Staff Culture Work

We have had a dedicated monthly time for staff to come together to learn about how biases, mindsets and systemic racism can affect our communities and instruction. Here is a brief summary of what we have worked on as a school in previous years:

2018-2019:

• Yearlong professional development series focused on understanding, unpacking and mitigating our biases and expectations in our instruction

2019-2020:

• Yearlong book study on Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond. This allowed for deep study on how to implement Culturally Responsive teaching practices

2020-2021:

• Our school was chosen to pilot The Equity Experience, a DPS-created professional development series.

• BLM@School Week of Action: Our staff learned about the history of the BLM@School Organization and implemented a two-week series of age-appropriate learning and discussion around the 13 principles.

In addition, many of our staff have participated in Creating Connections and a CRT and the Brain Study group through DPS.