Full Description
When the numbers don't lie, this is your guide to doing what's right
According to federal data, African American students are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be suspended or expelled. As a school leader, what do you do when your heart is in the right place, but your data show otherwise?
In Solving Disproportionality and Achieving Equity, Edward Fergus takes us on a journey into disproportionality by engaging our hearts and minds on the presence of biases that create barriers to the success of students of color. If your school is faced with a disproportionate rate of suspensions, gifted program enrollment, or special education referrals for students of color, this book shows how you can uncover the root causes and rally your staff to face the challenge head on. You will:
Understand through compelling vignettes and case studies how bias affects policies and practices even in good schools
Know what questions to ask and what data to analyze to get to the root cause
Create your own road map for becoming an equity-driven school, with staff activities, data collection forms, checklists, and progress monitoring tools
If you are interested in developing a deep understanding of the policy, practice, and beliefs necessary for schools to address disproportionality and achieve equity, this book delivers all that and more.
"Through careful analysis of data obtained from real cases, Edward Fergus shows how disproportionality is manifest and how it can be thoughtfully addressed. For educators and policy makers seeking solutions to these complex issues, this book will be an invaluable resource."
—Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education
UCLA, Graduate Schools of Education and Information Studies
Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
Changing Landscape of Teaching Force and Its Effect on Disproportionality
The Backdrop of the Integration Project Framework
Organization of the Book
Sample Road Map for Creating an Equity-Driven School
Chapter 1. Social Integration and Intensified Segregation Leading to Disproportionality
Post-Brown v. Topeka Board of Education Integration Patterns
Integration Project: Patterns of Student Enrollment Demographics
Integration Project: Patterns of Teacher and Principal Demographics
Chapter 2. Knowing the Bias-Based Beliefs in Disproportionality
Bias-Based Beliefs in Pedagogy and School Practice: How Does It Show Up in Schools?
Colorblindness Belief
Deficit-Thinking Belief
Poverty-Disciplining Belief
Chapter 3. Leadership Inquiry Skills for Building Equity Focus
Section 1: Understanding Your Data and Data System Capacity
Section 2: Practicing Analysis and Interpretation of Data: Case Studies
Chapter 4. A Process for Identifying Disproportionality and Building an Equity Plan
Step 1: Identifying Your Starting Place
Step 2: Root Cause Process for Understanding Disproportionality Problems
Step 3: Monitoring Equity Work: 3- to 5-Year Span of Work
Step 4: Progress-Monitoring Tools: Monthly Data Calendar
Additional Equity Examinations
Chapter 5. Building an Equity Belief School Climate
Leading Equity Competency 1: Know How to Manage Race Dialogues
Leading Equity Competency 2: Know How to Manage the Comfortable and Uncomfortable Tensions of Learning and Practice
Stage 1 Activities: Building Universal Equity Principles
Stage 2 Activities: Monthly or Quarterly Sessions on Bias-Based Beliefs
Other Ongoing Activities for Replacing Biased Beliefs
Application Activities
Appendixes
1. Data Inventory Worksheet
2. Planning Sheet for Addressing Beliefs and Building Equity Principles
3. Exit Ticket
4. Definitions of Educational Equity Worksheet
5. Applying Definitions of Educational Equity
6. Applying Definitions of Educational Equity: Homework Worksheet
7. Building Our Universal Equity Principles Worksheet
8. Shifting Deficit-Thinking Worksheet
9. Shifting Deficit-Thinking Survey Worksheet
10. Definition Flashcards
11. Shifting Poverty-Disciplining Belief Statements Worksheet
12. Shifting Poverty-Disciplining Belief Statements Survey Worksheet
13. Meritocracy Line Exercise
14. Dual-Axis Model of Vulnerability
15. Dual-Axis Model of Vulnerability Application Worksheet
16. Racial Timeline Worksheet
17. Racial and Ethnic Group Worksheet
18. Shifting Common Colorblindness Statements Worksheet
19. Shifting Common Colorblindness Statements Survey Worksheet
20. Cultural Responsibility Beliefs Worksheet
21. Looking at Books Worksheet
22. Observing Classroom Environments Worksheet
23. Equity Resources for Curricular, Culture/Climate, and Instruction
References
Index
