Equity & Access - August, 2021 by American Consortium for Equity in Education

Equity&Access PRE K-12 FROM ACE-ED.ORG

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CONSORTIUM FOR EQUITY IN EDUCATION

GEARING UP

FOR THE 2021-22 SCHOOL YEAR

IN THIS ISSUE: CAN STUDENTS REALLY HEAR THEIR TEACHERS? HOW COMICS CAN SUPPORT CULTURALLLY RELEVANT EDUCATION WHY ALGEBRA COMPLETION IS CRITICAL FOR EIGHTH GRADERS

HEAR FROM THOUGHT LEADERS AT AASA, AESA, NAGC, THE LEARNING ACCELERATOR & THE TEACHER SALARY PROJECT

AND SO MUCH MORE

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #AGEOFEQUITY

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CONTENTS ARTICLES & FEATURES CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY Working Toward Success for First-Gen College Goers Patrick Riccards

A Call to Push Algebra Completion for Eighth Graders Rodolpho Loureiro

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Can Students Really Hear Their Teachers? Suzanne DeMallie

Spotlight District: Clayton County Public Schools

Eliminating Barriers to Equity and Excellence: Illinois District U-46 Melanie S. Meyer

Ensuring Equity in Literacy Achievement Gene Kerns

Solutions for Social-Emotional Well Being can be Facilitated by Digital Equity Beth Holland & Hali Larkins

Using Comics & Courageous Conversations to Support Culturally Relevant Education Patricia Wong

CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY PROFILES

FROM THE ASSOCIATIONS The Teacher Salary Project - 12 | The School Superintendents Association (AASA) - 24 Association of Educational Service Agencies - 50 | National Association for Gifted Children - 64

THE ACE-ED.ORG EXECUTIVE TEAM Publisher & Director of Sales LARRY JACOBS 978-712-8187

VP & Editorial Director MAIA APPLEBY 561-427-5092

INDEX OF ADVERTISERS - 74

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Working Toward Success for First-Gen College Goers By Patrick Riccards

My mother came to this country after her ﬁfth birthday. She started kindergarten as a true English language learner, not knowing a word of English. When she graduated high school, it was expected that she would get a job at the local biscuit factory and ﬁnd a husband. For some reason, she was convinced she wanted to go to college. Instead of working at the factory, she worked three other jobs, including one as a secretary at the local university. Why? Because the college would allow her to take one free course every semester, meaning she could earn a college degree after about 50 years working on campus. Instead, she met my father – a doctoral student on campus – and became a full-time college

student after they married. She spent her last two years of college with me in a bassinette next to her in class, the only option for a poor college professor married to a college student. The oldest of five children, my mom was the first in her family to go to college and the only one to earn a postsecondary degree. She went on to become a 10th grade high school English teacher, earn her master’s degree, and to this day remains my harshest editor. She is also the very definition of a first-generation college student, enduring the challenges and struggles and questions that far too many students face today. My mother succeeded because of the supports and encouragement that she received along the way.

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Despite having parents who didn’t understand why one would go to college or why a postsecondary education was important, she had my father and his professor colleagues to support her, encourage her, and help her overcome those obstacles. They overlooked her bringing her fat, red-headed baby to class as long as I could stay quiet. They let her take my father’s PoliSci 101 class because it was the only section available (and it was the only time my father taught a course with only multiple-choice exams so there were no issues on grading). She succeeded because Buffalo State University, its employees, and her immediate family were committed to her, to her academic path, and her future. I’ve spent a career in education because I know from where I came and because I, too, am committed to providing the opportunities, pathways, and supports to learners that previous generations provided to my mother. For me, that commitment has largely focused on K-12 and issues of educational equity. But when the opportunity came for me to work with a university similarly committed to student success in general and the success of ﬁrst-generation college students in particular, it was a chance I had to take.

Coker University Was Founded in 1908 as a Women’s College Based in Hartsville, South Carolina, it has about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 33 states and 16 countries. Approximately six in 10 students at Coker are female. Nearly half our student body are students of color, with almost a third of our students African-American. And a growing number of our students are ﬁrst-generation college goers. As with many private colleges, the pandemic has served as both pain point and opportunity. We were forced to make short-term

adjustments and overhauls, including the development of online learning opportunities, just to keep our doors open for the last 16 months. We were also given the opportunity to scrutinize our mission, goals, and approaches to ensure that our collective work is focused on our students and their needs, both in times of pandemic and afterward. In late spring, we unveiled a new strategic plan — developed by our employees from the bottom up — that focused on four key areas: student success, work environment and culture, vibrant communities, and financial health. We started with student success because of its role as the lifeblood of a modern university. The remaining three pillars and the metrics behind them are all designed to ensure that we can deliver on that promise of student success. But what, exactly, does “student success” look like for a school like Coker, one with a growing population of both first-generation students and students of color? It means: • Recruiting students who are committed to our mission, eager to be part of our community and want to participate in the “roundtable” approach to liberal arts found on our campus. • Providing a rich network of services to bolster our students, providing one-on-one, continuous advising and support starting before students arrive on campus for the first time and continuing through graduation. This includes a dedicated Student Solution Center, a thriving Student Success Center, and a new Career Services Center (recently launched with a recent $5M investment in the future of our college.) • Personalizing the college experience so that every student realizes we are committed to them as learners, as individuals, and as Coker Cobras. That personal connection is often the difference maker between those who attend college and those who earn their degrees. • Emphasizing the importance of internships

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and career pathways learnings, while providing career services both during and after college to ensure that all our graduates are taking the courses and pursuing the opportunities necessary to achieve their life goals. • Integrating inclusion and DEI activities and emphasis in every corner of the university, helping all students feel like they belong and that they can succeed. This includes programs like our faculty-led effort on equity in STEM ﬁelds. • Identifying new programs and initiatives that align with both the career interests and passions of our students. As a small institution, we are nimble enough to meet the needs of our community. This includes efforts such as our new partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina to provide post-baccalaureate and career opportunities for those students seeking pharmacy careers.

Equally Important, It Means Listening to our Community When I ﬁrst arrived at Coker, I would ask students why they came to Coker. After a provoking conversation with our student body president, I recognized I was asking the wrong question. I soon posed the query, “Why do you stay at Coker?,” knowing they still have choices and the ability to change even after they start college. And I look forward to asking the equally important, “How can Coker help you achieve your goals?” Yes, institutions like Coker University have the chance to provide ﬁrst-gen students the chance to go to college. They also have the opportunity and, most importantly, the responsibility, to provide those learners the supports, encouragement, recognition, and mentoring to go to college, AND to also successfully complete it. There is no secret sauce or magic elixir that universities can take to do it right. It 8

simply takes hard work, trial and error, and an unwavering commitment to students, their needs, and their success. It is simple to talk about how postsecondary education is a non-negotiable these days. It is easy to show commitment to ﬁrst-generation students by enrolling a higher percentage of them. The real work lies in ensuring all of those students have the infrastructure and community necessary to ensure they return for their second year of college and that they ultimately earn their degrees. First-gen students like my mother had those supports. And at Coker, we are committed to constantly exploring what we can do to ensure the success of each and every learner who applies for admission and ultimately enrolls in classes.

Patrick Riccards is vice president of Coker University in South Carolina and the executive director of the Driving Force Institute for Public Engagement. The former chief of sta˜ to the National Reading Panel and program director for the federal Partnership for Reading, he has also held executive leadership positions with the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, American Institutes for Research, and ConnCAN. He currently serves on the board of directors for both the Center for the Collaborative Classroom and Project Tomorrow. Patrick also writes and tweets under the name Eduﬂack. His third book, Dad in a Cheer Bow, which chronicles his four years as coach of his daughter’s competition cheerleading squad, is scheduled to be released by Vox Publishing this fall.

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VIEWPOINT FROM THE TEACHER SALARY PROJECT

Educational Equity Requires Attention to Teacher Pay By Ellen Sherratt

As schools reopen and the country transitions from crisis mode to thoughtfully considering how to put new federal resources to their best use, a critical area of spending that has not received the attention it deserves is teacher pay. Teachers continue to earn just 19% of what similarly educated professionals earn, an amount that makes teaching too great a financial sacrifice for far too many talented professionals. The Teacher Salary Project has launched a bipartisan Teacher Salary Champion campaign to address this head on. The Teacher Salary Project is a nonpartisan organization committed to working with everyone in the country to ensure that teaching becomes the prestigious, desirable, financially viable, and professionally exciting job we all know it needs to be. The Teacher Salary Champion campaign seeks to amplify on social media and beyond the tremendous support among leaders across our nation for increasing teacher salaries to reflect their worth. Moreover, the campaign aims to inspire President Biden to meaningfully advance the campaign promises around teacher pay while also inspiring state and local leaders across the country to do their part to ensure we are paying sufficiently competitive salaries to recruit and retain enough excellent and diverse teachers for every student. Many leaders have boldly lent their voice and leadership to support the message that teacher pay must improve. NBC News Now highlighted the campaign, while Craig Newmark of craigslist, former U.S. Secretary of Education John King, dozens of National and State 12

Teachers of the Year, and many other leaders in education, policy, and business across the nation have signed on as Teacher Salary Champions. Too often, leaders do not seriously propose teacher pay increases for fear of being ridiculed for suggesting such an expensive proposition. In reality, two-thirds of the public say they would be willing to increase their taxes in order to improve teacher pay. Where there is the will there is a way - and The Teacher Salary Project hopes to help leaders collaborate with each other, draw on data, and take those ﬁrst steps to ﬁnd a way to improve teacher pay. If you agree that achieving educational equity and excellence for every student requires attention to teacher pay, please join the campaign by signing on as a Teacher Salary Champion.

Ellen Sherratt is Board Chair of The Teacher Salary Project. Previously, she served as Vice-President for Policy and Research at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and Deputy Director of the Center on Great Teachers & Leaders.

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Can Students Really Hear Their Teachers?

By Suzanne DeMallie Every day, millions of children walk into classrooms under the premise that when their teacher speaks, they will be able to hear and understand what is being said. But in reality, students often miss hearing parts of sentences or words, or fail to distinguish between similar sounding words, compromising their ability to understand and learn. Students spend the majority of each school day engaged in auditory learning – listening to directions and instruction from their teachers and listening to the questions, comments, and answers from their classmates. Yet, the typical classroom fails to support the auditory needs of its listeners. The reasons for this deﬁciency can be lumped into three categories: poor acoustics, immature auditory neurology, and students with greater speech perception needs. Here’s a look at how each one of these factors 16

inﬂuences hearing and ultimately academic achievement.

Poor Acoustics Acoustics is the impact that the physical environment has on the ability to hear. There are primarily three components of acoustics: background noise, reverberation, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The SNR is the difference between the volume of what you are trying to hear (the teacher’s voice) over the other noise in the room - such the hum of HVAC equipment, students whispering, feet shufﬂing, and pencils dropping. It is the most important determinant of speech intelligibility – that is, whether or not the listener can understand what he or she is hearing.

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It is Probably No Surprise That Most Classrooms Have Poor Acoustics The American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) has specified that background noise should not exceed 35 dBA (in an empty room) and reverberation should not exceed .6 seconds. However, numerous studies have revealed classrooms that exhibit excessive noise and reverberation far beyond those specifications. According to ASHA, the normal hearing child needs the SNR to be at least fifteen decibels for speech intelligibility. The problem is while high levels of background noise remain relatively stable around the classroom, the teacher’s voice drops in volume over distance. The result is that students not seated in close proximity to the teacher are at a significant disadvantage.

Immature Auditory Neurology While acoustics is important for all listeners, children have unique hearing needs that require even better acoustics than an adult in order to achieve the same level of comprehension. According to the book, Sound Field Amplification Applications to Speech Perception and Classroom Acoustics, the neurological auditory structures are not fully mature until age 15; thus, a child does not bring a complete neurological system to a listening situation. This means that children are slower to process the sounds they hear and cannot always “fill in the blanks” for sounds and words that are missed or muffled. Adults, however, can fill in the gaps and make sense of what they are hearing based on context and a historical language ‘database’ that has been developed over many years. This is referred to as auditory or cognitive closure. Sometimes this process occurs so automatically that the adult isn’t consciously aware it is happening. Children just do not have the neurology for cognitive closure.

For this reason, they need an optimal auditory environment so that they can detect, distinguish, identify, and interpret all of the sounds they are hearing. These steps ultimately lead to comprehension or speech intelligibility.

Greater Speech Perception Needs Poor acoustics and immature auditory neurology impact all students regardless of hearing ability. Additionally, there is a subset of the student population who have even greater speech perception needs. Amongst those are students with hearing impairments and auditory processing deficits. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 20 percent of children up to 18 years of age are affected by a hearing loss. The book, Sound Field Amplification Applications to Speech Perception and Classroom Acoustics, cites an additional 10-15 percent of primary-level (kindergarten through second grade) children who suffer a temporary hearing loss from fluid relating to middle ear infections, one that commonly extends for weeks or months. Another five percent of school-age children, or approximately 2.5 million children, are estimated to have an Auditory Processing Deficit (APD) which means that their ears can detect the auditory signals but their brain has increased difficulty interpreting and making sense of what they hear. Other students with perfectly normal hearing and processing abilities have greater listening needs. English Language Learners (ELLs) fall into this category. ELLs represent approximately ten percent or five million students in the US. Their limited English proficiency requires that they hear each part of a word to be able to discriminate the English sounds, some of which may be very different than or even non-existent in their native language.

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A Simple Solution If the auditory environment by itself, cannot satisfy the hearing needs of its listeners, how then can schools effectively convey the teacher’s verbal instruction, especially to students not seated in close proximity? The answer is as simple as a wireless teacher microphone and one or more speakers in the classroom. This technology amplifies the teacher’s voice by about eight to ten decibels, and then delivers that voice to areas of the classroom that otherwise would hear a substantially ‘weakened’ voice. If multiple speakers are placed in the classroom ceiling, the teacher’s voice can be evenly distributed much like a shower dispenses water. The result is that all students, regardless of proximity, get to clearly hear their teacher. Essentially, every student gets preferential seating without the required accommodation. According to ASHA, sound-field amplification technology has been used in classrooms since the inception of the Mainstream Amplification Resource Room Study (MARRS) Project in 1978. MARRS was intended to be a three-year study on fourth- through sixth-grade students with minimal hearing loss, coexisting learning deficit, and normal learning potential, conducted in the Wabash and Ohio Valley schools in southern Illinois.

Approximately half of the students remained in regular classrooms and the other half were taught in rooms where teachers used sound-field FM amplification systems consisting of wireless microphones and two speakers. The most significant result of the study was that ALL students, not just those with a hearing impairment, showed the greatest and most rapid increase in academic performance when taught in the room with the teacher microphones.

Benefits to Students and Teachers Since this initial study, several others have validated the benefits of the technology for all students which include increased academic achievement, improved literacy, improved attention, and reduced behavior problems. Ray (1990) and Sarff, Ray, and Bagwell (1981) found that “the most cost-effective and acceptable technology for facilitating learning in a typical school classroom is the use of a sound field FM system.” Today’s technology uses infrared rather than FM waves and most systems include hand-held microphones for the students to use. The benefits of using this technology are enjoyed by the teachers themselves. Teachers, who talk for extended periods of time each work day at a volume above a conversational level, are twice as likely as non-teachers to suffer

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voice problems from fatigue and strain on the vocal chords. One study found that 50% of US teachers experienced three or more voice symptoms that negatively impacted their ability to teach. Subsequently, teachers are often absent from work for a vocal related issued. Evidence suggests that teacher microphones can reduce vocal strain and thus absenteeism; thereby saving on administrative costs and stipends associated with substitute teachers. This technology not only enhances the teacher’s voice but also the school climate. It creates a calm environment for both students and teachers. It allows teachers to speak in a conversational tone which is more conducive to learning and behaviors. Increased access to the teacher’s voice means that students need less repetition of instructions and are more on-task. The combination results in students who are better behaved and more engaged, ultimately leading to improved teacher job satisfaction.

Advocate for the Integration of this Technology in Your Schools We have to recognize that the teacher’s voice is one of our greatest instructional tools in the classroom. Therefore, it is important that each child have equal access to that voice and do everything possible to preserve the teacher’s health.

If you would like to advocate for teacher microphones and speakers in your school or district, please share this information with your school’s administration, PTA, School Improvement Team, Board of Education, local politicians, local teacher’s union, and area specialists such as speech and language pathologists and audiologists. Every child deserves to hear their teacher, and every teacher is important enough to be heard! Suzanne Rupp DeMallie, author of Can You Hear Me Now?, taught for seven years in the Baltimore County Public School system. Research into her own son’s learning difficulties led her to author the Classroom Auditory Learning Issues resolution, adopted by the National PTA in July, 2007. Her work has appeared in Our Children Magazine, T.H.E. Journal, Towson Times, and The Baltimore Sun. She has presented at the National School Boards Association’s Annual Convention; to national, state, and local PTA groups; and to politicians. Suzanne was awarded the National PTA’s Life Achievement Award in May 2007, the highest honor from the nation's largest child advocacy organization.

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VIEWPOINT FROM The School Superintendents Association (AASA)

The Time to Be Future-Driven & Bold Is Now By Michael T. Conner

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to leverage equity for excellence was ad hoc – contextual silos with articulation, implementation, and developing a common definition of equity and access. The novelty of the virus exacerbated the economic factors as it pertains to equity in our schools throughout America. As we begin to operationalize our practices in a post pandemic era, we have a unique opportunity to finally concertize equity, access, and opportunity for all students in the PreK-14 trajectory. The concept of no students marginalized – race, economic status, sexuality, cognitive ability, or language acquisition should be a grounded principle in every aspect of redesigning America’s education system. Equity and excellence is defined by a modular business model where all students are active in the teaching and learning process (i.e. co-authoring). This encompasses elements of personalization and growth, while using data analytics to make informed decisions. It is imperative that districts exponentially elevate their equity agenda because we have experienced the residual impact of the pandemic. Since March 13, 2020, students experienced low connectivity levels with technology, opportunity gaps that are prevalent because of interpreted education, and basic elements of need became table stakes because of physical distancing protocols. Because of these critical tenets coupled with the noted systemic social injustices, equity in education becomes a “must have” in lieu of “nice to have.” Moving the equity agenda will be an arduous task – creating a model that is grounded on the foundation where all students will grow cognitively, socially, and emotionally. Equity in Middletown Public Schools means lamenting 24

culturally responsive pedagogical practices to meet the diverse needs of every student. It is also defined as building the capital and capabilities within the ecosystem so every stakeholder has an equity lens for an effective change management process. Metabolizing cultural competence in the context of strategic performance management will enlist questions that are uncomfortable. Painstakingly, disruptive equity work will continue to be difficult, albeit necessary if we are going to radically change the legacy model of the industrial era. The equilibrium of opportunity and challenge is finally here in Middletown Public Schools and beyond. President Biden and Secretary Cardona have provided the necessary resources to make the needed changes focused on equity, access, and excellence (ARP Act of 2021). The time is now to be future-driven and bold. Creating an education model where all students are successful in their individualized pathway by 2025 becomes the moral imperative for everyone involved.

Michael T. Conner, Ed.D., is the superintendent of Middletown Public Schools in Middletown, Ct. He is a member of AASA’s American Rescue Plan Committee. He is also a member of Learning 2025: AASA’s National Commission on Student-Centered, Equity-Focused Education.

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Eliminating Barriers to Equity and Excellence: Illinois District U-46 By Melanie S. Meyer District U-46 is a large, urban school system located about 45 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. This school district covers 90 square miles across three Illinois counties and serves over 37,000 culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students, 61 percent of whom qualify for federal free and reduced-price meal programs. However, when April Wells, the district’s gifted coordinator, describes U-46, she notes, “While our demographics certainly can paint a picture of the challenges large districts face, some of the intangible things that are not captured in those numbers are the warmth and the engagement of our students, their families, and the members of our community.” In 2012, Wells began the job of reimagining gifted and talented programming for students in District U-46, a task for which she was uniquely suited. Her background in industrial and organizational psychology, her experiences as a U-46 student, and her desire to create equitable access to gifted programming all prepared her to step into the role of coordinator at a critical time for the school district. She explained, “We were part of a federal discrimination lawsuit, so that was certainly an impetus to redesign programming. Moving beyond that though, we understood that we needed to dismantle barriers and disrupt the systems that were perpetuating inequities to make sure that all students in every building had access to academic talent development programming.” In the redesign of gifted and talented services, 28

April Wells Wells and her team of stakeholders in District U-46 identified barriers to equity and excellence and focused on local solutions. Traditionally, the school system identified students for gifted programming and then supported their academic growth through placement in gifted classes. Wells explained, “We realize that there are certain disparities that occur in students’ opportunities to learn before they come to school.” This understanding prompted U-46 to shift to a system where they first support student academic growth and then identify students who need more advanced learning opportunities than those provided in the regular classroom. Historically, district-wide gifted and talented screening assessments were held on Saturdays on a designated campus. This scheduling created barriers for

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some families who worked on weekends or could not find transportation to the testing site, so screening for gifted programs shifted to students’ home campuses on regularly scheduled school days. Now, on elementary campuses in U-46, the Access to Inquiry and Meaning (AIM) talent development program brings critical thinking enrichment lessons taught by gifted specialists into all second and third grade classrooms. Teachers are trained to observe their students as they experience the enriched content and to spot students who could benefit from advanced learning opportunities. These ongoing talent development lessons support student achievement by frontloading the skills and content they will need to thrive in gifted and talented programming in fourth grade and beyond. All students in third grade are screened for gifted services using building-level local norms and the highest performing students on each campus are identified for placement beginning in fourth grade. Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students who are identified for gifted and talented services participate in the Inquiry and Gifted Network for Ingenuity, Talent, and Exploration (IGNITE) program or the dual-language IGNITE program for reading and math. All sixth grade students not already in the program also undergo universal screening for placement in gifted and talented math, reading, social studies, and science courses in middle school. These and other strategies are described in Wells’ new book, Achieving Equity: Dismantling Barriers and Tapping Potential. The systems U-46 created in the redesign process leverage several research-based best practices for reducing excellence gaps, including intentionally frontloading content and skills, universal screening with local norms, and systematically expanding student access to advanced learning opportunities (Plucker & Peters, 2016; Plucker et al., 2017). In addition, professional learning plays a pivotal role in advancing the goals of equity and excellence for students in the district. All teachers and

administrators are trained to recognize and address implicit bias and to promote anti-racist learning environments. School personnel also learn to spot talent in students from all cultural, linguistic, and economic backgrounds. April Wells identiﬁes one of her roles as gifted coordinator as “a bridge to support families who care for their kids and have aspirations for their futures, but don’t always have an understanding of policies or how to navigate the system to advocate for what their children need educationally.” As a result, professional learning does not stop with school faculty and staff. The district has strong ties to campus and district parent associations and has partnered with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development to provide learning opportunities for families and enrichment opportunities for students. Under the guidance of April Wells, District U-46 in Illinois has prioritized equity and excellence by identifying and eliminating barriers that prevent students from accessing gifted and talented programming. Wells looks toward the future with optimism and says, “We are excited about this work and we know that underrepresentation and inequitable access do not have to go on in perpetuity, so we have made the decision to do something about it.”

Melanie S. Meyer is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of North Texas. She has been a teacher in gifted and advanced academic classrooms for over 20 years. Her research focuses on adolescent identity development, school-based talent development, and policy issues that impact the college, career, and military choice process for talented students.

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An Open Letter on the Moral Imperative to Teach Social & Emotional learning Dear Fellow Educators: Our children deserve to be both supported in a whole-child framework and afforded dedicated time in a school environment built around acceptance, belonging, and connections. The emotional brain works hand in hand with the thinking brain, and thrives when who we are is valued and our contributions matter. One of the key indicators of this work researched by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is Supportive School and Classroom Climates. Intentional planning is a must for a safe, positive climate to thrive, starting with the adult mindset and, in turn, supporting students. When staff has permission and expectations to place relationships and social-emotional learning at the core of their work, the benefits become explicitly clear. As educators, we have all been in classrooms and schools where you see, feel, and know the intentionality of building a safe, positive community. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an essential part of our school system from early childhood through graduation. However, it is not always addressed in a systemic, explicit instructional model. Often, teachers have to take on this work independently, or counselors stop by to support a classroom once or twice a week. Although this is a great start, we need to move away from a fragmented class to class, grade to grade, and school to school approach. Teachers have long known intuitively that the way to a student’s head lies through their heart. The more positive a student’s relationship is to the teacher, their peers, and to themselves, the more primed the student is to maximize their academic learning. Scientific and educational research are now unequivocally confirming this practitioner intuition in a time when SEL is more important than ever to student success and well-being. As socioeconomic gaps continue to widen, student literacy rates remain flat or worsen, and COVID-19 deeply impacts both students’ academic performance and their ability to make and maintain healthy relationships, the needle has moved from SEL being simply effective to being critically urgent. We must begin to recognize that a systemic approach to teaching social and emotional skills is as crucial as the systemic approach we take in teaching reading, math, and writing. The key indicators of this work researched by CASEL are Explicit SEL Instruction and SEL Integrated with Academic Instruction, including a literacy-based approach. With so many traumatized students returning to school in the Fall, we three educators, with over 65 years of shared experience, urge you to make SEL a priority in your planning for this upcoming year.

Sincerely, Dr. Richard Hasenyager, Dr. Dina Rocheleau, and Dina Strasser, Excerpted from “Literacy with Heart,” Rosen Publishing, 2021

Teaching Social and Emotional Skills “Rosen’s Focus on Social and Emotional Learning program provides an excellent turnkey solution that delivers SEL and literacy simultaneously. This is a wonderful example of academic integration of SEL that we all seek.” — Dr. Clark McKown, president of xSEL Labs and the 2020 winner of the CASEL Joseph Zins Award for Outstanding Contributions to Action Research in SEL

This 30-week SEL curriculum for grades K-6 provides a standards-based program for teaching social and emotional learning through a literacy-based approach. The program is intended for flexible implementation across 30 weeks of instruction in the school year. C A S E L’s f i ve ( 5 ) c o m p ete n c i e s p rov i d e t h e framework for each grade level’s books and lesson plans. Each competency is kicked off with an introductory lesson plan that showcases the concept and hooks the student into learning more about it. Each of the competencies is then broken down into CASEL’s suggested four to six (4–6) subcategories of skills and knowledge for student learning. In each of these subcategories, one (1) weekly lesson plan has been provided. For each lesson plan, one to two (1–2) age-appropriate fiction and/or nonfiction books have been provided to serve as the literacy anchor for the SEL skill.

Self-awareness (Weeks 1-6)

Self-management (Weeks 7-13)

Social awareness (Weeks 14-18)

Relationship skills (Weeks 19-23)

Responsible decision-making (Weeks 24-30)

Clicking here to find out more about Rosen’s Focus on Social and Emotional Learning.

https://rosenclassroom.com/fosel-program ACE-ED.ORG

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800-237-9932

Using Comics & Courageous Conversations to Support Culturally Relevant Education By Patricia Wong As a teacher, media librarian, and leader of my school’s Equity and Culturally Relevant Education (CRE) Team, I’m always on the lookout for student activities that bring my varied roles together. Recently, I began asking students to create comics to explore issues of identity, equity, and social justice. I didn’t intend to bring comics into my classroom. I began using a comic creation tool, Pixton, as a means for my students to storyboard prior to coding for a ScratchJr activity. Once students got to work on their storyboards, however, they were so engaged that I decided to forgo the ScratchJr plan and have them ﬂesh the story out more. Since then, I’ve come to see comic creation as a powerful classroom tool that helps students connect with their own identity and helps me understand their perspectives more deeply. Here’s how it works.

UPSTANDER ROLE-PLAYING One of the ﬁrst projects I asked students to complete as a comic was about being an

upstander instead of a bystander when they see someone being bullied. These were students in grades 3-5, so we started with a Sesame Street vignette about what racism looks like in an otherwise friendly school environment. Next I asked them to draw a comic about how they could stand up for someone being bullied. Since there was a lot of racism directed at Asian Americans because of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time, I decided to make myself the target. I asked them to show how they would stand up for me.

The American Consortium for Equity in Education

They were surprisingly open to the discussion about anti-Asian hate, and were eager to design their upstander comics. One student even went further than standing up for a bullying victim. Rather than showing hate or anger toward the bully, she addressed the behavior with inclusion by inviting the bully to join her group of friends. I projected her comic on the board for the other students and we discussed how we can only combat hate with love. As we dove deeper into the discussion, I asked, “Why does love win minds and hearts?” A 5th-grader said, “We go through a lot, and sometimes we just want to be understood.” That was an incredible moment. From there, we began talking about how technology can empower upstanders and even become a powerful tool for justice. One example was the role smartphones played in documenting the murder of George Floyd and Derek Chauvin’s eventual conviction.

BRINGING OUT STUDENT VOICES One of the great things about using comics for this kind of learning is that it gives me a clearer

window into my students’ perspectives. I could see which of their classmates each student felt most comfortable with by looking at who they chose to include in their stories and how. The use of facial expressions and body posture—which were chosen with great care in most cases—told me how my students felt about events in the comic in a way that they probably wouldn’t have been able to effectively express in a purely text-based assignment. Self-expression through images also lowers communication barriers for students. We have a large population of English language learners and roughly one in four of our students have special needs, so written language isn’t always the easiest way for a student to express themselves, but including body language and facial expressions within their storyboards helps bridge that gap. Comics as a medium provide an opportunity to elevate student voices because they are so visual, which makes them so well suited to CRE or social-emotional learning. One of the things I teach students is to stand in their own truth and to be proud of their identities. They play a character in their own comics, so the ﬁrst step they take is to create their avatars, which they absolutely love. That means that they are ﬁrst

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telling me how they see themselves—or how they’d like to see themselves—without getting self-conscious about it. Creating avatars also gives us a chance to talk about skin tones—both how we should appreciate all of them and how they impact people’s lives. It’s not just about overt racism, like a teacher being bullied for her race or George Floyd being murdered in the street by police. Sometimes our skin tone might mean that the automatic soap dispenser in the bathroom doesn’t work right or we can’t use backgrounds in video conferences because the apps aren’t designed to detect black faces. Our skin tones play a huge role in our identities in material ways, so it’s really important that children feel proud of their skin tone in order to be proud of their whole selves. Giving them the ability to represent themselves and what they think is important about their identity is very powerful.

sure students feel safe ﬁrst, and to promote a healthy conversation. My school is small and I have known most of my students since kindergarten. I’m a cluster teacher and visit each class every week. I also do recess duty, so I get to see the students when they are relaxed and playing together. I get to share occasional hugs with them and, during the pandemic, I hand-delivered devices and provided tech support services at most of their homes. I’m fortunate that I get to build strong, trusting relationships with my students, which enables me to have these kinds of honest conversations with them.

PROMOTING HEALTHY CONVERSATION

I also have the full support of my school administration in leading these conversions, and when I begin, I always start with a mental check-in. When we talked about George Floyd, for example, I began by asking them what they knew about it. Most of them understood what happened to Floyd pretty well before we talked at all. I also read their facial expressions and body language throughout these kinds of lessons.

Even with comics, these kinds of conversations can be intimidating, so it’s important to make

Before a teacher can dive into difﬁcult topics of race, equity, and oppression with their students, they need to excavate their own mindsets and

The American Consortium for Equity in Education

privilege. If teachers have deﬁcit perspectives—tendencies to see people who are different as inferior in some way—they must recognize them, name them, and work toward disrupting and dissolving them. That may come from education, therapy, or exercises that lead toward anti-racism, anti-bias, and anti-oppression. For educators looking to dig into these ideas with their students, I’d recommend Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s book, Cultivating Genius. An overview of her ideas and a podcast interview

with Dr. Muhammad is also available at Cult of Pedagogy. Gloria Ladson-Billings and her book, The DreamKeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, are also great places to begin reading deeply. These kinds of conversations can be scary with adults, and with students there is so much more on the line. But by centering students as individuals and giving them the tools to lift up their own voices and identities, maybe we can create a world with fewer bystanders and more upstanders.

Patricia Wong is a teacher, media librarian, and lead of the Equity and Culturally Relevant Education Team at P.S. 21 Staten Island. She is currently pursuing her PhD in culturally relevant education. She can be reached at pwong@ps21statenisland.org.

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EQUAL ACCESS TO CRITICAL THINKING MATERIALS FOR ALL STUDENTS

All students deserve access to the best learning materials, and to the expectations that they are capable of critical thinking, of achieving great things with their lives, and of solving important problems not just for themselves and their families, but for their communities and society in general. That's what izzit.org © believes, and why we provide our materials, at NO COST, to educators of all types, from certiﬁed classroom teachers to at-home educators (and how many more of those are there in this time of COVID?) and those who lead small groups of students, like scouting troops or neighborhood after-school centers. Looking at our society, it's clear that we need today's students to become tomorrow's problem-solvers. And that means they need to learn to dig deeper. To ask the right questions. It's also clear we need more respectful discussion and debate, the ability to listen to those who don't think exactly the way we do and explore alternative ideas. Because as much as it doesn't feel like it sometimes these days, we are all in this together. Let us help you provide your students with what they need for future success.

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IZZIT EASY TO USE? It is! And we have all sorts of ways to help you: Customer Service team based in Erie, PA can answer your questions, 8 am – 6 pm, M-F. 888-242-0563. Not sure what to use with your students? We can help! Prefer to email us? Email Ask@izzit.org. How-To videos on the site to show you how our products work. Standards Alignment tool to help you document what standards you're covering by using our materials!

IZZIT NEW? Like you, we're always growing and adding more to our offerings. We're piloting a Civics course in ﬁve school districts as well as a Financial Literacy course with students just outside Atlanta. We're excited about the future. Visit izzit.org, register for your free account today, and start using our materials to help your students dig deeper!

WHO KNOWS WHAT PROBLEMS THEY’LL SOLVE FOR US?

Corporate Education Partnerships

Discovery Education has established collaborative relationships with a variety of like-minded corporate partners that are committed to supporting equitable access to college and examples of diverse career paths. Together, we can help students receive what they need to succeed in college and the workplace. These featured programs provide a variety of free resources to help students with the knowledge and academic preparation needed to enroll in college and succeed after high school.

Navigate the college ﬁnancial aid process using Financial Pur$uit, an online module for teens. TGReduExplore.org

Analyze data in Career-o-Matic to identify the elements involved in selecting and pursuing a fulﬁlling job. IgniteMyFutureInSchool.org

Take students on a ﬁnancial literacy journey to develop skills and habits they need to be ﬁnancially successful. PathwayInSchools.com

Introduce students to the professionals using data to innovate the future. Highlight STEM careers using career proﬁle videos to inspire teens to explore a fulﬁlling career in STEM. SiemensStemDay.com

Engage your classroom with real-world career activities that showcase the STEM skills that lead to career success. STEMCareersCoalition.org

Foster a new generation of scientists who are inspired to improve the world with science.

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Uncover the wide range of STEM careers found in the copper industry and how your interests and skills apply. DigIntoMining.com

Explore new frontiers in tech with the next generation of problem solvers. Girls4Tech.discoveryed.com

CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY PAIGE BESSICK Paige Bessick has been a teacher for 14 years. She’s worked as a special education teacher and currently teaches math and literacy skills for the MCPASD dual immersion program with a focus on social-emotional learning and the teaching tolerance standards.

Here, we celebrate the standouts who are making an impact for equity in our schools. There are far too many wonderful educators out there to list in one publication, but we want to do our part to showcase the work of as many as possible. Read. Share. Get in touch!

“Teaching about equity is important in every classroom, and the conversations should start with our youngest learners. When we focus on content, character education, and themes like identity and kindness, we can support these critical conversations while building our students’' sense of identity and creating inclusive classrooms.”

Know someone who would make a great Champion of Equity in a future issue?

Paige does morning meetings with students to help them build trust and relationships. She uses online character education videos, such as The Character Tree, to help them learn to identify and practice positive character traits.

Take a minute to ﬁll out the nomination form! We’ll be highlighting a few individuals in every issue of the journal. If your nomination is selected, we’ll contact both of you to get the information we need.

These practices help students develop the non-academic skills needed to be successful in school and help them process the difﬁcult emotions that many have experienced during the events of the past year.

NOMINATE A CHAMPION

Connect with Paige Bessick: Twitter: @PaigeBessick

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CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY MELVIN HINES

SUZANNE DEMALLIE Suzanne DeMallie taught in the Baltimore County Public School system. She is the author of Can You Hear Me Now?, a speaker, and a public education advocate. As a parent, she fought a successful nationwide battle to improve classroom auditory learning. In May 2007, she was awarded the National PTA Life Achievement Award.

Melvin Hines is the CEO of Upswing, which helps support non-traditional and at-risk students. He is also a freelancer for Black Ambition and board member of Nourish International. He is passionate about trying to level the playing ﬁeld for all people regardless of how similar or dissimilar they may be from the creators of technology. “Growing up in South Georgia, my high school had students from a myriad of backgrounds, disabilities, and family structures. What we all had in common was that in many ways we had all been written off because of our circumstances. Equity is about more than writing wrongs. It is about changing the structures that perpetuate those wrongs.”

“I worked in a diverse classroom full of students with very different needs – some needed to be challenged beyond the curriculum, some needed extra academic support, some came to school hungry in need of food, others came to school starving for an emotional connection. I saw why equity was necessary in education.” Over the years, Suzanne has presented to numerous parent and teacher groups, politicians and education stakeholders. In 2009, she presented at the National School Boards Association’s annual convention, and her message has resulted in the installation of teacher microphones and speakers in many classrooms throughout the US. Read her article on classroom auditory learning on page 13 of this issue of Equity & Access.

Melvin pushes his employees to empathize with their users. He incorporates institutions into the product development cycle that show the limitations in the types of accommodations that many underfunded institutions offer. He believes the accessibility equity gap perpetuates the gap in educational attainment and opportunity for minorities and low income students. And in order to close this gap, we must make accessibility a part of the conversation.

Connect with Suzanne DeMallie: Twitter: @SuzanneDeMallie Linkedin: @suzanne-demallie

Connect with Melvin Hines: Linkedin: @mhinesjr

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CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY TELANNIA NORFAR Telannia Norfar is a Black educator who works tirelessly on behalf of her students and has worked to expand access to AP and higher levels of math for Black and Brown students. She currently teaches high school math in Oklahoma City and serves as the math department chair. She is innovative in her approach to curriculum and is a proponent of project-based learning. “The work of equity is complex, challenging and humbling. It is not about just everyone having access or everyone getting what they need. It is about everyone being empowered to be the best version of themselves.”

Telannia is a member of PBLWorks’ National Faculty and has been recognized as Teacher of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and earned the 2017 & 2020 Oklahoma Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. She is also co-author of Project-Based Learning in the Math Classroom by Prufrock Press. One of her math projects, “The Finance Project” is featured on PBLWorks’ web site as an example of Gold Standard PBL. Video: youtu.be/JMNwh-hWWzQ Bio: pblworks.org/author/telannia-norfar

STUART UDELL Stuart Udell brings extensive experience to the education industry, currently as CEO of Achieve3000, which provides differentiated instructional platforms to more than ﬁve million PK-12 students in 40,000 schools. Prior, he served as CEO of K12 Inc., CEO of Catapult Learning, CEO of Penn Foster, and has held division President roles at Kaplan and Renaissance Learning. “Within Achieve3000 Literacy and Actively Learn, we have made enormous progress over the last year in creating a huge amount of culturally responsive content to meet the needs of our diverse educators and students. Our work is more important than ever.” Hailing from three generations of education professionals, Stuart has dedicated his 33-year career to helping students achieve success. He received the Education Warrior Award from the I Have a Dream Foundation, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Dropout Prevention Center, and is a member of his high school Hall of Fame. Among numerous other roles, he serves as a Commissioner on AASA’sLearning 2025 National Commission on Student-Centered Equity-Focused Education, charged with making recommendations to transform American education. Connect with Stuart Udell: Twitter: @stuartudell LinkedIn: @stuart-udell-4235892

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at School • apafdn.org/schools

Notice. Talk. Act.® at School School Mental Health Education Program Our professional development curriculum, developed with education and mental health professionals, helps school staff know how to best: NOTICE warning signs TALK with the student ACT appropriately in referring students to resources

What’s Included? »

E-Learning Module (30-40 mins)

Classroom Module Designed to be Tailored to your School (90 mins)

Online Assessments

12-months of Learning with New Courses, Based on Your School’s Assessments

Learn More & Access Free Resources Visit us at apafdn.org/schools to learn more about our professional development, utilize our free resources, or view our recorded town halls. Resources include: Notice. Talk. Act. at School Impact Stories Notice. Talk. Act. at School 2020 Briefing Report Notice. Talk. Act. at Home Coping Skills Resource Twitter: @PsychFoundation | Facebook: @apafdn

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Schools Need Support By Christopher Seeley, MSW The toll of this pandemic cannot be understated when thinking about the entire school community. From budgets to staff and to the children that schools serve, each has faced unprecedented challenges over the last year. The American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF) wants to do its part to ensure that the whole school community can get the support they need going into this next school year. On June 21st, 2021, we launched our Notice. Talk. Act.® at School Grant program, which will lead to the full supportive partnership between ten schools and the APAF.

What will schools get with this grant? The APAF is offering to cover the full cost of the direct delivery of the Notice. Talk. Act.® at School Mental Health Professional Development Program. The program components include an E-Learning Module with videos, audio playbacks, and interactive check-ins, a Classroom module designed to be tailored to your school delivered by an APAF Certified Instructor, and 12-months of learning with new courses based on your school’s assessments.

How can your school apply? Your school must be an elementary, middle, high, or alternative school in the United States with a mental health/support services referral system established (this can be as simple as referring students to the school counselor). The school that is applying must have 40% or more of its students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, providing evidence that demonstrates this statistic.

We will also ask that you provide a letter of support from your administration in delivering the curriculum to the staff if your school is awarded the grant funds. To apply for this grant opportunity, please visit ntagrant.apafdn.org. The application closes on July 21, 2021.

What happens if your school doesn't get the grant? We do not want to discourage anyone from bringing in the Notice. Talk. Act.® at School delivery to their school community. If you do not get awarded the grant this year, we want to encourage you to apply next year when the grant cycle opens back up. You can also apply for the delivery of the program if you cannot wait to receive the grant or are not eligible for this opportunity. We have two different price points that allow schools to make the best decision for their staff. We also have some free resources available online that can help support the whole school community, including parents and caregivers, that you can find by visiting our website.

Ready to learn more about our Notice. Talk. Act.® at School program? Visit apafdn.org/schools

A Call to Push Algebra Completion for Eighth Graders Algebra is Key to Closing Academic & Opportunity Gaps

By Rodolpho Loureiro Twenty years ago, a guidance counselor attempted to make a decision that would have had a major effect on my academic and professional trajectory due to her own biases. I had just completed sixth grade and my math teacher recommended that I enroll in Algebra 1 the following year. However, my guidance counselor (who barely knew who I was), opposed the request, despite the fact that I was 46

excelling in math. Luckily my mother, a hard-working undocumented immigrant, successfully advocated for my enrollment into Algebra 1 as a seventh grader. Years later, I would understand that this decision was a pivotal moment that led towards my admission to the University of Pennsylvania and opened a number of postsecondary opportunities. After graduating from college, I decided to become

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an educator and advocate for Black and Brown youth so that they can reach their greatest potential in the classroom. Many students - notably Black and Brown students, continue to be systematically excluded from taking the math courses they are capable of taking. Most students should take Algebra 1 in 8th grade in order to ensure their academic and postsecondary opportunities, yet many do not. Educators, guidance counselors, and school leaders should work together to ensure that students complete an early sequence of math courses so that they can access the greatest suite of academic and postsecondary options. Early access to courses like Algebra is an equity issue. Math is one of the most tracked subjects in the country, and by not having access to a suite of math courses, schools increase opportunity gaps, strikingly for Black and Brown students. According to the US Department of Education, only 24% of students across the country took Algebra 1 as 8th graders in 2016. However, when this data is disaggregated, 34% of Asian students and 24% of White students took the course in 8th grade, compared to 13% of students Hispanic students and 12% of Black students. Further research shows that “enrollment in Algebra or higher is associated with higher mathematics scores on assessments given at the end of the eighth grade. Clearly, there is a discrepancy in options for students.. Additionally, Algebra 1 is often a prerequisite course to higher level mathematics, which is typically an entrance requirement for many selective colleges and universities. If these students do not have access to these higher level math courses, they may be denied admission to these selective colleges or have to be placed in remedial math courses. By ensuring that more Black and Brown 8th graders take Algebra 1, we might be able to strengthen pipelines to STEM. According to the Pew Research Center, “Black people make up 11% of the U.S. workforce overall, but represent

9% of STEM workers, while Hispanics comprise 16% of the U.S. workforce but only 7% of all STEAM workers. And among employed adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher, Blacks are just 7% and Hispanics are 6% of the STEM workforce.” Completing Algebra 1 in 8th grade will allow Black and Brown students to take different math courses like Calculus, Statistics, Financial Literacy, Geometry in high school, increasing the likelihood of ﬁnding a math topic that interests them. Students learn at different rates and have different needs, so a mandate for all Black and Brown students to take Algebra 1 in 8th grade would not be fair. However, with strategic planning and intervention, school leaders and educators can work together to weave all common core middle school standards within sixth and seventh grade, making it possible for every single 8th grader to feel prepared to take Algebra 1. Concurrently, middle school staff should continue to adopt effective intervention systems for students struggling in math, as they are always a key component to achieving student mastery. By taking Algebra 1 in 8th grade, the immediate and long-term opportunities for young people increase exponentially. School leaders and staff, we have to do all we can to make sure that students are able to enroll in pivotal courses.

Rodolpho Loureiro is the Math Program Manager at the Urban Assembly. He currently runs the Algebra Success program, an equity-driven program that addresses issues of discourse in their classroom by prioritizing students’ needs so that students complete Algebra by grade 9. Algebra Success is funded by NY Community Trust.

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Unlock Every Student’s Potential... in Time to Make a Difference When school starts, teachers will need a way to identify what students know – and what they don’t yet know – so they can hit the ground running. And throughout the school year, teachers will need to track student progress in order to target instruction and support learning. Having the right tools at the right time matters. CenterPoint provides comprehensive, aligned assessments that provide teachers with meaningful data to inform instruction throughout the year. CenterPoint’s assessments are aligned to rigorous college-and-career state standards and offer educators flexibility, reliability, and real-time results. Ready-to-go assessments for back-to-school 2021 include: The Fresh Start diagnostic screener. This assessment measures student understanding of priority knowledge and skills from the previous year and is currently available in English language arts (grades 2-11) and mathematics (grades 1 – algebra 1). Through year diagnostic assessments. These assessments measure current year learning in English language arts (grades K through 11) and mathematics (grades K – 8, Algebra I and II, and Geometry). Together, these assessments yield critical insights into students’ strengths and needs. With the resulting data in hand, educators can pinpoint unfinished learning and plan instruction to get students back on track to meeting their educational goals. Of course, assessment data are only useful if they are understood. That’s why “assessment & data literacy” are so important. Teachers and leaders need to be able to use data to plan, collaborate, and adjust instruction – and that will be critical in the coming year. Quality assessments, meaningful data, and informed teachers are key to student success in 20212022. In an environment of change, experience matters. CenterPoint’s experienced team will partner with you to help teachers get off to a great start – a fresh start – when school starts this year. Go beyond remediation and accelerate student learning with CenterPoint diagnostic screeners and assessments available on a variety of assessment platforms. Find out more at centerpointeducation.org or email info@cpeducation.org.

VIEWPOINT FROM AESA (Association of Educational Service Agencies) A Healthy Partnership Brings Vaccine to Oregon Educators By Joan Wade

As the first COVID-19 vaccines became available in Oregon, making sure that educators were a priority became a goal for Clackamas Education Service District, which serves 10 school districts in the metropolitan Portland area. And to make sure that happened, the agency spearheaded and supported a collaboration between health care providers and educational service districts that eventually resulted in vaccinations for thousands of area educators in three counties. Jada Rupley, superintendent of Clackamas Education Service District, explained that the effort came about after one of the group’s members, Bob Stewart, superintendent of the Gladstone School District, reached out to contacts at area health care providers. The result was a collaboration between four providers – Kaiser, OHSU, Legacy and Providence – and the three educational service districts serving the metro Portland area. “The four health care providers quickly decided to pool their resources and co-operate on a single large-scale vaccination clinic at the Oregon Convention Center in downtown Portland,” Rupley said. “Less than a month from the partner group’s first meeting to discuss the idea, the vaccination clinic launched, and within a month of launch, more than 40,000 educators had been vaccinated at that location.” The initiative was a “significant step forward in re-opening schools to in-person learning in Oregon,” she added.

The Clackamas Education Service District played a key role in the effort. Multiple staff members were involved in all aspects of logistics, including: • Participating in dozens of planning meetings over a short timeline • Establishing staff prioritization levels and staging • Messaging and communications • Clinic volunteer recruitment and coordination • Liaison with districts and other stakeholders • Troubleshooting scheduling challenges and other issues that arose during implementation In addition, staff reached out to the agency’s partner districts to ensure they were prepared to ready their employees for appointments, knew when vaccine appointment windows were opening, and stayed updated on constantly changing plans. The health care partners were grateful for the agency’s support. “It has been truly an honor and a privilege to work with you guys. You all have been the absolute best partners as we tackled the daunting task of rapidly vaccinating educators with limited vaccine supply,” said Wendy Watson, MPH, Chief Operating Ofﬁcer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals of the Northwest. “We so appreciate how collaborative and ﬂexible you all were as we navigated the challenge together.”

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Trent Green, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Ofﬁcer of Legacy Health System agreed. “Little did I know when I told the Governor that we were in full support of her plan to accelerate educators because they are well led, organized and easy to communicate with that you and your colleagues would deliver as well as you did,” Green said. “Ramping up our vaccination efforts has certainly been a challenge, but it has been a great pleasure to work with professionals like you who appreciate the challenge but are also willing to lean in and collaboratively solve problems. Thank you again! I am grateful for all you do.” Clackamas Education Service District, Clackamas, OR clackesd.org Facebook (facebook.com/clackesd), Twitter (@clackesd) AESA,

Dr. Joan Wade is the Executive Director for the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA). Dr. Wade also led CESA 6 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for 15 years. She was elected and served as a State Representative in the Wisconsin State Legislature from 1998 – 2001. Prior experiences include Distance Learning Director, Technology Coordinator, Library Media Specialist and Elementary Teacher in Wisconsin.

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Spotlight District

Accelerating Toward High Performance in Clayton County Public Schools

Kristie Heath, Director of Advanced Learning and Intervention for Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) in Georgia, has a vision to move every child forward to become college- and career-ready. “We're doing everything we can to give our students and Clayton County Public Schools the ability to be part of a high-performance district,” Heath explains. The district’s Advanced Learning for All initiative is foundational to these objectives, and is built on a strategy of accelerating learning across grade levels to help every student achieve greater success.

High Performance Is the Goal Clayton County ranks among the 100 largest districts nationwide, with 52,000 students across 68 schools. The diverse district has students representing 90 different ethnicities with 72 languages spoken. To lead a major 52

initiative at scale across such a large district, focused planning and execution are key. CCPS has made their goal clear: delivering high performance. About ﬁve years ago, the district decided that a focus on acceleration rather than remediation was the most promising path to achieve equitable outcomes and high performance for all students, regardless of their current level of achievement. One of the strongest advocates for making higher performance achievable came from the district’s superintendent, Dr. Morcease J. Beasley. His incredible enthusiasm and vision helped change the mindset from an over-concentration on remediation toward more focus on acceleration and advanced learning objectives. Advanced Learning for All was designed to give students opportunities to think ahead and engage in coursework beyond their current grade level. “Not only did it expand equity and access to all students, but we wanted them to

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understand that part of advanced learning is a journey of all of us working together toward the learning,” says Heath. The initiative gives learners a chance to engage in accelerated coursework, through which a portion of their high school requirements can be completed before leaving middle school. In addition, students can continue to accelerate in high school and gain an advantage toward post-secondary preparedness.

Acceleration Across Grade Levels “We're doing problem-based projects and real-world applications that are pushing the engagement in our classrooms,” explains Heath, describing the district’s approach to making learning more relevant and engaging. In elementary school, this strategy is enacted through the use of complex text and authentic products. This enhances the focus on phonics, the essential building block for reading and writing. At the middle school level, CCPS developed accelerated math for sixth and seventh grades and an integrated science curriculum. As students move into these programs, the goal is to create better access and bring high school level coursework to middle school. “The objective is for students to have completed one to ﬁve high school courses in the eighth grade,” Heath explains. When schools can reach this ambitious goal, students are well ahead of schedule once they begin high school. District leaders rely on data to make informed decisions about these accelerated learning efforts. In doing so, they can anticipate the appropriate level of acceleration for students and ensure the efforts will have signiﬁcant impact. This has proven especially valuable in reading and math. The district works with Curriculum Associates and uses i-Ready assessments to collect accurate, timely data on student learning. As Heath explains, “We pull in

i-Ready to look at where our students are, so that we know how we're helping students move into accelerated programs and how to support [those] programs.” The initiative continues into high school, where students’ access to advanced placement (AP) courses is a top priority. Most ninth grade students take AP courses in a variety of subjects, including world history, computer science, environmental science, and human geography. “It gives them the ability to start looking long-term,” adds Heath. “They can start taking AP or dual enrollment courses and begin looking at post-secondary options and have a little bit in the bank.” In just the last few years alone, AP scores in CCPS have increased by over 10 percent, and the performance for ninth graders is comparable to students at other secondary grade levels.

More E° orts to Support Advanced Learning As superintendent, Dr. Beasley has made it part of his goal to pinpoint acceleration to get every child back to grade level and beyond. He asked leadership to reframe various initiatives from tutoring programs to summer school programs. Heath recalls, “Dr. Beasley asked us to be innovative and come up with something different, and so we developed STEM camps called Summertime Enrichment Camps with a wide range of learning options.” Along with STEM efforts, there is a summer enrichment academy called CSEA and a new program this year titled Voice and Choice.

STEM Summertime Enrichment Camps As suggested by Dr. Beasley, enrichment camps are elective, adding student ownership to the process. A wide variety of options are available, from problem solving to engineering. There are

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music-based beat programs, STEM expeditions, smart cities innovation, and more. There's an “I’m woke'' project, solving puzzles in the Microworld, and engineering water power through the use of gardens that surround the county. Everything is K-12 with a mixture of virtual and face-to-face learning, each lasting two weeks.

Summer Enrichment Academy Clayton County is also doing a summer enrichment academy called SEA, focusing more on where students need support through an actively engaged, hands-on approach. Heath expands on the focus: “We have high-impact practices we are supposed to see in the classroom [with students]. This includes good academic discourse where students are speaking and talking in the classroom and asking their own higher-order questions.” Literacy is another focal point for enrichment, with an equal focus on reading and writing. Writing is an essential aspect of building literacy, and Clayton is making it a priority. “Kids are not writing enough,” says Heath. “The more they write, the better they'll be able to read. That's part of our literacy task force in our county. So we’re really trying to change the focus from the superintendent and principal on down.” There is also an advanced learning initiative camp that focuses on expanding efforts from the school year programs—coming in the form of bridge or accelerated programs, including AP, accelerated math, or science.

Voice and Choice New this year is Voice and Choice, a tutorial program utilizing district data, some of it through i-Ready, to determine critical areas of 54

need. For instance, if science data determines that energy transfer learning needs more attention, that would be chosen as a subject of study. But most importantly, students can make a choice. “We wanted to give students the ability to choose what they needed to do for a tutorial and choose what they wanted to learn,” explains Heath. In the past, the schools were the sole determinant of remediation programs, with students being told what remediation they would need to attend based on data. But CCPS decided to shake things up by advertising through the school communications using email campaigns so students could be part of the process. An overwhelming response occurred where a large number of students chose sessions and speciﬁc tutorials. Incredibly, more teachers had to be hired to handle the interest. It’s an example of what happens when students are allowed to take ownership. While Voice and Choice is set up to occur right before spring summative assessments, expanding the tutorial sessions throughout the year is the goal. The English Language Arts Department already wants to do more of a writing series in the future, and world language is being added. “We really want to give students autonomy so that they are taking ownership of their own learning,” says Heath. “Putting the onus back on them and giving them the autonomy to say, ‘I need help. I need a little extra here.’” Clayton County Public Schools is reshaping remediation by focusing on Tier I learning through data use and student empowerment. While some Title I districts concentrate disproportionately on lower-tier learning, CCPS is ﬂipping the paradigm and challenging students to engage in advanced learning that sets them up for a head start after graduation.

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Schools & Libraries Should Seek ECF Remote Learning Support By John Harrington, CEO Funds for Learning K-12 schools and public libraries are urged to apply for ECF now. The ECF filing window opened June 29 and will close August 13, 2021. The program will provide 100% reimbursement for Wi-Fi hotspots and laptop computers for students, staff, and library patrons who lack home Internet connectivity. There is $7.1 billion available, and the initial filing period will pay for goods and services delivered July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022. This is a historic event, that opens up the possibility to close the homework gap and improve digital equity for all. It will take everyone’s participation to make that a reality. A strange dichotomy exists related to internet connectivity. We all seem to struggle with it, but the nature of the struggle is very different for certain groups. Many of us (i.e., most anyone reading this article) struggle with the need to disconnect, or “unplug,” from the internet. We talk about getting away from our devices and how important it is to take a break from being online… But, for most of us, being online too much is not a problem in the traditional sense of the word. It is a problem like having too much ice cream is a problem. It is not healthy, but it is not really a problem in and of itself. However, there is a real problem that plagues millions of Americans: a lack of sufficient internet access. Many people struggle to get online. They lack the basic connections and devices necessary to fully participate in our modern world. They cannot access online resources, and thus, miss out on the benefits enjoyed by all of us who do have access. This is sometimes referred to as “digital equity.” In the land of opportunity, does everyone have the 56

same digital potential? Sadly, for millions of people, the answer is ‘no’. Over the past year, we have all witnessed this phenomenon play out in our communities, particularly in our K-12 schools and libraries. Millions could stay connected and plugged in, but there were others who could not. Recently, the Federal Communications Commission took steps to close this gap by establishing the rules for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF). This is welcome relief to help millions of K-12 students, teachers, and library patrons get online when they are at home and not at school or the library. After a year of input by education leaders across the country, the funding is now available. The guidelines were released in May and the ﬁling window opened June 29th. It is not up to you. The success of this program relies on schools and libraries planning and preparing their funding applications. With the ﬁling window is 45 days in the middle of the summer, so it isn’t ideal. It is incumbent on school boards, superintendents, librarians, and other leaders to move swiftly. This is a one-time opportunity to bridge the Homework Gap for the next year, and it is critical for those who lack connectivity that the rest of us step up and do all that we can to help. Now is the time to support our schools and libraries as they help connect our communities. More information about the Emergency Connectivity Fund is available here.

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Ensuring Equity in Literacy Achievement Are we even focused on the right things? By Gene Kerns In promoting educational equity, our attention is often focused on literacy. This is quite appropriate. As Schmoker (2018) notes, “intensive amounts of reading and writing are the soul of learning” and while “language competency is the foundation of learning.” While we have long understood the primacy of literacy, it’s painfully clear that for many intents and purposes, we do not clearly understand how promote the optimal development of literacy, particularly for students at the greatest disadvantage.

Consider the results from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). Flatlined scores go back decades and they have remained ﬂat despite the increased accountability of No Child Left Behind, the resulting changes to many school schedules that took time from all areas other than ELA and Math to increase time for these areas, and billions of dollars pumped into early grades reading instruction through Reading First. We have made massive investments, and those investment simply have not produced appreciable returns.

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This brings to mind the familiar deﬁnition of insanity often attributed to Albert Einstein but actually written by novelist Rita Mae Brown (1983)—doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It is very clear that there are problems with our current approach to literacy, an approach that is not addressing equity issues. According to James “Lynn” Woodworth, Commissioner of the National Center for Educational Statistics, if one disaggregates the ﬂatlined overall data, it’s shocking to see that “the bottom is dropping at an alarming rate.”

cut to create more time for ELA and math under NCLB.

While scores overall are ﬂat, “students from disadvantaged backgrounds show a characteristic pattern of reading achievement in school; they make good progress until around fourth grade, and then suddenly fall behind” (Willingham, 2017.pg. 128). Daniel Willingham advances that a better understanding of “the importance of background knowledge to comprehension gives us insight into this phenomenon” (2017, p. 128). Pimentel (2018) refers to research in this area as “some of the most profoundly important, yet under-recognized, reading research” available and asserts that “the implications for literacy instruction are enormous.”

Somewhat counterintuitively, reading strategy instruction was found less effective than more content time. The researchers found that “Literacy gains are more likely to materialize when students spend more time learning social studies.” Yet, in a misguided attempt to raise reading scores, we cut time from the social studies in an attempt to raise reading scores.

While we have always, on some level, acknowledged the role of background knowledge in reading comprehension, we rarely understood the scale of knowledge’s impact. A wave of modern research has clearly documented this connection. A lack of background knowledge can stimy the comprehension of even the most proﬁcient readers, and when background knowledge is controlled for, gaps in reading performance which typically follow socio-economic levels, disappear. The essential idea is that there are names, dates, places, and concepts that authors automatically assume a reader will generally understand (e.g. “That’s a trojan horse.” “The reacted like Pavlov’s dogs.” “What was your litmus test?” “That was her Waterloo.”) These come from art, music, history, science – so much of the content that we

Consider a recent study done by Adam Tyner and Sarah Kabourek with the Fordham Foundation, viewed by some as one of the most signiﬁcant pieces of educational research of 2020. Groups of students received additional time in varying ways with the goal of increasing reading proﬁciency. One group, for example, received more time with reading strategy instruction. Another group received more time with social studies.

Hirsch (2018) asserts that “knowledge is by far the most promising avenue to carry us out of the reading slump we are in” and “is by far the most promising way to advance reading skill for all” (p. 31). He adds that schools should come to the realization that “the secret to answering [the complex questions of today’s high-stakes tests] will not be hours of practice of ‘inferencing skills’ and ‘close reading skills,’ but can only be answered through the student’s prior relevant knowledge of the words and the topics” (Hirsch, 2018, p. 30). In other words, while many students effectively learn the foundational reading skills in the early grades (as attested to by higher proﬁciency rates at early grade where foundational skills are the focus of those tests), gaps in performance widen quickly in the later grades. This is not because of any reading skills deﬁciency, but rather a lack of background knowledge. These gaps become apparent when success on later grades tests requires not only foundational reading skills, but also a broad base of general knowledge.

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This insight has huge implications for how we address the literacy needs of all students, at risk students in particular. When students appear to struggle with reading, a common approach has been to focus on reading comprehension strategies. While there is a definitive research base on the efficacy of such strategies, what most fail to realize is that these strategies “are quickly learned and don’t require a lot of practice” (Willingham and Lovette, 2014). Multiple studies have documented that, after a handful of lessons on any strategy, students have received all possible benefit. “Ten sessions yield the same benefit as fifty sessions” meaning that “instruction [on strategies] should be explicit and brief” (Willingham and Lovette, 2014 – emphasis added). “When it comes to improving reading comprehension, strategy instruction may have an upper limit, but building background knowledge does not; the more students know, the broader the range of texts they can comprehend.” (Willingham and Lovette, 2014 – emphasis added).

The following section from Literacy Reframed speaks to this dynamic through the lens of “The Matthew Effect”: Addressing the need for knowledge will signiﬁcantly help teachers address persistent achievement gaps. Many discussions about such gaps reference the Matthew effect. This concept is based on the following Bible verse: “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (Matthew 13:12, King James Version). Loosely paraphrased, this verse is familiar to many as the aphorism, “The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.” When we understand the role of knowledge in comprehension, the Matthew effect applies perfectly: readers with a lot of knowledge become even better readers, and readers who lack knowledge fall further and further behind. Some students come to school rich in knowledge. Before they could read, they were read to. Once they could read, they were encouraged and supported in doing so. They

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have visited museums and historical sites, and they have traveled to other cities, other states, or even other countries. Because of the knowledge they have, they take away more from every school lesson, lecture, video, ﬁeld trip, or other educational experience than their classmates do. As Hirsch (2018) remarks, “The early knowledge base that has been gained by fortunate students is like Velcro; it is a base to which further knowledge sticks more readily” (p. 164). They are rich, and they get richer. In contrast, other students come to school poor in knowledge. They were seldom, if ever, read to and might not even have a single book. Their home conditions or the responsibilities they bear (such as helping care for younger siblings) are not conducive to wide independent reading, and if they do have the time and inclination to read, they may have few books on hand. They have rarely left their immediate neighborhoods or towns, so their world concept is limited. As a result, they take away far less from the same educational experiences on which their rich-in-knowledge classmates thrive. They can be sitting in the same classroom, and while the knowledge-rich classmates beside them get richer, they fall further behind.

So, what does mean for us in promoting equity in literacy? It means that we must make knowledge acquisition a top priority. Steps might include the following: • Formally mapping out the names, dates, place, people, and ideas that are part of your curricula – The Core Knowledge Foundation offers a variety of free resources to assist with this. • Restoring any instructional time cut from social studies and science • Ensuring that students are read to daily, ideally from materials written about two grade-levels ahead of their tested reading level, which is an idea way to build vocabulary and, if the reading selection is nonﬁction, knowledge. To learn more about the role of knowledge in reading comprehension, consult these resources: Can reading comprehension be taught? By Willingham and Lovette Why Knowledge Matters by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. Literacy Reframed by Robin Fogarty, Gene Kerns, and Brian Pete

A third-generation educator, Dr. Gene M. Kerns was born with a passion for learning—and he’s carried that ﬂame throughout his long career in education. Over the past two decades, he’s served as a public school teacher, adjunct faculty member, professional development trainer, district supervisor of academic services, and academic advisor at one of the nation’s top edtech companies. For his work, Dr. Kerns has earned several awards and recognitions, including Merit Awards from the Delaware Department of Education and Order of Excellence Awards from the Delaware Stare Board of Education, and was even named a “Kentucky Colonel” for his contributions to education. Dr. Kerns earned a doctor of education in educational leadership from the University of Delaware as well as a master of science in secondary curriculum and instruction and a bachelor of arts in English education from Longwood University in Virginia. 62

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ACCELERATE LITERACY WITH VIDEO CREATIVITY Twig Create is an easy-to-use video-making experience for K–12 that gives students the chance to explore their creativity and build vocabulary and knowledge across all subject areas.

"As a parent, I always ask myself, what can I do to help my son build the knowledge that he needs to be a better reader? With Twig Create, I noticed he was doing something different than he had ever done before. He had a purpose for his voice… He wanted to share what he had done with his friends, his family. That's something magical." —Andres, parent of Ayden, Grade 3 student

VIEWPOINT FROM NAGC (National Association for Gifted Children)

Addressing Excellence Gaps: Frontloading By Jonathan A. Plucker

Current debates on equity in advanced education tend to have two major positions. In the first, advocates argue that the best path forward is to find ways to help more students – and more diverse students – experience advanced learning services. In the second, people argue that the best path to equity is to simply remove advanced education. There is a lot of nuance to these positions, of course, but they generally boil down to that distinction. It won’t surprise readers of my past columns to know that I firmly land in the first camp. If I had to summarize why, I’d point to the fact that we know advanced education works when done well (Plucker & Callahan, 2020), and also that the alternative doesn’t make much sense given that equity is rarely achieved by removing opportunity. So the questions of interest become: • How do we make advanced learning opportunities more accessible? • How to do it in ways that are equitable? In previous columns, I have shared several research-based strategies for increasing access to these opportunities, including universal screening with local norms, ability grouping, and better training and support for educators. This column focuses on the foundation of these efforts: frontloading. The basic premise of frontloading is that a major cause of excellence gaps is differential 64

access to rigorous learning opportunities. In other words, Black, Hispanic, Native American, and economically vulnerable students struggle to achieve at advanced levels because they often do not have access to high-quality, rigorous learning experiences earlier in their education. By providing those opportunities early on, we can raise their achievement significantly, allowing them to qualify for additional advanced services as they develop and move through the K-12 system. A good example is the Young Scholars program in Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia, which many other districts have adapted to their own contexts. Although Fairfax County educators have evolved the program over the past 20 years, the core features remain the same. Students with potential for high achievement are identified as early as possible, with a strengths-based emphasis on alternative assessments. This process focuses on students who “have lacked access to gifted services, advocates for their high potential, and affirmation of their advanced abilities” (Horn, 2015, p. 21). Once identified, these students are cluster grouped in the early elementary grades, working with teachers who have received specific professional development in providing challenging instruction to these students. Although there is much more to the Young Scholars model than conveyed above (see Horn, 2015, for additional detail and helpful

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references), the basic framework of it and other frontloading interventions is not complicated: Acknowledge that talented students exist everywhere, provide them with challenging instruction designed and implemented by teachers with the necessary training, and do it as early as possible in a child’s development and education. Research on frontloading is positive, with evidence that such programs close excellence gaps and prepare more students for advanced education and achievement (e.g., Briggs et al., 2008; Horn, 2005; Olszewski-Kubilius & Steenbergen-Hu, 2017). I also appreciate the emphasis that frontloading places on an overlooked aspect of equity efforts in K-12 advanced and gifted education: The primary goal of these efforts is to close excellence gaps by promoting the advanced achievement of disadvantaged students. Equity in participation is important – if you don’t have access to the playing ﬁeld, you can’t play in the game – but participation is a short-term goal on the journey to equity in outcomes. In my experience, many districts emphasize equity of participation but not put in place the needed supports to achieve equity in outcomes. Frontloading efforts focus attention and resources on the quest for equal outcomes. As a cautionary tale, consider equity efforts related to AP courses. A decade or so ago, many states and districts focused on having the AP student population look much like the general school population. These efforts have often been quite successful regarding participation, but few districts have experienced success toward equity of AP test scores. In other words, progress toward equity in outcomes is much harder to achieve, and participation alone does not ensure it. Districts with strong AP outcomes with respect to equity almost always have strong frontloading efforts to help prepare students for the more

rigorous curriculum and instruction in AP courses. As a final note, educators should also consider the role that after school settings can play in advanced education (Fredericks & Plucker, 2020). Educational leaders often find that the reduced barriers to innovation in after school settings provide helpful flexibility when implementing frontloading programs. For example, it may be easier for principals to hire after school instructors with advanced learning expertise rather than help teachers gain those skills when they have had little to no exposure to them in their preparation programs or careers up to that point. Of course, helping all educators gain those skills is important, but education leaders looking to implement frontloading programs immediately would be wise to consider starting in after-school contexts.

Jonathan A. Plucker is the Julian C. Stanley Professor of Talent Development at the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University, where he is also a Professor of Education. He currently serves as President of the National Association for Gifted Children. He can be followed on Twitter at @JonathanPlucker or reached at jplucker@jhu.edu.

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edWeb Releases 2021 Professional Learning Survey Results When the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, educators had to pivot instantly to remote learning and make unprecedented changes in the delivery of instruction and support for students and families. Supporting them with current and effective professional learning has never been more important. edWeb.net has just released the results of its 2021 Professional Learning Survey. Here are a few key takeaways: edWeb members continue to rate webinars as the type of professional learning that helps the most. The most important features of professional learning are that the content is current and relevant, and that they can participate on their own time. The top reasons edWeb members participate in professional learning are to improve learning for their students, learn new ideas and practices, and to improve teaching. edWeb members continue to report that edWeb has an impact on their own students’ learning, and that the knowledge is shared and frequently has a school-wide impact on student learning.

62% of respondents said that edWeb was better than other professional learning programs for getting support during the pandemic. edWeb members report that in three areas of importance during the pandemic, edWeb has been very helpful: social-emotional issues (66%), remote learning (63%), and equity (60%). “I'm so thankful we could help during this tragic year with free online professional learning and support for educators who have been so dedicated to helping their students, and their families, through this.” — Lisa Schmucki, edWeb.net founder & CEO

edWeb.net Professional Learning Survey 2021

DOWNLOAD THE EDWEB 2021 SURVEY RESULTS HERE 66

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Food for Thought: Solutions for Social-Emotional Well Being can be Facilitated by Digital Equity

By Beth Holland & Hali Larkins Digital Equity Digital equity and social-emotional practices are rarely discussed in tandem. Conversations about digital equity often focus on enhancing capacities for learning through technology, while social-emotional efforts tend to focus on building avenues for positive self-awareness and community building. In reality, given the demands currently placed on our education system, the challenges and gaps associated with technology use — both internet and device access — as well as social-emotional well being have become interconnected.

For decades, extensive research has documented digital technology disparities that the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated. A 2021 Study by Common Sense Media and Boston Consulting Group found that despite a 20-40% increase in students who have been connected since the pandemic started, over 12 million students still do not have adequate home internet access or the digital devices necessary to access remote or hybrid learning resources at home. According to a survey administered during COVID-19 by Upbeat, the issue of digital

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inequity remains prevalent across socioeconomic lines: 87% of students in low-poverty schools report having adequate technology access as compared to only 64% of students in high-poverty schools.

Shifting the Conversation From Devices to Include Social-Emotional Supports A newly published report from New America further documents that students are not only unconnected but under-connected. Students may have access to a device or the internet, but it is not sufﬁcient to fully participate in class, complete schoolwork, or interact with multimedia. Additionally in a review of school's responses to remote learning, the Teaching Systems Lab at MIT found that schools reporting more consistent at-home broadband access also implemented more comprehensive strategies for remote and hybrid learning. The report also highlighted that for teachers who work in communities where students have limited technology access at home, trying to sustain students’ relationships and connections with schools consumed a substantial portion of teachers’ energy. These ﬁndings suggest that students’ varying levels of resources shaped their teachers’ abilities to deliver comprehensive learning solutions and experiences during the pandemic.

When children do not have access to digital tools for formal learning, they also often lack mental health supports such as online spaces to express their feelings (text, email, direct messaging, etc.) and apps for mental health. This disparity consequently impacts their learning experiences.

Connectedness and Social-Emotional Well Being Technology can serve as a valuable resource for alleviating social-emotional challenges within student populations. However, when access becomes a barrier, the potential for technology in that manner is also limited. Not having access to digital tools impacts how students can engage with their teachers and peers, as well as build community when their in-person connections are limited or absent due to safety restrictions. For example, a report by The Learning Accelerator (TLA) about Lindsay Uniﬁed School District’s (LUSD) student learning experience during Covid-19 highlighted that community was a critical component of remote-learning. As a district, LUSD has committed to digital equity by ensuring that all technology users can access online technologies at any time and from anywhere. This study highlighted that the districts’ efforts around connectivity also allowed teachers to focus more on social-emotional wellbeing resulting in students feeling safe, cared for, and supported. Such efforts would not have been possible in an online context if every student did not have access to the necessary tools. Additionally, a 2020 report by Common Sense on the state of adolescents’ mental health in an increasingly digital world found that connected adolescents use social media to stay connected and get critical information. The report also highlighted that digital media and technology could serve as a social safety net. For communities that are under-resourced, solely solving issues around connectivity without supplemental social-emotional supports (such as speciﬁc strategies to ensure that students feel connected in online environments and can access digital mental health tools) and only deepens systemic inequalities.

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Considerations for Policymakers and System Leaders Students need access to resources that can allow them to utilize technology not only for learning but also in ways that positively impact their social emotional well being. This upcoming school year presents an opportunity for school leaders to implement new supports for districts that enhance digital connectivity and simultaneously provide students with outlets and tools that can enhance their mental health. In the context of supporting students’ emotional safety and wellbeing during the pandemic, the Center of Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) identiﬁed that only 66% of school districts across the U.S. aimed to intentionally address students’ social and emotional wellbeing in remote and hybrid learning environments. Districts can take advantage of resources for improving digital equity through programs for device and broadband access (such as ARP and Erate). While doing so, CRPE recommends that districts can also support social-emotional wellbeing by establishing, “a strategy that includes a clear vision for social-emotional learning, strong communication, and data.” By addressing digital equity with social well being in mind, school leaders and policymakers can set our education system — and most importantly our students — up for success.

Beth Holland is a Partner at The Learning Accelerator, leading work in research and measurement as well as digital equity. Beth holds an Ed.D. in Entrepreneurial Leadership in Education from Johns Hopkins University, an Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation, and Education from Harvard University, as well as a B.S. in Communications from Northwestern University.

Hali Larkins is an External Relations Communications Intern with The Learning Accelerator. Prior to that, Hali was a Family and Learning Subject Matter Expert at YouTube. She is currently working toward her M.A. in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University.

The American Consortium for Equity in Education

Elana Meyers Taylor Classroom Champions Mentor and 2x Olympic Silver Medalist visiting her mentees at Glenn L. Downs School in Phoenix, AZ.

Every student

deserves a champion. Imagine a school where kids are learning from world-class athletes, engage with teachers, and treat others with respect. Classroom Champions’ SEL programs have been proven to improve attendance and academic performance while lowering disciplinary referrals and bullying. Individual teachers, schools, and districts can sign on for a comprehensive K-8 Social and Emotional Learning Foundations Curriculum and virtual Mentorship+ Program. Classroom Champions has created a framework for social and emotional learning that embeds students in a world where they build growth mindsets, have positive classroom culture, and develop emotional literacy.

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Get started today by contacting kate@classroomchampions.org or visit classroomchampions.org to learn more! Celebr ati 10 yea ng rs!

NAVIGATING TRAUMA IN A POST-COVID WORLD How SEL Can Help Students Cope By Jill McVey, PhD, research scientist, ACT

WHAT IS TRAUMA? Given the disruptions that we have all experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are becoming more aware of the effect that trauma can have on school, work, and home life. Any experience that causes intense physical or psychological stress reactions can be considered trauma. Traumatic events can be isolated, like the loss of a loved one, or things that happen over time, such as bullying or poverty. It’s important to note that while there are certain events that most of us would ﬁnd to be traumatic, ultimately, it’s the person’s perceptions of the event that matter. Additionally, it is also possible for a person to experience what’s known as secondary trauma – a reaction from witnessing a traumatic event or learning about it happening to someone else.

TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICES As we grapple as a society with systemic racism, the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing political unrest, we need to have a way to help our students cope with these events and any other hardships they may be experiencing. Trauma-informed practices in schools provide a framework for understanding and responding to different types of trauma. Despite the perception that trauma is rare, it is estimated that at least half to two-thirds of children have experienced trauma in their lives.

Past (or present) trauma can affect students by making it more likely for their fight or flight response to be activated, since experiencing trauma has an effect on the brain. This means that students may often be in a heightened state of watchfulness (“on alert”) without realizing it. In addition to reacting to things that others may not notice, students who are constantly on alert may struggle to focus on schoolwork. Trauma has been associated with difficulties in emotional regulation; difficulty forming or maintaining social relationships; and difficulties in school. Fortunately, you do not need to know the details about a student’s trauma – or even if they have experienced it – in order to provide a foundation to help them cope. Understanding how trauma can affect students and having strategies to provide a safe and positive environment are important pieces of trauma-informed practices. As part of Mosaic™ by ACT® SEL professional development program, Powerful Educator, we focus on three main tenets of trauma-informed practice: safety, relationships, and coping skills.

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SAFETY A safe environment is one in which students can depend upon consistency, which includes a predictable schedule along with adults on whom the student can rely. A feeling of safety at school is important for all students, but additional supports may be needed for students who have experienced trauma, such as advanced warnings about transitions or changes to routines. A focus on positive student behaviors, instead of negative ones, can also help foster a sense of safety.

RELATIONSHIPS Relationships are likewise critical to building a safe environment and helping students who have experienced trauma. Positive and supportive teacher-student relationships are important in myriad student outcomes. To name a few, strong teacher-student relationships are associated with increased student engagement, inclusion, and belonging, as well as increased attendance and achievement. For the student with trauma, strong relationships can help them feel secure and be less likely to be “on alert,” freeing up space for them to focus on learning.

COPING SKILLS Finally, helping students develop coping skills for managing thoughts and emotions can help lay the groundwork for developing healthy behaviors in response to stress. In addition to teaching students healthy coping strategies (which can be as simple as pausing and taking a deep breath, like this song from the TV series “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” introduces), model these behaviors in the classroom. For example, naming feelings and appropriately dealing with them: “I’m feeling really frustrated that I can’t get my computer to connect to the projector! I’m going to take a deep breath, and I’ll try again a little later.” 72

TRAUMA-INFORMED PRACTICES CAN HELP The COVID-19 pandemic has created a tumultuous time for all of us, and as a result, many of us are considering the role of trauma for the ﬁrst time. Creating a safe environment, building positive relationships, and equipping students with skills needed to navigate uncomfortable emotions will go a long way toward a healthy learning environment for all students, regardless of their personal experiences with trauma.

For additional resources & information about trauma-informed practices, please visit our website or register to view a recording of our webinar.

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ADVERTISERS ACT/American College Application Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Achieve3000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 American Psychiatric Association Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44-45 Benetech/Bookshare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Boxlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CenterPoint Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48-49 ClearMask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-23 Curriculum Associates/iReady . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-21 Discovery Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-39 Driving Force Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Education Talk Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 edWeb.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Fielding International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3 Funds for Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56-57 izzit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36-37 Landmark College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-15 Lexia Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 NAEYC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 NorvaNivel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Rosen Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30-31 Texthelp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Twig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25, 63 VS America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-77 Waterford Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-11

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