Challenging Conversations About Race

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Creative Leadership Solutions

Second Presenter's Institution

Unfold the Soul, Inc

Third Presenter's Institution

NA

Fourth Presenter's Institution

NA

Fifth Presenter's Institution

NA

Location

Session 2 Breakouts

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Relevance

Equity is the foundation of achievement and leadership. Our research demonstrates that equity without academic excellence is a hollow victory. But the pursuit of academic gains without equity only perpetuates the disadvantages of historically under-served populations

Brief Program Description

Talking about race is challenging. Our research suggests that many educators and leaders either avoid the topic because they think it is “too political” or “too dangerous,” or they address issues of race in a simplistic manner. Our approach involves scenarios appropriate for K-12 students, faculty, community members, and parents. We do not provide easy answers, but rather know that without challenging conversations, progress is impossible. This interactive presentation will engage every audience member with ideas, challenges, and success stories.

Summary

Schools and communities need practical guidelines for having challenging conversations about race. This program provides scenarios at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in order to guide groups of students, teachers, parents, and community members to engage in these conversations. There are two practical results of scenario work. First, the participants encounter realistic scenes without the discussion being diverted into personal or school-based situations. When the focus is on the third-party scenario, participants can listen, learn, and even change their minds, without embarrassment or fear. The second practical implication is that every time - bar none - we have worked with these scenarios, there are policy gaps that superintendents and boards must address. If three different principals and faculty teams give three different responses to a scenario, that suggests a level of subjectivity that is at the heart of unfairness. By identifying policy gaps, we help teachers and administrators establish clear guidance for difficult issues before there is a community confrontation. In addition, we provide five core competencies for equity, all based on research in more than 2,000 schools. Our work includes more than 100 contemporary references that support the efficacy of scenario training and also the specific issues of racial justice. Two key references, each of which also include hundreds of references, are “Biased” by Stanford Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, and “Equity and Excellence” (2020) by Dr. Douglas Reeves. These sources meet the “preponderance of evidence” test, including quantitative, qualitative, case studies, met-analyses, and syntheses of meta-analyses.

Evidence

Our work includes more than 100 contemporary references that support the efficacy of scenario training and also the specific issues of racial justice. Two key references, each of which also include hundreds of references, are “Biased” by Stanford Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, and “Equity and Excellence” (2020) by Dr. Douglas Reeves. These sources meet the “preponderance of evidence” test, including quantitative, qualitative, case studies, met-analyses, and syntheses of meta-analyses.

Learning Objectives

1) Apply realistic scenarios in order to lead challenging conversations about race with your school and community groups.

2) Explore alternative responses to the scenarios and understand different points of view.

3) Identify policy gaps in response to issues of racial justice and inform senior leaders and policy-makers about the best ways to address these policy gaps. 4). Synthesize the results of these challenging discussions with other difficult issues faced by students and faculty in order to set a model of civil discourse and courageous conversations on a variety of different issues.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Reeves has worked with education, business, nonprofit, and government organizations throughout the world. The author of more than 40 books and more than 100 articles on leadership and organizational effectiveness, he has twice been named to the Harvard University Distinguished Authors Series and was named the Brock International Laureate for his contributions to education. Dr. Reeves received both the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Parent's Choice Award for his writing for children and parents. His career of work in professional learning led to the Contribution to the Field Award from the National Staff Development Council. For his international work, Dr. Reeves was named the William Walker Scholar by the Australian Council of Educational Leaders.

His volunteer activities include FinishTheDissertation.org, providing free and non-commercial support for doctoral students, and The SNAFU Review, publishing the essays, poetry, stories, and artwork of disabled veterans. Doug lives with his family in downtown Boston. He Tweets @DouglasReeves, blogs at CreativeLeadership.net, and can be reached at 1.781.710.9633.

Kenneth C. Williams shares his experience and expertise as a nationally recognized trainer, speaker, coach and consultant in leadership and education. He is the Chief Visionary Officer of Unfold the Soul, an organization dedicated tohelping schools live their posters. Skilled in joining the why of the work to the how of the work, Ken is known for his powerful and engaging combinations of “heart, humor, and hammer.” He is an expert at helping schools build capacity in the collective commitments required of learning for all cultures.

Ken is a distinguished teacher, mentor, public speaker, school leader and the author of two books. His latest best-seller, co-authored by Tom Hierck, is Starting an Movement: Building Culture from the Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities.

Keyword Descriptors

Equity, Race

Presentation Year

2021

Start Date

3-8-2021 11:40 AM

End Date

3-8-2021 12:40 PM

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Mar 8th, 11:40 AM Mar 8th, 12:40 PM

Challenging Conversations About Race

Session 2 Breakouts

Talking about race is challenging. Our research suggests that many educators and leaders either avoid the topic because they think it is “too political” or “too dangerous,” or they address issues of race in a simplistic manner. Our approach involves scenarios appropriate for K-12 students, faculty, community members, and parents. We do not provide easy answers, but rather know that without challenging conversations, progress is impossible. This interactive presentation will engage every audience member with ideas, challenges, and success stories.