Zakiyah Ansari

More than Brown v. Board: How Today’s Struggle for Racial Justice Runs Through the Schoolhouse Doors

Since Reconstruction, the public school has been a central site of struggle for racial justice, from segregation and redlining to curriculum and the school-to-prison pipeline. Any movement strategy that leaves out schools is missing a key element of victory, and ceding ground to the forces of reaction. The anti-Critical Race Theory controversies show that we can't afford to be merely reactive when it comes to public education, but organize communities on an ongoing basis so they're prepared long before the next wave of far right attacks.

How do we break down silos to better integrate the fight for public education into larger movements for racial justice? In this session we’ll hear from practitioners who have organized across disparate issues to bring neighborhoods and cities together, and collectively chart new paths forward for grassroots activism centered in BIPOC communities.

Speakers: Diallo Brooks, Zakiyah Ansari, Ruth Idakula (invited)

In Pursuit of Educational Equity: Building Healthy Living and Learning Communities

A cross-cutting framework that incorporates education, health, safety, school climate, community power, and additional factors that influence the learning environment, HLLC offers parents, students, and public school systems a tool to support the creation of communities that are just and fair for all. Schott’s HLLC Index measures the health of living and learning in districts starting with academic supports and continuing to health, juvenile justice, and local community civic engagement. The Index’s “whole child dashboard” provides a tool for parents, education practitioners, and policymakers to measure progress in creating healthy living and learning systems. It offers a common language for assessing whether at the district level students receive appropriate “learning climate” supports and opportunities. It helps determine whether school systems align with and receive the supports afforded to other systems to achieve the goal of preparing a community of learners who are good citizens and career and college ready. The Index’s design reflects the reality that a majority of schools and school districts now serve low-income students, students of color, and an increasing number of English language learners and students with disabilities. It is built with the understanding that not all children have the same needs and their school interactions may represent only a small part of their interactions with public institutions that influence their opportunity to learn and succeed.

Speakers: Cassie Schwerner, Zakiyah Ansari