2011 Virtual Summit Library

Russlyn Ali
Assistant Secretary,
Office of Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education

Learn about the actions of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to ensure equal access to education by addressing discrimination in critical areas including:  inequity in student discipline, racial harassment, access to effective teachers, access to college- and career-track courses, programs for English language learners, and parent communication. 

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Malcolm Fialho
Senior Diversity Officer,
The University of Western Australia

The University of Western Australia has articulated an explicit vision that embraces anti-racist leadership and engages the University community in meaningful dialogue about issues of race using PEG’s Courageous Conversation model. 

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Charles Hopson
Educational Administrator
Portland, OR

Equity Leadership
Racial Identity and Academic Achievement:  The Dr. John Ogbu Theory
(Part 1)  (Part 2)  (Part 3)  (Part 4)  (Part 5)  (Part 6)  (Part 7)

The study of African-American students through a psychological lens has become a means to finding solutions for their persistent underachievement in school. 

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Randall Lindsey
Professor and Author
California State University, Los Angeles 

Delores Lindsey
Associate Professor
California State University, San Marcos  

Learning & Teaching
Cultural Proficiency As An Inside-Out Change Process
(Part 1)  (Part 2)  (Part 3)  (Part 4)  (Part 5)  (Part 6)

Change begins within each of us; then, we can work more effectively with our colleagues.  Explore how creating organizational change that results in effective, inclusive schools for African American, Latino/a, First Nations’, and other marginalized students is an intentional process of working with colleagues – allies, resistors, and the unaware. 

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Equity Leadership
Beyond Aristotle and Darwin: A Brief Examination of Testing, Inequities and the Brain

Antonia Darder’s current work focuses on comparative studies of racism, class, and society. Her teaching examines cultural issues in education with an emphasis on identity, language, and popular culture, as well as the foundations of critical pedagogy, Latino/a studies, and social justice theory.  She is the Leavey Presidential Chair and a Professor of Ethical and Moral Leadership at Loyola Marymount University.

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Equity Leadership
Policy and Equity: What America Needs To Do To Close the Opportunity Gap

Dr. Darling-Hammond is a Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education a Stanford University where she has launched the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and the School Redesign Network. 

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Equity Leadership
Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete

Jeff Duncan-Andrade is Associate Professor of Raza Studies and Education at San Francisco State University.  In addition to these duties, he continues as a high school teacher in East Oakland where for the past 19 years he has practiced and studied the use of critical pedagogy in urban schools.

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Equity Leadership
It's A (Long) Journey . . . Uncovering and De-Centering the Whiteness Within Us

Glenn Eric Singleton is founder and president of Pacific Educational Group, Inc. (PEG). In 1992, he founded PEG to more closely support families in their transitions within and between K-12 and higher education. His company later grew into its intended mission of addressing systemic issues of educational inequity by providing guidance to districts on meeting the needs of underserved students of color.  

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Community Empowerment
Parents Have the Answers: A Parent Walkthrough Provides Valuable Solutions to Difficult Issues
Discover how Highline has effectively cultivated relationships with parents and created an antiracist and culturally relevant school environment.  Learn how to create a school/community culture where parents are encouraged to observe and critique the school’s learning environments.

Stacey Peoples, Principal, Cherry Creek School District
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Community Empowerment
Breaking News:  Davis (CA) Youth Change Their Schools and Their World!
Reflect, dialogue, and strategize about your own schools as you witness the Davis Community Story, in progress. Discover the consequences of adult silence around issues of race, and how addressing race on a community level is helping close the achievement gap. 

Jann Murray-Garcia, M.D., Physician, Activist, and Visiting Scholar UC Davis School of Nursing
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Equity Leadership
Addressing Racial Disparities in Independent Schools
The quest to achieve racial equity in independent schools spans the decades.  And while there have been some beacons of light in this struggle, the experience of students, families, and educators of color still fails to resemble that of their white counterparts in many critical areas of our institutions.  From admissions policies, to curricular choices, to hiring practices, examine how race poses a challenge for independent schools missioned around promoting diversity, inclusivity, and social justice.  Discover how educators from California and New York have developed a way into Courageous Conversations About Race for the independent school and learn a strategy and method aimed to effectively touch all learners and transform the  school community.

Tricia Clair,Director of Student Services, Tigard-Tualitin School District
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Learning & Teaching
Dropout Prevention Begins in Kindergarten: Using Classroom Research to Support Achievement of Minority Boys
Discover what First School learned about why young African American and Latino boys can feel alienated from school right from the start.  Explore what leadership and teachers can do to get boys of color off to a successful emotional and academic beginning.

Sam Oertwig, Director of School Implementation, First School-FPG Child Development Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Learning and Teaching
Evolution of An Equity Team:  How Our Understanding of Culturally Relevant Teaching Has Transformed

Explore what it means to be culturally relevant leaders of transformation.  Learn about Logan Elementary School’s equity leadership journey.  Examine your instructional and leadership practices and reflect on where you are in your journey. Learn from and share with other educators about effective equity practices, including strategies for engaging students in talking about race.

Graig Meyer, Coordinator, Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate, Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools
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Student Showcase

The Ballet Folklórico Costa de Oro has been dedicated to the preservation of Mexican traditions and culture since 2006. Dance and music are the tools used to educate the youth and community about Mexico's rich and beautiful history.

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Dimensions Extensions Performance Ensemble is a group of students ranging in age from 12-19 years old and has developed an outstanding reputation for presenting pre-professional work that is considered unique and quite remarkable in terms of what is expected of youth groups. DEPE has the honor of continuing Dimensions Dance Theater’s legacy of performance by providing performances of the African-American experience. 

Mariachi Estrellas de Mexico was founded in 2005 in the city of Richmond, California.  The group is composed of members who have been playing together for many years and takes pride in their music and in their community.

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Young Gifted and Black

Esemble Group
YGB is a project sponsored by the 100 Black Men of Oakland, CA 

Young Gifted and Black is an Oakland Based ensemble group that studies and performs African American history in the form of poems, songs, spirituals and raps. YGB remixes classic expressions of African American creativity with contemporary styles (making connections between the old and new), to intentionally emphasize the purpose, values and lessons learned from this in order to create new art, and shape new voice. Made up of youth grades 3–8 from 12 schools, public and private.

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Youth SpeaksSpoken Word Artists

San Francisco, CA

Youth Speaks creates safe spaces to empower the next generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies. They challenge youth to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of social change to ultimately, shift the perceptions of youth by combating illiteracy, alienation, and silence, creating a global movement of brave new voices bringing the noise from the margins to the core. 

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Summit Awards

Elona Street-Stewart

Community Empowerment Award 

Elona Street-Stewart has served on the St. Paul Public Schools (MN) Board of Education since 2001, where she is the current chair, and the first American Indian school board member to be elected in an urban district in Minnesota.  Her commitment to equal opportunity, fair representation, open communication, and respectful environments is deeply grounded in her personal, professional, and civic engagements.

Fernando Navarro Abarca 
Community Empowerment Award

Fernando Navarro Abarca was born in Galeana, Mexico, where he obtained his primary and secondary education.  As a young man with high aspirations, Fernando journeyed to Acapulco where he studied computer systems engineering.  When he arrived in the United States, he began working as a fast food clerk at a local McDonald’s Restaurant.  Today, he is a manager with that company, where he has an excellent working rapport with his supervisors and fellow employees. 

Rosa G. Molina 

Dr. Asa G. Hilliard Award

Rosa G. Molina is the Executive Director of Two-Way CABE, the Two-Way Bilingual Immersion (TWBI) arm of the California Association for Bilingual Education.  She provides technical assistance and professional development to TWBI programs in California and the Western region of the United States, as well as, promoting the expansion of TWBI education throughout the United States.

Sharon Smith has spent her educational career in the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township where she has served as President of the teachers’ association, fourth grade teacher, assistant principal, and principal.  In 2009, Sharon became Director of Professional Development and Communications for the school district, where she provided exemplary leadership on behalf of racial equity transformation.  Sharon currently serves as Executive Director of Human Resources and Communications in MSDLT. 

Lorena Montoya

Learning and Teaching Award

Lorena Montoya delivers to her students the quality education they deserve.  A first-grade teacher at Washington Elementary School, in the San Leandro Unified School District, CA, Lorena facilitates as students connect and apply their prior knowledge.  Using a wide variety of culturally relevant instructional strategies, she engages students in learning that is responsive to their needs. Montoya is a member of the Washington Elementary School’s lead and equity teams, where she inspires her colleagues through her deep personal commitment to always keep equity as a top priority for her school and district.

Pacific Educational Group has established a unique and special award for the 2011 Summit to recognize and pay tribute to DR. MELISSA KRULL, immediate-past superintendent of Eden Prairie Schools, Eden Prairie, MN, for her extraordinary and courageous leadership for racial equity. 

Dr. Melissa Krull is a 20-year employee of the school district; special education teacher; several administrative positions; superintendent in June 2003.  As superintendent, Melissa successfully tackled “big ticket” equity reforms while resourcing and insisting on a steady diet of high-quality professional development for board members, administrators, teachers, and community members. She moved racial equity theory into practice.  In Melissa’s own words, "I don't think you can run public schools without embracing a deeper understanding of race and equity.  Our country is changing and the faces in our classrooms are changing; you have to understand who they are in order to teach them.” As the data now shows the narrowing gap between test scores of white and nonwhite students, Melissa states: "You can't ignore this.”