Fundamentals of Organizing: Education
Teaching & Discipline
Forms of Organizing

Accepts
existing power
relationships

Challenges
existing
power
relationships
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Direct Action Organizing

Wins real improvements in people’s lives

Makes people aware of their own power

Alters the relationships of Power


NAACP version attacks structural racism
Decision-makers factor NAACP in
beforehand
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Dual Forms of Bias
Individual Bias
Institutional Bias
A teacher who says,
“There’s no way your son could have
written that essay.”
A policy that doesn’t offer advanced
placement courses at a predominantly
Black school., because,
“Those students will never use that
kind of knowledge.”
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Speaking truth to power
• Self Help
• Education
• Advocacy
• Direct Action
• Education
Institutional Bias
Individual Bias
• Direct Service
• Advocacy
• Direct Action
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Our Goals

Put theory into action!

Attack institutional racism in education with a
national campaign for Excellence & Equity
A campaign is a sustained plan for change using
strategies that impact our issues.

Identify issues in agenda

Identify promising strategies

Apply known tactics to each strategy
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Our Issue Agenda
 Improving
Teaching
 Improving
Discipline
 Increasing
Resource Equity
 Ensuring
College & Career Readiness
* All applied to turnaround schools
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Our request – Each unit/branch picks one

Participate in the Campaign for Equity &
Excellence by:

Adopting (at least) one issue area in education

Committing to (at least) one strategy

Targeting turnaround schools

Applying tactics that fit your community

Working to perfect our education organizing capacity
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FOCUS ON TEACHING
FOCUS ON TEACHING
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Teachers who close the achievement gap
1.
fully prepared when they entered
teaching,
2.
had taught for more than two years,
3.
certified in field &/or by National Board
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Strategies to improve teaching

Strategies:

Stronger, More Diverse Pipeline (preparation)
• Tactics: ID future teachers, TEACH grants, residencies

More Mentoring & Coaching (slows turnover)
• Tactics: Lead Teacher, mentoring, new teacher supports

More teachers with Advanced Certification
(certification)
• Tactics: Support for National certification, changes to state
licensing
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Local tactics by function & engagement
Communications Education
(Promote)
(Sensitize,
inform)
Medium
1:1 meetings
Engagement with journalists,
newsletter
articles, feature
issue in a blog
post
Workshops, town
halls, testing,
monitoring data,
conducting
internal research
and surveys
Advocacy
Direct Action
(Influence
(Grassroots
decisionMobilization)
makers/policy)
Phone
individuals,
speak @ school
and board of ed
mtgs; advisory
boards
Hearings,
panels,
candidate
surveys &
scorecards
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Putting it all together – medium engagement

Branches with a medium interest in advanced
certification

Arrange a local media profile (communications)

Conduct & share a survey of teachers(education)

Form an advisory board (advocacy)

Hold a scorecard rally(direct action)
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Putting it all together – escalating tactics

Branches interested in strengthening & diversifying the
teacher pipeline could:

Distribute information about TEACH grants (low,
education)

Appeal to the school board for incentives (med,
advocacy)

Raise funds & challenge board to supplement
TEACH grants (high, direct action)
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Strategy Chart
Constituents, Allies and
Opponents’
Targets
Tactics
Constituents = those
directly affected by the
issue;
folks we can get to do
things for us
Primary Target = has what you
want & wouldn’t otherwise
give it to you
Always an individual
Educational = target needs
info on facts, situation or
impacts
Allies = supporters,
sympathizers;
extra strength
Secondary Target = has power
over target but we have power
over them
Use only if primary won’t
budget
Power= target needs
motivation by threat, fear of
losing something
Must go outside their
experience & get their
attention
Opponents = those who’ll
actively organize against
us;
recognize and move on;
can be moved to allies
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Wrap-up
 Group
Q
debrief
&A
 Evaluation
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Thanks for participating!
tbethglenn@naacpnet.org
410-580-5104 (direct)
410-358-3385 (fax)