Education Equity Summit: Reopen, Reinvest and Reimagine Schools that Successfully Serve Students with Intersectional Identities
Education Equity Summit: Reopen, Reinvest and Reimagine Schools that Successfully Serve Students with Intersectional Identities
At the beginning of the year, DRC hosted the Education Equity Summit which brought together several federal and state officers and public policy thought leaders to discuss education equity for the most marginalized students: African American, Indigenous, Latinx students with disabilities.
Our keynote speakers included: Catherine Lhamon, Assistant Secretary, Office of Civil Rights, Valerie Williams, Director, Office of Special Education, and Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President, California State Board of Education. The discussion largely focused on how education policy and practices should respond to long-standing disparities in educational resources.
Summit attendees shared common expectations of what education equity means including:
- A diverse, impassioned, highly trained cadre of teachers who are prepared to meet the needs of all students, disabled and non-disabled;
- An education system that is relationship-driven, restorative and culturally responsive;
- Schools that adapt to the needs of its students and not the other way around;
- Innovation, which requires us to “stop doing what does not work” (Marvin Mitchell);
- Inclusion that is student-specific, i.e., students who are deaf may need to be in deaf schools with deaf instructors to be included;
- The erasure of Native American students must end now;
- A new education system that equitably serves disabled students and students of color will be universally designed to meet all needs; and
- Disabled students must be able to see themselves represented in the system to enjoy real inclusion in education and employment.
Video 1: Opening Remarks, Land Acknowledgement and Governor Newsom Address
Video 2: Fireside Chat: How Can School/LEAs Ensure Equity is at the Center of All Education Policies and Practices.
Panelists:
Catherine Lhamon, Assistant Secretary, Office of Civil Rights
Valerie Williams, Director, Office of Special Education Programs
Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President, California State Board of Education
Facilitator:
Candis Bowles, Associate Director, Disability Rights California
Video 3: Panel Presentation: One School – A Vision of Schools In Which African American, Native American, Latinx, Deaf and Disabled Students Thrive
Panelists:
Dr. Michele Bowers, California Association of African American Superintendents & Administrators
Alexis DeLaCruz, Native American Disability Law Center
Sharon Gough, Southern California Asian Deaf Association
Zandra Jo Galvan, California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators
Marvin Mitchell, Urban Collaboratives Consultant
Christine Olmstead, Associate Superintendent Educational Services Orange County DOE (MTSS)
Facilitator:
Oscar Lopez, Senior Attorney, Disability Rights California
Video 4: Fireside Chat: After Education – The Path to Meaningful Competitive Employment
Panelists:
Taryn Williams, Assistant Secretary, Office of Disability Employment Policy
Michael Gamel-McCormick, Disability Policy Director, Office of Senator Bob Casey
Facilitator:
Callie Frye, Advocacy & Community Engagement Advocate, Disability Rights California