can’t-miss UK/NAACP Education & Civil Rights Initiative VIRTUAL CONFERENCE | Cloaking Inequity

can’t-miss UK/NAACP Education & Civil Rights Initiative VIRTUAL CONFERENCE | Cloaking Inequity

CAN’T-MISS UK/NAACP EDUCATION & CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Talk with National Leaders and Experts! Register now for this can’t-miss virtual conference hosted by the University of Kentucky’s Education & Civil Rights Initiative May 7-8, 2021 Register here by Thursday, May 6, for Education & Civil Rights for the New Decade!

Explore some of the most pressing issues of our time in this two-day, virtual conference. You’ll have the opportunity to take part in multiple tracks hosted by expert community partners.

The conference is provided through a partnership between the Education and Civil Rights Initiative at the University of Kentucky College of Education, the UK Rosenberg College of Law, the NAACP, and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. The conference is free and open to all, through the generous support of WesBanco. View Agenda & Register You won’t want to miss featured speakers and panel events such as: Friday, May 7 Conference Keynote 10:45 – 11:15 a.m. EST Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, will open the conference. President Johnson formerly served as vice chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, as well as state president for the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP. A longstanding member and leader of the NAACP, Mr. Johnson has helped guide the Association through a period of re-envisioning and reinvigoration. Saturday, May 8, 10-11 a.m. EST Opening Keynote Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings will open the second day of the conference. As the former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Dr. Ladson-Billings is known for her work in the fields of culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory. Saturday, May 8, 5:45-6:45 p.m. EST Closing Keynote Raymond Pierce, CEO of the Southern Education Foundation, will close the conference with a keynote. In his work with the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), Pierce leads the organization’s historic mission of advancing educational opportunities for African American and low-income students in the southern states. Since joining SEF in January 2018, Pierce has focused the organization on policy research, education legislation and leadership development. SEF has also launched a workforce development initiative and is expanding its efforts to strengthen parental engagement in support of improving student learning. Saturday, May 8, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. EST Plenary: A Conversation with National Education Leaders Dr. Walter Bumphus, President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges Dr. Norma Cantú, Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and Professor of Law and Education at the University of Texas-Austin Dr. Belle Wheelan, President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Thank you to our KCTCS partners for making this plenary possible.Register by Thursday, May 6 to reserve your spot! Conference tracks will include:  ● Law & Justice* ● K-12 Education* ● Community Organization ● Post-Secondary ● Financial Literacy *Continuing education credit is available upon request. Law and Justice continuing education credit is pending CLE approval.Housed in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, the Education and Civil Rights Initiative is a research collaboration with the NAACP, the nation’s largest and most preeminent civil rights organization. The focus of this collaboration is to ensure that every child in America experiences equitable access to education. Learn more about the initiative on our website.

can’t-miss UK/NAACP Education & Civil Rights Initiative VIRTUAL CONFERENCE | Cloaking Inequity

Soon-to-be Secretary Miguel Cardona, the Time is Now for an Education Stimulus | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Soon-to-be Secretary Miguel Cardona, the Time is Now for an Education Stimulus | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Soon-to-be Secretary Miguel Cardona, the Time is Now for an Education Stimulus

Originally published in USA Today.

Congratulations on your nomination to be U.S. education secretary, Miguel Cardona. You are poised to take this position at a critical point in American history. As you know well, for generations we have lived through a system of separate and unequal education. COVID-19 has greatly exacerbated the learning loss disparities experienced by children of color. Now, with Congress failing to deliver to schools, educators, students and parents the much needed learning and PPE resources, and states cutting their 2021 budgets, things are primed to get a lot worse.

When one couples the historic impact of structural racism on education with the challenges brought on by COVID-19, it is clear we are in a maze without a clear exit. But in times of uncertainty, the past can be a guiding light. One important lesson from the past: the positive impact of targeted economic stimulus packages.

Importance of stimulus packages

We know stimulus packages can make a difference. For example, according to the Department of Education, President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “helped save or create an estimated 325,000 education jobs.” The stimulus needed now must go well beyond protecting teachers’ jobs, which are undoubtedly important, and extend to transforming learning and investing in families and community-based institutions. The bottom line is we cannot facilitate change and remedy years of divestment without an infusion of stimulus resources.

A stimulus moves us away from the scarce resources frame that too often dominates when confronting the need to invest in children. The bipartisan Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which created the Troubled Assets Relief Program, a $700 billion fund to purchase toxic assets from banks, didn’t force banks or their CEOs to compete for needed resources to stabilize their operations. Instead, it provided them with well-calculated, targeted resources needed to do the job. Likewise, we are at a moment when the public education system, its students and educators are in dire need of resources to stabilize operations and eliminate the toxicity of racial disparities. 

A targeted, multi-year $1-2 trillion Education Stabilization Program is a vital part of a larger Racial Equity Stimulus Package proposed by  one of us, John Jackson, and other civil rights leaders. This education-focused stimulus would allow for the critical racial equity investments needed from birth and throughout the public preK-12 education system. It would serve as a stabilization fund for states whose education budgets are challenged by COVID-19-caused revenue shortfalls, while also requiring a maintenance of effort by states. It would also include investments to enable the expansion of community schools, address student mental health and socio-emotional needs, support states moving toward tuition-free community college, and make significant investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other institutions that serve minorities and lead the nation in graduating students of color.  

Stimulus resources are especially needed to address the significant learning loss caused by the pandemic, felt most deeply in communities of color. These targeted funds can contribute to making gains on eliminating racial disparities in education by liberating learning, upending the constraining structures and paradigms in the educational system which have led to learning disparities identifiable by race and ethnicity.  

Inequality in education

Black students and other students of color have long faced a host of challenges where education is concerned — disproportionately under-resourced schools, school closures, criminalization in schools, a lack of teachers who look like them and curricula too often not culturally relevant to them. These biased policies and practices undeniably continue to limit education outcomes for Black and brown students and those from tribal communities. While most students have access to free public education, they remain shackled in achieving their learning potential. As such, it is impossible to address the systemic learning gaps without addressing the racially disparate learning constraints within the education system or, said another way, without liberating their learning.

In this moment of far-reaching change, we must pause to examine whether we are committed to investing in the future. That is the question we must pose to elected officials and those on whom the hopes of children and families rest.

If the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and structural racism experienced in 2020 have shown us anything, it is that there must be a radical shift in how we interact with those around us, and that should force us to rethink how we invest in and educate all students. It has exposed not only past education inequities but the danger of prolonged future disinvestment. While leadership by Congress and the president are needed to move the Racial Equity Stimulus package, your leadership is needed, Secretary Cardona, to target education investments to ensure that we liberate learning for all students and flatten the curve of structural racism so damaging to student learning in America. 

John H. Jackson (@DrJohnHJackson) is president and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education. Derrick Johnson (@DerrickNAACP) is the president of the NAACP.

Soon-to-be Secretary Miguel Cardona, the Time is Now for an Education Stimulus | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Watch LIVE: Breonna Taylor’s America | Cloaking Inequity

Watch LIVE: Breonna Taylor’s America | Cloaking Inequity

WATCH LIVE: BREONNA TAYLOR’S AMERICA

The University of Kentucky College of Education is hosting an online discussion, “Navigating Your Teens in Breonna Taylor’s America,” beginning 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12.

Focused on empowering students and educators, the discussion will be streamed live on the College of Education YouTube channel. Participants are encouraged to submit questions via email at CollegeofEdQA@gmail.com.

The discussion is designed to offer guidance to youth as they search for justice while balancing school, work, friendships, family and their personal well-being. Panelists will answer questions, such as:

• What is the “arc of justice” and why does it take so long to get there? Will we ever?
• How do I focus on school while trying to process racial traumas?
• Why does it feel like some people don’t see my pain and stress?
• How do I find my voice and where does it fit in?
• How can teachers and school leaders embrace students during painful events, such as the Breonna Taylor decision?

The discussion will be moderated by Gregory Vincent, executive director of the college’s Education and Civil Rights Initiative in collaboration with the NAACP. The initiative is based in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, where Vincent is a professor. Panelists for this program will include:

• Tiffany D. Loftin, NAACP Youth and College Division national director; 
• Candice Hargons, assistant professor, Department Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology; 
• Cheryl Matias, professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction;
• Kenneth Tyler, professor and chair, Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology; and
• Carol Taylor Shim, director, UK’s Bias Incident Support Services.

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity, and INSIGHT into Diversity recognized us as a Diversity Champion three years running. UK is ranked among the top 30 campuses in the nation for LGBTQ* inclusion and safety. UK has been judged a “Great College to Work for” three years in a row, and UK is among only 22 universities in the country on Forbes’ list of “America’s Best Employers.” We are ranked among the top 10 percent of public institutions for research expenditures — a tangible symbol of our breadth and depth as a university focused on discovery that changes lives and communities. And our patients know and appreciate the fact that UK HealthCare has been named the state’s top hospital for four straight years. Accolades and honors are great. But they are more important for what they represent: the idea that creating a community of belonging and commitment to excellence is how we honor our mission to be not simply the University of Kentucky, but the University for Kentucky.

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Watch LIVE: Breonna Taylor’s America | Cloaking Inequity

Tonight: How can we bridge the digital and health divide for students of color during the pandemic? | Cloaking Inequity

Tonight: How can we bridge the digital and health divide for students of color during the pandemic? | Cloaking Inequity

TONIGHT: HOW CAN WE BRIDGE THE DIGITAL AND HEALTH DIVIDE FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR DURING THE PANDEMIC?

Expert panelists from the National Medical Association and the NAACP will share their ideas in a free webinar taking place Thursday, Oct. 29.

The discussion will be moderated by the University of Kentucky College of Education’s Dr. Gregory Vincent, executive director of the college’s Education and Civil Rights Initiative in collaboration with the NAACP. The initiative is based in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, where Vincent is a professor.

Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions of the panelists and engage in this discussion.

Coronavirus Impact on Students and Education Systems
6:30 to 8 p.m. (ET) Thursday, Oct. 29

> Register in advance at https://uky.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1k4xZBYtQlCWLlQzVBmRIQ

Featured speakers:
Dr. Greg Vincent: UK Education and Civil Rights Initiative Executive Director
Leon W. Russell: NAACP Chairman of the Board
Yumeka Rushing: NAACP Chief Strategy Officer
Adora Obi Nweze: NAACP Education Committee Chair
Dr. Cedric M. Bright: Physician, National Medical Association

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Tonight: How can we bridge the digital and health divide for students of color during the pandemic? | Cloaking Inequity

Morning in America: Civil Rights Front and Center | Cloaking Inequity

Morning in America: Civil Rights Front and Center | Cloaking Inequity

Morning in America:

Civil Rights Front and Center

Julian Vasquez Heilig and Greg Vincent discuss the brand new civil rights and education collaboration between the University of Kentucky College of Education and the NAACP on The Tom Ficklin Show.

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Morning in America: Civil Rights Front and Center | Cloaking Inequity

Parents, Districts, and NAACP Win Major Victory over DeVos | Cloaking Inequity

Parents, Districts, and NAACP Win Major Victory over DeVos | Cloaking Inequity

PARENTS, DISTRICTS, AND NAACP WIN MAJOR VICTORY OVER DEVOS

I received the following press release from the Education Law Center about the DeVos defeat at the hands of the NAACP in court this past week.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Late this afternoon, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in NAACP v. DeVos, striking down a rule that imposes unlawful conditions on federal emergency aid for public schools. Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education violated the clear language of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in issuing a regulation that would illegally divert desperately needed funds away from public school students for the benefit of private schools.

Judge Friedrich wrote: “Congress expressed a clear and unambiguous preference for apportioning funding to private schools based on the number of children from low-income families…” The court continued: “Contrary to the Department’s interim final rule, that cannot mean the opposite of what it says.”

“This decision sends a clear signal that Secretary DeVos cannot use illegal means to advance her agenda of funneling scarce public resources to private education, to the detriment of our highest need students in public schools across the country,” said Tamerlin Godley, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, who argued the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment. “We are particularly grateful that the court issued this decision quickly so that public school districts do not lose any more time in meeting the urgent needs of their students during this pandemic.”

The plaintiffs are the NAACP, public school parents and districts across the country. The plaintiff families have children enrolled in public schools in states including Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, Mississippi and Alabama, as well as Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs also include Broward County Public Schools, FL; DeKalb County School District, GA; Denver County School District, CO; Pasadena Unified School District, CA; and Stamford Public Schools, CT.

The plaintiffs are represented by the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP, as well as Education Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center. These organizations collaborate on Public Funds Public Schools (PFPS), a national campaign to ensure that public funds for education are used to maintain, support, and strengthen public schools.

The rule invalidated today required districts to either divert more funding for “equitable services” to private school students than the law allows or face onerous restrictions on the use of those funds in their public schools. It would have drastically diminished the desperately needed resources available to support public school children during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particularly harmful effect on historically underserved student populations, including students of color and low-income students.

The court’s ruling grants a nationwide vacatur of the rule, bringing much-needed certainty to public schools across the country that they will have the full amount of CARES Act funds to which they are entitled.

More information about NAACP v. DeVos is available here.

Parents, Districts, and NAACP Win Major Victory over DeVos | Cloaking Inequity

The Breakdown of New NAACP Education Initiative with Dean Julian Vasquez Heilig | Cloaking Inequity

The Breakdown of New NAACP Education Initiative with Dean Julian Vasquez Heilig | Cloaking Inequity

THE BREAKDOWN OF NEW NAACP EDUCATION INITIATIVE WITH DEAN JULIAN VASQUEZ HEILIG

The University of Kentucky College of Education is teaming up with the NAACP to launch a groundbreaking collaboration. Together, the two are developing an education and research initiative focused on educational equity, civil rights and social justice. Tonight on The Breakdown-UK College of Education Dean, Julian Vasquez Heilig.

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The Breakdown of New NAACP Education Initiative with Dean Julian Vasquez Heilig | Cloaking Inequity

Breaking News: THe NEW UK and NAACP Education and Civil Rights Initiative | Cloaking Inequity

Breaking News: THe NEW UK and NAACP Education and Civil Rights Initiative | Cloaking Inequity

BREAKING NEWS: THE NEW UK AND NAACP EDUCATION AND CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE

This is a blog I’ve been looking forward to writing for more than a year.

I can finally share with you that the College of Education has entered into a groundbreaking, history-making collaboration with the NAACP, the nation’s largest and most preeminent civil rights organization.

Housed in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation, this education and research initiative will focus on educational equity, civil rights and social justice. As NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson pointed out, this is the first time the NAACP has partnered with university-based scholars in the education field to help address the racial inequities that continue to plague our education system.

Since the summer of 2019, we have turned ideas into action, laying the foundation for this work.  We welcomed Gregory Vincent, an acclaimed civil rights attorney and university professor, as director of this initiative; Sarah LaCour, arriving from the University of Colorado Boulder to serve as an assistant director; Mariama Lockington, a celebrated author and voice for equity and inclusion, who will help support the work of the initiative; and Cheryl Matias, a nationally-recognized scholar who studies culturally responsive education practices, who will contribute to the initiative as well as serve as a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. They are among a number of new faces who will add to the breadth of expertise and energy in the College of Education

But it doesn’t stop there.

Danelle Stevens-Watkins, who is also director of graduate studies in the Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology, has been named Assistant Vice President for Research in Diversity and Inclusion. She has agreed to chair the UNITed in racial Equity (UNITE) research priority area.

And today, UK President Eli Capilouto announced that senior administrators will undergo anti-racist training as a first step in UK’s campus-wide initiative to change our culture as a community united against systemic racism. The training will be led by Candice Hargons, Ph.D., an assistant professor in theDepartment of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology. Hargons is a counseling psychologist with a national reputation in the field of anti-racism training.

The world is taking notice. We’re hearing from news media and colleagues from far and wide. One example is the Washington Post article from Thursday, Aug. 6.

You can read more about our work at the links below:

• Civil Rights Initiative
• UK’s Research Initiative
• Anti-Racism Training
• New Faculty Bridge Divides

There is much more work to do, and no doubt, there will be more challenges ahead, but I am convinced that we will refuse to allow adversity to stop us from pressing forward and making an unmistakable and lasting impact.

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Breaking News: THe NEW UK and NAACP Education and Civil Rights Initiative | Cloaking Inequity

NAACP launches new civil rights and education initiative with University of Kentucky - The Washington Post

NAACP launches new civil rights and education initiative with University of Kentucky - The Washington Post

NAACP launches new civil rights and education initiative with University of Kentucky

The NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States, is launching a new education initiative with the University of Kentucky that will provide a home for Black faculty to conduct and disseminate research on the community in a new way.

The enterprise marks the first time that the NAACP has joined with university-based education scholars to help address racial inequities that for decades have plagued public schools around the country.

“It’s a brand new paradigm,” said Julian Vasquez Heilig, dean of the University of Kentucky’s College of Education who has served on the NAACP executive committee and as the education chair for the NAACP’s California Hawaii State Conference. “There is no playbook.”

Vasquez Heilig, who is the initiative’s mastermind, said research will be done not by finding topics in the halls of academia, as is usually done, but rather in African American communities.

“The idea here is to go to communities and understand what research they think needs to be done,” he said in an interview. “Instead of going to communities in the colonial way and taking research, we are asking what research they think is important to do.”

The focus of the initiative’s work will be to advance and protect education for students from preschool through higher education — with an emphasis on race-based discrimination. Special attention will be paid to students from underserved communities in Kentucky, which reflects many around the country.

The initiative will also seek to understand the challenges of students who are marginalized in the CONTINUE READING: NAACP launches new civil rights and education initiative with University of Kentucky - The Washington Post