#MCTMequity – A Call To Action
Sara Van Der Werf
Teacher, Minneapolis South High School
MCTM President
As I enter my second and last year as MCTM’s President, I feel drawn to come before you as a white woman who has worked in a large urban school district for 25 years to say I have a lot to learn. I have yet to meet the educational needs of all my students. The data of the state screams this fact. The data from my district and own classroom support this fact. More importantly day in and day out my gut knows that I do not yet have the skills necessary to assure all students are successful in my classroom. This does not depress me. Knowing this I do not look outward to place blame or make excuses. Knowing I have more to learn motivates me and continues to empower my drive to learn and build a community of educators, leaders and community members around me that I can learn from. I am writing today asking you to join me in LISTENING, LEARNING, ASKING QUESTIONS and LISTENING TO THE ANSWERS in 2016-2017.
A year and a half ago, MCTM wrote a strategic plan & created tasks forces around two large areas our organization recognized as needing greater attention. The first area of our strategic plan is related to Instructional Practice (our teachers are well educated on best practices, yet little change have been made inside individual classrooms in the last 20 years, this task force is looking at how to change this). The second goal of MCTM’s strategic plan is around Equity and a Task force led by Nicole Bridge and Barb Everhart began meeting and planning a year ago. Nicole Bridge is following her husband out east this summer and we are happy Lesa Clarkson has joined Barb Everhart as co-chairs of the Equity Task Force. Both task forces are engaged in phenomenal work that will be highlighted over the next few years in MathBits, MCTM’s conferences as well as other areas– stay tuned for more.
At the 2016 Duluth Conference, I closed the conference by announcing our 2017 Keynote speakers, Jose Vilson and Pam Harris. I am so excited to hear from both. Both are dynamic speakers and both have the ear of the national math audience. As I thought about both of these speakers joining us in a year my desire was not for their visit to be a one-time event but that we would start now in continuing a journey to preparing ourselves to learn from each of them. My wish was to connect their keynotes to the work of MCTM’s task forces. As the conference closed, I gave a Call to Action related to Equity and to prepare us for what Jose Vilson will share and challenge us to do more of in our classrooms a year from now. I want to share this call with you below and at the end of this article ask that you will join me in committing yourself to Listening, Learning, Asking Questions and Listening to the Answers between now and the 2017 Duluth Conference Let’s make this the year the Minnesota Math teachers get serious about pushing ourselves in continuing our journey to meet the needs of all our students, but particularly our students of color.
I hesitated to give this call as a white, middle age, middle income woman. I, like you, worry that I will say the wrong thing. I worry I may offend. If I am honest I worry that I will reveal my hidden biases. I care so much about all my students and work so hard every day, like we all do, and this leaves me emotionally raw day in and day out. This means when someone comments on my work with my students, especially with my students of color, I find myself immediately putting up my defenses and planning how I will justify what I do. I find it a struggle to stop and listen first, to be open to voices that bring a lens to my work with students. I say this out loud because I know I am not alone in feeling this way. Our conversations about race & education rarely result in meaningful actions that move us forward. My belief is this is because we put so much effort into talking about anything except for the large invisible elephants in the room. We poke at the elephants in our conversation, but as soon as things get difficult we retreat to safer topics. I can’t do this anymore. I am committed to speaking my truth out loud. I am committed to being vulnerable. I am alright in the knowledge I may make mistakes. I am willing to apologize and I am hopeful others will be patient with me. I am committed to seeking advice from the numerous teachers and leaders of color that I know from around our state (thank you to all of those of you who have already given me your advice). I am committed to being uncomfortable. My students deserve it. I am committed to continue listening. I am committed to continue learning. I am committed to asking questions but more importantly listening to the answers.
MCTM’s 2016-17 Equity Call to Action:
Let’s start our discussion around facts.
- Fact 1: 96% of Minnesota Teachers are White. I am not sure how this breaks down for
mathematics teachers in MN, but I suspect our numbers are closer to 98% white. Why do I share this number with you? We, Minnesota mathematics teachers, cannot grow in the area of equity by just talking about this with our teaching peers. Most of us join this conversation coming from the same backgrounds. We can’t see our hidden biases. The data tells us that we are not making any movement in meeting the needs of our students of color. What makes us think we can figure it out on our own? We need to shake things up and listen and learn from others. Source: Minnesota Education Equity Partnership (2015)
- Fact 2:
There are vast differences in the data between our white students and our students of color. The graph above has looked the same year after year. We need to do something to change t
his. I have shown graphs similar to the ones above to many people in the last 10+ years. Always I hear the same thing, the differences in results is because of POVERTY. Always we go to excuses and explanations outside of ourselves. It is time for us to look at the data deeper. Are the differences connected to poverty?
- Fact 3: Yes, poverty does explain some of the differences in the data. See the graph below broken out by Free and Reduced Lunch Status of Students. Our students receiving free and reduced lunch are performing at lower rates than those that do not receive these services. Poverty does impact proficiency. What you also should notice is the same general shape (represented by the red lines) in the differences in the results of students of color still exist.
- Fact 4: Race Matters. If you straighten out the red lines showing the differences on the graph below and look at just 2 of the bars you will see a fact that should challenge all of us. The MCA Math proficiency rates for black students NOT on Free and Reduced Lunch are essentially the same as the proficiency rates of white students who DO RECEIVE Free and Reduced Lunch. Poverty does not explain everything. Race Matters.
These graphs should challenge us that we must do something different in the state of Minnesota, that we have something to learn. I say this not to blame any of us. I say this not wanting any of us to make excuses. I simply come before you and ask that you will join me in 2016-2017 to being open to four things.
- Listening
- Learning
- Asking Questions
- Listening to the Answers
If you are willing to join me and other MCTM members in these 4 things, keep reading for next steps and how MCTM will support you this year.
Summer 2016 Resources – A place to start! Join me in one or more of the following:
- Make a commitment of the amount of time you will spend each month Listening, Learning, Asking Questions and Listening to the Answers by filling out this short google form. By submitting this form, you will receive approximately 1-2 emails a month with resources and information to support you in your journey.
- Learn about what is happening by reading the 2016 State of Students of Color and American Indian Students Report It is 60 pages. That’s a lot of pages, but seeing what the Minnesota Education Equity Partnership http://mneep.org/
- Listen to the voices of educators of color by following educators using the hastag #educolor on Twitter. Visit EduColor’s Website, follow Educolor on Twitter @EduColorMVMT and Follow EduColor’s Members on Twitter (For sure follow these 3 math teachers: Jose Vilson (one of our 2017 Keynote Speakers), Rafranz Davis, and Ilana Horn)
- Learn from EduColor’s list of resources. The have one of the best list of Books, Movies, Articles, Websites and more to learn more. Commit to reading one book this summer. OR Commit to watching a movie, reading every article linked or visiting websites they recommend.
- Listen to the voice of Chimamanda Adichie and watch her Ted Talk ‘The Danger of a Single Story’. Even if you’ve seen it before, watch it again. This should be something we all watch 2-4 times a year.
- Go to twitter and search the hashtag #MCTMequity. Read what others have posted. Tweet out your questions using the hashtag. Listen to the answers.
Post Script: On a personal note, I am continually working on naming the privilege my whiteness affords me in life and as a math educator. This event happened this week to a fellow mathematician. 96% of Minnesota’s math teachers can rest assured this will not happen to us. Our white-privilege affords us this safety. Read more HERE.
Google Form Link for MCTM Equity Call to Action: http://goo.gl/forms/s9n0heBdNj