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The REWire is a monthly email newsletter -- distributed by The Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED) -- dedicated to curated Race + Education news, views and research. In the effort to achieve racial equity in education, CREED serves as a reliable channel of information that keeps practitioners, policymakers and advocates up-to-date on the latest developments. Topics covered in The REWire range from national and local articles, academic literature, to events exploring the intersections of race and education. Links are provided to information sources for more in-depth reading. We hope that you find this service useful and encourage you to forward to your colleagues, encouraging them to subscribe.
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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently
The Atlantic
"To fight against systemic racism means to buck norms. Educators at every level must be willing to be uncomfortable in their struggle for black students, recognizing students’ power and feeding it by honoring their many contributions to our schools. Teachers need to insist on using their own power to consistently reveal and examine their practice, and seek input from black stakeholders; they must invite black parents to the table, listen to their concerns and ideas, and act on them. Principals must clearly and consistently communicate the anti-racist vision for their school, create professional-development opportunities for staff, recognize teachers who successfully teach all of their students, and intervene when they see problems. District-level administrators must more firmly root their anti-racist messaging in black students’ school experiences, making expectations for educators clear. And school-board members need to listen to educators who have shown efficacy in educating black students. They must enact policies that hold us all accountable to our black families. We must make demands of ourselves and work together in our communities."
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Protests, donations, lesson plans: How the education world is responding to George Floyd’s killing
Chalkbeat
As the country convulses after the latest incident of police violence against a black American — and the protests and unrest that have followed — schools and education organizations are responding. Teachers are hosting classroom discussions as school district leaders denounce racism and activists renew calls for schools to cut ties with police.
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A college where the graduation rate for black students has been zero percent — for years
The Hechinger Report
"Several Ohio campuses have abysmal success rates for black college students, even as the state pushes for, and desperately needs, more graduates." According to federal data, rural Ohio university Kent State Univerity at Ashtabula, reports that "the six-year graduation rate for first-time, full-time black students has been zero for five years running."
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Do Cops Belong in Schools? Minneapolis Tragedy Prompts a Hard Look at School Police
Education Week
"Just eight days after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed black man, the school board there voted to cut ties with the city police department, fulfilling a long-time goal of activists. As mass protests continued nationwide over police brutality, activists in other cities... hope the demonstrations will cause their districts to review their own agreements with local law enforcement agencies, and to consider how those relationships can disproportionately affect students of color."
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Students organize for racial justice on campus and off
Inside Higher ED
"Students at Rice University and colleges across the U.S. are seeking ways to leverage the wealth and connections of their universities to combat racial injustice."
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It's All We Can Talk About': High Schoolers React to Protests Over Police Violence
Education Week Teacher
"Across the country, high school students have joined in protests over police brutality following the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. Across the country, high school students have joined in protests over police brutality following the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. They have also organized their own demonstrations in Seattle, Wash.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and St. Paul, Minn.; to name a few."
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Historically black colleges fight for survival, reopening amid coronavirus pandemic
USA Today
Historically black colleges fight for survival, reopening amid coronavirus pandemic. The effect of coronavirus closures is acute for historically black colleges, victims of the same history of oppression that ignited protests.
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Kick Out School Resource Officers? Sure. But Counselors Must Be Brought In to Take Their Place
The 74
As we already know, having a police presence does more harm than good to students, especially BIPOC students. Some schools across the country have already taken the steps to remove officers from campuses, but many wonder what will replace them in times of crisis. "That’s why any conversation about getting rid of SROs in schools must go hand in hand with a discussion about more guidance counselors and mental health supports for students."
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Fired Wilmington cop: “We are just going to go out and start slaughtering them f—— ni—–. I can’t wait. God, I can’t wait.”
Port City Daily
Michael ‘Kevin’ Piner, James ‘Brian’ Gilmore, and Jessie E. Moore II have all been fired from the Wilmington police force for "extremly racist comments". The conversations were accidently recorded by Piner's police car cam. "In North Carolina, public records laws typically prevent government agencies from handing out information on personnel; however, in extraordinary circumstances, details can be released to the public." And, although the former police officers attempted to block the release of the recordings, "ultimately the city decided it was the right thing to do."
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UT-Austin football players demand school rename buildings named after racist figures, donate to Black Lives Matter
The Texas Tribune
"Athletes say they will forgo participating in recruiting and donor-related events if campus and athletic leadership fails to implement their demands, which are aimed at supporting students of color." These demands include donating a portion of the UT-Austin athletics department to Black Lives Matter and other social justice organizations, "establishing a permanent black athletic history exhibit in the Athletics Hall of Fame and renaming parts of the football stadium after Julius Whittier, the first black football letterman at UT-Austin." Additionally, athletes request to rename UT campus buildings after notable anti-racist figures instead of racist ones, tear down the statue of segregationist James Hogg, and abandon "The Eyes of Texas," the school song which hails from minstrel shows.
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University of Virginia changes logo to remove reminder of school's link to slavery
Los Angeles Times
A logo for UVA athletics that was unveiled featured a nod to the campus' serpentine walls, which are connected to the university's history with slavery.
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Supreme Court blocks Trump plan to end DACA program
The Hill
On June 18th, "the Supreme Court ruled to block the Trump administration from ending an Obama-era program that shields nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation, upending a key feature of President Trump’s immigration agenda."
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DACA Teachers Across the Country Embrace SCOTUS Ruling Allowing Them to ‘Live, Work Without Fear’
The 74
To thousands of teachers across the country, "the news from the Supreme Court means that [they] will get to continue pursuing their own ambitions while nurturing those of their students — at least for a while... "While teachers nationwide were happy about the decision, all of them expressed a hope that the next administration establishes a pathway to citizenship — not only for DACA recipients but also for other undocumented immigrants, a group that includes members of their families."
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Netflix CEO is donating $120 million to HBCUs, wants it to celebrate "great black achievement"
CBS News
"Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, announced they are giving $120 million to support scholarships at historically black colleges and universities. The donation, the largest of its kind, will be split among Morehouse College, Spelman College and the United Negro College Fund."
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Schools Provide Stability For Refugees. COVID-19 Upended That.
Huffington Post
"Resources meant for vulnerable students like refugees fell through the gaps during the scramble to pivot to online learning... According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, refugee children in primary education are lagging behind their peers globally. Refugee children frequently grapple with mental health issues and trauma due to displacement, war and conflict. For many of those refugees, a quality education often serves as the only source of stability in their lives and an eventual key to a successful future."
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Black Students Matter': Wake teens march to pull police from schools
ABC-11 News
A rally organized by the Wake County Black Students Coalition stopped traffic in downtown Raleigh as they marched down the streets protesting the police presence in their schools.
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Award-Winning Teachers Demand 4 Anti-Racist Policies to Ensure Schools Are a Place of Liberation
Education Post
"Black Lives Matter. Thus, Black Lives Matter at school.Because of this resolve, we must ensure schools are a place of liberation. We demand the following:
- End the school-to-prison pipeline
- Equitable funding and resource allocation
- Responsive curriculum and systems of evaluation
- Recruit and retain educators of color.
It is time to 'show up' to support one another. Through reflection, research, and action, we are renewed in our work to remove systems of oppression and pursue justice. It is our moral obligation and our professional charge."
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The Return of Jane Elliott
The New York Times
"Before anti-racist reading lists and Instagram allyship, white people were presented with the 'Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes' exercise. Its 86-year-old creator can’t believe she’s still being asked about it."
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Academia Isn’t a Safe Haven for Conversations About Race and Racism
Harvard Business Review
"We are having hard conversations about racial justice in corporate America and academia right now. Will they yield anything? The research and personal stories of these authors — both scholars of color — along with experiences of many others don’t offer much cause for optimism. Why? When people of color give voice to the discrimination they experience, they are often silenced by their white colleagues, many of whom purport to be liberal progressives. And although there is a perception that academia is a safe haven for these kinds of honest conversations, it is often the opposite. While the reasons for this are myriad, the authors identify common themes including the invisible labor and 'inclusion tax' people of color are subjected to; the use of racism-evasive rhetoric; attempts to limit and define who gets to be an ally to Black academics; and the tendency toward normalize white experiences and exclude other racial groups."
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Open Letter to Joe Biden
The 74
This open letter, written by Dr. Howard Fuller, demands, among other things, to have quality education for BIPOC children and adequate funding to provide that education. "Vice President Biden, we demand to be seen, valued and heard. We want to be more than photo ops to be used in your campaign literature. We will not accept second-class citizenship. We demand our seat at the table so you can hear and learn from our collective expertise and experiences, which come out of rich histories of struggle against oppression in this country. We want to be at the table, not on the menu. We want to help develop the policies and procedures that will improve the educational opportunities for all children, including ours."
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With his remarks on the murder of George Floyd, Joe Biden showed us how to teach empathy and American history
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
A reflection on Vice President Biden's response to the murder of George Floyd. The author reflects that, "while Joe Biden continues to be a gaffe-machine, including on the sensitive issue of race, America’s schools could learn a lot from his speech about how to handle two hot-button issues: the teaching of American history, and the development of 'social and emotional' skills, or what we conservatives more comfortably call 'character.' He carved a middle path between right and left that is anything but the mushy middle."
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How Will Each of Us Contribute to Racial Justice and Educational Equity Now?
Learning Policy Institute
Authors Linda Darling-Hammond and Janel George poigniantly state, "Addressing inequality should not be an academic exercise or an isolated performative act—we who believe in educational justice must commit to the long-game of dismantling and replacing practices that have reproduced educational inequality over time... Every era of equity progress has come on the heels of social upheaval, when people of conscience joined together to confront injustice and inequality. These have come most powerfully in 30 year cycles: the 1870s ushered in Reconstruction, the early 1900s introduced progressive changes for workers and schools, the 1930s brought FDR’s New Deal, the 1960s ushered in the Great Society and the War on Poverty, the early 1990s strengthened economic and educational equity. 2020 is that moment once again. How will each of us contribute to racial justice and educational equity now?"
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Where justice, education, and faith intersect
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
A moving statement by Seton Education in response to the senseless killings of Geoge Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor among others.
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The banality of racism in education
The Brookings Institution
In 2016, Jon Valant and Daniel Newark published a study entitled, "The Politics of Achievement Gaps: U.S. Public Opinion on Race-Based and Wealth-Based Differences in Test Scores", that surveyed how Americans view test score gaps, including comparisons between Black and White Americans, White and Non-White Americans, and Wealthy and Poor Americans. Valant writes that, "the finding that has stuck with [him] the most, though, came from a question about how people explain the gaps that exist today."
"We asked, 'How much of the difference in test scores between white students and Black students can be explained by discrimination against Blacks or injustices in society?' Nearly half (44%) of respondents chose 'None.' Only 10% chose 'A great deal.'"
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Ep. 11: The Pandemic’s Impact on Education and Work for People of Color
Inside Higher Ed
"The pandemic and unrest over racism in society have further exposed existing inequity in higher education and the workforce." To further examine this issue, this podcast includes interviews from Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, and Lorelle Espinosa, vice president for research at the American Council on Education.
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Smith: A Call to Action — Black Educators Need White Co-Conspirators to Combat Racism in Schools and Empower Our Students to Succeed
The 74
Kimberly A. Smith, Executive director of The League of Innovative Schools, asks White educators to stand up and fight racial inequity alongside the Black educators already doing the work. "We must work together to cure the racist epidemic that has ravaged pre-K-12 education and impacted the lives of millions of students."
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How police killings affect children’s academic outcomes
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute
"The fight against institutional racism and police misconduct should be taking place not only in the streets, but also in our schools. This is a teaching moment about the United States’s longstanding sociopolitical history of racism and how it still permeates through every sector of society today. But this is also a critical period to support and validate our Black and Brown students. Police killings of underrepresented minorities evidently exacerbate the already-too-wide racial academic achievement gaps. We have to do whatever we can to keep them from falling further through the cracks."
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Survey finds alumni lack confidence in college investigations of discrimination
Inside Higher Ed
According to a new Gallup survey of college grads between 2010 and 2019, a majority "find they don't trust their former college to thoroughly investigate discrimination complaints." Of the 1600 graduates surveyed, only 27% said the "strongly agreed" their alma mater would adequtely investigate discrimination complaints.
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Held Down and Held Back: Systematically Delayed Principal Promotions by Race and Gender
American Educational Research Association
"Recent scholarship highlights the many benefits of diversity among principals, including improved teacher retention and student outcomes. We use survival analysis to assess the probability and time to promotion for 4,689 assistant principals in Texas from 2001 to 2017. We find that race and gender are associated with the probability of promotion to school leadership. Holding education, experience, school level and urbanicity constant, Black principals are least likely to be promoted and wait longer for promotion when compared to white assistant principals. Additionally, findings suggest that even though women have over a year more experience on average before being promoted to assistant principal, they are less likely to be promoted to high school principal, and when they are, it is after a longer assistant principalship."
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‘The Students Were the Danger’: In Racially Diverse Schools, Police Were More Likely to View Students as Threats, Study Shows
The 74
"As school districts cut ties with police departments amid weeks of nationwide protests, new research finds an unsettling racial gap in the way campus officers perceive threats." Resource officers placed in generally White, affluent schools generally perceived outside threats as the most dangerous while officers placed in poorer communities instead perceived the students as threats. Ben Fisher, author of the aforementioned peer-reviewed report, says that “it’s not necessarily individual officers, but it’s sort of the way that people, and especially law enforcement, make sense of what counts as criminal.”
"Juvenile arrest rates were similar in both communities, suggesting the results weren’t motivated by the prevalence of crime." Instead it suggests that racial bias has a huge impact on perspective.
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Data: The Schools Named After Confederate Figures
Education Week
"See where schools named for Confederate figures are located, who their namesake is, which have changed their names since June 2020, and the demographics of the students who attend them."
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Racial and Ethnic Representation in Postsecondary Education
Urban Institute
This report examines "whether different racial and ethnic groups have equal access to higher education by looking at representativeness across postsecondary institutions."
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Indian Education: Actions Needed to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive Special Education Services
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
"GAO is making seven recommendations, including that BIE establish consistent requirements for schools on making up missed services, annually verify special education services at all schools, comply with high-risk monitoring and technical assistance requirements, and ensure that BIE staff receive needed training."
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Recommendations for Prioritizing Equity in the Response to COVID-19
Alliance for Excellent Education
"As resources grow scarce, states and districts must target their resources and design emergency response and recovery programs that prioritize our most vulnerable students from the beginning." Together, the Alliance for Excellent Education offers recommendations in six areas to support states and districts in crafting an equity-focused response to COVID-19.
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15 Classroom Resources for Discussing Racism, Policing, and Protest
Education Week Teacher
"As nationwide protests against police brutality continue, teachers in their virtual classrooms are once again searching for ways to help their students process the killings of black people in police custody in the United States." Here are 15 resources to help facilitate open conversation abour racism, policing, and protest in the classroom.
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Resources to Help Teachers Heal, Learn, and Listen
Teach For America
Links to help teachers navigate discussions and take care of themselves and their students after the killing of George Floyd.
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Let's Talk About It!
Teaching Tolerance
The following are four recommendations on starting critical conversations about race with students:
- Be positive.
- Establish norms.
- Establish goals, and
- Offer a shared starting point.
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