PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Overview

We offer virtual, in-person, and hybrid professional learning opportunities. We can tailor these experiences to your specific needs. We don't use a "canned" approach, using the same process for every organization. Our framework and philosophy are discussed in detail below.

We also offer professional learning institutes and series with open registration for whoever wants to attend. Our institutes and series include:

Becoming Antiracist, which features prominent antiracist education experts offering brief workshops and Q&As. Guests have included Gloria Ladson-Billings, Cornelius Minor, Cheryl Matias, Liz Kleinrock, Eddie Moore, Jr., and Kike Ojo-Thompson;
Racial Equity Facilitator Training, which includes 10 hours of online training by lead Equity Literacy Institute facilitators along with a toolbox of our most-used resources;
Antiracist Educators Summer Series in June and July, featuring 6-8 workshops an various aspects of antiracism education; and
Antiracist Institute for Educational Leaders, an intensive 6-hour summer program preparing leaders to lead for racial justice.

The Equity Literacy Framework

Equity literacy is a framework for cultivating the knowledge and skills that enable us to be a threat to the existence of inequity in our spheres of influence. More than cultural competence or diversity awareness, equity literacy prepares us to see even subtle ways in which access and opportunity are distributed unfairly across race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, language, and other factors.

By recognizing and deeply understanding these conditions, we are prepared to respond to inequity in transformative ways in the immediate term. We also strengthen our abilities to foster longer-term change by addressing the bigger institutional and societal conditions that produce everyday manifestations of inequity.

Read more about the equity literacy framework HERE.

Workshop Theme and Topic Examples

Although we construct our workshops around the specific needs individual organizations, some of the common themes and topics around which we have built workshops are listed below.

Introductory and Framework Building

Several organizations, schools, and universities have hired us to help "begin the conversation" about equity, helping them develop a framework and shared language. Often they are organizations that sponsor diversity activities such as cultural fairs, but that need help framing a more forward-leaning vision for institutional equity efforts.

Curricular, Pedagogical, or Instructional

We often are asked to help educators strengthen classroom practice related to equity. In these workshops we help participants push beyond heroes and holidays approaches to an equity literacy approach, focusing on teaching, student engagement, and other classroom practices.

Institutional Transformation

Some organizations are ready to move beyond introductory framework building and toward organizational or institutional transformation. We work with them to craft more advanced workshops. These workshops or workshop series engage participants in a process of critically examining how access and opportunity are distributed by societal and institutional policy and practice. We facilitate difficult conversations that are vital to cultivating equity literacy in ourselves and in the institutional culture.

Issue-Specific

Is your organization grappling with a specific equity issue such as racial inequity or economic "achievement gaps"? We conduct workshops focused on these issues as well as gender, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, and more.

Equity Leadership Development

Too often professional development opportunities related to equity focus on the people at the very beginning of the awareness process and fail to facilitate growth for people who see themselves as potential leaders for equity. Do you have a group of people already dedicated to equity and on the path toward equity literacy? We will work with them on how to provide leadership and facilitate institutional growth. We also develop workshops specific to administrators, managers, and other institutional and community leaders.

Facilitator Training

We believe that the skill of facilitation -- effective approaches for engaging people in dialogue about equity issues -- is sorely lacking in schools and communities. As a result, opportunities for growth often slide by because educators or community leaders are unsure how to address them effectively. One of our specialties is dialogue facilitation and the preparation of others to facilitate the difficult conversations.

Train the Trainers

In our attempt to help schools and communities continue strengthening in-house equity capacity, we develop train-the-trainers experiences. We help interested people build the skills they need to conduct the sorts of workshops we conduct and provide the sorts of supports we provide.

Our Approach to Professional Development

We recognize that every person, school, and organization has different needs -- that we're on different points on the road toward equity. So we do not begin with canned programs and presentations. Instead we work with each individual organization (educational, community, governmental) to develop a deep understanding of its needs, then collaborate in the design of a relevant program or series of programs.

We also strike a balance between practitioners' desires for practical tools and the need for shifts in understanding that enable people to create and sustain equitable policies, practices, and institutions. We strive to provide participants with tools they can apply immediately, but we do so in the context of deep learning.

We are dedicated to providing experiences that build momentum, that people with whom we work to continue the discussions and movement when we are no longer there. We recognize that many schools, non-profits, and other organizations do not have sufficient resources to become reliant on outside consultants. We will help you and your organization develop the skills to stay on the equity path.

Pedagogically, our workshops are highly interactive. We incorporate engaging activities and exercises as well as opportunities to apply conceptual learning to real problems. We have developed a widely used case study approach for this purpose.