What does it mean to be an advisor? Or advocate? Or activist?
How do race and class influence effectively teaching and learning, policy and practice?
What is the significance of culturally responsive and relevant teaching?
These are the questions that will be raised and discussed at “Educator as Advisor, Advocate, Activist,” a daylong forum (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) to be held Monday, July 25 at John Burroughs School, 755 South Price Rd. in Ladue.
This event is “exclusively designed for anyone committed to educational equity for St. Louis youth,” according to organizers at Burroughs, one of the region’s premiere independent schools, and Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS).
Daniel Harris, director of Diversity & Multi-cultural Education at Burroughs, said the event is continuing education in equity for teachers and administrators. He said that educators need to update their diversity awareness and strategies, just as they are encouraged to update their subject matter expertise.
“The need for ongoing teacher education on equity issues is really the goal,” Harris said. “Educators can stagnate, like anyone else.”
The discussion will be facilitated by three national educational leaders who are the antithesis of stagnation: Brittany Packnett, Executive Director of Teach For America-St. Louis (and upcoming vice president of National and Community Alliances at Teach For America) and a Ferguson protest leader, as well as Burroughs alumna; Chris Thinnes, a veteran independent school leader and public school parent based in Los Angeles; and Jose Vilson, an author on equity issues and middle-school math teacher in New York City.
“We need to get past Diversity 101 and deepen our level of understanding, which requires an ongoing commitment to learning,” Harris said. “So we created a space for that to take place.”
The one-day program is enfolded in a more intensive, week-long “Equity Exchange,” which is also a partnership between Burroughs and SLPS. This is a more intensive collaboration between teachers and administrators more experienced in educational equity issues. Harris is its founding director.
“We dig deep in research, advance principles, construct practices to improve on equity, and build relationships to do that work,” Harris said of the Equity Exchange. The one-day event is part of the group’s research, as regional educational challenges that are identified in the one-day forum will become the focus of action planning by Equity Exchange for the remainder of their work week.
Just as the Equity Exchange is a partnership between private and public institutions, Burroughs and SLPS, the teachers and administrators involved in both the one-day forum and the intensive weeklong working group are from a mix of private and public schools.
“Both private and public schools have strengths,” Harris said. “We get together and share the best that we do so we can elevate all of us.”
In past years, they recruited teachers from all over the country, but this year they are inviting only local teachers and administrators, with an eye toward identifying regional issues in education and strategizing how to address them.
Harris said, “We will prepare people to speak to the bigger, systemic problems that are coming up.”
The fee for “Educator as Advisor, Advocate, Activist” is $75 (includes lunch), and 75 people will be accepted. To register, visit www.theequityexchange.org and choose “One-Day Offering.” Those with questions may contact Harris at dharris@jburroughs.org.
