Equity for All for All

Abby Dawson and Abigail Dudley

Agenda
● Timeline
● Simulate activities used in trainings
● Staff Perspectives
● Team Perspectives
● Challenges and successes
Current staff members could not recall a single
training on Equity based issues going back 25
years. Some teachers, however, had attended
Taking it Up!, a district initiative.
New principal is hired
and begins to prioritize
Equity through
disaggregated data.

SY 2016-17 Spring 2017 Spring 2017 Inservice 2017 October 2017

Video on White guilt and results

from student interviews are
shared at PD. Staff become
defensive.
“I was raised White Trash.”
“Why would students act different
between here and home?!?”
New principal is hired
and begins to prioritize
Equity through
Equity Team is formed.
disaggregated data.

SY 2016-17 Spring 2017 Spring 2017 Inservice 2017 October 2017

Video on White guilt and results

from student interviews are
shared at PD. Staff become
defensive.
Equity Team
● 5 original staff members, 3 additional members
● People were asked based on personal or professional
experience with equity or diversity
● Read Courageous Conversations (summer)
● Must attend regular meetings
Mission and Objectives
“Create a space for an open dialogue that will allow us to begin
to address gaps between student subgroups.”

● Create a focus on equity using disproportionate data as the anchor

● Increase and improve staff understanding of the underlying structures of our
school and the larger educational system that create or undermine equitable
access to quality education for all students (systemic racism)
● Allow staff the opportunity to reflect on their positionality through
conversations around equity (develop racial consciousness)
New principal is hired
and begins to prioritize 3 members of the
Equity through Equity Team attend
Equity Team is formed. Taking it Up!
disaggregated data

SY 2016-17 Spring 2017 Spring 2017 Inservice 2017 October 2017

Video on White guilt and results Introduction of team

from student interviews are and objectives; “the
shared at PD. Staff become hook”.
defensive.
Inservice day staff
training elicits strong
reactions and mixed
feelings.

November 2017 February 2018

2 additional Equity
Team members attend
Taking it Up!
“The Hook” Staff Introduction to Equity Team
Setting the Stage

❖ Table facilitator
❖ Purposeful groups
❖ Included classified staff
❖ Food and music
❖ Folders with names at table with handouts
Essential Question
Who am I in relationship to the community I serve...

❖ In the skin I’m in

❖ In the role I play
❖ In the things I don’t know
❖ In my vulnerability
❖ In my responsibility?
 What happens Your Job

Table Talk ● participants volunteer to share as they ● Make sure the conversation remains focused
would like ● Address comments as needed if they are in
● After all volunteers, facilitator invites those blatant disrespect to the mission
who have not shared entry into the
conversation

Dyads ● Facilitator pairs participants ● Participate if there is an odd number of people at

● Participants sit knee to knee the table
● Decide who is partner A and partner B ● Take notice of your pairings if you would like to
● MC will call who goes first switch or keep the same in future dyads
● The talker has the whole time to speak...or ● Take notes on anything that comes up that we
not. It is their time could/should address
● The listener is to maintain a flat affect
throughout

Triads Same protocol as dyads, but with 3 participants Revert to dyad

Table Activity ● Task is completed at the table ● Explain the directions

● Complete the activity as a group
 AGENDA
1.
2.
Opening/About Race
Zones of Safety
EQUITY TEAM
3. Community Agreements 11/07
4. Jay Smooth (Video)
5. Break
6. Who Am I? Circles of Identity “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected
are as outraged as those who are.”
7. Definitions: Bias, Prejudice, Discrimination, Racism
8. Break?
9. Looking Back to Move Forward
10. The Race Race (Video)
11. Revisit EQ/Closing
12. Ticket to Leave
 AGENDA
1.
2.
Opening/About Race
Zones of Safety
EQUITY TEAM
3. Community Agreements 11/07
4. Jay Smooth (Video)
5. Break
6. Who Am I? Circles of Identity “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected
are as outraged as those who are.”
7. Definitions: Bias, Prejudice, Discrimination, Racism
8. Break?
9. Looking Back to Move Forward
10. The Race Race (Video)
11. Revisit EQ/Closing
12. Ticket to Leave
Consider:

● Which circles most strongly impact your

own identity?
● Which intersections are most significant
in your identity?
● HONORS: Consider how this framework
impacts your students.
Timeline

Choose 3 most important events from your era

and a spokesperson
1866

Oregon’s citizens did not pass the Fourteenth Amendment,

granting citizenship to Blacks. Exclusion Laws were still in
effect making it illegal for Blacks to live in Oregon.
1923
The Oregon state legislature, dominated by members of the Klan, passed a number
of restrictive laws.

The Alien Land Law prevented first generation Japanese Americans from owning or
leasing land.

The Oregon Alien Business Restriction Law allowed cities to refuse business licenses
to aliens for the operation of pool halls, dance halls, pawn shops, or soft drink
establishments. The law also required grocery stores and hotels run by “aliens” to
publicly advertise their nationalities, thereby enabling customers to choose which
businesses to discriminate against on the basis of race and ethnicity.
2017
On January 20th, Donald Trump was sworn in in as the forty-fifth President of the
United States – the forty-fourth White man to hold this office.

During the 8 days following the presidential election in November, 2016, The
Southern Poverty Law Center described a drastic increase in reported racial hate
events. Their data showed that Oregon had the highest rate per capita of reported
racial hate incidents.
The Race Race
Team Perspectives
 “I felt concerns that by joining the equity team it
would be a ‘token’ situation. I think sometimes as a
minority when I speak to inequality others are not
receptive.”
 “I have always felt the need to advocate
for others who are not treated fairly, in all
aspects of life.”
 “It became very apparent that our staff
had not been provided the opportunity to
talk about or learn about issues of equity
that impact ourselves and our students.”
Staff Perspectives
“We thought we knew more than we did.”
 “I feel safer with staff who have
participated honestly in equity trainings.”
 “It’s fascinating to me to realize how
important some people believe race is
when I believe it is a non-factor in
determining your worth or future.”
Successes
● Enough staff to form a functional team!
● Support from administration
● 90% of staff surveyed view this training as extremely/very
important
● Staff members outside the team have elected to pursue
additional equity training
Road Blocks
● Time
● Resistant staff members
Future Timeline
Staff training on Community panel
“Detours”

March 2018 Spring 2018 2018

Staff training on
“Microaggressions”
Future Timeline

❖ continue to meet
SY 2018-19 ❖ connect to data in teachers classrooms
❖ include students in team
References
Olsson, J. (1997). Detour spotting for white anti-racists. Cultural Bridges to Justice. CulturalBridgestoJustice.org

Oregon Center for Educational Equality (2018).Taking it up! - http://www.edequityoregon.com/equity-3/taking-it-up/

Rector, E. (2017). Looking Back In Order to Move Forward: An Often Untold History Affecting Oregon’s Past,

Present and Future, Timeline of Oregon and U.S. Racial, Immigration and Education History.

Singleton, Glenn E. Courageous conversations about race: a field guide for achieving equity in schools. Corwin, A

SAGE Company, 2015.

Thank you for your time.
Comments or questions?