Category: Top Stories

May was National Foster Care Awareness Month, a time in which we amplify the voices and experiences of the more than 400,000 young people in the system. While foster care is touted a protective intervention, the experiences and educational outcomes of young people in care are quite concerning. Research suggests that youth in foster care pursue higher education at considerably lower rates than their peers, despite maintaining similar aspirations. Moreover, less than 11% of youth with foster care experience graduate from college. Each year, there are also about 20,000 youth who “age-out” of the foster care system, referring to the age in which youth are forced into adulthood (usually at age 18). Youth who age out are at a heightened risk of homelessness, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and incarceration.Dr. Royel Johnson

What is also concerning is that young people with foster care experience have yet to be prioritized in national student success initiatives, as I have argued elsewhere. This is not surprising since most Americans report knowing very little to nothing about the foster care system. Lack of general awareness about issues impacting young people in care has implications for the provision of education resources and social supports that enable their success.

Colleges and universities have an institutional responsibility to undertake efforts that improve the materials conditions of young people with foster care experience. Such efforts, however, must be informed by the voices and experiences of those with lived experience in care. In this spirit, I invited Michael Grey—a foster care alum and emerging student affairs practitioner—to share insights about his experience and suggestions for higher education leaders interested in supporting students impacted by the system. Here’s what he had to say:

1. Can you first tell me a little about your background and experience in foster care?

I spent a majority of my childhood up until the age of 9 in the foster care system. I believe I spent a total of 5 years in the foster care system, starting at the age of 2. Compared to most, I had decent experiences with the foster homes I stayed in. There were times where I was separated from both of my older siblings, oftentimes because there were no homes that were willing to house all three of us. In some families, my siblings and I were treated differently from the kids of the family we were staying with. This made it difficult, as it made me feel like I was “less than” the other kids in the house. While in foster care, I always thought about how I was going to survive and how I was going to take care of my older sisters. All in all, I think that I had a relatively “good” experience with most of my foster care placements. In 2009, I was placed into kinship care with my grandparents.

2. How has your time in foster care shaped your educational and professional experiences?

My time in the foster care system is the single greatest experience influencing my educational and professional experiences, goals, and ambitions. My time in the foster care system helped me realize how important and valuable an education can be for a person. It is because of those experiences in the foster care system that I decided I needed to put my all into my studies. I knew that to be successful in life and to break the cycle of pain in my family that I would need to do better for myself, my siblings, and my community. The foster care system also taught me how to be an independent-thinker and a person with a lot of drive and determination. I truly do feel like my experiences also helped me operate from multiple lenses- always remembering the privileges that I have as well as remembering to maintain a humble attitude. In terms of my professional experiences and ambitions, my experiences in the foster care system have played a huge role in my decision to work towards getting a Masters in Higher Education. I want to bridge the gap between poverty and education, offering opportunities and a quality education to those impacted by the foster care system. Michael Grey

3. What do faculty and higher education administrators need to know about students with foster care experience?

Students with experience in the foster care system are usually very disengaged with staff, faculty, and the larger university community. I think it is important to remember that we have a lot of negative experiences with people who promised to take care of us, leading to us being super hesitant to trust people, including faculty and higher education administrators. When supporting students impacted by the foster care system, do not be discouraged if the student is hesitant to reach out to you for help. Don’t be discouraged if the student does not follow through with something you expected them to do. Don’t be discouraged if the student is hesitant to connect with you or build a relationship with you. According to research by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, those impacted by the foster care system are also disproportionately affected by basic needs insecurity. For administrators, it is important to ensure that students with foster care experience are supported institutionally with their basic/essential needs. This means ensuring that they are able to access food resources and are provided housing during gap periods. Many students do not have the privilege to return home during the gap periods, as they have home to return to. For faculty, it is important for you to understand the experiences of students impacted by the foster care system and how that might impact their studies or their willingness to ask for help with their studies. Faculty should also be aware of the social and academic challenges faced by students formerly in foster care.

4. What recommendations do you have for college and university leaders concerned with improving the academic and social experiences of students with foster care experience?

I have several recommendations for college and university leaders.

●      Provide year-round academic housing. As mentioned above, many students impacted by the foster care system do not have homes to return to when break periods come around. To support this initiative, the university or college should have procedures in place for easy access and make sure that the process is low-barrier and does not require students to perform their poverty or tell their story over and over.

●       Provide institutional support for programs designed to support students impacted by the foster care system. I was able to be a part of the Guardian Scholars Program at my undergraduate university and they were instrumental in helping me feel connected to the university, my peers, and the resources around me.

●       Be careful to not unconsciously exclude students impacted by the foster care system from participating in community-wide programs on your campus. When promoting programs and events, it is extremely important to use language that makes these students feel invited and welcome.

●       Provide training for all staff, faculty, and university community members. Part of the issue is that people are not aware of the impact of being in the foster care system. If folx were more aware, I believe that students would feel more comfortable at their university or college. We wouldn’t feel like we have to explain ourselves to every staff or faculty member.

●       Create opportunities at the college or university for foster youth representation. I firmly believe that higher education institutions and leaders should center those with experiences. This means that foster youth should have the opportunity to help shape policies and procedures created to support them. They should be able to provide their insight and advice to university leadership.

Dr. Royel M. Johnson is associate professor of higher education and social work at University of Southern California. You can follow him on Twitter @RoyelJohnson

Michal “Mike” Grey is the Operations Manager for the Student Navigator Network and foster care alum.

This content was originally published here.

This content was originally published here.

This content was originally published here.

This content was originally published here.

The Supreme Court has broadened the rights of parents and students to use government subsidies to attend religious schools, striking down a Maine program that barred the use of local government funds to pay tuition at primary and high schools providing religious instruction.

Ruling 6-3 Tuesday, the high court said prohibiting parents from using such subsidies for schools engaging in religious teaching violated the religious freedom rights of students and their parents.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority in the case, which split the court cleanly along ideological lines. Roberts said the state’s interest in avoiding concerns about establishment of religion did not justify the policy that effectively blocked parents directing funding to religious schools.

“A neutral benefit program in which public funds flow to religious organizations through the independent choices of private benefit recipients does not offend the Establishment Clause,” Roberts wrote. “A State’s antiestablishment interest does not justify enactments that exclude some members of the community from an otherwise generally available public benefit because of their religious exercise.”

Under the Maine “tuitioning” program the court struck down on Tuesday, local governments lacking the population to run schools at a certain grade level typically pay for students to be educated at public or private schools of their choice. But, to avoid government funds being used for religious purposes, since 1981 the program has refused to pay for schools providing religious education.

In a 2020 decision on an educational aid program out of Montana, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states could not exclude families or schools from student aid programs simply because the schools were backed by religious institutions.

However, that decision left open the question of whether states could block the use of their funds for explicitly religious or “sectarian” classes.

But in the case decided Tuesday, Roberts explicitly rejected Maine’ arguments that it was only targeting religious teaching and not whether a school was run by a religious group.

“Any attempt to give effect to such a distinction by scrutinizing whether and how a religious school pursues its educational mission would also raise serious concerns about state entanglement with religion and denominational favoritism,” the chief justice wrote.

In what is one of his final dissenting opinions before his planned retirement, Justice Stephen Breyer said the court seems to have lost all interest in enforcing the Constitution’s prohibition on establishment of religion.

“The First Amendment begins by forbidding the government from ‘mak[ing] [any] law respecting an establishment of religion.’ It next forbids them to make any law ‘prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ The Court today pays almost no attention to the words in the first Clause while giving almost exclusive attention to the words in the second,” Breyer wrote.

Breyer also said the court was opening a Pandora’s box with its decision, suggesting that it was simply a way station to requiring all communities to use taxpayer funds to pay for religious schooling.

“We have never previously held what the Court holds today, namely, that a State must (not may) use state funds to pay for religious education as part of a tuition program designed to ensure the provision of free statewide public school education,” Breyer wrote.

“What happens once ‘may’ becomes ‘must’? Does that transformation mean that a school district that pays for public schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to send their children to religious schools?” Breyer asked. “Does it mean that school districts that give vouchers for use at charter schools must pay equivalent funds to parents who wish to give their children a religious education?”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor also dissented, lamenting what she sees as a series of decisions bringing the government closer to direct sponsorship of religious activity.

“This Court continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to build,” Sotomayor warned. “It is irrational for this Court to hold that the Free Exercise Clause bars Maine from giving money to parents to fund the only type of education the State may provide consistent with the Establishment Clause: a religiously neutral one. Nothing in the Constitution requires today’s result.”

Juan Perez Jr. contributed to this report.

This content was originally published here.

This content was originally published here.

A transgender high school science teacher — during a video conference that included a U.S. Department of Education senior adviser — declared that students should be taught that “not all egg producers are women” along with other gender-inclusive principles.

What are the details?

In a Twitter video posted by Libs of TikTok, the teacher in question — Sam Long — tells other conference participants — including Christian Rhodes, senior adviser to the secretary at the Department of Education — that it’s necessary to be a “stickler for inclusive language” in the classroom.

Rhodes — who previously served as chief of staff for the DOE’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education — is seen nodding as Long speaks about inclusivity.

Long adds that “I mostly taught biology,” which is about “life and living things” — and that “we need to be clear that we’re including all living things, including all people …”

Long then says when teaching about “cell division or reproduction, a lot of textbooks, a lot of existing teaching will say, ‘Women produce eggs; males are more likely to be colorblind; the mother carries the fetus for this many months.’” Long then says “some ways we can show our support for trans and non-binary students is to clean up that language … we can be more accurate and be more inclusive.”

The teacher then declares, “I would say, ‘No, it’s not women that produce eggs; it’s ovaries that produce eggs.’ That’s accurate. That’s precise. We’re acknowledging that not all women produce eggs, and not all egg producers are women, for example. And we’re teaching students that language matters.”

Long — the only individual heard speaking in the video — is in the bottom-left square in the following screenshot; Rhodes is in the bottom-right square:

Image source: Twitter video screenshot via @libsoftiktok

The date and purpose of the video conference aren’t clear, although Libs of TikTok said in the text accompanying the video that the Department of Education “held a training for teachers to learn how to be inclusive” toward “tran[s] and non-binary K-12 students.” Libs of TikTok also said the USDE is “promoting” the ideas the teacher espoused in the clip:

The Dept of Education held a training for teachers to learn how to be inclusive of tran and non-binary K-12 students. \n\nThis trans teacher says he teaches inclusive language like not everyone who produces eggs is a woman. \n\nThe official U.S. Dept of Ed is promoting these ideas.pic.twitter.com/V7aEYIlirz

— Libs of TikTok (@Libs of TikTok)
1651028870

The Department of Education on Wednesday didn’t immediately reply to TheBlaze’s request for comment regarding its position on gender-inclusive language — such as “not all egg producers are women” — or the video conference’s purpose.

Anything else?

In the video, Long mentions a website — Gender-Inclusive Biology — that Long founded with “two other trans-identified high school teachers” as well as the site’s “language guide” that helped inform Long’s inclusive-language push stated in the clip.

Long wrote last month in a National Education Association member spotlight that “when students learn biology, they are entitled to see their lives reflected in this so-called study of life. I grew up learning that a baby is made when a sperm cell from the dad meets the [egg cell] from the mom and that’s not good enough. For today, that language doesn’t represent our diverse genders, sexualities, and families in our schools. So, I created genderinclusivebiology.com, a growing collection of resources and training on how to teach accurate inclusive and future-ready biology, and I look forward to continuing the work of creating classrooms where every student belongs.” The essay’s bio states, “Sam Long is a Science Teacher in Denver, Colorado.”

This content was originally published here.

This content was originally published here.

By Maria Saporta

On the eve of its closing weekend retreat for the Class of 2022, Leadership Atlanta on Friday announced the 86 members of the Class of 2023.

Leadership Atlanta’s new class represents a broad diversity of professions – education, law, corporate, nonprofit, technology, media, healthcare, politics and government – similar to the make-up of the previous 51 classes.

Founded in 1969, Leadership Atlanta  is one of the oldest continuously running training programs of its type in the country.

Pat Upshaw-Monteith, CEO of Leadership Atlanta

“We are thrilled to welcome our 52^nd Class,” said Pat Upshaw-Monteith, Leadership Atlanta’s president and CEO. “We are proud to continue Leadership Atlanta’s tradition of bringing together the region’s most influential, engaged, and creative leaders dedicated to working together for the greater good. We can’t wait to see what innovative ideas the Class of 2023 brings!”

The nine-month leadership program offers class members an opportunity to learn more about the region by

participating in retreats, full-day seminars, service projects, discussion groups, community tours and other activities. In addition to exploring important regional issues, class members will critically examine themselves as leaders, challenge themselves to find ways to be more effective and build relationships of trust and understanding with each other.

Bentina Chisholm Terry, senior vice president of Customer Strategy and Solutions for Georgia Power, will be the program chair for the Class of 2023

Georgia Power’s Bentina Terry

“Leadership Atlanta’s program required me to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable and learn to be fully present with my class members for nine months,” Terry said in a statement. “It reinforced that as leaders, we must learn how to listen, have hard conversations, cultivate curiosity and be truly authentic. It has made me 100 percent committed to the mission of the organization, which is ‘to inspire members to take on and exercise real leadership committed to serving the common good.’ These times demand courage over comfort, and Leadership Atlanta provides that experience.”

The Class of 2023 will have several presidents of local universities, including George French, president of Clark Atlanta University; Kevin James, president of Morris Brown College; and Nicholas Ladany, president of Oglethorpe University. Adrian Tyndall, dean and executive vice president for health affairs at Morehouse School of Medicine (second in charge), also will be in the class.

The educational theme also will extend to people working for K-12 institutions. The class will include: Lisa Herring, superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools; Cheryl Watson-Harris, superintendent of the DeKalb County School District; James Calleroz White, head of the Galloway School; David Howland, executive director of Teach for America – Metro Atlanta;

Mini’imah Shaheed, CEO of  KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools, and Camille Naughton, president of the Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School.

Several top leaders in the foundation and nonprofit sector also will be part of the 2023 class: Joselyn Baker, president of the Grady Health Foundation; Mark Banta; president and CEO of the Piedmont Park Conservancy; Maryum Gibson, president and CEO of Jerusalem House; Kari Love, CEO of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation; Daniel Preister, managing director of Coxe Curry & Associates; Nicole Armstrong, CEO of TechBridge, Inc.’; Shan Arora, director of the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at Georgia Tech; Alieizoria Redd, executive director of the Covenant House; and Fay Twersky, president of the Arthur M Blank Family Foundation.

Several government leaders will be in the class, including Christopher Nunn, commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs; and Fitz Johnson, commissioner on the Georgia Public Service Commission.

The class also will include representatives from some of the largest companies and enterprises in metro Atlanta: UPS, Delta Air Lines, King & Spalding, IBM, Oglethorpe Power, Southern Co., Google, PNC Bank, Georgia-Pacific, Baker & Hostetler, Genuine Parts, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Metro Atlanta Chamber, Truist Bank, Equifax, Bank of America, Cox Communications, the Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta Hawks/State Farm Arena, Douglas County Chamber, Chick-fil-A, Wells Fargo EY, Woodruff Arts Center, Emory Healthcare, Alston & Bird, Georgia Power, Bain & Co., Humana, WarnerMedia, American Cancer Society, IHG Hotels & Resorts and the Shepherd Center.

Here is the complete list of the Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2023

Felicia Allen           
President of US & SMB Marketing
UPS

Amy Ard
Executive Director
Motherhood Beyond Bars

Nicole Armstrong
Chief Executive Officer
TechBridge, Inc.

Shan Arora
Director – Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design
Georgia Institute of Technology

Joselyn Baker
President, Grady Health Foundation
Grady Health System

Mohamed Balla    
Chief Financial Officer
City of Atlanta

Trebor Banstetter
Managing Director – Enterprise & Leader Communications
Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Mark Banta
President & Chief Executive Officer
Piedmont Park Conservancy

Robert Benson     
Partner
King & Spalding LLP

Maurice Blackwood
Vice President of Sales – Americas
IBM

Annalisa Bloodworth
Senior Vice President, General Counsel
Oglethorpe Power Corp.

Robin Boren
Senior Vice President Finance & Treasurer
Southern Co.

Nelson Boyce
Managing Director
Google

Laura Brown         
Senior Vice President, Regional Sales Executive
PNC Bank

Sarah Brown         
Trustee
The John and Rosemary Brown Family Foundation

Deborah Bruner  
Senior Vice President for Research
Emory University

Leslie Hazle Bussey
CEO and Executive Director
Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement

Lori Chennault     
Senior Vice President, Strategic Souring and Procurement
Georgia-Pacific Corp.

Charlotte Combre
Partner
Baker & Hostetler LLP

Jennifer Dawson
Vice President, Internal Audit & Compliance
Genuine Parts Co.

Lovely Dhillon      
CEO
Jodevi Consulting

Charlie Ebersol     
CEO
Teddy Bright, Inc

Damon Elmore
Executive Director
State Bar of Georgia

April Estes
Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Sarah Fonder-Kristy
Chief Development Officer
Atlanta Community Food Bank

Heather Fortner
CEO
SignatureFD

George French      
President
Clark Atlanta University

Maryum Gibson    
President & CEO
Jerusalem House

Jonathan Goins     
Partner & Co-Chair IP & Tech, Entertainment Groups
Lewis Brisbois LLP

Alex Gonzalez
Chief Innovation Officer
Metro Atlanta Chamber

Sammy Grant
Principal
HomrichBerg

Vivian Greentree
Senior Vice President, Head of Global Corporate Citizenship
Fiserv

Carl Hanna
CEO/Co-Founder
Evva Health

Hilliard Hardman
President & CEO
Granite Holdings, Inc. / Woodleaf Partners, LLC

Nikki Harland       
COO
Paradies Lagardere

Lisa Herring
Superintendent
Atlanta Public Schools

Philip Hill
Executive Director
Soccer in the Streets

Jillian Tellez Holub
Partner
McKinsey & Co.

David Howland     
Executive Director
Teach for America – Metro Atlanta

Cathy Huyghe        
Co-Founder and CEO
Enolytics LLC

Kevin James
President
Morris Brown College

Ted Jenkin
CEO
oXYGen Financial

Fitz Johnson          
Public Service Commissioner, District 3
Georgia Public Service Commission

Tayari Jones          
Author

Jon Keen
Head of Business Development
Treaty Oak Clean Energy

Nicholas Ladany
President
Oglethorpe University

Michael Lan
Executive Director
Jabian Consulting

Shannon Longino
Senior Vice President
TRUIST Bank/TRUIST Community Capital

Kari Love
CEO
The Atlanta Women’s Foundation

Joy Lybeer
Chief Revenue Officer
Equifax

Al McRae
Market President and Diverse Segments Business Development Executive
Bank of America

Katrina Mitchell   
Chief Community Impact Officer
United Way of Greater Atlanta

Amol Naik
Vice President, Public Policy & Government Affairs
Ting Internet at Tucows

Camille Naughton
President
Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School

Christopher Nunn
Commissioner
State of Georgia, Department of Community Affairs

Allison Padilla-Goodman
Vice President, Southern Division
Anti-Defamation League

Renee Pearson     
Senior Vice President Digital Transformation & Business Engagement
Republic National Distributing Co.

Joiava Philpott      
Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Law & Policy
Cox Communications, Inc.

Kama Pierce
Vice President of Strategy, Marketing and Communications
The Woodruff Arts Center

Vincenzo Piscopo
President/CEO
United Spinal Association

Daniel Preister     
Managing Director
Coxe Curry & Associates

Joanna Price          
Chief of Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability
The Coca-Cola Company

Melissa Proctor    
Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena

Sara Ray
President & CEO
Douglas County Chamber

Alieizoria Redd    
Executive Director
Covenant House Georgia, Inc.

Cliff Robinson
Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer
Chick-fil-A, Inc.

Hugh Rowden
Senior Vice President, Business Growth Strategy Director
Wells Fargo

Nabile Safdar        
Assoc CMIO, Emory Healthcare; Endowed Professor and Vice-Chair of Informatics – Radiology
Emory University/Healthcare

Regenia  Sanders
Partner
EY

Lawrence Sernovitz
Senior Rabbi
Temple Kol Emeth

Mini’imah Shaheed         
Chief Executive Officer
KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools

Jeremy Silverman
Partner
Alston & Bird LLP

Lisa Smith
Senior Vice President of Region External Affairs & Community Engagement
Georgia Power

Jeb Stewart
Owner
Xana Management, LLC

Michael Stewart
Partner
Bain & Co.

Marcus Taylor      
Market President, Commercial Business GA & LA
Humana

Travis Townsend
Co-Founding Partner & Financial Manager
Townsend & Lockett, LLC

Fay Twersky
President
Arthur M Blank Family Foundation

Lesley Wainwright
Senior Vice President & Associate General Counsel
WarnerMedia

Tammara Warren
Regional Vice President for Georgia
Oak Street Health

Cheryl Watson-Harris    
Superintendent
DeKalb County School District

James Calleroz White
Head of School
The Galloway School

Kimberly Wright
Executive Vice President, Southeast Region
American Cancer Society

Cesar Wurm          
Vice President of Commercial & Revenue Management, CMH
IHG Hotels & Resorts

Michael Yochelson
Chief Medical Officer
Shepherd Center

Note to readers: Maria Saporta was in Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2020, and she continues to be an active member.

This content was originally published here.

When I was a special education teacher at Myrtle Grove Elementary School in Miami in 2010, my colleagues and I recommended that a Black girl receive special education services because she had difficulty reading. However, her mother disagreed. When I asked her why, she explained that she, too, was identified as having a learning disability when she was a student.

She was put in a small classroom away from her other classmates. She remembered reading books below her grade level and frequent conflicts between her classmates and teachers. Because of this, she believed she received a lower-quality education. She didn’t want her daughter to go through the same experience.

Ultimately, the mother and I co-designed an individualized education plan – known in the world of special education as an IEP – for her daughter where she would be pulled out of class for only an hour a day for intensive reading instruction.

When compared to white students with disabilities, students of color with disabilities are more likely to be placed in separate classrooms. This may lead to lower educational outcomes for students of color in special education, as students with disabilities perform better in math and reading when in general education classrooms.

Researchers, such as University of Arizona education scholar Adai Tefera and CUNY-Hunter College sociologist of education Catherine Voulgarides, argue that systemic racism – as well as biased interpretations of the behavior of students of color – explains these discrepancies. For example, when compared to students with similar test scores, Black students with disabilities are less likely to be included in the general education classroom than their non-Black peers. To curb this, teachers can take steps toward being more inclusive of students of color with disabilities.

As a Black feminist researcher who focuses on the intersection of race and disability, here are three recommendations I believe can help teachers to better support students of color with disabilities.

1. Inform families of their rights

Federal law requires that schools provide parents and guardians with Procedural Safeguards Notices, a full explanation of all the rights a parent has when their child is referred to or receives special education services. These notices need to be put in writing and explained to families in “language that is easily understandable.”

However, research shows that in many states, Procedural Safeguards Notices are written in ways that are difficult to read. This can make it harder for families, especially immigrant families, to know their rights. Also, families of color report facing greater resistance when making requests for disability services than white families do.

When meeting with families, teachers can take the time to break down any confusing language written in the Procedural Safeguards Notice. This can assure that the families of students of color are fully aware of their options.

For example, families have the right to invite an external advocate to represent their interests during meetings with school representatives. These advocates can speak on behalf of the family and often help resolve disagreements between the schools and families.

Educators can tell families about organizations that serve children with disabilities and help them navigate school systems. The Color of Autism, The Arc and Easterseals are striving to address racial inequities in who has access to advocacy supports. These organizations create culturally responsive resources and connect families of color with scholarships to receive training on how to advocate for themselves.

2. Talk about race and disability

Despite the growing diversity within K-12 classrooms, conversations around race are often left out of special education. This leaves a lack of attention toward the issues that students of color face, like higher suspension rates and lower grades and test scores than their white peers in special education.

When teachers talk about race and disability with their colleagues, it can help reduce implicit biases they may have. Also, dialogue about race and disability can help to reduce negative school interactions with students of color with disabilities.

Arizona State University teacher educator Andrea Weinberg and I developed protocols that encourage educators to talk about race, disability, class and other social identities with each other. These include questions for teachers such as:

Do any of your students of color have an IEP?

Has a student with disabilities or their family shared anything about their cultural background that distinguishes them from their peers?

Are there patterns of students not responding to instruction?

The protocols also encourage educators to consider their own social identities and how those may shape how they interpret students’ behaviors and academic needs:

Who do you collaborate with to help you better understand and respond to students’ diverse needs?

In what ways are students and teachers benefiting from the diversity represented in the classroom?

Educators using these questions in the Southwest, for example, say they help a mostly white teacher workforce understand their role in disrupting inequities. One study participant said, “These things are not addressed, and they’re not talked about among faculty.”

3. Highlight people of color with disabilities in the classroom

Often, classroom content depicts disabled people – especially those of color – as people at the margins of society. For example, in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Tom Robinson, a Black character with a physical disability, is killed after being falsely accused of a crime. Teachers can incorporate thoughtful examples of disabled people of color in their lesson plans to help students better understand their experiences.

When teaching about Harriet Tubman, educators can mention how she freed enslaved people while coping with the lifelong effects of a head injury. Tubman’s political activism provides a historical example of disabled people of color who helped improve society for all.

Art teachers can highlight Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and how she boldly addressed her physical disabilities in self-portraits. Disabled people’s experiences are frequently shown from the perspective of people without disabilities. In her art, Kahlo displayed herself with bandages and sitting in a wheelchair. Her portraits featured her own reactions to having disabilities.

Physical education teachers can discuss current events, such as recent news about Olympian Simone Biles’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and anxiety. Her openness has sparked international conversations about less noticeable disabilities.

Teaching students about the contributions that disabled people of color make to our society emphasizes that neither race nor disability should be equated with inferiority.

Mildred Boveda does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

This content was originally published here.