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Madison Metropolitan School District

Anti-Racism Resources for Educators by Educators

Anti-Racism Resources for Educators by Educators

Download: Anti-Racism Resources for Educators by Educators

Creating Anti-Racist School Culture and Curriculum

Reading to children

The onset of a global health crisis paired with national protests for racial justice across the country and the acknowledgement of systemic racism in the United States is leading schools, educators and district leaders to reexamine their approach to teaching and learning.

Madison Metropolitan School District is part of this growing movement to ensure that their educational practices are centered on equity and that all students are recognized for the brilliance they bring to their school communities. 

 

“Our students of color deserve no less,” explained Cindy Green, executive director of Secondary Programs and Pathways at MMSD. “We have a moral obligation as a school district and as a community to ensure we are creating school systems that every student sees themselves in.”

Teachers at East High School

Cindy partnered with the district’s newly designed, Instructional Acceleration group ahead of the 2020-2021 school year to develop anti-racist educational resources and curriculum for teachers to utilize as part of their ongoing effort to improve the overall MMSD student experience while striving to dismantle  systemic racism in the classrooms.

“As schools are starting to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew we needed to take this opportunity to do school differently. We couldn’t go back to business as usual,” said Cindy. With COVID-19 plus the continual racial unrest and protests from the summer, the current climate created a perfect storm for us to take this anti-racist work further for our students and staff.”

Working To Build an Anti-Racist School Culture is a Long Term Effort

In Summer 2020, more than 150 MMSD staff of every professional background from school security officers and social workers to current students and district administrators were invited to join the Instructional Acceleration group. This profound group of educators and employees united cross collaboratively to review the district’s current anti-racist practices, learning materials and curriculum. 

Students working on a BLM painting

Collectively, they worked together for an entire summer to develop an extensive list, or inventory of multicultural educational resources designed to help both teachers and students create inclusive classroom spaces, acknowledge and challenge bias and racial inequities and navigate difficult conversations about race. 

“Our work this summer really focused on creating systems, processes and curriculum that are actively anti-racist", said Kaylee Jackson, executive director of Curriculum and Instruction at MMSD. “We looked at professional learning opportunities for staff and questioned individual learning materials to ensure the content we’re presenting to our students is indeed anti-racist.”

New to MMSD, Kaylee Jackson joined the district in the summer of 2020. Kaylee connected with Cindy Green to immediately begin working with the Instructional Acceleration group on the anti-racist resources for educators. Kaylee believes the education system is imperfect and in order to dismantle racism we need to start from within.

“If we truly want different results for our black and brown students, as leaders we need to actively engage in conversations to identify where we have systems, practices and beliefs within our own hearts and minds that are rooted within white supremacy culture,” said Kaylee. 

High-Quality Anti-Racism Resources Created By Educators For Educators

A pile of books

MMSD educators and staff now have a comprehensive anti-racist curriculum with lessons, videos, vocabulary, audio projects, downloadable learning materials and a wealth of resources accessible to teachers to bring more structure and intentionality to topics about race, biases and social justice. 

The district will continue to offer professional development opportunities for teachers and staff centered in equity and racial justice, and MMSD teachers and staff are currently working on a system to share, upload, and access anti-racist teaching aids for their classrooms at all grade levels. Teachers are regularly having conversations with their students about inclusion and feeling a sense of belonging and community. 

Cindy Green’s work with the Instructional Acceleration group over the summer showed her that MMSD staff and our students are eager to create spaces where students of color, particularly, feel welcomed and compelled to share their culture and experiences with their peers and school community. 

“We recognize that we still have a long way to go, but our teachers and staff are dedicated to building a school culture that is anti-racist,” said Cindy. “We’re going to honor our commitment to our school community because our students deserve the bet that we can give them; a school culture that is anti-racist, centers racial justice and equity and nurtures their hard work, individuality and brilliance.”

Download: Anti-Racism Resources for Educators by Educators

THANK YOU!

The Secondary Programs and Pathways and Curriculum Instruction teams would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of the MMSD educators, district and school leaders, current students and staff members who contributed their time, resources and expertise developing the Anti-Racist Resources for Educators by Edudcators. We appreciate your dedication and we look forward to continuing this work to better serve all of our MMSD students. 

See the full list of Anti-Racism Resources for Educators by Educators.

Subcommitte Co-Leaders

Cynthia Green

Asc Superintendent - Tl

Kaylee Jackson

Exec Dir-Curric & Instruction

Central Office Advisory Committee Members

Stacy Ackerman

Strategist-Ed Effect

Sharon Alexander

Dir-Advanced Learning

Ana Bell Jimenez

Dir-Literacy/Art/Wl/Humanities

Langston Evans

Dir-College & Career Readiness

Lachele Fisher

Exec Dir-Professional Learning

Marisa Flowers

Principal-Assistant

Patricia Greeley

Principal-Assistant

Jocelyn Lepinski

Principal-Assistant

TJ McCray

Asc Superintendent - Technolgy

Cynthia Moore

Teacher Leader-Univ Systems

Nichelle Nichols

Board Of Education Member

Kari Ortega

Coach & Instruct Suppt Partner

Nicholas Pinzke

Dir-Software Platform Systems

Nicole Schaefer

Dir-Summer Learn & Data Stratg

Patti Schaefer

Dir-Stem

Culleen Witthuhn

Dir-Early Learning

Elementary School Committee

Esmeralda Ambriz

Doyle Administration Building

Sara Avramenko

Sandburg Elementary

Stephanie Biese Patton

Elvehjem Elementary

Pamela Brandt

Lowell Elementary

Robin Cowden

Olson Elementary

Rebecca Danz

Franklin Elementary

Rebecca Galvan

Midvale Elementary

Jessica Gamez

Van Hise Elementary

Carlie Jarvey

Sennett Middle

Darlinne Kambwa-Bell

Allis Elementary

Debora Kennedy

Lapham Elementary

Ryan King

Doyle Administration Building

Barbara Klawikowski

Doyle Administration Building

Jamie Krohn

Chavez Elementary

Sarah Larson

Elvehjem Elementary

Thomas Loomis

Midvale Elementary

Maria Loy

Franklin Elementary

Katherine Nguyen

Doyle Administration Building

Emily Portle

Anana Elementary

Daniel Rea-Giron

Doyle Administration Building

Mai Saevang

Unassigned

Heidi Schultz

Anana Elementary

Amy Spangler

Lowell Elementary

Randal Swiggum

Doyle Administration Building

Beth Tarras

Whitehorse Middle

Rosa Thompson

Doyle Administration Building

Sarah Valle

Chavez Elementary

Leah Zepeda Vaughn

Doyle Administration Building

Middle School Committee

Jan Chynoweth

Doyle Administration Building

Jack Debertin

Spring Harbor Middle

Pamela Dempsey

Wright Middle

Jamie Domini

Badger Rock Middle

Allyson Earleywine

Sennett Middle

Jennyfer Hariu

Cherokee Middle

Therese Hastings

Doyle Administration Building

Angelina Hicks

Doyle Administration Building

Genevieve Imhoff

Schenk Elementary

Jillian Johnson

Hamilton Middle

Joanna Liebl

Cherokee Middle, O'Keeffe Middle

Rachel Looper

Black Hawk Middle

Ryan Murphy

West High

Galen Pardo

Sennett Middle

Jahmon Patterson

Toki Middle

Kristen Scott

Cherokee Middle

Rachelle Stone

Leopold Elementary

Maixia Thao

Sherman Middle

Melissa Vasquez

Doyle Administration Building

Karli Wagner

Cherokee Middle

Deanna Whiting

Wright Middle

High School Committee

Cathryn Abrajan

West High

Claudine Clark

Doyle Administration Building

Mackenzie Douglas

La Follette High

Silvia Gomez de Soriano

East High

Creed Hansen

La Follette High

Faith Hoenecke

West High

Sara Huse

Anana Elementary

Patrice Hutchins

East High

Peter Jaeger

Doyle Administration Building

Amanda Jamae

Hamilton Middle

Mary Kok

Memorial High

Maria Loyd

Memorial High

Aitor Luna Olivares

Memorial High

Marianne Matt

Lapham Elementary

Martin Moe

Doyle Administration Building

Shawdi Nesbit

Holtzman

Darcy Poquette

La Follette High

Ana Salcido

Doyle Administration Building

Rachel Schramm

Shabazz High

Sara Shaten

La Follette High

Amy Sheridan

Doyle Administration Building

Tatiana Smith

Memorial High

Kathleen Statz

Orchard Ridge Elementary

Michelle Tjugum

East High

Anthony Ward

Memorial High

Sarada Weber

Doyle Administration Building