Expanding Racial Consciousness
Colorado Staff Development Council
April 10, 2008
Scott Capron
Rob Nickerson
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Learning Goals:
 Explore how the dynamics of
student’s race and racial self identity
impact learning

Examine how teachers’ consciousness
about race and racial self-identity
impact their effectiveness
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Learning Goals:
 Explore frameworks and structures
for schools to become more culturally
responsive

Examine staff development strategies
that support educators in closing
achievement gaps
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Building A Community




Be Present
Allow Disequilibrium
Speak Honestly
Walk Away with Understanding and
More Questions
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms


In groups, choose two or three of the
common terms and discuss your
interpretation of them.
How would the teachers in your
school define these terms?
Source: Office of Educational Equity, Jefferson County Public
Schools
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms








Anti-racism
Colorblind
Equity
Ethnicity
Institutional Racism
Race
Racism
White Privilege
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
White Privilege
Institutional and cultural preferential
treatment toward people with
European ancestry over people of
color.

NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Racism
Racial prejudice plus institutional and
systemic power to dominate, exclude,
discriminate against or abuse
targeted groups of people based on a
designation of race.

“System of advantage based on race”
Beverly Daniel Tatum PH.D
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Colorblind
Makes race irrelevant and invisible by
erasing racial categories and ignoring
differences to achieve an illusory
state of equality. A belief in the
sameness of humans can deny the
existence of differences.

NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Anti-racism
Our conscious and deliberate, individual
and collective action that challenges
the impact and perpetuation of
institutional White racial power,
position, and privilege.

NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Ethnicity
A basis for social categories that are
rooted in socially perceived
differences in national origin,
language, and/or religion.

NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Race
A classification of humans created by
Whites which assigns the status
‘White' as the height of human
achievement for the purpose of
maintaining privilege and power.

NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Institutional Racism
The way institutions systematically afford
White people an array of social, political,
and economic advantages, while
marginalizing people of color. These
institutions generate and maintain racial
discrimination, segregation, and
inequalities of opportunity that keep people
of color apart from the mainstream of
American economic and political life.

NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Equity
The state, quality, or ideal of being just,
impartial, and fair.

NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Common Terms
Partner Task:
 Why might it be important to seek
common understanding of vocabulary
when talking about equity with
colleagues?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Practical Idea #1: Another Layer of
Professional Learning
Interview Season
How do we make the Diversity Question
truly important?
What answers do we want to hear?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Interview Questions

What are some ways you worked to
be culturally responsive in your
teaching?

Knowledge and understanding of the
community, culture, and use different
strategies to meet the needs of various
people while maintaining high
expectations for all learners.
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Interview Questions


What do you understand about the
achievement gaps of various racial
groups?
Think of a time when the issue of race
came up in your classroom, how did
you facilitate the conversation?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Colorado Data


Colorado Math and Reading at 3rd and
10th grade disaggregated by race
What do you notice?
Group Task:
 Share 2 observations per slide
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
3rd Grade CSAP Reading
Colorado 2007
80
72
68
70
55
60
55
50
50
%Unsat
%Pprof
40
30
20
10
17
2
6
9
19
16
2
2
5
10
0
Am Indian
Asian
Black
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
White
%Prof
%Adv
10th Grade CSAP Reading
Colorado 2007
80
67
70
61
60
50
46
50
%Unsat
%Pprof
%Prof
%Adv
44
40
30
20
17
13
12
10
31
30
28
4
18
15
14
7
3
2
4
0
Am Ind
Asian
Black
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
White
12
3rd Grade CSAP Math
Colorado 2007
46
50
4139
39
40
34
33
37 38
36
33
30
20
%Unsat
% PProf
12
16
15
10
17
13
14
17
11
4
%Adv
3
0
Am Indian
Asian
Black
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
%Prof
White
10th Grade CSAP Math
Colorado 2007
57
60
50
47
40
35
31
31
30
20
10
55
36
32
31
27
23
22
14
11
10
2
10
1
7
1
0
Am Indian
Asian
Black
%Unsat
%Pprof
%Prof
%Adv
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
White
Data Reflection
Partner Conversation:
 What are some factors that contribute
to this data?

What would your colleagues say?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Avoidance Responses

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Poverty
Family
Language
Mobility
What about……..race?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
SAT Achievement Scores
Average Scores by parental income and race/ethnicity
San Francisco Exam iner, June 7, 1998
1200
1050
1000
899
711
972
904
853
818
800
949
933 925
995
781
810
778
737
666
600
400
200
0
Below $20,000
$20-40,000
Black
$40-60,000
Latino
White
Asian
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Above $60,000
Race


Why not talk about race?
How do we keep the conversation
about race and data real?
Partner Task:
 How do you identify yourself?
(1 minute per person)
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
“The key here is not the kind of instruction
but the attitude underlying it. When
teachers do not understand the potential
of the students they teach, they will
underteach them no matter what the
methodology.”
Lisa Delpit
Practical Idea #2: Another Layer of
Professional Learning
Study Group which Evolves to Action
Leadership

Example: Read “Why Do All the Black
Kids Sit Together in the Cafeteria” by
Beverly Daniel Tattum
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Self Identity
The psychological construct of an
individual to determine identity based
on race in a larger social context. For
adolescents, this identity develops in
response to messages from peers,
adults, family, the media, and the
community at large.
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Self Identity
Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in
the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatum
 Defining Racism
 Multiple Identities
 Identity Development in Adolescence
 Understanding Racial Identity Development
 Developing a healthy sense of white
identity
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Self Identity
Text Based Protocol
 Part I



Read your assigned excerpt
Look for two major ideas
Part II


Gather in a group where all 6 excerpts
are represented
Share the major ideas
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Self Identity
Table Group Conversation: Connections
to our schools
 Do we nurture a positive racial self
identity for our students?
 What do we need to think about as
we nurture positive racial identity in
our students?
 How might we encourage teachers to
talk about racial self identity?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Practical Idea#3: Another Layer of
Professional Learning
Placement of Students in Programs
(academic and student leadership)
Get involved in the process and ask lots
of questions
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
“Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories
by which we categorize and dismiss each other
need to be excavated from the inside.”
Dorothy Allison
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Summary and Break
Insights from the morning
Hopes for our remaining time together
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Time to take a pulse:


1. Is there anything that has made
you uncomfortable up to this point?
2. What do we do about it?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Practical Idea #4: Another Layer of
Professional Learning
Analyze and review school norms,
policies, and discipline procedures
Are they culturally proficient and
equitable?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Teaching

Teaching and leading in such a way
that more of our students across
more of our differences achieve at a
higher level and engage at a deeper
level more of the time without
fundamentally giving up who they
are.
Source: Office of Educational Equity, Jefferson County Public
Schools
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools
“Cultural Proficiency is a way of being
that enables one to effectively
respond in a variety of cultural
settings to the issues caused by
diversity.”
Source: Cultural Proficiency: A Manual for School Leaders
page 84.
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools
Table Group Conversation: Reflect on
your school and school district
 What programs and practices are you
using to address culturally responsive
teaching?
 Describe the informal and formal
conversations you have about race?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools
Essential Elements of Cultural Proficiency
 Assess Culture: Name the Differences
 Value Diversity: Claim your Differences
 Manage the Dynamics of Difference: Frame
the Conflicts Caused by Differences
 Adapt to Diversity: Change to Make a
Difference
 Institutionalize Cultural Knowledge: Train
About Differences
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools

Essential Elements of Cultural
Proficiency

Table Group Task:

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
Why is this element important?
How would this element ‘look’ and ‘sound’
in your school?
What is the first step towards making this
element a reality?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools

Essential Elements of Cultural
Proficiency

Whole Group Task:



Why is this element important?
How would this element ‘look’ and ‘sound’
in your school?
What is the first step towards making this
element a reality?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools

Background of the Continuum

Highlight each descriptor

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Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
Cultural
destructiveness
Incapacity
Blindness
Pre-competence
Competence
Proficiency
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools
How do you respond to elevate
consciousness? What questions do you
ask?
“Why
can’t those kids just act
normal?”
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools
How do you respond to elevate
consciousness? What questions do you
ask?
“All
they want to do is talk to each
other in their own language. I
know they are talking about me.
I make them stop.”
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools
How do you respond to elevate
consciousness? What questions do you
ask?
“I
know that those kids don’t pay
any attention to time, so I let
them come in late.”
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Culturally Responsive Tools
How do you respond to elevate
consciousness? What questions do you
ask?
“For
the students with extended
absences for family reasons, we
are designing a re – entry
program.”
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Practical Idea #5: Another Layer of
Professional Learning
Evaluation Cycle – an opportunity to ask
questions about interactions with
students.
Do we truly promote high expectations
and assets based approach?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Perspectives in Literature
Learning Goals:
 Explore racial perspectives in
literature to make connections with
our students of color.

Investigate literature as a strategy for
staff development
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Perspectives in Literature

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



Joseph Bruchac
Sandra Cisneros
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Langston Hughes
Walter Dean Myers
Tu-Uyen Nguyen
Sherman Alexie
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Perspectives in Literature
Process:
 Read your piece of literature
 Respond to guiding questions
 Prepare a presentation
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Perspectives in Literature
Read and Reflect on these Questions:



What messages do you hear in the voice of the
author?
What new connections do you make with the
message and someone at school?
How does the literature inform us about the
impact of race on student achievement?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Perspectives in Literature
Prepare a 2 Minute Presentation for the
Group
Choose a powerful excerpt from your
literature selection that carries the
voice
As you read it, physically demonstrate it
through motion or still pose
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Racial Perspectives in Literature
Whole Group:
 How does exploring literature help us
connect to students?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Summary
Dyads:
 As we think about today and what we
have heard and talked about:



What insights have we gained about our
schools, our students, and our racial
consciousness?
What are possibilities for moving
forward?
What is your commitment for personal
learning and action at school?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Feedback and Thank You


Please provide feedback on our
session today and leave it at your
table
Thank you for your conversation,
time, and commitment
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness

Additional slides section
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
Gathering a sense of the group.
Respond to one of the following questions.
Table Group:
 1. Does racism exists in our schools?
 2. Do we have evidence that racial selfidentity impacts learning?
 3. Do teachers’ lens of race impact student
success?
 4. Does the cultural structure of schools
impact students of color?
 5. Is it important to talk about the concepts
and nuances of racism?
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
3rd Grade CSAP Reading
Colorado 2006
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
72
70
56
51
49
20
17
3
Am Indian
6
7
Asian
%Unsat
%Pprof
20
2
Black
2
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
6
8
White
%Prof
%Adv
10th Grade CSAP Reading
Colorado 2006
70
62
60
54
52
50
45
40
40
32
31
27
30
20
20
11
10
5
21
17
17
16
8
4
3
15
5
0
Am Ind
Asian
Black
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
White
%Unsat
%Pprof
%Prof
%Adv
3rd Grade CSAP Math
Colorado 2006
50
42
44
4142
37
34
40
30
35
39
38
%Unsat
30
% PProf
17
20
14
11
10
16
13
13
15
12
3
%Adv
3
0
Am Indian
Asian
Black
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
%Prof
White
10th Grade CSAP Math
Colorado 2006
57
60
50
40
44
37
36
32
30
20
10
55
38
33
31
29
22
21
14
%Unsat
%Pprof
%Prof
%Adv
10
2
10
10
0
6
1
0
Am Indian
Asian
Black
Hispanic
NSDC: Capron and Nickerson:
Expanding Racial Consciousness
White