I
am offering this syllabus to anyone who wants to use it in its
entirety or in part. All that I ask is acknowledgement of its origin. --James Horn
Course
#______ Antiracist School Leadership
Department
Name:
Educational
Leadership
Program:
Educational Leadership
Course
Title:
Antiracist School Leadership
Syllabus:
James
Horn, PhD
Course
Dates and Time:
Class is designed for 6 class meetings. It was taught as a weekend intensive in-person course. It was last taught in 2023.
Six
Meeting dates TBD, each 9 AM-4 PM
Description:
The
course will provide school leaders opportunities to understand how
schools can be a powerful force for equity and equality in American
society. Through readings, presentations, and critical discussions,
students will identify effective strategies for identifying and
countering institutional racism and for creating and sustaining
antiracist schools and communities. This course will engage school
leaders and prospective leaders in strategies and tactics for
creating and maintaining school policies and practices consistent
with democratic principles of equity and equality. Central to the
course will an examination of specific frameworks, principles,
strategies, and tactics that may be used to design effective
antiracist school programs and environments.
3 Graduate Credit Hours
Course
Content and Design:
This
class will operate principally as a readings-based critical
discussion, even though lecture may be offered to provide connections
and contexts among the ideas, events, and concepts that form the
focal points of the course. Because assigned readings will provide
the focal point for our discussions, it is essential that students
read with a spirit of inquiry, mindful awareness, and collegial
sharing.
Course
Requirements:
Students
are required to:
Attend
all classes
Engage
in all assigned readings, activities, posting, and assignments
Exhibit
professionalism and civility at all times.
Required
Readings:
Aguilar,
E. (2020). Coaching
for equity: Conversations that change practice.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (Paper $23.80)
Benson,
T., Fiarman, S. & Singleton, G. (2020). Unconscious
bias in schools: A developmental approach to exploring race and
racism
(Revised edition).
Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Education Press. (Paper $30.40)
Lewis,
A., & Diamond. J. (2015). Despite
the best intentions: How racial inequality thrives in good schools.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Recommended
Readings Not Required:
Brooks,
J. & Theoharis, G. (2019). Whiteucation:
Privilege, power, and prejudice.
New York: Routledge.
Bryant,
T., & Arrington, E. (2022). The
antiracism handbook: Practical tools to shift your mindset and
uproot racism in your life and community.
Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
DiAngelo,
R. (2018). White
fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism.
Boston: Beacon Press.
Fritzgerald,
A. (2020). Antiracism
and universal design for learning.
Wakefield, MA: Cast, Inc.
Kendi,
I. (2019). How
to be an antiracist.
New York: One World.
Love,
B. (2020). We
want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit
of educational freedom. Boston:
Beacon Press. (Paper $12.69)
Other
readings and videos will be assigned as the course proceeds to
supplement these basic texts.
Outcomes
of the Course:
1)
Students
will analyze, understand, and reflect upon the role of schools in a
free society to advance antiracist programs and practices that
strengthen democratic governance, equality, and equity;
2)
Students
will understand how societal power relations are reflected in
schools in ways that advance and inhibit equity, equality, and
social justice;
3)
Students
will understand that commitments to organizational structures,
curriculums, and assessment practices have deep ethical implications
for the ongoing development of healthy, informed, citizens who are
capable of making life choices that work for them and for the good
of society;
4) Students
will understand where their own values fit within a range of
political and moral constituencies and special interests;
5) Students
will understand that academic achievement gaps are focused on in
ways that conceal education debts to oppressed groups that have gone
unpaid for generations;
6) Students
will explore current awareness strategies for achieving best
practices for antiracist ideas and actions within the school
community;
7) Students
will interpret, explain, and critique specific educational policies
and practices that impede or encourage healthy antiracist practices
in schools and the communities they reflect;
8) Students
will reflect carefully and critically on their own assumptions,
educational background, cultural history (vis-Ã -vis race,
ethnicity, language, SES, etc.), that affect our values, ideas, and
actions to structural and institutional racism;
9)
Students will understand that the organization and curriculum of
schools reflect widely varying levels of commitment to democratic
principles and conceptions of equality.
Procedure
This
class will operate principally as a readings-based critical
discussion, even though a number of lectures will be offered to
provide connections and contexts among the ideas, events, and
concepts that form the focal points of the course. Because assigned
readings will provide the focal point for our discussions, it is
essential that you read with a spirit of inquiry and mindful
awareness.
Assessment
1: Discussion questions from the readings— 6 @ 50 points (300
points)
Your
contribution to the class is essential. In large part, your
contribution will depend upon your timely and reflective engagement
with the assigned written and visual texts. In order to help
the reflective process, I am as asking you to write one (or more)
insightful question(s) for each
of
the assigned readings for our six class meetings. These questions
should focus on important insights, claims, ideas, themes, concepts,
or theories that are central to the readings and that are worth
discussing among the group.
Your
questions should indicate that you have thought about potential
responses to your questions and that you are prepared to weigh in on
responses from your classmates and the professor. Discussion
questions should require students to think critically and
analytically and to provide explanatory or interpretive responses
that indicate a close reading of the written and/or visual texts.
Your questions, too, should lead us toward fulfilling the goals and
expectations for the course.
Please
send me a copy of your questions prior to class as a Word doc, rtf
file, LibreOffice file, etc. (No Google docs, please).
Remember—write at least one good discussion question from each of
the assigned reading/viewing for the day.
Assignment
2: Class Participation (200 points)
Evaluation
guidelines for Class Participation
A
= 200 points
1.
Attends all class sessions
2.
Consistently contributes to class discussion and group activities
3.
Exhibits a constructive, civil, and positive attitude
4.
Always ready for class as evidenced by assignments completed.
Assignment
3: Analysis of Racist and Antiracist policies and practices (250
points)
We
will spend much of the semester unpacking two of Professor Ibram
Kendi’s definitions that are central to this course:
Racist:
One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or
inactions or expressing a racist idea.
Antiracist:
One who is supporting an antiracist policy or practice through their
actions or expressing an antiracist idea.
Furthermore,
a racist supports policies and practices, by action or inaction, that
maintain or increase racial inequity, while an antiracist supports
policies and practices that reduce racial inequity.
This
assignment asks students to use all that you have learned during the
semester to identify a system-wide policy or practice, a school
policy or practice, or classroom policy or practice that
discriminates against or disenfranchises a certain group or groups of
students based on race or ethnicity. Remember: racism may be
intended or unintended, conscious or unconscious. The effects on
students are the same, however, regardless of the intent.
You
are asked to use our readings and discussions and your own insights
to analyze the policies or practices in ways that address these
questions:
Specifically,
what are the effects on students that make the policy or practice
racist?
Whose
power was exercised to put the policy into place?
How
do those charged with administering the policy or practice deal with
criticisms and attempts to change it?
What
would be the most effective way to neutralize the racist effects of
the policy or practice?
Who
wins and who loses by the continued implementation of the policy or
practice?
This
assignment will be discussed further each time the class meets.
Assignment
4: Final Exam (250 points)
The
three books we have read this semester, along with the videos and our
discussions of them, offer entry points to many important concepts,
insights, theories, strategies, and tools for becoming and continuing
to be effective antiracist school leaders. As you reflect on where
you started this semester and where you are today with regards to
knowledge, skills, cultural competence, will, and emotional
intelligence, how would you assess your progress in these and other
relevant learning areas during the term? How have the materials and
discussions (be as specific as you can) that we have engaged in
contributed to your personal and professional growth toward
understanding race and racism? What do you see as your primary
opportunities and challenges to becoming the equity-focused
educational leader that you want to be? (1,500 words minimum)
Grading
Scale for Course (1000
points):
930-1000 A
900-929 A-
870-899 B+
800-869 B
Below
800 NC
Academic
Integrity
Students
are expected to maintain integrity in all academic work. They will
not attempt to get grades by any means other than honest academic
effort. All work must be completed by individual students except for
group projects. It is not permissible to hand in the same work for
different courses.
Plagiarism
is the use of another’s work, thoughts, or language without giving
credit. Cambridge College students will not summarize, copy, or use
the work of another person or source without proper acknowledgement.
Plagiarism is dishonest and a serious academic offense.
What
Is Plagiarism at Indiana University?
You will find a short quiz with immediate feedback, as well as other
resources.
Part
II – Class Agenda
Session
1
Topic:
Course overview and beginning the immersion
Required
Readings:
Benson
& Fiarman (2020), pp. 1-29 (Introduction and Chapter 1)
Aguilar
(2020), pp. 1-48 (Introduction and Chapter 1)
Lewis
& Diamond (2015), pp. xiii-17 (Prologue and Chapter 1)
Activities
and Assignments:
As
you become familiar with the readings for the course, examine the
Contents pages, prefatory comments, indexes, references, etc. Please
bring to class at least one discussion question derived from each of
the assigned reading. These questions may be related to how your own
experiences relate to the ideas, concepts, and positions taken by the
authors.
Videos
viewed during class:
A
Look at Race Relations through a Child's Eyes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPVNJgfDwpw
Kids
speak their minds about race
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OKgUdQF-Fg
RACE
– THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION: How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Created
https://vimeo.com/133506632
Other
resources:
White
Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack:
https://nationalseedproject.org/images/documents/Knapsack_plus_Notes-Peggy_McIntosh.pdf
Worksheets
and Other Resources for Coaches—Aguilar
https://brightmorning.wpengine.com/coaching-tools/
Session
2
Required
Readings:
Benson
& Fiarman (2020), pp. 31-72 (Chapters 2-3)
Aguilar
(2020), pp. 49-76 (Chapter 2) .
Lewis
& Diamond (2015), pp. 17-44 (Chapter 2)
Required
Viewing Prior to Class
If
you are not a member of Vimeo, go to this
site
and sign up. It’s free.
Once
you have joined Vimeo, please pay $4.99 for access to this 3-part
documentary: Race:
The Power of an Illusion.
Once you have done so, watch
Part 1
prior to class on June 25.
Activities
In-Class:
Disparate
Treatment of New Jersey Teens at Mall
https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-response-mall-fight-prompts-outrage-investigation-treatment/story?id=82927516
Session
3
Required
Readings:
Benson
& Fiarman (2020), pp. 73-117 (Chapters 4-6)
Aguilar,
pp. 73-100 (Chapter 3)
A
deadly Ideology: How the “Great Replacement Theory” went
mainstream
In
class:
Jay
Smooth: how to tell someone they sound racist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc
Jay
Smooth TedX:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdxeFcQtaU
Berkeley
Diversity Dashboard:
https://diversity.berkeley.edu/reports-data/diversity-data-dashboard
Pedro
Noguera—the color of discipline:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHykVTKqahM
What’s
your race got to do with it?
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Q9Ue3slCY
What’s
Your Race Got to Do With It (Vimeo)
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whatsracegottodowithit
What’s
your race got to do with it? Social Disparities and Student Success
(printable facilitator’s guide)
http://www.whatsrace.org/images/WhatsRaceGuide.pdf
Ron
Ferguson tripod surveys:
https://tripoded.com/about-us-2/
Examples:
https://tripoded.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Tripod-Survey-Instrument.pdf
Aguilar
tracking tool example:
https://brightmorning.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Teacher-to-Student-Tracking-Tool-Example-1.pdf
Session
4
Required
Readings/Viewing:
A
Class Divided.
PBS Frontline.
Benson
& Fiarman (2020), ; 117-175 (Chapters 7-10)
Aguilar
(2020), pp. 101-174 ( Chapters 4-6)
Viewing
(in class):
Race:
The
Power of an Illusion,
Part 2
Links:
Coaching
lenses by Aguilar:
http://www.brightmorningteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Coaching-Lenses.pdf
Session
5
Required
Readings:
Aguilar
(2020), (Chapters 4-6, 9-12)
Session
6
Required
Readings/Viewing:
Lewis
& Diamond (2015), pp. 45-180 (Chapters 4-6)
I
Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PaAbmRJ9bQ
In
class viewing:
Explained:
Racial
Wealth Gap
SAT
Scores and Family Income
Stamped
for Kids
Waiting
for Superman: An Assessment from a Social Justice Perspective
At
Success Academy School, a Stumble in Math and a Teacher’s Anger on
Video
Success
Academy's War Against Children
The
Moynihan Report Resurrected
Student
presentations for Assignment 3.