Equity & Access - December, 2021 Issue 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

HAPPY NEW YEAR! IT’S TIME TO MOVE FROM DIGITAL ACCESS TO DIGITAL EQUITY LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS FOR REDUCING EXCELLENCE GAPS

THIS ISSUE’S CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY

SEL TODAY STUDENTS REALLY NEED COMMUNITY SERVICE RIGHT NOW AND SO MUCH MORE

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #AGEOFEQUITY

ACE-ED.ORG | NOV/DEC 2021

LowSensory Sensory Space Low Space

Design Patterns

for Creative Learning Environments

Low Sensory Space Problem

Some learners, especially those with sensory processing disorders, including autism, experience negative reactions to spaces with conficting or overwhelming sensory stimuli, often causing them to become distracted or upset.

Solution

A place where learners can go where they can control their sensory stimuli $ especially with lighting, textures, sound $ can have an immense impact on a student’s sense of mental and emotional safety. Related Patterns Cave Space, Calming Retreat

Flexible Learning

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Zones

Fielding International Introduces

SchoolPatterns.com Home to Design Patterns for Creative Learning Environments

Fielding International has launched SchoolPatterns.com. We invite you to explore this new open-source library for Design Patterns. Search, learn, and share these key ideas that provide solutions for the complexities of school design. What are Design Patterns? Design Patterns for Creative Learning Environments are simple sketches and annotations that get down to the essence of how a space works. Through the use of Patterns we can design and connect successful educational environments and experiences that bridge the gap between equity and education. At Fielding International, Design Patterns have been foundational to the way we think about school design. In 2005, we published the book The Language of School Design to share our ideas. Since then, we’ve learned from and evolved our Patterns, along with creating many new ones. As Fielding’s commitment to making a positive social impact and designing schools where learners thrive continues, this next iteration of Design Patterns and how we share them reflects our collaborative efforts - how we use them, how our clients use them, and how we offer them as a resource to the world.

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CONTENTS ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY

6 12 18 24

It’s Time to Move From Digital Access to Digital Equity Beth Holland & Hali Larkins

Long-Term Solutions for Reducing Excellence Gaps Melanie S. Meyer

An Effective Communication Platform Can Transform Engagement with Families of Students with a Disability Amber Akapnitis

Equitable Practices as a Blueprint for Disruptive Change in K-12 Education Kellie Lauth & Melissa Risteff

Interview: Alexandra Alessandri, Children’s Author

States Advancing Equity Through Covid Relief Plans Council of Chief State School Officers Students Really Need Community Service Right Now Michele Pitman

Q&A: Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert

SPECIAL SECTION: SEL TODAY

CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY - 42 Mike Esseily | Anupama (Anu) Vaid | José Viana | Donna Wake | Patricia Wong

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 - 62

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It’s Time to Move From Digital Access to Digital Equity By Beth Holland and Hali Larkins

The demand for technology in learning has never been more pressing than in our current time. Spurred by the necessity to implement remote learning and newly available federal funding for internet and broadband access, this school year has the potential to become the most technological in the history of education in the United States. However, before celebrating these prospects, it is important to take a pause and recognize a critical concept: equal access is not the same thing as digital equity. What is Access?

A Spotlight on the Digital Divide The acknowledgement of gaps in internet access is commonly referred to as “the digital divide.” In 1995, Larry Irving – then administrator at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) – ﬁrst documented the existence of the digital divide in a report that he commissioned called Falling through the Net. Despite this initial spotlight, its

severity has only recently been realized due to disruptions caused by the global pandemic. In Spring 2020, over 15 million students were excluded from remote learning because of lack of access. In response, districts worked tirelessly to close 20 to 40 percent of the reported gaps. However, studies have found that despite such efforts, over 12 million students lacked sufﬁcient internet access this past year. A recent report from New America, Learning at Home While Under-Connected, provides additional context. Researchers Vikki Katz and Victoria Rideout shared: 1 in 7 students remain unconnected to the internet. 53 percent of “connected” participants reported being under-connected. Their devices or internet proved to be too slow for full participation in online learning, or students were hindered by data caps that cut them off from schooling. 35 percent indicated that cost remained the biggest barrier; yet, 19 percent of survey

American Consortium for Equity in Education

respondents from low-income communities indicated that they did not perceive a need for a computer or internet access even though they had a school-aged child in the house. Such insights indicate that the issues surrounding the digital divide are far more nuanced, and much more work remains to be done. For example, a 2021 study from Common Sense Media, Boston Consulting Group, and the Southern Education Foundation reported that low digital literacy skills, language proﬁciency, and general confusion around available services created additional barriers – particularly for families in underserved communities. These more nuanced challenges raise broader questions around equity, such as representation, digital and media literacy,

language, education background.

level,

and

cultural

What is Equity?

Access vs. Adoption The notion of a lack of equity in adoption (digital use) was ﬁrst raised in the mid 1990s when scholars and technologists ﬁrst confronted the “white narrative of the technology world.” In his book, Black Software: From AfroNet to Black Lives Matter, Professor Charlton McIlwain describes how during the same time that Irving began discussing the

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digital divide, several additional efforts began to engage Black users through culturally representative content. Members of the Black Vanguard believed that the Black community would adopt computers and the internet at a higher rate if they found the content more relevant. However, from the launch of “Taking IT to the Streets” – a program designed in the late 1990s to help Black youth and women to build digital literacy skills – and more recent efforts such as Black Girls Code, there have largely been only cursory efforts to address the needs and interests of minority communities in the technology world. In the scope of the pandemic, digital equity conversations have mostly focused on access, ignoring both these issues of representation and what the U.S. Department of Education’s 2017 National Education Technology Plan (NETP) referred to as the digital use divide. The NETP advocated that students needed more than just the access to be successful; they also needed powerful learning opportunities. Unfortunately, numerous studies have documented that students of color and those living in underserved communities largely experience technology solely for remediation, test prep, and content acquisition – despite evidence that Black and Latinx students, as well as their families, highly value technology skills.

Where Do We Begin? Inequity exists when students have access to technology without meaningful learning opportunities to develop relevant knowledge and skills. It creates what Professor S. Craig Watkins calls “technology-rich, curriculum-poor environments.” In order to effectively use technology for learning, schools must implement practices that create effective entry points for students of all skills, languages,

education levels, and cultural backgrounds. The Learning Accelerator’s list of learning materials for success and scale offers a great starting point for strategies that can shift learning toward more equitable conditions. As schools and districts invest in the coming school year, they need to remember that digital equity includes more than just digital access. It will be critical to harness these new tools to create learning environments that meet the needs, voices, and identities of their learners.

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 towards her M.A. in Instructional Technology and Media at Teachers College, Columbia University.

American Consortium for Equity in Education

Learning Growth Starts with Student Engagement.

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To learn more, visit i-ReadyClassroomMathematics.com/Thrive.

Rosters

Assess & Teach

Reports

Help

Regina Moore

Comprehension Check Results Subject

Math

Class/Report Group

PDF

Comprehension Check

Grade 4, Section 2

Multiply by Two-Digit Numbers

Key

Comprehension Check Summary

View Comprehension Check

Lesson 12: Multiply by Two-Digit Numbers Question Analysis

Distrubution of Results

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Students Completed/Assigned: 18/20 0 Students Unassigned

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Madera, Isabella

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Petrov, Mariana

100%

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Flores, Shandra

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13m

Williams, Gerald

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Rodriguez, Jeremy

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López, Madeline

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Nelson, Sean

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Williamson, Sharonda

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Chen, Nadia

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12m

O’Connor, Liam

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11/08/19

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Jones, Aisha

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A comprehensive core Grades K–8 mathematics program that makes math accessible to all students Kovac, Valarie

60%

11/11/19

11m

Medeiros, Nick

60%

11/11/19

Foster, Claire

50%

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Nguyen, Eric

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Charnas, Brendan

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Dorsey, Justin

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Nasuti, Kevin

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The After School Excellence Network (ASEN) Long-Term Solutions for Reducing Excellence Gaps

By Melanie S. Meyer New York City public schools have come under ﬁre for the demographic composition of the city’s specialized high schools, such as the Bronx High School of Science and Stuyvesant High School. Eighth graders who perform well on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) may be offered admission to one of these highly-selective schools, but the acceptance rate hovers around one to two percent (Camera, 2019). Public criticism stems from the fact that the racial composition of these high schools does not mirror the composition of the New York City 12

public school system, an issue referred to as underrepresentation. In 2019, Black and Latinx students made up “less than 11 percent of students in the specialized high schools, despite accounting for more than 70 percent of students in New York City public schools on the whole” (Camera, 2019). The 2021 admissions data shows this trend continuing with only nine percent of specialized high school acceptance offers going to Black and Latinx students (Elsen-Rooney, 2021). The underrepresentation of students of color in advanced academic programs is not a new

American Consortium for Equity in Education

problem. Excellence gaps, which are differences in advanced levels of performance between student groups, have been increasing in New York City’s specialized high schools for years. Dr. Steven Fredericks, former Executive Director of New York Edge, and current Professor at Johns Hopkins University, saw a way to tackle underrepresentation and excellence gaps by starting early and focusing on long-term solutions. New York Edge operates after school programs that serve 40,000 K-12 students across 150 New York City public schools. Three hours per day, ﬁve days a week and on school holidays, students participate in self-selected sports and arts activities and get help with their homework. Fredericks recalled, “Around 2016, I was asked to write a review of a book called Excellence Gaps in Education: Expanding Opportunities for Talented Youth by Jonathan Plucker and Scott Peters. I read the book and a lightbulb went off. My after school programs don't have the structural issues that public schools do, so I can hire who I want. We can run any programs we want. So, I thought, why don't we try to apply these principles in an after school setting?”

self-identify if they were willing to commit to the program. A total of 40 students were identiﬁed, and in place of the traditional homework help time, these students, in two cohorts of 20, interacted with a science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) content specialist and a counselor/mentor for 90 minutes each day. Excellence Project participants were provided with computerized adaptive learning programs to work on math and reading skills, as well as STEAM enrichment activities (e.g., coding, robotics), social and emotional interventions (e.g., meditation, yoga), and take-home computers. The staff also used ﬂexible scheduling to ensure that students who chose to participate in The Excellence Project would not miss the other sports and arts activities that were part of the New York Edge after school programming.

For the pilot program in 2017, they chose to start early and selected a Bronx elementary school where only one in three students was performing at grade level in math and reading. To identify third and fourth grade students for The Excellence Project pilot program, staff reviewed input from parents, teachers, and after school staff, as well as all student grades and test scores. Additionally, both students and parents had to agree to participate, since parents were asked to communicate with the project staff regularly.

Although it was not a qualification for inclusion in the program, all of the participants came from families whose income was at or below the poverty line. In the first year, The Excellence Project after school pilot program saw positive student outcomes ranging from improved behavior in the classroom and at home to academic performance that outpaced their grade-level peers. Those gains continued as the program expanded into fifth grade and added a new cohort of third graders in 2018. This program was created using research-based best practices for closing excellence gaps, including flexible identification for advanced learning opportunities, universal screening with local norms, instruction delivered by well-trained professional educators, frontloading foundational skills for advanced learning in reading and math, psychosocial interventions, and ability grouping (Plucker & Peters, 2016; Plucker et al., 2017). Despite the program’s success, there were critics of the project.

After the screening process, the recommended students were placed in the program, but any third or fourth grade student could also

When he encountered pushback, Fredericks countered by explaining, “When a child exhibits athletic prowess, we don’t say, you don’t need a

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coach. When somebody has artistic talent, we don’t deprive them of training. When we have kids who are intellectually talented, there is a tendency for educators and policymakers to say, those kids can deal with it on their own. We're trying to break that cycle and address their talents, too.” Over time, students who have had advanced learning opportunities as elementary students may be better prepared to excel on the SHSAT and earn admission to one of the selective specialized high schools in the New York City public school system. For the culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students in this Bronx elementary school, this could be the edge they need to access academic talent development opportunities in high school and beyond. Although Dr. Fredericks is no longer with New York Edge, he is partnering with Johns Hopkins University to establish the After School Excellence Network across the United States to support school districts that want to create similar programs. Fredericks explained, “Our mission is to identify children who are capable of advanced learning and give them opportunities to excel academically. We can accomplish that, and I think we have already started to make a difference. We think this could profoundly change the face of urban education in the United States.” To learn more about the After School Excellence Network, contact Dr. Fredericks at sjfredericks@jhu.edu.

References Camera, L. (2019, March 19). New York City’s most selective high schools also most segregated. U.S. News and World Report. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/arti cles/2019-03-19/race-divides-elite-new-york-city-hi gh-schools Elsen-Rooney, M. (2021, April 29). Number of Black and Latino students accepted to NYC’s specialized high schools drops. New York Daily News. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ ny-specialized-high-school-admission-rates-202104 29-5zx7m63hjjﬂvfzcpklbwzu4i4-story.html Plucker, J. A., & Peters, S. J. (2016). Excellence gaps in education: Expanding opportunities for talented youth. Harvard Education Press. Plucker, J. A., Peters, S. J., & Schmalensee, S. (2017). Reducing excellence gaps: A research-based model. Gifted Child Today, 40, 245-250. https://doi.org/10.1177/1076217517723949 Additional Resources Plucker, J. A. (Host). (2019, June 11). What can we learn from the New York selective schools controversy? (No. 11). [Audio podcast episode]. In Bright Now. Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. https://johnshopkinscty.org/bright-now-podcast

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.

American Consortium for Equity in Education

No More Guessing: $4.51 Billion Needed Yearly for Homework Gap By John Harrington, CEO Funds for Learning This year’s Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) has provided a much-needed infusion of laptop computers and Wi-Fi hotspots to keep K-12 students and library patrons connected to the Internet. But that is not the only public service the ECF has provided. Up until this point, we have all been estimating what was needed to help our communities stay connected. The time for guessing is over. Now, we have solid data to inform our decision making: $4.51 billion is needed annually to provide secure devices with internet connections to families who otherwise lack adequate connectivity. Armed with real-world information, the ground has been laid for better laws and regulations.

Device and Home Internet In 2021, there was $6.32 billion needed to provide connected learning devices for students, school staff, and library patrons who otherwise lacked a sufﬁcient connection. 12.9 million laptop and tablet computers were requested along with 5.5 million off-campus data connections.

These expenses are not one-time, “one and done” investments. The $1.77 billion in home internet costs are recurring expenses that will need on-going support. Similarly, devices, such as laptops, do not last forever. Three-to-ﬁve years is a general estimate of the lifespan of these equipment. Therefore, assuming one-quarter of these devices will need to be replaced each year, we can assume that $1.14 billion is needed annually for device replacement.

Secure Devices Cybersecurity is becoming one of the top issues, not just for technology professionals, but for organizations in general. Schools and libraries know that they need cybersecurity to keep their students safe and their networks accessible. 97% of them are asking for the FCC to provide support for cybersecurity. A recent study submitted to the FCC found that $1.606 billion was needed annually to provide network ﬁrewalls and endpoint security for K-12 schools. It is a fallacy to think that devices can be provided to students without cybersecurity. Distributing a device without cybersecurity is worse than not providing a device. Congress should require that devices and networks be secured, and they should provide the necessary resources to secure them.

$4.51 Billion Needed Annually There is an on-going need to provide secure and reliable connected learning devices to students, staff, and library patrons. Based on the actual ECF funding request data from 2021, combined with the detailed cybersecurity cost study, we can estimate what that need really is: $4,509,705,054 per year. By providing support for securely connected devices, Congress can quickly and effectively impact homes in every zip code. Investing $4.51 billion per year into a program that will help connect our students, school staff and library patrons should be a simple decision for all members of Congress. This is particularly true because the FCC has proven that it can effectively launch and maintain such a program. Keeping our communities securely connected is an on-going challenge. Fortunately, the ECF program has given us the data and now we know the answer to our question: $4.51 billion per year is needed.

Order your copy of the 2021 E-rate Trends Report: https://bit.ly/3Bs46qm

States Advancing Equity Through Covid Relief Plans

INSIGHT FROM CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Ofﬁcers)

State education leaders have ably helped teachers, students and families adapt to three academic years impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, thanks to a once-in-ageneration appropriation of federal K-12 education aid, chiefs are seizing this opportunity to not only help students recover from the pandemic, but also to create an education system that is more effective and equitable for all students. The Council of Chief State School Ofﬁcers (CCSSO) commissioned a review by Education First of how 35 states – those that submitted American Rescue Plan state plans to the U.S. Department of Education by June 30 – are using their funding, and found important trends and examples of how these ideas are being implemented across the country:

1. Address unﬁnished learning through tutoring, summer programs and other initiatives. Maine developed the Maine Online Opportunities for Sustained Education (MOOSE), an online platform of project-based learning experiences that address health and wellness and career readiness. The modules embed learning about the ways gender stereotypes and expectations of conformity limit the development of students of all genders. Models of this kind will address the needs of students who identify as LGBTQ+ as well as students for whom schools have traditionally been unwelcoming.

American Consortium for Equity in Education

2. Support both student and teacher mental, social, emotional and behavioral health. New York will continue its partnership with state agencies that support migratory students and students experiencing homelessness by providing technical assistance to districts to encourage the use of evidence-based best practices that close academic gaps, provide social-emotional support, and use a culturally responsive and sustaining framework.

3. Address educator capacity by providing additional professional learning opportunities and boosting the teacher pipeline. South Carolina will collaborate with institutes of higher education, school districts and the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement to develop a pipeline of new talent with a speciﬁc focus on attracting people of color to the classroom.

4. Improve data and funding sustainability to better identify individual students and groups most impacted by the pandemic, integrating progress and ﬁscal monitoring into existing systems and expanding monitoring capacity.

collecting disaggregated data for each subgroup, specifically identifying and addressing disproportionate impacts of the pandemic, and using an equity analysis tool while developing their plans. The examples included in the report represent just some of the important work states are undertaking, and CCSSO is honored to support state leaders across the country as they use this funding efficiently and impactfully as we work to build a more equitable education system for all children. To learn more visit ccsso.org. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, Bureau of Indian Education, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions.

Washington has required its school districts to closely monitor disparate outcomes between different student subgroups as they develop their plans to use federal funds, including by

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Curriculum that honors all learners

High Quality Instruction + Positively Representing All Learners + Family Engagement Resources = Universal Literacy To learn more visit: Waterford.org/reading-academy

SPECIAL SECTION

Exclusive Interview: Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert How Community Service Supports Social & Emotional Learning Featured Exhibitors: • Boxlight • Discovery Education • Texthelp VISIT SELTODAY.ORG 22

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Accelerate writing proficiency Motivate your students to write like never before.

WriQ is a writing achievement tool that helps teachers easily produce fast, simple and consistent writing assessment, whilst providing meaningful feedback and motivation directly to students - helping to increase and improve their writing skills. Save valuable time with technologyassisted marking. WriQ allows you to quickly assess, track and analyze student writing, meaning you can spend less time marking and more time teaching! WriQ provides a standardized benchmark for writing which allows you to assess learning loss due to COVID and the summer slide. You can chart writing progress over time and compare achievement year on year, not just within a class, but through a year band or an entire school.

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Students Really Need Community Service Right Now By Michele Pitman

In every extraordinary time, there have been challenges that make us wonder if we should try to carry on in a normal way, or if the change foisted upon us is a chance to reestablish priorities. We’re in that moment and student community service is one of those priorities. Without truly understanding an important element of service--which is the intentional documentation of a student’s transformation through personal reﬂections --student volunteering and service work seems an easy “let’s skip that” exercise. It would be easy to walk away from it in difﬁcult times like these, but to do so would diminish personal growth opportunities for students and leave gaping holes in college applications and job experiences. It also stresses an already taxed system of community service organizations. Here’s why.

Students Need to Make a Difference Either pre- or post-pandemic, students always need to find ways to make a difference in other people’s lives, to “go the distance” in order to make things happen. Service programs let students feel that sense of urgency and experience the emotion, the ideas and energies expended while helping another organization or individual. Employers today say that emotional intelligence is one of their most sought after, yet most difficult to measure attributes in candidates. Through service that is documented, verified and reflected upon, students build those capabilities.

American Consortium for Equity in Education

Students Need Healing Students have been essentially alone for a year now, or more. Social activities have been online and far from normal, and hybrid schooling hasn’t made things easier. Service programs were great before COVID, but as we get to the other side of it, they have become even more valuable. There is no better way for students to mend the strain and emotional fatigue of living in a COVID world than to actively get involved helping others. The need to help is innate and service to others is a tremendous COVID relief antidote. Guidance leaders know it. Boards of education will support student service work as the asset to the community it has become, and also as part of the healing process for healthy student growth.

Students Need to Learn Resilience The usual places where students volunteer have been off limits or restricted during the pandemic. We discovered interesting shifts in what kind of service has been allowed in the past 18 months. Hospitals, convalescent homes, and local businesses weren’t available, so volunteering shifted to home. Students received credit for helping out in their family, for babysitting and tutoring younger siblings, for taking care of elderly family members, for being the home network tech support, for cooking meals, or for delivering groceries to neighbors who couldn’t leave the houses. In many ways, volunteering came closer to home this past year. It became a family and community survival skill and I think we are better for it. Chipping in to help someone you care about is powerful.

Students Need to Reflect I, of course, am a champion for our system in helping schools organize, direct, and track student

service activities. However, the most compelling and necessary component of community service, beyond validating that the service occurred, is the student’s reflections on the engagement. Reflections can be required, written down, and documented for a student’s service record. Through frequent reflection, students discover and share the meaning of their service work in a personal way, they connect to the work and internalize the significance of their experience. It’s not just a requirement or job to be done, but rather part of life’s journey. The importance of reflection is well beyond what is required for a service program, but I have been told many times that students find it unexpected, valuable, even “significant.” Reflections deepen the involvement, and they add to the productive and responsible citizen they will ultimately become. I’m thrilled to see students coming back to classrooms, going to football games and getting involved in clubs. But perhaps I am more excited to see local organizations opening back up to volunteers, and schools allowing students to tutor in person to help their peers. And, while the struggles have been great, I believe our society has stepped into a new realm of empathetic enlightenment. Making sure our students stop to reflect on how they helped others is the gift we cannot lose and we’ll continue to give our schools the tools they

need to make this happen.

Michele Pitman is founder and CEO of intelliVOL, developers of x2VOL which is the most widely used community service and service learning platform. She has committed herself to helping individuals and schools do more community service, not only as a path to college acceptance and scholarships, but primarily because of the great challenge many service organizations face in filling volunteer positions.

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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.

DiscoverDatainSchool.org

YoungScientistLab.com

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

It’s Time to Move From Digital Access With Jhone Ebert Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction to Digital Equity We were honored to speak with Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert, who champions equity and accessibility, seeking to close opportunity gaps and narrow the digital divide. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, she has worked to provide support and flexibility to districts and schools, while ensuring that vulnerable students receive the services they need, including nutrition services, broadband and devices, special education services, English learner supports, professional development for teachers, and social-emotional supports and resources for all community members. Read below to learn more.

In March of 2020 at the onset of pandemic, the Nevada Department of Education launched the Nevada Digital Learning Collaborative (NvDLC) as part of an investment in high-quality digital content and distance learning resources. Can you give an update on the impact of this program has had on teaching and learning in the state? The NvDLC website was launched on July 14, 2020, in response to school building closures. The website offers a robust library of more than 200 free resources in a number of formats including books, webinars, and videos. For educators, the NvDLC offers professional learning, high-quality curricular materials, and instructional strategies to help them meaningfully connect with students and families in a virtual learning environment. For students and families, it provides support for digital learning, including a translation option to 28

support students and families whose native language is not English. Since its launch, NvDLC content has been viewed over 53,000 times by more than 15,000 visitors. During its ﬁrst year, with the support of educator experts in remote learning known as Digital Ambassadors, over 200 artifacts, including podcasts, video chats, how-to guides, webinars, and live panel discussions were published on the NvDLC website. The group also hosted two digital learning summits and seven panel discussions throughout the 2020-21 school year. We are proud that the NvDLC has created a place for all Nevada educators to collaborate on teaching and learning and for families to be empowered to support their child’s success during this challenging time. It has provided resources and tools for educators, students, and

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families as we are all true partners in this new world of learning. And, it has removed emphasized access, equity, diversity, and inclusion. The NvDLC was a component of your effort to improve equity and access to digital resources in the state. Can you share the impact NvDLC has had on equity and access in Nevada? What are some of the success stories, from an equity perspective? The NvDLC has enabled equitable access for all Nevada educators, students, and parents and families to professional learning courses, curriculum, and instructional materials. It has also been an important support for districts facing teacher shortages by providing them with course access and resources for educators who may be teaching out of their ﬁeld as well as substitute teachers. In tandem with the work around the NvDLC, getting students connected to the internet was a priority for the state to tackle. Connecting Kids, a bipartisan public-private coalition with the goal of connecting every K-12 student and helping to close Nevada’s digital divide, became a priority of Governor Steve Sisolak’s COVID-19 Private Sector Task Force in summer 2020. In partnership with the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force and the Nevada Department of Education, Communities in Schools Nevada, the Elaine P. Wynn and Family Foundation, and the Public Education Foundation led the way on this initiative. By January 5, 2021, Connecting Kids conﬁrmed that we had successfully provided a device and internet connection to every student in the State who was participating in distance learning. In addition to large urban districts like Clark County, Nevada has a significant number of rural students. How is this specifically helping to improve educational equity for rural students?

Yes – 15 of Nevada’s county school districts are considered rural, in addition to the remote rural areas in our large districts, Clark and Washoe. For rural educators, the NvDLC has provided access to courses, materials, and professional learning in both quantity and quality. One educator from our rural district recently shared with us that “the NvDLC has given me a place to ask questions and ﬁnd informational videos on tools like Nearpod. I also have subscribed to the YouTube channel and bookmarked it for references.” The more resources we can provide online and the more comfortable we are able to help teachers, students, and families become with remote learning, the more opportunities we have to bring a breadth of educational opportunities to rural students. In a rural setting, there may be only a handful of students interested in taking speciﬁc materials or coursework. By having access to NvDLC, the opportunities are made available to all students regardless of zip code. This includes world languages and advanced coursework. A lack of professional learning for educators can have an impact on educational equity. How has Nevada sought to address the issue of improving professional learning for all teachers? In our work at the Nevada Department of Education, we have prioritized offering differentiated professional learning for teachers throughout the State. In fact, “Access to high-quality professional development for educators in addressing learning loss” is one of our eight priorities for Federal Relief Funding. We have worked hard to ensure our educators, school and district leaders, and staff have many opportunities, timeframes, and means by which to access professional development. It is our priority to make sure that no barriers – time, scheduling, money, or otherwise – stand in the way of our educators receiving the professional

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development and support they need. There are several ways we offer professional learning to our educators in an equitable way, both in real-time and on-demand: The NvDLC has become a helpful hub for educators and is packed with professional learning opportunities. Our professional learning calendar which has even more opportunities for educators, and a professional learning catalog where all educators in Nevada can access on-demand learning sessions. We also host monthly webinars on equitable access, monthly book studies to explore blended learning, and weekly support sessions for educators with the opportunity to schedule 1:1 support sessions with experts. We have a discussion board monitored daily to support educators’ immediate needs and questions. Our Regional Professional Development Programs (RPDPs) are State programs offering professional development focused on the content teachers teach, how they teach it, student performance, and changes in instructional strategies that result in increased student achievement. We also coordinate with strategic partners to expandprofessional learning opportunities. These types of partnerships give educators nocost professional development opportunities and provide tangible skills for working with today’s technology. A few examples are: Discovery Education offers professional learning events twice a month on important, timely, and responsive topics for our educators. We recently announced that Google is providing 10,000 Certiﬁed Educator Level 1 vouchers at no cost to support Nevada Educators. 30

We partner with NWEA to offer several professional learning opportunities each year, available for credit hours. Canvas, our Learning Management System, has been integrated Statewide for our educators to access professional development as well as high-quality instructional materials and curriculum through a single sign-on. It’s also important to note that providing professional learning to educators is a key factor in enabling them to offer equitable education for each and every one of our children. We focus on providing professional learning that empowers our educators to care for the whole child – including the social-emotional and mental health needs of our students. One meaningful resource to this end is our Social, Emotional, Academic Development Center, or “SEAD Center.” The SEAD Center is a free resource for all Nevada educators which provides supports for your mental health and well-being and offers a virtual support system and Statewide community of educators. Educators can enroll for free for online trainings and support. Among the resources Nevada has made available to all students are edtech resources like Canvas, myON, and Discovery Education. Have these resources been well received? What role do private sector partners play in this work? Any lessons you can pass on to school systems working with corporate partners like these? Our educators and school district leaders are appreciative of any resources which can enhance their classroom instructional approaches or increase efﬁciencies. We have been fortunate throughout the pandemic that we have formed public-private partnerships where partners came to us and asked, “What do you need?” There were no assumptions or directions about what anyone

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thought was best – we all were ready to do whatever was in the best interest of kids. In this work, our private partners offer long-term support, ideas, and perspectives on how to engage and re-engage our stakeholders on an ongoing basis. For instance, myON has worked with us this month to release a Hispanic Heritage Month reading list, allowing us to connect the tool with a timely world moment for teachers to use in the classroom and/or families to use at home. A lesson to pass on is that I would recommend reaching out to peers that are implementing similar solutions to you to scale best practices or maybe peers that are leading in certain areas so you can learn from their experience. For example, there are multiple states using the same learning management tool (Canvas). We are in ongoing discussions with Canvas about how we can share courses, content, and resources and amplify the work of our educators among states. This approach has helped us cut down on duplicative work and has been mutually beneﬁcial state-to-state. I would also recommend you ﬁnd ways to integrate your work and resources together to act as a cohesive unit. We are currently in the process of developing a “Comprehensive Digital Learning Guide” which will focus on connecting digital learning pedagogy to the many resources and tools offered. This Guide has been designed by staff experts in standards, school improvement, inclusive education, and other key components of modern education. It is anticipated to be launched in Fall 2021 and will be accompanied by a robust professional learning effort. Our goal with this effort is to avoid having our resources live in silos on their own, but to have them connected in a way that is useful and supportive for our educators. Finally, it is important to keep in mind that we are at an unprecedented moment in time – the pandemic and its impacts have never before been experienced. Nobody has all of the

answers, so you must be willing to try new things and “fail forward” when necessary. As you began to leverage the resources of the NvDLC to improve access and equity statewide, what was your biggest surprise? Were there any lessons learned that you can share with readers? We have learned several lessons throughout our work with the NvDLC:

• Digital learning is not taking the place of face-to-face learning, but we must ensure our students receive the skillsets necessary to be future-ready and globally prepared. We live in a technological, global society that is evolving faster than we can keep up, and we have to evolve our approaches to make sure our students are competitive and prepared for whatever future they strive to move toward. • We still have infrastructure needs throughout Nevada and need to ensure all stakeholders have access to the internet on an ongoing basis. • Educator readiness to lead instruction remotely is extremely varied; many educators were not prepared to integrate blended or digital learning in daily instruction. • We can no longer be afraid of innovation or shy away from risk-taking. Our actions, preparation, and policies need to be reflective of 2021 and beyond – and we cannot be afraid to move away from the “normal” of the past. This is how we will progress and reimagine education overall.

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How an Effective Communication Platform Can Transform Engagement with Families of Students with a Disability By Amber Akapnitis As one of two school sites that make up the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, Phoenix Day School for the Deaf serves a large group of students and babies who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, and deafblind. We’d always used a mix of parent bulletins (sent home in children’s backpacks) and social media to communicate with parents, but we had no online platform for two-way communications. There was no feedback loop for parents to be able to respond to us; it was just “Here's a paper, here are the upcoming events, and here’s what’s happening.”

Improving Engagement Realizing that a one-way, broadcast communication approach wasn’t working, we looked at how one of our sister schools was 36

using a free mobile app to send out emergency alerts (something we had handled via local TV stations). This app did not meet our needs so we set out on a search for another solution and found the ParentSquare program for communication, organization, and engagement between parents and schools. After implementing it, we began to see immediate, positive results from that move. Here are ﬁve ways our online communication platform helped us work through our school-parent communication challenges:

1) Tailor it to your school’s needs The ﬁrst year that we adopted the communication platform, we used it solely for emergency announcements, and for staff to practice and make sure we understood how the messages got out. For the 2019-20 school year, we started using it for those emergencies and

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staff communications. Then the global pandemic emerged and we ramped up our usage of the platform for communicating with parents (primarily for COVID-19 updates). And in the 2020-21 school year, we started using the platform to share events and ﬂyers that we usually would have sent home on paper to communicate updates. Basically, we’ve taken a phased-in approach to using the platform based on what we can handle and what we felt our parents could handle.

2) Accommodate different languages About 54% of our families speak English or use American Sign Language (ASL), while 35-40% speak Spanish as their ﬁrst language. Even when we used paper communications, everything was translated into Spanish because that's our second most-spoken language for our families and we want to make sure they're included. We had to use Google Translate and a team of interpreters to manage these communications, but with our communication platform we can now automatically and accurately translate the materials into Spanish. This gives our families an opportunity to see the content in their preferred language.

3) Add customized features to the communications As a school for the deaf, we also want to publish our materials in English and ASL, the latter of which usually incorporates a video of someone signing. For announcements, I’ll just attach a ﬁle of myself or someone else signing the message. That way, we know everyone has access to the information they need.

in the bottom of student backpacks. With our online communication platform, we avoid this problem and are able to share information quickly with the people who need it, and it’s very easy for our parents to get the information they need. It also helps create accountability. Whereas in the past there was no way to measure whether the parent got the piece of paper or not, now we can see exactly who read what with built-in data and insights. We can see the engagement, tell when parents leave comments, and answer their questions all in one place online.

5) Interact with parents directly I really enjoy reading parent comments— something we didn’t have in the past. In fact, parents who have never called the school or attempted to communicate with administrators in the past are now more apt to leave a comment or ask a question. I recently posted about a town hall with me and I sent that out on ParentSquare and thought, "Oh, I'll just add an RSVP here,” which we've never done before, and I had four or ﬁve families that RSVP'd that same day. Easy to navigate and intuitive, our online communication program has really streamlined the process of family communications. Without it, we’d still be using paper, notes home, and a lot of postage to try to manage this responsibility. Having a consistent, reliable way to communicate COVID-19 changes and everything else that we need to talk to parents about—and doing it quickly online, right as things are changing—has been invaluable.

4) No more forgotten notes home Children don’t always get the notes in their backpacks to their parents in a timely manner. I’ve found a lot of crumpled up, old notes lying ace-ed.org

Amber Akapnitis is the principal of the Phoenix Day School for the Deaf in Phoenix, Arizona.

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WHO KNOWS WHAT PROBLEMS THEY’LL SOLVE FOR US?

CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY MIKE ESSEILY

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!

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

NOMINATE A CHAMPION

Mike Esseily, Executive Director of Special Populations at Dearborn Public Schools in Michigan, promotes equity in education in action and with policies. With an inclusive leadership team and approach, he asks educators to demonstrate academic outcomes while incorporating student success within the social-emotional context. He has served as a mentor, coach and leader, championing equity in the second largest school district in Michigan, which has the largest Arab American population, including refugees who have experienced trauma. “We are in this together. Who are the staff and students who would contribute and participate in promoting and inclusive school environment?”

Mr. Esseily has provided trauma informed training for all staff. Mr. Esseily builds bridges with the community and schools by giving staff autonomy and promoting social justice through restorative practices which provides equitable access to education for all students. This is evidenced by funding for several state grants to support mental health equity and collaboration with community providers. Visit: https://dearbornschools.org/departments/ special-education/

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CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY ANUPAMA VAID

JOSE VIANA

Anupama (Anu) Vaid is the visionary, Founder and President of ParentSquare, where she oversees all aspects of the company. Anu came up with the idea for ParentSquare during a sabbatical when her children were young, after seeing the need for better, more equitable communication between schools and families. She holds a degree in Computer Engineering.

“For school-home communications to be truly successful, we need to involve every parent. We need to speak their language, reach them where they are, and adapt technology to serve their unique needs, reducing any barrier to entry. I’m grateful that ParentSquare helps facilitate deeper connections between school and home.”

José Viana has served as a Senior Education Advisor for Lexia Learning since 2019. Before that, he was the Assistant Deputy Secretary and Director of the Ofﬁce of English Language Acquisition at the United States Department of Education. José holds a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Florida International University, a master’s degree in Computer Education from Barry University and he received his doctorate in Educational Leadership at North Carolina State University. “If we raise all our children to understand their history and their home languages along with the English skills, they also need to succeed then they’ll always know who they are. And that means they’ll be ready to meet and master any challenge. Together, we can give them the gifts they’ll need to honor the past, own the present, and build a bright future.”

When it comes to equity, we must be able to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes — to think outside of our own experiences, see the world with different eyes, and get consistent feedback. That’s always been a core focus of ParentSquare, and what’s allowed them to help schools deliver communications to keep all families connected and involved.

Visit: ParentSquare.com

A former English learner himself, José began his career in Miami, Florida where he taught English to speakers of other languages. While at the DOE, he was responsible for the overall leadership, management, and direction of education for English language learners nationwide. Today, he continues to help ensure that English Learners and immigrant students attain English proﬁciency and achieve academic success. Visit: lexialearning.com

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CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY DONNA WAKE

PATRICIA WONG

Donna Wake serves as a Professor at the University of Central Arkansas College of Education. Her vast knowledge and unrelenting advocacy for equity, diversity, and inclusion in K-20 education has made a tremendous difference in university teacher preparation programs and among higher education colleagues.

Patricia Wong is a Media Librarian, Google Trainer, NYCDOE School SPOC, School Building Leader and School District Leader certiﬁed educator who has been teaching for 15 years. She is currently pursuing her PhD in culturally responsive education in computer science.

Dr. Donna Wake’s vast knowledge and unrelenting advocacy for equity, diversity, and inclusion in K-20 education have made a tremendous difference in university teacher preparation programs and among higher education colleagues.

“The ﬁrst thing I try to teach students is to stand in your truth, be proud of your identity. Being true to yourself and who you are empowers students to stand up for themselves and those around them.”

She leads professional development for faculty on the campus, and for teachers in local K-12 schools. She also drafts and maintains college recruitment and retention goals aligned to diverse outcomes and supports local K-12 teachers and students in creating literacy-rich experiences that center topics of equity. Perhaps most importantly, Donna Wake teaches diversity and inclusion classes for the majority of the college's programs and candidates in both undergraduate and graduate programs. She’s in it for impact. Twitter: @Donna.Glenn.Wake LinkedIn: donna wake

Patricia Wong integrates culturally responsive education into everything she does with students. Recently she has been using comics to help students take pride in their own identities and learn to stand up for people around them. In Patricia’s classroom, comics become a role-playing tool that breaks down language divides and other barriers to communication so students can celebrate diversity and community all at once while also facilitating difﬁcult conversations around race-driven bullying, racism and LQBTQ issues. She is currently the diversity, equity, and inclusion representative for her school.

Connect: pwong@ps21statenisland.org

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The Role of Foundational Reading in Academic Success Long before students begin their formal education, they are learners. The home is their first classroom, and as families support their cognitive, motor, and socialemotional skill development, the first building blocks are being laid that prepare each child to take their place as a student in our nation’s schools. Unfortunately, not all students begin with the same strong foundation. Many students start kindergarten far behind their peers in various areas, and some are significantly behind in acquired vocabulary and reading readiness. The inequities that have long been known have recently come into greater focus as our nation has been forced to pivot quickly to “distance learning” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unknown how long schools will be closed or if there will be additional closures in the upcoming school year due to the pandemic, but we do know that the 2019–2020 academic year continued amid COVID-19. When learning went home, and educators tried their best to continue the business of education remotely, some of our most vulnerable populations were at risk of dropping even further behind. Golinkoff et al. refers to this as the “COVID-19 slump” (2020). During these closures, it has been widely reported that many parents are challenged to support or encourage their children’s continued engagement in academics. These barriers include the lack of technology to connect remotely to what is being taught (Huffman, 2020), language barriers of parents that prevented successful family participation (Garcia Cano & Thompson, 2020), and the lack of resources for students who need accommodations or modifications to allow them to learn at their own pace and in their own way (Leone & Cullotta, 2020). Studies have shown that students who fall behind and fail to read on grade level by third grade are at a greater risk of academic failure than their peers. “Academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing someone’s reading skill at the end of third grade. A person who is not at least a moderately skilled reader by that time is unlikely to graduate from high school” (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Excerpted from “Accelerating Literacy Growth with Digital and Print Resources: Implementing Rosen LevelUp”

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Equitable Practices as a Blueprint for Disruptive Change in K-12 Education

By Kellie Lauth & Melissa Risteff

Since inception, MindSpark Learning (MSL) has been modeling disruptive practices to maximize human potential and unleash impact. Recently MSL launched the Disruption Certification (D-Cert), a human-centric architecture and taxonomy — to upskill, recognize, and reward the highest possible standards in school leadership. MSL prepares clients to lean into disruption, cultivate it, and learn from it. At the heart of this new certification are four evidence-based dimensions born from leading industry practices: Wellbeing, Innovation, Workforce, and Inclusion. School leaders work with MSL to develop a baseline reference point called their ed/quotient - then work together to build a blueprint for durable change that is tailored to the leader’s unique system. Micro-certification or micro-credentials can be achieved in each of the dimensions, culminating in a consummate Disruption Certification across all dimensions. As each credential is earned, school leaders unlock relevant system-wide rewards to guide and galvanize them on their journey. D-Cert uses a capability model fueled by insights and incentives that improve transparency and 48

outcomes – where school leaders positively impact their staff members, students, families, and community. Equitable practices are game changers for driving sustained transformation within a humanistic educational ecosystem. In K-12 education, data is often associated with performance assessments and standardized test scores that feed the existing school accountability system. With this system, schools use data to identify gaps and mitigate issues that are often reoccurring and could have been prevented. These mandates and district-enforced initiatives lead to a deﬁcit mindset – whereby school leaders focus on problems over potential. The current system does not encourage equitable practices, does not enable school leaders to acknowledge and promote others, and often results in mediocrity. D-Cert recognizes and rewards high performing schools and creates opportunities for educators to improve and innovate in ethical, productive ways. Within the D-Cert ideology, Wellbeing, Innovation, Workforce, and Inclusion are the ways work gets done – not extra projects or programs. They are part of

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teaching and leading, the curriculum, academic supports, nonacademic supports, school climate, classroom environments, the technology stack, and more. And cross cutting these four dimensions is the largest lever – an ardent focus on foundational equitable practices. With D-Cert, school leaders develop attitudes, mindsets, and behaviors to achieve equitable and sustainable transformation in Wellbeing, Innovation, Workforce, and Inclusion. D-Cert transforms school leaders into equity-centered virtuosos in service of a vital, humanistic educational ecosystem designed for continuous improvement. School leaders redefine how to measure future student success and use rich data and outcomes to diagnose and optimize for student needs. Equitable practices make access and opportunity possible for everyone in a hyper-localized community and school environment - to ensure the entire ecosystem gets what it needs. Next, we will explore how D-Cert's breakthrough leadership practices are exemplified through an equity lens in the following three ways – Listen & Reflect, Empower Others, and A Bias for Action.

Listen & Reflect Exemplar school leaders consistently incorporate the voices of students, educators, and families in data-driven decision making. Data is used both as a listening tool and a tool for reﬂection. Their organizations seek out and value all types of diversity including race, sexual orientation, gender, age, perceived social or economic status, lived experiences, and ways of thinking. These leaders cultivate ideas from diverse groups and integrate empathy into their problem solving. They are resilient and relentless in their pursuit to champion their students and their families.

Empower Others Exemplar school leaders invest in setting quantitative and qualitative DEI benchmarks and goals. It is not just a numbers game where boxes are checked, and quotas are met. Accountability for meeting and exceeding targets is spread amongst all staff and educators. Local control is not held at the top – they practice distributive leadership. Results are acknowledged, celebrated, and communicated broadly. Failure to meet commitments is embraced as a learning experience. They embrace the MSL mantra of “fail fast and pivot”.

A Bias for Action Exemplar school leaders err on a bias for action that is driven by data. They dismantle systems that no longer serve them to proactively address DEI barriers. Their organizations employ data as an equity tool that captures and identiﬁes patterns in how well they are serving all students and solves for the challenges their school system faces. These leaders are skilled at collecting and deciphering data, discussing how the data impacts a students’ learning trajectory and adjusting based on that data. They integrate equitable and accessible methods - building empathetic bridges, not just safety nets.

Equitable exemplars are self-sustaining and observable throughout the system. One MSL client on their journey to a Disruption Certiﬁcation leads a Title 1 school with 80% identifying as students of color and 75% qualifying for free and reduced lunch. The school is in a food, recreation, and medical desert. Against all odds, this school has ﬂipped

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the achievement gap. Through exemplar leadership, the following are observable exemplars achieved by this school system across each of the D-Cert’s four dimensions.

Wellbeing The kindergarten class launched a mobile wellness unit with bilingual resources for the community in collaboration with healthcare partners and volunteers. It still exists ﬁve years later. Fifth graders recently spoke at a national gathering on a university campus about the reintroduction of wolves to their natural habitat and shared their ideas for a viable co-existence.

Innovation Numerous K-12 students have founded start-ups or launched nonproﬁts. 7- and 8-year-olds are receiving investments from industry partners for their ideas. There is no barrier to access, and programs and collaborations have been developed to support homeless students, students in foster care, and undocumented students.

Workforce Eighth graders participate sponsored internships. The

in industryschool has

developed enduring relationships with hundreds of industry, higher education, and community partners. Dual enrollment programs, like PTECH exist, where students can obtain a livable wage job in a high-tech career upon graduation from high school.

Inclusion The school hosts welcoming family nights focused on community and family needs, including language classes, access to job opportunities, and immigration support. Often the students lead the courses co-designed with their teachers. The school maker space is a community asset where all types of entrepreneurs can access technology and equipment. When equitable practices are implemented well, equitable outcomes are observable throughout the system. D-Cert is intended to seed future systems change and create best practices for others to emulate.

School leaders should pursue the Disruption Certification for myriad results. D-Cert transforms classrooms, schools, districts, and the broader education-to-workplace ecosystem. In addition to the impressive outcomes above, D-Cert will empower school leaders to achieve the following results:

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1. Attract and Engage Talent - Enable leaders to attract, re-energize, and retain talent through transformational professional learning experiences. 2. Drive Economic Value - Empower the education system to solve problems in their community through equitable, authentic learning experiences for students. 3. Protect Mission and Purpose - Generate positive press and community recognition that increases student pride, renews family commitment, and improves future enrollment. 4. Shift Capital Investments - Attract potential impact investors and industry partners for fundraising, mentorship, work-based learning initiatives, and volunteerism beneﬁtting adults and youth within the system as well as the greater community.

Kellie Lauth is a biochemical engineer-turnededucator and now, a nonproﬁt leader. As CEO of MindSpark Learning, she leads a brilliant team in disrupting education through extraordinary professional learning experiences in partnership with industry. Kellie is passionate about STEM education, workforce preparedness, and equity in education.

Melissa Risteff has spent the past few decades as an executive thriving in technology. As CEO and Founder of an EdTech startup, she sparked equitable change in STEM education. Risteff is the Chief Strategy Ofﬁcer at MindSpark – providing visionary leadership in the development of human capital solutions for the education-toworkplace ecosystem.

5. Boost Competitive Differentiation - Elevate their brand and social capital as disruptors, garnering well-deserved respect and distinction. 6. Steer A Global Movement for Change Connect school leaders with other disruptors and become part of a peer-to-peer network that they can learn from and be inspired by.

For more information, go to mindspark.org/disruptioncertification or email team@mindspark.org.

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High-Quality Curriculum: Critical for Student Success Time is scarce. With many demands placed on this finite resource, educators are understandably selective in how their time is spent. An essential instructional area education leadership should invest time and money into is a review of core curriculum. Core curriculum is the foundation of an academic system – and quality at the core matters. The surest way to prepare students to graduate college-and-career ready is by giving them access to a highquality curriculum designed to promote higher order thinking and problem solving. Is your curriculum high-quality? A high-quality curriculum should be standards-aligned, grade-level appropriate, culturally responsive, and cohesive across grade levels and subjects. It should include a scope and sequence aligned to grade level standards, clear goals and objectives, assessments aligned to curriculum, instructional activities, and resources. Most importantly, any development or modification of a high-quality, equitable curriculum should be guided by established best practices, including the following: A foundation in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) encouraging multiple ways for students to demonstrate understanding Accommodations and variety for all students to receive multiple opportunities to achieve standards Equitably accessible and culturally responsive materials for teachers, students, and parents A robust and committed alignment from vertical objectives (PK-12) to the horizontal (within grade level) reinforcing system-wide coherence and collaboration Guidance models and specific educator facilitation guides ensuring aligned delivery of instruction Is it time to reexamine your curriculum? Across the nation, schools, districts, and communities are reexamining what it means to reach and teach all students. CenterPoint’s curriculum review process is cemented in our belief that all students can obtain high levels of learning with the appropriate and necessary support in place. CenterPoint Education Solutions has worked with a diverse set of schools and districts to provide a wide variety of curriculum services. Most recently, we engaged as a part of a consortium of leading organizations, with Chicago Public School leaders to design and develop a PK-5 curriculum in English language arts as part of their multi-year Curriculum Equity Initiative.

If you are interested in discovering how well your curricula is working for your students, CenterPoint can provide a deep review using our tested protocols. If you are interested in modifying your existing curricula, CenterPoint can provide content development services. If you are interested in developing new curricula to meet the needs of your student population, as Chicago did, CenterPoint can work with in partnership with you to design a curriculum oriented around your vision, while also benchmarking to top-rated curriculum in the country. Contact CenterPoint Education Solutions to begin the curriculum review process today.

It’s Time to Move From Digital Access With Children’s Author to Digital Equity Alexandra Alessandri We recently had a chance to chat with Alexandra Alessandri, the award-winning author of Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela! (Albert Whitman & Company) and Isabel and Her Colores go to School (Sleeping Bear Press), and we’re so happy to be sharing the conversation here with you. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, Alexandra is a former associate professor of English, a writer for Curriculum Associates, and a poet. She lives in Florida with her husband and son.

What inspired you to become an author? I’ve always been a storyteller and writer, but it wasn’t until I became a mom that I fell in love with writing for children and felt inspired to become a children’s author. I would read aloud to my son and witness how captivated he became with the stories we read, and I’d compare that to the ambivalence many of my college students had toward reading. It struck me then that I wanted to do my part in making lifelong readers.

What are some central themes covered in your writing? Why are these topics beneficial to students? I write often about identity, family, and my Colombian culture. In particular, I love exploring the nuances of being Colombian and/or Latinx in the U.S. This exploration of identity, culture, and family—and the emotions these intersections might elicit—are important to me, and I would argue they’re important to many students.

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According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Ofﬁce of Minority Health and based on the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, “there are 60.5 million Hispanics living in the United States [and] this group represents 18.4 percent of the U.S. total population.” Furthermore, as of 2019, 26% of children under 18 in the U.S. are of Hispanic or Latino origin. While Latinx people are not a monolith, and our experiences and cultures are as diverse as our countries of origin, there’s an underlining connection between us. In writing stories with these themes, I’m offering a mirror to Latinx students across the U.S., showing them their stories matter—and this is incredibly empowering for students. I’m also providing a window for non-Latinx children. As Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop writes in her essay, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors”: “When there are enough books available that act as both mirrors and windows for all our children, they will see that we can celebrate both our differences and our similarities, because together they are what makes us all human.” In writing about identity, family, and culture, I’m hoping children can witness the beauty of our shared humanity.

What is ‘own voices’ and how does this make reading passages more relatable for students? The term #ownvoices was created as a Twitter hashtag in 2015 by young adult author Corinne Duyvis as way of focusing on diverse authors and not just diverse books. #Ownvoices says that an author who is part of an underrepresented group and their protagonist share the same identity and that the author is writing from their unique, lived experience. While there is some ongoing criticism about the

way #ownvoices is being used “as a “catch all” marketing term by the publishing industry” (WeNeedDiverseBooks), the idea behind the concept, that an author is writing from their lived experience and in doing so, is sharing the authentic nuances of that experience, is important for students. There’s something special about seeing people like you, your family, and community in stories and passages. For those students who share similarities to that identity, it allows them to recognize themselves in the passages they’re reading, empowering them and afﬁrming their reality. For those who are reading outside of their own experiences and identities, they gain a window into another life and it’s an exercise in fostering empathy, acceptance, and kindness.

Why is it so important for educators to teach about diversity, equity, and inclusion? What should educators look for when choosing books or reading passages to teach about these topics? Diversity celebrates the uniqueness each student brings to the classroom. Equity ensures that each student is treated fairly and without bias, and that all students’ needs are met. Inclusion asks us to embrace our students’ differences, to welcome them to the table and not push anyone away. When we teach about—and for—diversity, equity, and inclusion, we send a message to our students that they matter, that all of them matter. We teach them to value and embrace each other’s differences, as well as to show empathy, compassion, and kindness. When choosing books or reading passages to teach about these topics, it’s important that our choices reﬂect a full range of experiences and that we offer students many stories. For example, Latinx people are more than their immigration status, and as such, our stories

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should reﬂect this. Of course these immigration stories are critical for students, especially in recent years, but we also need the magic, the joy, the everyday situations that students face in school and at home. Similarly, there are thirty-three countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, so simply having one book or passage representing one of these thirty-three countries of origin would not even touch the vast richness of the Latinx experience.

names, nicknames and/or pronouns; and truly listening to students can teach them about diversity, equity, and inclusion in a way that simply talking about it can’t. One of the best ways to teach is by example, so when we teach students about diversity, equity, and inclusion, we should be showing them what this looks like through our actions.

These are just some examples from a Latinx perspective, but this can be applied to stories about other cultures, religions, gender identities, etc. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says in her TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story,” “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.”

What are other strategies or resources educators could use to teach about diversity, equity, and inclusion? Resilient Educator is an online source full of helpful articles, activities, and more, including the article “Cultivating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Education Environments.” University websites have great resources, too, like University of Delaware’s Center for Teaching & Assessment of Learning, which has a page on Diversity and Inclusive Teaching with a list of handouts, websites, and books. But, aside from resources, things like honestly reﬂecting on our own biases as educators and taking steps to rectify them; honoring and respecting students’ cultures; making an effort to pronounce students’ names correctly; acknowledging and using their preferred

Order a copy of Feliz New Year, Ava Gabriela!

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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

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DOWNLOAD THE EDWEB 2021 SURVEY RESULTS HERE

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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.

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.”

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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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

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A few recent discussions: HELPING SPECIAL NEEDS YOUNG ADULTS MAKE THE TRANSITION TO COLLEGE THINKING BIG ABOUT SEL THE RISE OF THE 4TH GENERATION SCHOOL THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CURRICULUM