Conversations about equity in schools continue to be of interest and importance. We notice these conversations often focus on related cultural, political, and social prescriptions, via specific curricula and programs for adults and students. We wonder about other approaches to thinking about equity.
Rob Riordan, President Emeritus, High Tech High's Graduate School of Education, is an amazing mentor, an active GLP collaborator, and a dear friend. His wisdom, his innate sense of what is good for all learners (adults and children), and his ability to convey complex ideas in ways that can be understood in the mind, realized in the work, and felt inside the soul, make him a lighthouse to all of us who wish to make schools, learning, and education better for all. He helps educators explore questions that bring equity to life, such as:
How can we use peer critique to develop a culture of collaboration in our classrooms?
How can we increase students’ sense of agency in mathematics?
How can we cultivate a sense of belonging and strengthen peer networks among boys of color so that they experience academic success?
Rob's wisdom is like magic we need to capture and bottle. Here's a little bit of that magic in a follow-up comment Rob wrote on the Sitra website in relationship to a new, open-access book conceived by the Sitra Foundation and published by Palgrave Macmillan entitled: Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education. And if Rob's comments whet your appetite (and I imagine they will) please go on to read his chapter:"Schools as Equitable Communities of Inquiry" beautifully co-authored with Stacey Caillier. of High Tech High's Graduate School of Education.
Rob and Stacey offer a slightly different way into thinking about equity -- focusing instead on fundamental questions about how equity in learning actually happens for students and adults -- and how that drives a more sustainable, inclusive community powered by genuine questions and dialogue.
What do you think? We want to hear from you!