School, Racism, and Hope

As a parent, educator, citizen, and like many of you, I have been rattled to the core repeatedly by the relentless racial violence that plagues our country, including recent attacks on Asian Americans. These incidents and a wider recognition that BIPOC citizens live with routine fear of violence have also inspired action. School leaders nationwide are wrestling with all this and there are three key themes emerging from MTC Member Schools — belonging, engagement, and equity.

When everyone in a school community takes responsibility for making the school a safe and inclusive place, one where each learner can be themselves, take pride in their identity and share their full stories, those are schools where we see higher engagement and belonging. Recent data from a Challenge Success NBC research project clearly shows that even during COVID, “belonging” is a key indicator of well-being and school engagement, and therefore learning. A number of member schools have already indicated that they are shifting their Fall 2021 school opening plans significantly to build in early days for community-building, and planning subsequent ongoing sessions throughout the year, specifically focused on the social and emotional needs of learners.

For a teacher to cede some control and power by inviting learners to co-design lessons and make choices about their learning, significant planning and courage are needed, especially at first. The benefits and skills developed, however, are well-documented and worth the effort. Learner-focused lessons and curriculum, when planned and scaffolded well, increase the enduring understanding of any content, all while giving learners valuable opportunities to practice and apply essential skills like time-management, identifying and assessing sources, collaboration, and self-reflection. With these skills, learners can begin not only to identify and ask hard questions, but they will also be developing the agency and skills to respond constructively, as Evelyn from Winooski High School did last year and others have across the country, and throughout history in defense of equality and justice.

And, then there is grading, a central topic related to school change across the MTC movement, since the Mastery Transcript replaces traditional grades with Mastery Credits and evidence of learning. As Joe Feldman has explained so well in Grading for Equity, how students are graded directly influences all aspects of motivation and learning, yet the practices are somehow still outside the bounds of serious discussion in many schools. MTC members are forging ahead and have found that Sarah Tahir’s article and a newly released edition of Wad-Ja-Get can provide welcome entry points to the important conversations about grading.