Partnering for Powerful Outreach

The NWESD’s Regional Fall/Spring Outreach is a partnership between the NWESD and the Office of Systems and School Improvement (OSSI). Outreach objectives are centered around helping districts identified for support to engage in a continuous improvement process to improve student outcomes through systems-level work.

This spring’s Outreach gathering explored the idea of humanizing schools.

Humanizing schools is an approach that embraces the understanding that systems, people and data interact to impact and influence school improvement processes. The Outreach provided an opportunity for professional learning and critical two-way dialogue with schools and districts identified for tiered support with a session led by Dr. Patrick Camangian from the Howard Group.

Key learning included:

Systems: The improvement process needs time and attention. Effective processes need to be done in collaboration with the district, staff and community - all voices are heard and the district’s vision is shared. Data-driven: Using real-time, formative data better shapes strategic goals, promoting inclusion and differentiation. By measuring this important data through multiple sources allows us to reflect on the “true” student data. The key here is to measure important things and allow time for monitoring and adjustment (informing practice). Relationships: Knowing and including staff, students and families is integral to effective change and students’ success. One participant observed, “You have to work at changing hearts and minds if you want to change student outcomes.” Dr. Camangian shared his own story and invited participants to share their own stories in order to reflect beliefs about capacity and the bias we all carry. Dr. Camangian used the science of brain chemistry and the impact of trauma on our ability to learn to highlight the power and importance of relationships.

Over 130 regional educational leaders participated in the Spring Outreach and joined the dialogue regarding how School Improvement Plans can shape and develop equitable outcomes for all students.

Participants recognized transformative relationships in their own lives and identified important steps toward providing all students powerful and positive relationships. Takeaways included: “The trauma that many students have experienced has a dramatic impact on their educational experience. Helping students feel valued and part of a loving community at school is an important way to help them thrive despite that trauma.” “Dr. Camangian’s presentation was powerful and allowed deeper conversations and reflection as to how these topics relate to schools and the current reality for our students and families.” “Everyone has a story that shapes who they are; everyone wants to be heard, seen, and cared for.” A huge thank you to our presenters and participants for a powerful and relevant Outreach!

Patrick Camangian Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Teacher Education Department at the University of San Francisco. He is the Coordinator of the Urban Education and Social Justice Credential & Master’s program. His scholarship examines critical pedagogy and transformative teaching in urban schools: action research, critical literacy, culturally empowering education, and urban teacher development. Currently, he is turning to both critical theory and research in the health sciences to inform his research findings on complex traumas and urban education. Camangian has been an English teacher since 1999, continuing in the tradition of teacher-research, applying critical pedagogies in urban schools.