Parents & Educators

Addressing Race and Trauma in the Classroom: A Resource for Educators. This resource is intended to help educators understand how they might address the interplay of race and trauma and its effects on students in the classroom. After defining key terms, the guide outlines recommendations for educators and offers a list of supplemental resources. This guide is intended as a complement to two existing National Child Traumatic Stress Network/NCTSN resources — Position Statement on Racial Injustice and Trauma and Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators —and it should be implemented in accordance with individual school policies and procedures. 

Building Anti-Racist White Educators “BARWE” The work of BARWE is driven by a core group of educators based in Philadelphia. It began in 2016. Since the 2018-19 school year, they have distributed a monthly Reading & Inquiry Series intended for white educators to use with their peers to develop anti-racist identities and practices.  

A Call to Action for White Educators Who Seek to Be Anti-Racist by Larissa Wright-Elson. June 4, 2020. From PBS Education.

Courageous Conversations About Race in Schools is a series of  short videos are designed to shift the conversation, to prompt a deeper, more authentic discussion about issues of racial equity in schools.  A discussion guide and additional resources to use with the video are available too.  Created in 2017 by The National Network of State Teachers of the Year/NNYSTOY

The Cultural Competence Curriculum Phase III, 2009 - 2010, is a document the Arlington Public Schools in Arlington, Virgina wrote to guide educators in increasing their cultural competence. Sections include Awareness Competencies, Knowledge Competencies, Skills Competencies, and Culturally Responsive Teaching, plus journals for teachers to use to reflect on each section and numerous related articles. Written by Dr. James Patton  and  Norma L. Day­Vines through funding from the Virginia Department of Education (Contract No.B-217). Adapted for Arlington Public Schools by Dr. Alvin Crawley, Cheryl Robinson, Dr. Suzanne Swendiman, Marty Swaim, and Renee Harber for the Council for Cultural Competence.

Fare of the Free Child is a weekly-published podcast community centering Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color in liberatory living and learning practices. With a particular interest in unschooling and the Self-Directed Education movement, Akilah S. Richards and guests discuss the fears and the fares (costs) of raising free black and brown children in a world that tends to diminish, dehumanize, and disappear them.

The mission of Forward Promise is to strengthen, stimulate and create supportive networks and relationships that surround boys and young men of color and their families – healthy village-making. Forward Promise is a national program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to support culturally-responsive practices that buffer the effects of historical and systemic trauma on boys and young men of color.  You’ll find research, webcasts, podcasts and a blog too.  Note: if you cannot reach the research articles via the Forward Promise site, go to the Research & Publications page from The Moriah Group. 

Guidance on How Districts Can Facilitate Conversations About Race-based Stress and Trauma, June 3, 2020. From the KY Department of Education.

The Hidden Cost of Brown v. Board of Education: African American Educators' Resistance to Desegregating Schools. Mallory Lutz, Washburn University. 2017.

Inclusive Language Guide – Potentially really useful guide about a wide variety of topics including Race and Ethnicity. Well organized, with links to lots of additional useful resources. From the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

Increasing Equity in Gifted Education Programs and Services is a resource page on the National Association for Gifted Children website which has links to several reports about diversity in gifted education, specifically mentions low income and minority students. 

Music Theory and White Supremacy by Adam Neely. Despite the title, this video is mostly about the strangeness of studying a handful of German composers as the definitive musical theory we study in the western world while ignoring the vast wealth of musical theory around the world. And yes, that is yet another example of systematic racism.

Prioritizing Empathy and Anti-Racism in Schools by Nicholas Manning, June 26, 2020. From PBS Education.

Race and Equity Resources from the American School Counseling Association  Helpful resources (all hyperlinked) in addressing issues of systemic and institutional racism with students. Additional resources are regularly added.  Formats include webinars, articles, books, and more.

Responding to Hate and Bias at School is designed primarily for school administrators, but teachers, staff, counselors, students and others also may find guidance here. Your school has plans and protocols in place to respond to fires, severe weather, medical emergencies, fights and weapons possession. But what about school incidents like those listed above that involve bigotry and hate? Free Download. From Teaching Tolerance.

Schools are Still Segregated, and Black Children are Paying a Price by Emma García, February 12, 2020 . From the Economic Policy Institute.

Shining an Equitable Lens on Every Student by Mallory Mbalia, March 9, 2020. From PBS Education. 

Speak up at School: How to Respond to Everyday Prejudice, Bias, and Stereotypes. This guide is for the adults in the school. It offers advice about how to respond to remarks made by students and by other adults and gives guidance for helping students learn to speak up as well. We believe that modeling the kind of behavior we want from students is one of the most effective ways of teaching it. Free download from Teaching Tolerance. 

Teaching While White– Where Whiteness Intersects with Antiracist Teaching and Learning. This website's mission is to pursue the answers to these critical questions:

 • What are the best practices for making whiteness explicit in classrooms?

 • What skills are needed to become racially literate both for teachers and students?

 • How does investigating whiteness impact the identity development of white students?

 • How does investigating whiteness in the classroom relieve or create stress for students of color? 

 • How do teachers, who do not understand their own racial impact, cause stress for students?

 • How do racially literate teachers ease the burden for students?

 • How do we measure success — what does it look like, sound like, feel like to be “racially literate”?

To that end the site includes a blogs of adult and student voices, podcasts,  an extensive resource lists including "Foundational Texts", "Teaching about Native Americans" and more.

Trauma-Informed Toolkit, from the Kentucky Department of Education, seeks to help schools and districts create teaching and learning environments that help mitigate the negative effects of trauma. It also encourages educators to seek to understand the unique and personal experiences of individual students to best serve and support those who have experienced trauma. Three parts, 1. Understanding Trauma and Traumatic Stress explains different types of trauma, including racial trauma, and how trauma impacts students, 2. What is a Trauma Informed School? explains what it means to be a trauma-informed school or district creating safe learning environments that recognize the effects trauma can have on learning, and 3. Trauma-Informed Teams provides resources and tips for schools to create teams that address any issues related to trauma.

A Vision and Guidance for a Diverse and Learner-Ready Teacher Workforce  by Saroja R. Warner, Director, Teacher Workforce Initiatives Director, CCSSO and Eric Duncan, Senior Associate, Teacher Workforce, CCSSO. A  2018 report from the Council of Chief State School Officers about the need for a diverse teacher workforce. 

Responding to Hate and Bias at School

What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently: They view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching. by Pirette McKamey. The Atlantic, June 17, 2020.

What’s Lost When Black Children Are Socialized Into a White World by Dani McClain. The Atlantic, November 21, 2019. Article based on interviews with dozens of black mothers about how they help their kids navigate schools where they might be perceived as threats or made to feel unwelcome.

What White Children Need to Know About Race by Ali Michael and Eleonora Bartoli in Independent School Magazine.  An article from the National Association of Independent Schools. Topics include the role of schools in white racial socialization, plus the content knowledge and skills white children need to support the development of an antiracist identity.

 Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race  by Beverly Tatum, a renowned authority on  the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides.  Originally published in 1997. Updated edition published in 2017.