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ICS For Equity December 2021 Update

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At the December 14 School Board meeting, Dr. Sternke, District administrators and school leaders provided an update on the District's work with Integrated Comprehensive Systems for Equity. This video was shared capturing the voices of our teachers and staff speaking to the impact of this work. The video provides just a glimpse of the equity work happening in our school District.

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I think the cool thing about the ICS framework is really being able to identify like okay these are the systematic steps we're going to take to create real change and sustainable change at that because you can create a system and then like be like oh this will work and it'll work for a year and then it's not sustainable so the work we're doing is sustainable and everyone's involved which is nice like there was a District Leadership Team that is driving this ICS work, there is ICS teams like across the board at every building and I think that is really like the focus and that's what I love is like team are investing their time into this, like they don't--you know-- a teacher's staying after school. They're doing it because they want to create real change.  When I did the training to be an ICS facilitator, it blew my mind. It was an entirely different way of approaching the whole thing. ICS is really a system to change the system. ICS really turns the lens on us and what our role is as educators in the lives of our students and the education of our students. And how our perceptions and our biases impact our kids. In other work in the past I think we've focused on the problem as opposed to the system that we are part of and that we perpetuate. So by turning the focus on us, it allows us to really figure out the changes that we need to make. I think the primary difference that I've noticed and I appreciate is the continuity of it where it is not one workshop and done "now we've done that, we're moving on to the next thing," it is progressive and it builds upon the previous idea and so I really appreciate that. Our work with ICS it makes you first pause to learn before taking any actions so we spend our whole first Cornerstone taking time to reflect on ourselves and our school and to learn about the history of educational systems and the research on these systems. In order to get a strong foundational understanding in what it is before asking you to make any changes, and for that I think ICS is kind of more unique and more impactful. Because it's not exclusively about just race, class, and gender. Um, our ICS work also has a lot to do with ourselves and who we are as educators so it really asks us to delve deeply into our own experiences with the identity development work with our own experiences with the research and it is--it relies on us to develop our own cultural competence and I think that that is really different than what I've done in the past. So the very first module, History of Marginalization, was the most impactful to me- is the most impactful to me um because in that module we really studied how our educational system has evolved over the years and what became clear is that from start to where we are now it is still to this day designed to teach to a white, able-bodied, English-speaking normative um, and so that made me realize that no additional programmings, no extra fixes could ever change anything substantially. So, in order to make a difference we have to fundamentally at our core teach to a diverse normative. And flip that. Module 1, the history of education marginalization and I think that's that one has been the most impactful to me because of my own experience in schools on the North Shore as a student that participated in the desegregation efforts of chapter 220. I wish my teachers in my middle school and high school and elementary schools were knowledgeable about the work that we do with ICS and I think that if they had the understanding that our teachers are gaining from ICS that it would have helped eliminate a lot of the stereotypes that I faced as a student and I think it would have been helpful for me be able to navigate to spaces as a student of color in mostly white spaces, if my teachers were equipped with what we are delving into with each of the modules. I think the most impactful has been the identity one. So it's how do you feel about yourself and just kind of thinking about what, what are my own identities and how do I respond to a variety of other identities so just thinking about those things have been the most impactful. The modules that caused us to look at our own identity had the most impact on me as an educator. I had to really dive into thinking about who I am in this world and who I am in this system and what my experiences have been that brought me to be here today, and how I can change by really being able to figure out that my identity is going to be different than many of my students' identities when they do this work. It allows me to realize that everybody comes from different perspectives and that all of our biases are different. And I have to own my own. So the work in the module when we had to explore our own identities was very powerful. I think the second module has been really important. It's switching to more of that asset- based learning of really looking at what skills do my students have and really building off those skills to meet students where they're at. So, since beginning ICS I've looked within my own classroom at the structures and systems that I have put in place. And I've reflected and revised those structures, just kind of based on two questions that I consistently ask myself and the first being - "Is this practice something that makes every single child feel smart and capable?" and if the answer is no then I need to change that practice. I also ask myself "Am I holding every single child to the same high standard with this practice?" and if the answer is no then once again I feel like I need to change that practice. So it's an ongoing movement here in my classroom but I'm just kind of consistently holding those two questions and analyzing the structures I put in place for learning.  I think the biggest thing is just the conversation and the thought processes started. I mean as of right now we have so many questions that have evolved from all of these meetings and looking at things that we're not doing correctly and we want to be doing better. So I'd say the biggest thing is that those conversations have begun. At least we're starting to plan and think about what could we change this to to really address some of those problems. My sphere of influence I'm interpreting that as the students that I interact with everyday. So... I guess just even more recognition of who I am, where I'm coming from, and how to interact with those many individuals I meet on a daily basis and how I can validate it their existence for being in my classroom for being in the space and I think that is a very powerful thing. This past summer I graduated with my Master's in education and my thesis topic was composer diversity in high school band. So I made it a point to seek out more female composers, composers of a variety of backgrounds and just celebrating the diversity of our world in the music that we learn and study. So that's one way that I can directly make an impact with this work. It's giving us the language to talk about some of the systems that we see that continues to marginalize students. It helps us understand the systems that are in place but it still helps us to think about how we have a role in dismantling these systems and it helps us understand that it makes us better to do that work and makes our school systems better to do that work and it makes our students better for us having to do this difficult work. If we don't engage in this work, we will continue down the same path. We will continue to create systems that benefit only certain people, that are made for only certain people and it won't truly be equitable ever. We know that there are issues within our system and if we don't start taking a look at that and figuring out the changes that we need to make, it'll just continue and the kids who need our help the most or who need us to do this work the most won't benefit from the same system that other kids have benefitted from for years. I just think we won't see the change if we continue doing what's comfortable and I mean, what's been comfortable for us, we're not really going to address those issues that keep on popping up year after year after year. Our current structure right now, today, is set up to teach to a white, able-bodied, English-speaking normative. It's set up for that narrow normative to be successful and that means that all of the students that we love and care about and work with every day who don't fit into that small normative and that narrow normative are put at a disadvantage. And so, not doing this work is being okay with that and allowing it to continue and allowing all of those students that we care about not having the same access as their peers. Yes, we continue to marginalize students, we continue to spin our wheels trying to fix the wrong thing. The student is not broken. It's not the students that we need to fix, it's the systems that have been in place that we need to disrupt and dissemble. It's important for us to realize that we can't continue to just apply a Band-Aid approach to fixing some systems, some broken systems that we have been a party to for so long and what this work does right now, it allows us to think about how we can commit to authentic Equity implementation in our schools. So it's not just talk it's actually action and it gives us a clear guide to how to implement new systems and to include all staff members in what makes those systems successful and it's not just the job of teachers of color or special education teachers or administrators or District administrators, it is everyone job to reduce marginalization of students and to create systems where all students can learn.

Uploaded by Maria Campbell.

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