May 22, 2020 | Volume 1, Number 3
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A Time for Courageous Conversations
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Part I: A Partnering Tool to Achieve Equity in Schools
By Dana Asby, CEI Director of Innovation & Research Support and Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, Educator, Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, Manager of the New England MHTTC
Equity in education has been a hot topic of debate for many educators. We used to talk about equality before acknowledging that neither equal outcomes nor equal supports solved the racial or socioeconomic achievement gap in American schools. Now, many school leaders understand that students with varying levels of resources, guidance, and structure at home need diverse levels of support in school to have a chance at an equitable outcome. Still other leaders are discussing the need to remove some of the systemic barriers that have drastically widened the achievement gap because of interconnected problems related to poverty, racial discrimination, lack of mental health support, and the politicization of education. To address all of these issues, we must start by having some truly courageous conversations about these difficult topics.
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Courageous Conversations in the Classroom
Part II: Empowering Students to Have Difficult Conversations
By Aisha Powell, CEI Intern
U.S. students average six hours a day, 30 hours a week, more than 1,000 hours a year in school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018; Sparks, 2019). With students spending a substantial amount of time in school, the classroom should be a place where all students feel heard, empowered and supported. Building this classroom environment is the utopian dream of all educators, and it comes with making intentional, and often difficult, steps towards building this kind of community. Creating a space where all students and staff feel encouraged to have courageous conversations is the first step to empowering students. While these conversations can range from anything from racial issues to physical abuse, it can also include what’s happening in the world outside the school building—like climate change, gun violence and police brutality—all of which can directly affect students’ mental and physical health.
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Courageous Conversations in the Classroom
Part III: Discussing Racial Inequity in the Elementary and Secondary Classroom
By Ishani Das, CEI Intern
What is the child’s right to learn? This is the central question that Glenn Singleton, creator of the Courageous Conversations protocol, poses to readers in his book,
Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools
(2015). The answer is seemingly obvious: every child has a right to learn.
Nevertheless, as Singleton demonstrates, the racial achievement gap in American public schools reveals a different picture. Studies conducted by Ruth Johnson (2002), the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University (2015), and several others have established that there is a significant achievement gap between Black, Brown, and Indigenous students in comparison to White students. Despite the best intentions, the data suggests that the child’s right to learn is, in part, determined by their race (Singleton, 2015).
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2019-2020 C-TLC Fellows and guests at our Year Two In-Person Meeting, October 28, 2019; The College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
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By Dana Asby, CEI Director of Innovation & Research Support
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The Center for Educational Improvement has been working closely with 24 school administrators, teachers, psychologists, and social workers who are leaders in their states working to advance the understanding and use of trauma-informed practices in New England. The Childhood-Trauma Learning Collaborative (C-TLC)—a SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)-funded project—was created by Yale University’s Program for Recovery and Community Health (PRCH) and CEI to address the needs of schools in responding to trauma and creating practices to buffer against trauma’s negative effects while building resiliency for all children.
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Learn more about the amazing work our Fellows have been doing through the Childhood-Trauma Learning Collaborative and in their school communities in our
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Events and Resources
Access and share C-TLC resources:
C-TLC Guide:
Register for our featured webinar: Tuesday, May 26 @ 4:00 p.m.
More Upcoming Webinars
Monday, June 1 & Monday, June 15 @ 4:00 p.m.
June 16 @ 4:00 p.m.
Stay posted to our
Events
page for updates and announcements.
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CEI is excited to announce two recent publications:
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"Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness." ~ Katherine Hepburn
We know that each and every one of you has demonstrated courage these past few months as you've tried new ways of teaching, learning, and being. We hope you have found the courage to say no when too many demands come across your desk. We ask that you search deep for the courage to start conversations that push your school communities into a brighter, more hopeful, and more equitable future.
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The C-TLC is funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is part of the New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (New England MHTTC) Network.
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STAY CONNECTED
New England MHTTC
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