Community in Action – Lower School
The aims of our DEIJ work in the Lower School are many-fold:
- To intentionally support the healthy identity development of all students,
- To enable all students to feel culturally sustained by their school experience,
- To make it possible for all students, employees, and families to experience a consistent sense of ownership–beyond inclusion, beyond belonging–in the school community,
- To equip students with the understandings and skills that they need鈦犫攔ight now and into the future鈦犫攖o make sense of an unequal world and work together to change it in age-appropriate ways,
- To make it possible for all students to develop a sense of individual empowerment as well as a deep appreciation for the interdependence of communities, both of which are ultimately key for social change,
- To support the adults in the community to work together to dismantle the systemic inequities in our institution,
- And to provide shared experiences, language, and sense of purpose for parents/guardians and employees.
To be effective, we know that our DEIJ work must infuse every part of the community simultaneously. It must be deep, comprehensive, and interconnected. With this in mind, we have devoted ourselves to four related areas: teaching and learning, identity and affinity programming, professional development, and parent/guardian engagement.
The 91探花 DEI Strategic Plan of 2019 ushered in a new phase of DEIJ work in the Lower School. In 2020, the Lower School convened a group of faculty, staff, administrators, and parents/guardians to implement the recommendations from the DEI Strategic Plan as well as feedback generously given by current and past community members whose identities have been marginalized at 91探花. This Implementation Team worked on a weekly basis throughout the 2020-21 school year and continues its work today. Below are some of the major initiatives currently being implemented in the four areas of focus:
Key Initiatives
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Promotes Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Island cultures through weekly meetings and activities. In addition to their regular meetings, the Asian Society supports production of the Loose Leaf student publication and engages in Boston鈥檚 Chinatown on a regular basis, tutoring and providing English support.
Faculty advisors: Nicole Darling and Vivian Wu Wong
Teaching and Learning
- The Lower School has launched a comprehensive DEIJ curriculum K-5, which addresses each of the 20 Social Justice Standards outlined by the organization 鈥淟earning for Justice鈥 in each grade level. This curriculum focuses on several key areas of Elementary DEIJ learning, including anti-bias concepts and skills, racial literacy, and social justice.
- Weekly time has been set aside in the K-5 schedules for this curriculum.
- Faculty and administrators are working together to connect the DEIJ curriculum with students鈥 learning experiences in social studies, Specials classes, reading, writing, and mathematics.
Identity and Affinity Programming
- The Lower School offers a robust student affinity group program, scheduled during the school day, that seeks to engage all K鈥5 students in age-appropriate activities related to healthy identity development. During this rollout, the Lower School has engaged parents/guardians and employees in multiple checkpoints, to ensure that all adults in our community fully understand the purposes of the student affinity program and why it is so essential for all Lower School students.
- The 2021 Summer Read for parents/guardians and employees provided a collection of articles, videos, podcasts, and an FAQ all focused on affinity programming for elementary students.
- Passport, available to students in grades K-2, offers a chance to explore diverse cultures with curiosity and respect. The group uses a wide range of primary sources, including games, clothing, music, art, dance, and performances, to immerse children in various cultures and perspectives. This approach encourages students to expand their horizons and view the world as a shared community beyond their own “backyard.”
Professional Development
- Lower School faculty, staff, and administrators have engaged in several forms of professional development designed to prepare them to facilitate student affinity groups and implement DEIJ curriculum effectively in the classroom.
- Dr. Sharon Ravitch, professor of education at UPenn and creator of Flux Pedagogy, supported LS employees in the areas of racial literacy, brave space pedagogy, and radical compassion.
- Dr. Charlotte Jacobs, professor of education at UPenn, shared her research on the experiences of BIPOC children in predominantly white institutions and supported employees to develop specific skills to create a more inclusive, equitable, and just learning community.
- Jaci Nelson, DEIJ Practitioner, has provided a series of affinity group facilitator trainings for all LS employees.
- Lower School faculty, staff, and administrators also engage in adult affinity groups. In addition to being essential for our employees in their own right, the adult affinity groups also give them firsthand experience with being a participant in an affinity group and insight into the experiences of our students as they participate in their own affinity groups.
- Faculty and Staff engage in a variety of K-12 professional development opportunities both internally focused on student development in the areas of academics, social-emotional learning, and engagement.
Parent/Guardian Engagement
The Parent/Guardian DEIJ Leadership Subcommittee is composed of 91探花 parents/guardians who dedicate their time in collaboration with the administration to advancing DEIJ work in the community. The group of committed individuals has informed policy decisions and provided opportunities for family engagement through events and educational events. All are welcome to join.
- With a focus on parent engagement, the Lower School has been able to provide multiple checkpoints for parents to understand the purposes of DEIJ work in the Lower School, especially as it relates to their children. These checkpoints have included grade-level parent meetings, parent virtual coffees, and speaker series. We will be able to continue to offer checkpoints throughout this school year.
- Parents and administrators have collaborated to design a multifaceted set of structures for parent engagement, enabling parents to participate in a mix of small and large group meetings, interactive sessions and presentations from experts, volunteer-based work and whole community conversations.
- Thanks to the leadership of current LS parents during the 2020-21 school year, the Lower School has also been able to significantly expand the core group of parents dedicated to advancing DEIJ work in the LS community.
Leadership
Matthew Cobb-Ferrara
Lower and Middle School Director of Equity and Inclusion
(he/him)
