We are excited to support the work of Leslie Means, English Lead Teacher at Melrose Middle School, with a Betty Allen-MASCD Anti-Racist Mini-Grant. Leslie will use the grant to purchase class sets of the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism & You, by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, as well as three copies of the audio book, which is narrated by Jason Reynolds. The book is written for young people, and explores the history of racism in the US and features the work of antiracists. The goal Leslie and her colleagues have for the unit is for their eighth graders to better understand the inequities in our society today, and how we got here. We particularly appreciated the Essential Question for the unit built around the book: How will you locate yourself in this work of antiracism discussed in this book? Leslie really spoke to our vision for the grant when she explained, “Our hope is that this unit, crafted with care, can inspire students to be the change-makers we need them to be.” We can’t wait to hear from Leslie at the end of the school year about the students’ experiences during this unit. ​

 We are excited to support the work of Maureen Tumenas, a Technology Integration Specialist in the Hadley Public Schools, with an Isa Zimmerman-MASCD Technology Integration & Innovation Mini-Grant. For the past few years, Maureen and her colleagues have been creating a STEAM lab, and the grant will support this ongoing work. Specifically, the grant will be used to purchase resources that will allow third and fourth grade students to engage in projects using bit boards and micro:bits this spring. The engineering design process is at the core of these projects: students will ask, imagine, plan, create, improve. They will choose a problem in their home or community that they can address with micro:bits. Maureen powerfully explained how the engineering design process helps students develop empathy, learn research skills, and learn to plan, create, test and improve. That’s the kind of exciting learning we want for all students! We can’t wait to hear about the projects the students design. ​

We are excited to support the work of ELA teacher Amanda Sims at Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School in Fall River in her commitment to engage her students in meaningful conversations about racism and anti-racism. Amanda was awarded a Betty Allen-MASCD Anti-Racist Mini-Grant to purchase classroom sets of Colson Whitehead’s historical novels, The Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys. Through these powerful novels, she will engage her students in connecting the past and the present to better understand racial injustices impacting our society today. We look forward to hearing from Amanda at the end of the school year about her students’ responses to the novels, and about the kinds of conversations and learning the novels sparked. ​

 ​I thought I was an ally. I really had it in my head that I was a genuinely good person. I wasn’t racist. I wasn’t sexist. I couldn’t be any of the bad “isms” because I was just full of empathy and compassion for everyone.
 
How wrong I was… How wrong many of us are, who enjoy saying that we are not racist and do not judge anyone else.
 
One of the most important lessons of my life came through volunteering at my university’s LGBTQA resource center. I had been looking for a research topic relevant to education as I began my journey through graduate school. With the help of knowledgeable professors, I landed on the topic of LGBTQA students and the many challenges they face at all levels of schooling.
 
At the start of my research, I found quickly how little I knew about the privileges cisgender people benefit from or how early and often people who do not fit society’s “gender norms” are marginalized and discriminated against in curriculum, pedagogy, and practice. I wanted to learn more so I went to the school’s Safe Zone training.
 
Sponsored by my university’s resource center, the training was an in-depth look at many of these issues that LGBTQA students face and what I as an ally could do to work against the oppressive structures that push against them. The training made me feel well-equipped as I dove further into research. I won’t lie… It also made me feel very good about myself. What a great ally I was, doing extra trainings just to help a group of people outside of my own experience as a straight, white male.
 
Following the high of learning and engaging in what I thought was advocacy, I decided to go one step further and volunteer at the center for a couple of semesters. It was a genuinely enjoyable time, sitting in the office to field phone calls and guide students to helpful resources. I was surrounded by a LGBTQA community who allowed me to fit in to their space. They respected me and helped me to grow, taking an interest in my research and openly providing their real-life experiences.
 
Then it happened. I had to put my money where my mouth had been from the start of my graduate schooling.It was a simple task. The resource manager asked me to go by myself to pass out flyers for a Gay Pride event on campus.
 
I grabbed the flyers and began walking towards the busiest area of campus. I suddenly realized that I was about to pass out Gay Pride flyers to the student body. They would think I was gay!

 We are excited to support Randolph Public School kindergarten teacher Amy Dossantos create an afterschool multicultural club for students across all four Randolph elementary schools with a Betty Allen-MASCD Anti-Racist Mini-Grant. We were impressed with Amy’s discussion of the importance of engaging young children in learning about cultural differences. She noted, “Research shows children as early as pre-school age notice, discuss, question and draw conclusions about skin color.” Her response is to provide learning experiences where young children can explore race and culture, affirm differences, and develop empathy. The club will be held virtually, due to Covid restrictions, and Amy has innovative ways to engage the students. She will create her own recorded lessons and engage the students in dialogue via Flipgrid. The grant will be used to purchase a subscription to “Little Global Citizen,” stamps for the pen pal program that is part of the club, and craft supplies, including multicultural crayons and paper. We look forward to hearing from Amy at the end of the year about the students’ experiences in the multicultural club.

By: Shaunna Harrington, Ph.D.
​MASCD President
Associate Teaching Professor, Northeastern University @shaunna3830
Email Shaunna 

After a year of teaching and learning during a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than half a million Americans, devastated the economic security of millions more, and challenged the social fabric and mental health of nearly everyone, it makes no sense to administer MCAS this spring. 
 
But even after the pandemic ends, we need a different system for assessing the learning of our students in the Commonwealth. 
 
Commissioner Jeff C. Riley, in his June 2019 report to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, “Our Way Forward,” acknowledged that in too many cases, MCAS has led to a narrowing of the curriculum and a focus on superficial coverage. He stated the result has been low levels of student engagement, particularly for low income students and students of color who are more likely to be in schools that emphasize test preparation. Riley wants our schools to focus on deeper learning, which involves asking students “to create, to invent, and to combine and apply concepts in new ways,” and to “assume increasing levels of responsibility.” In schools focused on deeper learning, he explained, there is a higher level of student engagement, which is critical for making our education system more equitable. 
 
Riley did not call for the end of MCAS, but he suggested the need for something different, stating, “we must develop statewide models of engaging tasks – activities that ask students to master content knowledge and life skills through the creation of meaningful, original work products.”
 
That work is already happening. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA), which is comprised of eight school districts, has been creating valid and reliable performance assessments and rubrics that are aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. In the performance assessments, students must demonstrate their learning by applying their knowledge and skills to address realistic challenges. Many teachers use performance assessments in their classroom-based assessment system, but MCIEA is creating performance tasks and rubrics that are used across districts, which provides a way to assess students across the state – a viable alternative to MCAS. 
 
Teachers and other school-based educators must play a key role in the new assessment system we create in our Commonwealth. MCAS removes them from that role, and we have been left with an assessment system that cannot fulfill its most important function, which is to improve student learning (not just measure it). Teachers in the MCIEA consortium are not passive recipients of performance tasks created by “outside experts”. They learn how to design, validate and implement performance assessments and how to reliably score student work. (Take a look at the task bank they have created.)
 
We have learned from this pandemic that our education system can make big changes, very quickly. So why are we holding on to a statewide assessment system we know is not working? 
 
All my best,
Shaunna

We are excited to support the New Bedford High School English Language Arts department in their commitment to antiracist teaching. A Betty Allen-MASCD Anti-Racist Mini-Grant was
awarded to three teachers in the department: Caroline Hill, Kristen Liming, and Cody Marx. It
was particularly appealing to us that three teachers requested funding because we know how
critical a shared commitment among faculty is for deepening antiracist teaching. The grantees spoke to the importance of diversifying the literature in their courses so that students of color see themselves represented in the books they read, and white students get the opportunity to engage in perspectives and experiences different from their own. The grant will be used to purchase physical copies of Jason Reynolds’ powerful, award-winning novel in verse, Long Way Down. The teachers noted that the book provides the opportunity to discuss racial injustices in our criminal justice system. The unit on Long Way Down will be taught for the first time this year at New Bedford High School. We look forward to hearing from Caroline, Kristen and Cody at the end of the year about their students’ experiences reading the book, and discussing the many issues and ideas it raises.

What literature have you adopted in your classroom/district to broaden representation for students of color and build perspectives for white students (windows & mirrors)?