Creating Safe Equitable Engaging Schools Introduction
Creating Safe Equitable Engaging Schools Introduction
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Introduction
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David Osher
American Institutes for Research
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creativity while supporting the physical, emotional, and identity safety and
engagement of every student? These are the questions that many educators
try daily to answer. As we discuss in the next section, we now have a unique
opportunity to address them successfully thanks to advances in science,
lessons from practice, and recent legislative policy. We have compiled this
volume to leverage this information and to provide a comprehensive resource
of research-based practices, frameworks, and tools for school leaders and
other professionals who support children and youth in and out of school.
With contributions from experts in a variety of fields who serve as chapter
coauthors, we have designed the book to help you, the professional educa-
tor, address these questions in a practical, strategic way. Our aim is to help
you improve your school and district and accelerate equitable and quality
outcomes—both in the short and long run—no matter how close or far you
currently are from equity with excellence at scale.
This volume builds on a variety of reports and publications produced
by the American Institutes for Research (AIR), notably the 2004 publica-
tion Safe, Supportive, and Successful Schools Step by Step.2 It is also based on the
editors’ and coauthors’ extensive experience, including our ongoing work
with urban, suburban, rural, and frontier schools and with districts, states,
and agencies in every US state and territory. Our experience includes both
consultation and technical assistance with schools, districts, agencies, and
states as well as evaluation research and synthesis activities to identify and
apply what we know about supporting student, educator, school, and system
capacity so that every student is engaged and thrives—both educationally and
as a whole person. We have discovered a great need for a single resource that
helps educators think strategically about what it takes to create schools that
support deep learning and well-being for all students, that makes sense of
all the existing programs and frameworks, and that provides a road map as
well as recommended tools. This book intends to do exactly that.
Youth
In countless conversations in schools and in forums, youth have told us what
they need from adults in order to thrive. These conversations have enriched
our thinking and undergird much of the advice in this book. Here is some
of what they say:
You see me as you want to. If all you see is a stereotype, then you shall
never know me, but you will forever know who I am not. (Langston, an
African American high school senior from New England)
You don’t know me; you just see me. You don’t even give me a chance.
(Melissa, a seventeen-year-old Caucasian high school student)
I am the one people expect less of, the underachiever, the dropout. No,
I think not. But I am the one who had to go against all stereotypes,
mean and dirty looks, and much worse. (José, a Mexican American youth
advocate who dropped out of a California high school)
Know students’ names, and call them by their names; know what em-
barrasses them, and never embarrass them. (Mexican American student
activists from Texas, when asked what teachers can do to make classes work)
We are not afraid of challenge and hard work, because our teachers
“have our backs.” (African American high school students responding to the
question, “Are you ever pushed too hard?”)
We are happy when we have a sense of belonging. (Caucasian 4-H youth
when asked, “What makes you happy?”)
Teachers
Teachers, who work most directly with children and youth, have also in-
formed this volume. Here is one teacher’s story from Mary Cathryn D. Ricker,
a little more comfortable; but now that her son was thirteen, he didn’t
get to stay in the “women’s and children’s” side anymore. He had to
stay in the men’s side. He wasn’t getting much sleep, so he would sleep
when he was with her. There was a student whose work started to drop
off after a strong start to the school year. When I called home, I found
out the student’s older sister had recently been convicted of a crime
and sent to jail. Her mom said they had all been struggling with the
situation at home. One Monday, a student came to school and walked
into homeroom with his wrist cupped in his opposite hand. He came
up to me, showed me his wrist—which was blue, purple, black, and
about three sizes larger than it should have been—and asked, “Ms.
Ricker, my mom wanted me to ask you if I could see the nurse this
morning to take a look at my thumb?” His family had no health in-
surance. His mother had kept him as comfortable as she could all
weekend with ice, over-the-counter pain relievers, and her constant at-
tention. The school nurse was his urgent care center.
How do we create school environments that support the learning
and development of the whole child with these and other barriers to
learning and development? What conditions need to be in place so
that I can successfully meet the academic needs of students while be-
ing present and mindful of the social and emotional needs of students
as well? How can we assure those professionals that they are not ex-
pected to do this alone and that there is an entire school community
collaborating toward successfully meeting the needs of our students?
That our talents in isolation may be impressive, but our talents in con-
cert with those of our colleagues are unstoppable? How do we amplify
the professional voices of those of us hired because of our expertise at
meeting the needs of students? What are the most meaningful ways of
collaborating with our students, their families, and our surrounding
community to create safe and supportive spaces that engage learners
and their families for the most successful outcomes possible?
We start this book featuring the voices of students and teachers because
they are essential to driving equity with excellence and must be at the center
of school improvement. We could also begin with pupil services personnel,
who work hard to provide students with individual support, but often feel
Building equity with excellence is important for our children, our commu-
nities, and ourselves. It is not an easy task. But it can be and is being done.
This book is intended to help you do this work in a sustainable manner—
collaboratively, respectfully, and strategically.
Osher
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