Education for Life Means Education for All
In 2018 The New Teacher Project published “The Opportunity Myth,” which reported that many students across the United States, especially children of color, those from low-income families, English language learners, and students with mild to moderate disabilities, spend most of their time in school without access to four key resources: grade-appropriate assignments, strong instruction, deep engagement, and teachers who hold high expectations. FirstLine is working to address all four of these needs so that our students get the education they need to succeed. We are actively training our teachers to break this cycle of inequity and mediocrity because we know that greater access to these four key resources improves student achievement – especially for students who start the school year behind.
A research study involving black parents of New Orleans students in 2012 revealed concerns about race-based microaggressions they experienced in schools, including low expectations for black children, issues that TNTP’s Opportunity Myth study has confirmed. Parents were concerned about inappropriate faculty disciplinary responses to age-appropriate student behaviors, a general misunderstanding of cultural values, poor knowledge by staff of New Orleans’ black history and educational values, assumptions that New Orleans parents are largely uneducated, and the lack of culturally relevant curriculum. They wished to see school leadership proactively discuss racial socialization, the role of race, and the impact of racism on black children.
Diverse groups of FirstLine staff began to engage in conversations about race during the summer of 2016, when African American male fatalities at the hands of police dominated the news. We knew we needed to hear one another’s stories and experience with race and inequity in order to understand and better serve our students and their families. Out of these ongoing conversations, some facilitated by organizations devoted to racial healing, including the National Equity Project, and most recently, Beloved Community, FirstLine developed its Community Commitments, specific ways of working together based on shared values. The Commitments include promises to speak with honesty and respect, to give and receive feedback, to listen and understand different perspectives, to hold ourselves and others accountable, to keep ourselves and others physically and emotionally safe, to share joy, and to do what it takes to serve others. The Commitments guide our work, putting race, equity, and inclusion at the center of FirstLine’s vision and strategic plan to prepare students for college, fulfilling careers, and healthy lives by nurturing them in mind, body, and spirit. FirstLine’s leaders, who have had a year-long training experience in race and equity, are now working to develop staff so we may transcend racial bias and give our students the education they deserve.
In 2018 FirstLine contracted with Beloved Community, an organization that has demonstrated success in transforming a majority minority school into one that serves a socio-economically diverse student population, to help us transform Samuel J. Green Charter School into a learning community that reflects socio-economic, ethnic, linguistic, and geographic diversity. In 2019 Beloved Community also conducted an equity audit on our organization and is helping us create strategies to address areas of concern. FirstLine has begun offering regular sessions focused on race and equity in our network professional development days, now engaging all FirstLine employees in exploring these issues that are critical for our students’ success.
