A Different Way to Do Equity Conversations

 

Educators are pulled in different directions by competing demands. Here’s how busy educators can introduce equity conversations to their routines. 

 
 
 
 

In 2001, I started my education career as a school psychologist. One of my school assignments was at a special education hub. Schools like these are called “hubs” because they have lots of specialized programs. They serve students who have unique and sometimes rare education and health needs. 

Because the needs of students in these programs were complex, it was common to assemble specialists to design programs for these students. Sometimes, there were a lot of specialists. 

With so many people on the team, coordinating meetings became an important part of my job. Generally speaking, I was pretty good at it. I could coordinate calendars with the best of them. But on one occasion, I made the mistake all special educators dread. 

On the day of a big meeting, a team of ten people gathered around a large conference table to begin planning a student’s program. As the big hand on the clock neared the meeting’s start time, the small talk dwindled and all eyes turned toward me. After greeting everyone I asked, “Are we waiting for anyone else?” Someone to my right responded with words that gave me a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach: “We’re just waiting for the parent.” 

I had committed the worst mistake of special education meeting coordination: I forgot to invite the parent!

An Underrated Super Power

As it turned out, we got the parents there and accomplished good things for the student. But if you participate in meetings like the one I’m describing, you likely felt a combination of embarrassment, dread, and judgment. 

That’s because as an educator, you have a highly underrated super power: the ability to use routines to accomplish complex processes with astonishing consistency. You know the routines I mean. The ones that help you organize classroom plans for students with a wide variety of needs. The ones that help you organize meetings with many members on a weekly basis (my own embarrassing mistake notwithstanding). This superpower is so ingrained in us that we panic upon hearing a story about forgetting the parent at an important planning meeting. 

How can we use our ability to stick to routines when we lead conversations about equity in our schools? Let’s take the topic of monthly meetings as an example. 

“That’s because as an educator, you have a highly underrated super power: the ability to use routines to accomplish complex processes with astonishing consistency.”

Go For Consistency

Imagine you’re charged with leading conversations about suspension rates at your school district. Your instinct might be to schedule a meeting with staff about suspensions. But consider an alternate route: ditch the idea of a new meeting and instead update the standing agenda of an existing meeting. 

Here are some reasons why you’d want to update an existing monthly meeting agenda instead of adding a new meeting. 

First, educators already have a lot of meetings. When you update one of these regular meetings with an agenda item about suspensions, you avoid adding another meeting to calendars that are already bursting at the seams with appointments. 

Second, you get quality content in front of your audience more frequently. If you lead a conversation about suspension rates at each monthly meeting, you’re engaging your audience twelve times per year. Compare that to quarterly meetings or worse, annual meetings. As a bonus, talking about suspensions once a month reduces the time between discussions, which creates continuity in planning. 

Third, frequent discussions about difficult things creates practice for—you guessed it— discussions about difficult things. Discussing suspension policies and how to improve them is no easy task. It can get uncomfortable—few of us enjoy owning our part in suspension practices that contribute to unequal outcomes. But we can get better at having these conversations by having them regularly. It helps us build trust and safety into our routines. And when trust and safety exist, productive collaboration is right around the corner. 

Time to Act

Try it! This month, pick one meeting where you set the agenda. During that meeting, add a new standing item about equity. It could be about reviewing data disaggregated by student groups. It could be about sharing an article, study, or equity resource. However you do it, take it slow and go for consistency over a big event. Even a well-prepared fifteen minute agenda item can be the start of a culture where discussions about equity are the norm, not the exception. 

Need help or a thought partner for organizing regular equity discussions? We’re here for you! Contact Adrianne Bautista to set an appointment with one of the ED&D Executive Consultants. We can’t wait to work with you! 

 
 
 
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