'Equity means that PEOPLE should receive what they need to achieve their potential, and their race and other aspects of their identity should not prevent access to opportunity.’ We spend a lot of time in our school & district talking about race, specifically Black/African American males, because we know that this is where we still have much work to do in terms of academics (college and career ready, academic growth, proficiency) and in tackling the disproportionate numbers of referrals. (By the way, I don’t mean that we avoid writing them necessarily, but that we tackle our beliefs about writing referrals: Who do we write them for? What language do we use when writing them? Do we try to problem-solve and deescalate before we write referrals? What is the outcome we expect when we write them? Have we considered if these behaviors have happened before and what factors might influence the problem so we can address the 'root of the problem' so we can avoid a referral altogether?) With all that said, I want to be clear, equity isn’t just for a certain demographic, race, gender, or social class, etc., equity is for ALL PEOPLE. Equity at school is about building the capacity for all students – we must leverage their value, their voices, and their leadership. We need to reflect deeply on what we, as educators, feel and believe about our students of color, ELL students, children identified as low SES, and so on; we need to be mindful of what we see as “deficits” in order to see areas for US to change and grow. The shifts in our mindsets and beliefs don’t happen just because we attend a PD or read an article, rather the shifts come after the PD and the reading when we begin thinking critically about ourselves. When considering equity, we need to believe that we can teach all students and that all our students can learn, even when (especially when!) we set high expectations. I want us to remember our perception data we discussed earlier this week. So many students said they don’t believe they are smart and gave us their reasons why they hold this belief about themselves. One of the steps to equity in this article is to become a “warm demander”. It's explained more here: The Teachers as a Warm Demander Warm demanders are teachers who “expect a great deal of their students, convince them of their own brilliance, and help them to reach their potential...” What might happen to our Hoyt students’ beliefs about themselves if we spoke life into them and “convinced them of their own brilliance”? Finally, I encourage you to take some time to also reflect on your self-efficacy. Do you believe you can teach all students at a high level? “Teacher efficacy is when teachers believe in their own ability to guide their students to success. For over thirty years, researchers have explored the link between teacher self-efficacy and student achievement. Research suggests that teachers with a strong sense of self-efficacy tend to be better planners, more resilient through failure, and more open-minded and supportive with students. Collective efficacy is when a staff of teachers believe that together they can inspire growth and change in their students.” And according to John Hattie, professor and education-researcher, “collective teacher efficacy has the greatest impact on student achievement—even higher than factors like teacher-student relationships, home environment, or parental involvement.” Imagine what your classroom will look like when you ramp up your teacher-efficacy and the beliefs you hold in all of your students’ abilities to achieve. The sky is the limit!
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