Three Ways You Can Join Our Community
How does anyone find themselves in a position to lead and contribute to the education of our students the way Oliver has? There’s not one answer, but I’m struck by his story, which can be summarized like this: Oliver has worked more jobs in education than anyone I know.
If you’ve worked in education as long as I have, you’ve heard a lot of stories about how people found their way to the field. I’ve heard lots of these stories, but there’s one in particular that stuck with me.
It’s about a special education director—let’s call him Oliver. Oliver is accomplished in all the ways you’d want a director to be: he’s respected by his peers, trusted by the community, and in touch with the teachers in his school district.
How does anyone find themselves in a position to lead and contribute to the education of our students the way Oliver has? There’s not one answer, but I’m struck by his story, which can be summarized like this: Oliver has worked more jobs in education than anyone I know. He understands schools because he’s participated in them in so many ways: as a student, as a classroom aide, as a school psychologist, as middle management, as a service provider, and now as a director.
Simply put, the field of education made space for Oliver to contribute in the way that was right for him at every point of his career.
ED&D’s Three Levels of Involvement
As the Equity, Disproportionality & Design Project crosses the halfway point of its grant, our team has been thinking hard about how to reach as many educators in California as we can. We want to give everyone opportunities to contribute to our mission of preventing disproportionality and promoting equity in schools.
“We don’t need to find new ways for you, our community members, to participate. Instead, we have to notice and celebrate all the meaningful ways you’re already participating. ”
Since 2019, our team has met countless inspirational educators who want to make a difference. And as we reflected more, we noticed something about how we’ve been working.
We don’t need to find new ways for you, our community members, to participate. Instead, we have to notice and celebrate all the meaningful ways you’re already participating.
We see activity in the ED&D community falling in three categories. Members of all three groups contribute meaningfully. And community members can choose to move from group to group based on the level of activity that is right for them at any moment.
Conversation Group
The first group, the Conversation group, is our largest group. These folks receive information and resources about equity and disproportionality from us, mainly through our newsletter. The conversation group helps promote equity by exploring their own awareness about equity in schools. They also help grow our community by sharing resources with friends and family.
Collaborator Group
The second group, the Collaborator group, is next. Like the Conversation group, this group receives information and resources through our newsletter. But they also take action using the materials we send them. Taking action could be as simple as regularly forwarding our monthly emails to friends. It could also mean signing up for one of our equity data literacy trainings or MTSS workshops.
Contributor Group
And finally, the Contributor group. These are our most active community members. They regularly participate in the development of our services through early adoption of training materials, testing new features for our equity data tool, or giving feedback on early versions of talks.
However you contribute to the Equity, Disproportionality & Design community, thank you for all you do. If you want to know how you can do more, email us and let’s brainstorm together.
You Choose. It All Matters
We want to honor you, the members of our community, no matter how small or big the contribution. And we know that as demands on your time change, your participation in our mission will also change.
However you contribute to the Equity, Disproportionality & Design community, thank you for all you do. If you want to know how you can do more, email us and let’s brainstorm together.
Wherever you are in your education career, we want to offer you what the education system offered Oliver: the freedom to participate in the way that’s right for you in any given moment.