Choose two of the following resources to read, listen, or watch. Skim or scan others that may also be of interest. We invite you to record your thoughts, insights, and questions in your course journal.
Frameworks for Equity and Opportunity
Milner, Richard. 2012. “Beyond a Test Score: Explaining Opportunity Gaps in Educational Practice.” Journal of Black Studies. Vol. 43, No. 6 (September 2012). This paper describes the framework that underlies this course, focusing on educational practices that may limit opportunities for students (for example, deficit mindsets or cultural conflicts), and offering alternatives.
Ladson-Billings, Gloria. 2006. 2006 Presidential Address: From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in the U.S. Schools. Educational Researcher. Vol. 35, No. 7, pp. 3–12. This is a transcript of a speech Ladson-Billings gave as president of the American Educational Research Association, where she describes her concept of intergenerational education debt in the U.S. as a way to understand disparities in achievement.
Gorski, Paul. 2019. Avoiding Racial Equity Detours. Educational Leadership. April. Identifies four “detours” that can derail educators who set out to work towards equity in their schools.
Anderson, Melinda. 2014. When Educators Understand Race and Racism. Teaching Tolerance. November 24. This article succinctly describes the potential pedagogical power of increased racial and cultural competence among educators.
Understanding Key Terms
Structural Inequality: Hayes-Greene, Deena, and Bayard P. Love. 2018. The Groundwater Approach: Building a Practical Understanding of Structural Racism. Racial Equity Institute. This short guide provides a framework for understanding how structural racism operates across multiple systems, impacting people in many aspects of their lives.
Understanding your own Identity: McIntosh, Peggy. 1990. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Independent School. Winter. Accessed on Racial Equity Tools website. Most of us belong to some sort of demographic that benefits from structural inequality. This article describes how the author came to understand the impact of being White on her daily experience, and lists examples. Older, but worth re-considering its impact today. (An interesting related reading offers concrete suggestions for people with racial or ethnic privilege to “empty” the knapsack.)
Educational Equity: Robinson, Rodney. 2019. “What is Equity and Why Do Our Children Deserve it?” TEDxCharlottesville. 2019 Teacher of the Year describes how he understands educational equity, and what is necessary to achieve it.
TeachLab Podcast Episode
With every unit, we have curated a set of resources to extend your learning. Every list will include at least one episode from TeachLab, the podcast of the Teaching Systems Lab.
Reich, Justin. 2020. Richard Milner. TeachLab Podcast. Rich Milner joins Justin Reich in a powerful conversation on how to help educators work for equity for all students. For further reading on these topics, see our book list in our end of course resources.