the classroom monica pereira; danna lomax; britnee veldman allies for education 2020, 3, 1 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix c http://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/casel-competencies.pdf achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program volume 2, issue 2 2019 allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo principal, rio plaza elementary school rio school district charles weis assistant professor, educational leadership csu channel islands introduction learning to read may come easily to some students, but it can be a challenge for others. reading is a foundational skill for most future formal learning; therefore, helping all students become proficient in reading in their earliest years of schooling requires providing equitable instructional opportunity (richards, 2010). early identification of language arts skills, accompanied by appropriate intervention designed to meet the needs of diverse learners, can result in the achievement of equitable reading outcomes (avant, 2016; denton, 2012). decades of research support reading programs that include explicit and systematic reading instruction designed to meet the individual needs of students (hughes & dexter, 2011; national reading panel, 2000; richards, 2010). research also supports the concept that readers need direct reading instruction in addition to learning the skills required to put these concepts together (hughes & dexter, 2011; international reading association, 2002). conducting systematic evaluations of reading intervention programs can provide specific feedback to enhance the equitable instructional opportunity and effectiveness of such reading intervention programs (jason, 2008). in pursuit of reading equity, educators need to diagnose students’ reading needs and learning gaps, and then design and implement intervention programs to enhance reading skills (avant, 2016; buffman, mattos, & weber, 2009). the national reading panel of 2000 identified the five components of reading, which are phonemic awareness [the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds], phonics [correlating sounds with letters or groups of letters], fluency [the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression], vocabulary [words recognized or used in print], and comprehension [the ability to process text, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows] (national reading panel, 2000). each of these components is individually important, but also intricately related to achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe one another (international reading association, 2002). some of these components can be taught in isolation, though students need to know that they are related to each other. when these components are utilized together, they will help students become better readers (international reading association, 2002). across the country, educators recognize reading instruction inequity and realize that there are students who are not meeting grade level reading standards (richards, 2010). in many schools, educators have designed and implemented reading intervention programs to enhance support for struggling readers. these intervention programs utilize many identified best practices selected to meet the diagnosed needs of struggling readers; they are delivered either in-class or in out-of-class centers [termed pull-out programs]. both response to intervention (rti) and multi-tiered system of support (mtss) strategies, that are the basis of the reading intervention program being evaluated, were created to blur the lines between classroom and pull-out programs by establishing a unified system that serves all students. both of these systems are based on progressively targeted instructional support as a result of assessing the impact of early interventions (avant, 2016; buffman, mattos & weber, 2009; rosen, 2018; shores & chester, 2009). program description the reading intervention program at the elementary school in ventura county was created in an effort to support students who were struggling in the mainstream classroom. the goal of the program was to increase the achievement of struggling readers, and those at risk of not meeting state standards, in the area of reading and language arts. the program began in 2008, and was developed as a push-in program, wherein two credentialed teachers, along with one instructional assistant, delivered small group intervention services in the classroom. in 2012, the program moved to a pull-out system with intervention specialists serving students in a location outside of the student’s regular classroom. during this time, an intervention specialist position was created and a credentialed teacher, along with three instructional assistants, delivered intervention services in a classroom dedicated to this service. within the first three weeks of the school year, all students in first through fifth grade were assessed in reading skills using the dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills (dibels) assessment to diagnose students’ reading skills. students enrolled after the first three weeks were assessed by the intervention specialist, instructional assistants, and re-employed retired teachers. dibels assesses the basic reading skills of fluency, comprehension, and beginning reading skills with an online assessment system. professional learning community (plc) grade level teacher teams met with the resource specialist teacher, the principal, and the intervention specialist to review the reading assessment data and select students for either tier 2 and tier 3 intervention at each grade level. students selected for tier 2 services were provided instruction to approximately sixty students per day in groups of 4 or 5 by the response to intervention (rti) team, consisting of classroom teachers, the bilingual intervention teacher, and instructional assistants. the plc grade level teacher teams, in collaboration with the rti team, decided on the appropriate instruction based on the assessment results. tier 3 service was provided to thirty students by the resource specialist teacher and an achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe instructional assistant. tier 3 was a more intensive intervention tier, wherein students worked in groups of 3 or less. intervention sessions averaged from thirty to forty-five minute sessions four times a week. students were assessed using the dibels progress monitoring tools every three to four weeks to evaluate the efficacy of the program. in february, the principal, student study team coordinator, intervention teacher, and the resource specialist teacher met with the student’s regular classroom teacher to review the assessment data of each student to assure that every student was receiving appropriate instruction in both tiers. tier assignments were flexible, meaning that at any point during the year, students could move from one tier to another. the duration of intervention services varied depending on how students responded to the intervention services. while some students received one round of six weeks of intervention, other students received intervention year-round. a variety of instructional strategies and materials to provide intervention services, including commercial materials such as triumphs, the mcmillan intervention resource book, and the home-school connections, were selected from the list of available district adopted materials. purpose of the program evaluation in order to address students’ reading difficulties, school districts all over the united states have implemented reading intervention programs to help meet the needs of these struggling readers (denton, 2012). districts have hired experts and invested in curriculum and professional development in order to provide the best services for their students. however, there have been few published program evaluations conducted in order to determine the effectiveness of such programs (denton 2012). there is a continued need for studies designed to evaluate programs for primary-grade students who underperform in reading to inform other schools about what works to help struggling readers (denton, 2012). the purpose of this study was to assist stakeholders to make decisions about the future of the reading intervention program. this purpose was accomplished by assisting stakeholders to determine the quality and effectiveness of the reading intervention program to provide equity of students’ reading mastery and growth. in addition, the program evaluation helped stakeholders to make improvements to the program that allowed resources to be directed to the areas of greatest need. methods for conducting the program evaluation program evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency. during this process, the person conducting the evaluation, the evaluator, is responsible for engaging the stakeholders in all steps of the process. stakeholders are persons affiliated with the reading intervention program that have decision-making authority. program evaluation is indispensable for school improvement (jason, 2008). the feature differentiating program evaluations from traditional research is the continuous involvement of stakeholders in the program evaluation process to ensure their trust and confidence in the findings. the first step of this program evaluation was to create a clear description of the reading intervention program and identify the information needs of the stakeholders that will assist them in their decisionmaking. interviews conducted with stakeholders and observations of the program were utilized to write achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe an accurate program description. this description was shared with the stakeholders to make corrections and verify accuracy. evaluation design this study used a quasi-experimental, quantitative causal-comparative design. this correlational design allowed statistical comparison of participation in the reading intervention program (independent variable) to reading mastery and growth (dependent variable) in a pre-post assessment design. evaluation question development stakeholders took part in providing feedback, modifying and, finally, approving the evaluation questions that guided the program evaluation. the program evaluation questions that guided this study were designed to comply with the needs of school district and school-site stakeholders based on the district local control and accountability plan (lcap), the school plan for student achievement (spsa) goals, and available assessment data. the evaluation questions were: 1. have students who received reading intervention services grown in reading skills as measured by dibels? 2. have students who received reading intervention services grown in their mastery of the common core state language arts standards as measured by sbac language arts/literacy assessment? archived assessment data two reading assessments that were regularly administered and archived by staff were used. the first assessment, the dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills (dibels) was a set of assessments designed to assess multiple cueing systems to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills (university of oregon, n.d.). the reading cueing systems assessed include phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with text, vocabulary, and comprehension. this assessment was administered for students in 1st through 5th grade to measure growth and to determine instructional needs and placement in tier 2 or tier 3 intervention groups. dibels data are not comparable from year-to-year because the test has different versions for each grade level. since the dibels assessment was administered to each student several times per year for the preceding five years, it was determined that the scores from the beginning of each school year would be compared to the scores from the end of that school year. these assessments are considered reliable and valid for focusing instructional intervention in reading and assessing growth in the designated skills. the second assessment used was the smarter balanced assessment consortia (sbac) assessments, which was a system of computer-adaptive tests and performance tasks, which were based on the california common core state standards (ccss) for english language arts/literacy (ela) (california department of education, n.d.). computer-adaptive assessments modify the difficulty of items presented to students based on how they performed on prior items. this feature of the assessment allows for more accurate assessment of reading skill mastery. for the past three years, students in grades 3 through 5 in this school have been assessed with the summative sbac following the california accountability mandate. since this assessment is only administered once at the end of the school year, achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe the scores from the end of one school year were compared to the scores from the end of the following school year. the only data available for analysis was for third, fourth, and fifth graders for the 2015, 2016, and 2017 school year administrations. the sbac was designed to allow for comparison between years by creating continuously increasing scaled scores across grade levels indicating increased mastery of the common core state standards. students who did not have the assessment data in each year were excluded from the analysis of data. this assessment was determined valid for assessing growth on the language arts/literacy common core state standards and was considered reliable (california department of education, n.d.). data analysis the statistical package for the social sciences software was used to conduct multiple t-tests for paired samples to determine statistical differences between the mean (average) scores for the beginning of the school year with the end of the year on the dibels and end of one school year to end of the next school year for sbac. a cohen’s d value was calculated to determine the effect size of student growth in reading for each of the reading assessments. cohen’s d allows for the comparison of the change in mean (average) scores to determine the magnitude of practical growth. a cohen’s d value of 0.2 is considered a small effect size, a d of 0.5 is considered a medium effect size and a 0.8 is considered a large effect size. for this program evaluation, an effect size of 0.5 or higher is considered significant. it is important to note that 0.5 represents ½ of a standard deviation growth suggesting that the average student grew faster than approximately 17 percent of grade-mates. this amount of growth equates to the average score moving from the center of the score distribution (50 percentile) to above two-thirds of the distribution (67 percentile) (salkind, 2017). results the results from both assessments demonstrate that the students who received intervention services from the reading intervention program displayed significant growth in reading as measured by the dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills (dibels) and the smarter balanced assessment consortium (sbac) english language arts/literacy. the amount of growth varied between the tests administered and grade levels, however, there was growth at all grade levels and during all the five years of data analyzed. effect size and t-test calculations suggest that students who participated in the school’s reading intervention program made remarkable statistically and practically significant growth in reading as measured by the dibels (figures 1.1 to 1.5 and tables 1.1-5.5 in appendix a) with the exception of first grade in 2012. in addition, the amount of growth improved over the five years under study suggest program maturation over time. sbac assessment of english language arts/literacy standards showed statistically significant growth but far less practical growth (figure 1.7 and tables 6.1 to 6.2 in appendix b). achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe figure 1.1 first grade pre-post within year effect size on dibels figure 1.1 shows that the first graders at the school in the year 2012 had the lowest cohen’s d value, showing a small effect size of .24. the 2013 dibels assessment data shows that the growth was increasing. for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, the data shows that there was a significant effect size. the last three years demonstrate an effect size of more than ½ standard deviation growth. this positive growth trend may be evidence of the program maturing over time. figure 1.2 second grade pre-post within year effect size on dibels figure 1.2 displays significant growth in reading for second graders on dibels scores across the years from 2012 to 2016. the effect size growth for second graders ranged from a low of 1.23 standard deviation growth to over 2 sd’s. the results for this grade level is tremendous and demonstrates that there is positive growth across the years at this grade level. the most significant growth occurred in 2012 with an effect size of 2.08049, then 1.587535 in 2016. however, it is important to note that the effect size was over 1.2 sd’s in all years for second graders. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe figure 1.3 third grade pre-post within year effect size on dibels figure 1.3 shows third grade students making almost 2 standard deviations reading growth as measured by the dibels assessment for the years 2012 to 2016. year after year, the effect size was maintained above a 1.84, demonstrating a huge impact. figure 1.4 fourth grade pre-post within year effect size on dibels figure 1.4 shows that fourth graders across the years displayed an effect size of approximately 2 to a 2.5 standard deviation growth in reading as measured by the dibels assessment. these fourth graders made the most growth in 2013 with an effect size of 2.47. it is clear that these fourth graders have made tremendous growth in all years analyzed. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe figure 1.5 fifth grade pre-post within year effect size on dibels figure 1.5 shows that fifth graders made significant growth in all years. the effect size growth ranges from 1.25 in 2012 to a monumental growth in 2016 of 2.53. these cohen’s d values indicate a practical significant growth in reading. figure 1.6 sbac 2016 and 2017 ela/literacy effect size by grade level figure 1.6 shows the cohen’s d effect size growth of 0.5617 for fourth graders between the 2016 and 2017 school years. this demonstrates a practical significant growth of ½ standard deviation. in addition, the fifth graders from the 2016-2017 school year showed an effect size growth of 0.322236, which is considered small, insignificant practical growth. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe conclusions and recommendations in pursuit of reading equity, educators identify students’ reading needs and learning gaps, then design and implement necessary reading intervention programs to enhance reading skills. the goal of these equity-based reading intervention programs is to raise students’ skills to levels that will enable students to read to learn in the upper elementary grades. this program evaluation focused on answering two evaluation questions to assist stakeholders in decision-making about the continued operation of the reading intervention program. evaluation question 1: have students who received reading intervention services grown in reading skills as measured by dibels? based on the results, the students who received intervention services showed growth each year at each grade level in reading as measured by the dibels. the exception to this finding was first grade students who did not make significant growth in the 2012-2013 school year which was the 1st year of program implementation. the answer to evaluation question 1 is students who received intervention services showed significant statistical and practical growth in reading skills as measured by dibels. the dibels tests assess phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with text, vocabulary and comprehension, but not general literacy. additionally, dibels scores were used to determine student placement in the intervention program tiers and the reading intervention instruction focused on three main components assessed by dibels: reading comprehension, fluency, and phonemic awareness/phonics. therefore, growth on this measure was expected. the significant finding is the magnitude of growth experienced by the students in this program. evaluation question 2: have students who received reading intervention services grown in the mastery of common core state language arts standards as measured by sbac language arts/literacy assessments? based on the results, the students who received intervention services in the 2015-2017 school years showed significant growth in the common core state language arts/literacy standards as measured by sbac. the calculation of effect size suggested that fourth grade program participants made significant practical growth (cohen d = .56) in the common core state language arts standards but fifth grade students did not (cohen d = .32). the answer to evaluation question 2 is fourth grade students who received intervention services showed significant statistical and practical growth in reading as measured by sbac, but fifth grade students did not demonstrate similar practical growth. these mixed findings suggest that although mean significant difference exists, practically speaking, significant growth was not realized by fifth grade students. the difference in findings between the two assessments might be explained by the difference in what each test assessed. the sbac language arts/literacy assessment is an end of the year, comprehensive assessment of reading/literacy that requires students to apply their reading skills. dibels assesses only basic reading and pre-reading skills that were the focus of the instruction in the reading intervention program. additionally, the instructional content of the reading intervention program was developed before the common core state standards and sbac assessment was implemented. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe recommendations implications for practice based on the findings of this program evaluation, it is evident that the reading intervention program in this school has had a positive impact on students’ basic pre-reading and reading skills as assessed by the dibels test. however, similar impact was not as great on the sbac language arts/literacy assessment scores. these outcomes only partially fulfill the promise of equitable reading instruction. the evaluator suggests that a greater emphasis should be placed on the common core state standards (ccss) in the reading intervention program curriculum and instruction. the current reading intervention program is clearly improving students’ basic pre-reading and reading skills, which must be maintained. however, higher level application of basic skills as embodied in the ccss would result in a greater impact of the program on reading equity and the sbac language arts/literacy scores. in addition, the evaluator suggests that the intervention specialist work more closely with the fourth and fifth grade classroom teachers to support greater emphasis on ccss language arts/literacy standards in their classroom instruction. limitations of the program evaluation although this program evaluation was conducted carefully, the evaluator recognizes that there are limitations to interpretation of the findings. the following limitations are recognized: 1. as is the case with most program evaluation designs, no control group of students eligible for, but not receiving, reading intervention services was possible. therefore, the reading growth recorded could not be causally attributed to the intervention program. 2. this program evaluation was not able to include all students who received intervention services at the school from 2012 to 2016 because students with missing data were not included in the analysis (following t-test assumptions). 3. while the dibels assessment is a reading skills diagnostic tool, it was not designed for pre and post-test analysis or cross grade-level growth. by way of comparison, the sbac is a summative assessment of comprehensive reading performance on the common core state standards. therefore, these two tests assess different aspects of reading. the data necessary to analyze the effects of the program using sbac results was limited because it was implemented for the first time in 2015, making only three years of data available. 4. tier 2 and tier 3 students received different intensity of services but there were too few students assessed to meet assumptions to run t-tests for each tier. 5. as with most program evaluations, the findings and conclusions of this program evaluation are only applicable to the reading intervention program at the school participating in the study. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe about the authors brenda morales bravo is a principal at rio plaza elementary school. she recently earned her masters degree in educational leadership from csuci. she is a bilingual, multicultural, and passionate advocate for students, families, and her community of oxnard. she is the proud mother of three little girls and works towards being an exceptional role model to them and all the students at her school site. dr. charles weis is an assistant professor of educational leadership at csu channel islands and codirector of the collaborative online doctorate in educational leadership offered jointly by csu channel islands and fresno state. he is a retired county superintendent of schools and current school board member for the hueneme elementary school board in port hueneme, california. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe references avant, d. w. (2016) using response to intervention/multi-tiered systems of supports to promote social justice in schools. journal for multicultural education, 10, 507-520. buffman, a., mattos, m. & weber, c. (2009). pyramid response to intervention: rti, professional learning communities, and how to respond when kids don't learn. bloomington, in: solution tree. california department of education (n.d.) smarter balanced summative assessments faqs. retreived from https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ca/sbsummativefaq.asp denton, c. a. (2012) response to intervention for reading difficulties in the primary grades: some answers and lingering questions. journal of learning disabilities, 45, 232-243. hughes, c. a. & dexter, d. d. (2011) response to intervention: a research-based summary. theory into practice, 50, 4-11. international reading association. (2002). evidence-based reading instruction: putting the national reading panel report into practice. retrieved from https://www1.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/nrp/documents/report.pdf jason, m. h. (2008). evaluating programs to increase student achievement (2nd ed. ed.). thousand oaks, ca: corwin press. national reading panel (2000). national reading panel: teaching children to read : an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction : reports of the subgroups. washington, d.c.: national institute of child health and human development, national institutes of health. richards, c. (2010). early reading intervention: strategies and methods for teaching struggling readers. boston, ma: pearson/allyn & bacon. rosen, p. (2018, june 2). mtss: what you need to know. retrieved from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/treatments-approaches/educationalstrategies/mtss-what-you-need-to-know shores, c. & chester, k. 2009. using rti for school improvement. thousand oaks, ca: corwin press. salkind, n. j. 2007. statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics. third edition. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications, inc. university of oregon center. (n.d.). uo dibels data system. retrieved from https://dibels.uoregon.edu/assessment/dibels/index https://dibels.uoregon.edu/assessment/dibels/index achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix a dibels analysis table 1.1. t-test 2012 1st grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 71.71 24 30.428 6.211 end 86.58 24 72.020 14.701 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -14.875 61.753 12.605 -40.951 11.201 -1.180 23 .250 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. no significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 1.2. t-test 2013 1st grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 81.35 37 24.083 3.959 end 112.14 37 78.881 12.968 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -30.784 64.684 10.634 -52.351 -9.217 -2.895 36 .006 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 1.3. t-test 2014 1st grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 77.62 26 24.315 4.769 end 124.27 26 87.458 17.152 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -46.654 83.938 16.462 -80.557 -12.751 -2.834 25 .009 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 1.4. t-test 2015 1st grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 80.31 16 26.076 6.519 end 118.63 16 75.784 18.946 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -38.313 70.877 17.719 -76.080 -.545 -2.162 15 .047 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 1.5. t-test 2016 1st grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 62.64 25 31.563 6.313 end 98.20 25 69.711 13.942 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -35.560 58.063 11.613 -59.527 -11.593 -3.062 24 .005 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 2.1. t-test 2012 2nd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 110.38 24 75.336 15.378 end 183.29 24 84.598 17.268 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -72.917 35.048 7.154 -87.716 -58.117 -10.192 23 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 2.2. t-test 2013 2nd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 75.79 28 53.181 10.050 end 134.75 28 68.401 12.927 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -58.964 45.353 8.571 -76.550 -41.378 -6.880 27 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 2.3. t-test 2014 2nd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 83.04 24 47.982 9.794 end 139.17 24 74.853 15.279 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -56.125 43.800 8.941 -74.620 -37.630 -6.277 23 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 2.4. t-test 2015 2nd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 70.50 14 61.019 16.308 end 128.71 14 71.090 19.000 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -58.214 46.950 12.548 -85.323 -31.106 -4.639 13 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 2.5. t-test 2016 2nd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 76.00 8 57.124 20.196 end 143.38 8 87.885 31.072 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -67.375 42.440 15.005 -102.855 -31.895 -4.490 7 .003 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 3.1. t-test 2012 3rd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 137.54 13 67.804 18.806 end 261.08 13 78.715 21.832 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -123.538 66.940 18.566 -163.990 -83.087 -6.654 12 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 3.2. t-test 2013 3rd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 161.58 24 62.217 12.700 end 267.63 24 98.841 20.176 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -106.042 53.945 11.011 -128.821 -83.263 -9.630 23 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 3.3. t-test 2014 3rd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 120.30 20 60.843 13.605 end 213.55 20 91.167 20.386 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -93.250 47.666 10.659 -115.559 -70.941 -8.749 19 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 3.4. t-test 2015 3rd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 116.40 15 58.468 15.096 end 217.80 15 81.975 21.166 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -101.400 54.387 14.043 -131.519 -71.281 -7.221 14 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 3.5. t-test 2016 3rd grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 102.43 14 65.347 17.465 end 224.36 14 82.937 22.166 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -121.929 61.206 16.358 -157.268 -86.589 -7.454 13 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 4.1. t-test 2012 4th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 137.53 19 72.509 16.635 end 278.00 19 91.879 21.078 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -140.474 62.084 14.243 -170.397 -110.550 -9.863 18 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 4.2. t-test 2013 4th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 177.00 33 85.441 14.873 end 332.64 33 87.010 15.147 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 beg-end -155.636 62.886 10.947 -177.935 -133.338 -14.217 32 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 4.3. t-test 2014 4th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 172.00 33 92.355 16.077 end 294.24 33 96.940 16.875 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -122.242 53.250 9.270 -141.124 -103.361 -13.187 32 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 4.4. t-test 2015 4th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 156.23 43 84.288 12.854 end 277.26 43 93.019 14.185 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -121.023 61.453 9.371 -139.936 -102.111 -12.914 42 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 4.5. t-test 2016 4th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 143.42 33 71.465 12.440 end 267.55 33 94.110 16.382 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -124.121 55.073 9.587 -143.649 -104.593 -12.947 32 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 5.1. t-test 2012 5th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 252.11 27 74.487 14.335 end 342.78 27 101.360 19.507 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -90.667 72.242 13.903 -119.245 -62.089 -6.521 26 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 5.2. t-test 2013 5th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 247.35 26 76.418 14.987 end 343.35 26 85.692 16.806 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -96.000 54.459 10.680 -117.996 -74.004 -8.989 25 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 5.3. t-test 2014 5th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 288.60 42 116.570 17.987 end 366.26 42 104.257 16.087 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -77.667 72.101 11.125 -100.135 -55.198 -6.981 41 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 5.4. t-test 2015 5th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 183.25 24 81.882 16.714 end 284.33 24 82.411 16.822 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -101.083 50.443 10.297 -122.384 -79.783 -9.817 23 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 5.5. t-test 2016 5th grade dibels (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 beg 162.52 27 70.337 13.536 end 257.41 27 75.564 14.542 paired differences t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 begend -94.889 37.404 7.198 -109.685 -80.093 -13.182 26 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe appendix b sbac analysis table 6.1. t-test 4th grade sbac ela/literacy (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 v5 23339.27 45 56.319 8.396 v8 2368.24 45 60.016 8.947 paired sample tests t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 v5-v8 -28.978 51.584 7.690 -44.475 -13.480 -3.768 44 .000 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program brenda morales bravo; charles weis allies for education 2018, 2, 2 https://journals.library.csuci.edu/ojs/index.php/afe table 6.2. t-test 5th grade sbac ela/literacy (paired sample statistics) mean n std. deviation std. error mean pair 1 v5 2363.67 40 74.684 11.809 v8 2380.48 40 76.067 12.027 paired sample tests t df sig. (2-tailed) mean std. deviation std. error mean 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pair 1 v5-v8 -16.800 52.128 8.242 -33.471 -.129 -2.038 39 .048 note. t = t value. df = degrees of freedom. sig. = p < .05 standard for significance level. significant difference was found. achieving reading equity: a systematic program evaluation of a reading intervention program introduction program description purpose of the program evaluation methods for conducting the program evaluation results conclusions and recommendations recommendations implications for practice limitations of the program evaluation about the authors references appendix a appendix b 