Claiming a city—or a school—is inclusive doesn’t make it so, said Angela Ward, the supervisor of race and equity programs in the Austin Independent school district. Building environments where everyone feels valued and supported takes a commitment to challenging, thoughtful work, she believes.
Ward, 46, also oversees the district’s restorative practices, an alternative to traditional forms of discipline that teaches students to talk through their problems and experiences. The aim is to build stronger relationships in classrooms and to lessen the use of exclusionary discipline, like suspensions, which are issued to black students at disproportionately high rates. That program recently won a $3.5 million federal grant, which will allow researchers to evaluate its effects.
LESSONS FROM THE LEADER
- Race Matters: Understand the socio-political impacts of institutional racism on your ability to shift the outcomes of marginalized students. Awareness is consciousness and a critical consciousness creates opportunity for reflective dialogue.
- Listen to Students: Acknowledge the authenticity of youth and value their perspective on their schooling experiences. Create opportunities for them to use their voice to inform school and district-level decisionmaking.
- Collaboration Is Key: Recognize the wealth of knowledge through collaborative networks. Collaborative planning and problem solving creates the opportunity for rich dialogue and opens each person to new perspectives and growth opportunities.
Austin is also the largest No Place for Hate district in the country. The Anti-Defamation League program gives schools resources and strategies for combatting bullying and bias.
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