Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think and Do
by Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Penguin Publishing Group, New York, N.Y., 2019, 348 pp. with index, $28 hardcover, $18 softcover
Biased is a research-based exploration of bias and prejudice of all kinds. Jennifer Eberhardt, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, is a gifted storyteller. She uses personal observations and experiences as a starting point to share salient information on the topic in a way that informs and touches the reader.
As a co-founder and co-director of Social Psychological Answers to Real-World Questions, a research group at Stanford, Eberhardt is adept at combining research with practice to address social problems. Her research on bias begins with the premise that “categorization is a fundamental tool that our brains are wired to use” and is a precursor to stereotyping and bias.
Eberhardt uses real life examples, such as traffic stops, incarceration, school integration and hair style policies, to point to the data that supports the need for institutional change.
The author challenges the reader to think about how the criminal justice system, K-12 educational systems, and social media sites work to review stereotypes and one-size-fits-all decisions which ultimately lead to systemic bias. Eberhardt is not preachy, she simply informs the reader of her observations along with supporting research.
Biased is a well written and thoughtful presentation on the difficult subject of bias and social injustice. The author is informative and non-confrontational encouraging the reader to be reflective and seek ways to influence institutional bias. Given the current state of social injustice in this country, this is a book that all leaders, especially those in the field of education, should read. Educational leaders have a responsibility to see the whole child as a unique and worthy individual.
Reviewed by Edythe B. Austermuhl, superintendent, Berlin Township School District, West Berlin, N.J.
From Behaving to Belonging: The Inclusive Art of Supporting Students Who Challenge Us
by Julie Causton and Kate MacLeod, ASCD, Alexandria, Va., 2020, 135 pp., $27.95 softcover
From
Behaving to Belonging: The Inclusive Art of Supporting Students Who Challenge Us takes readers through an examination of their current beliefs and practices about education in comparison to a model that support students from a place of love. The book uses a strength-based approach that pushes against deficient mindsets and thinking that is often centered when discussing historically marginalized students. It is a model for how to view difference and diversity more positively, reset thinking and create the conditions for deep learning and connection.
The book is practical and assists educators in building upon already existing structures in their schools, such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports or restorative practices. Throughout the book, readers will find heartfelt strategies that can be used with an individual student or an entire classroom. These powerful tools for change support teachers in creating learning environments that foster a strong, positive sense of belonging.
Causton and MacLeod remind us that everything we do, say and present in our classrooms are signal senders to what we believe about children and their worth in our world. The student, teacher and family examples remind me of my own hopes, joys, and challenges as a classroom teacher. These examples authentically capture the voices of our key stakeholders and create the conditions for deeper investment in changing harmful practices. The stakeholder examples also help to discredit the myth of the typical learner and make more valuable the strategies that support teachers in celebrating their students’ unique characteristics, assets, and contributions.
The authors are genuine in acknowledging that teaching is hard and that dealing with challenging behaviors can be emotionally exhausting. And while they ascertain that students deserve educators who can show up in the right emotional space each day, the authors do a great job of highlighting the importance being attentive to educator’s mental health and self-care.
The book is filled with self-assessments and reflections that support educators in not only examining their practices, but in planning for and implementing real, sustainable change. While this book is clearly written for teachers, I found
From Behaving to Belonging: The Inclusive Art of Supporting Students Who Challenge Us to be very useful, particularly for school districts leaning into what it means to create schools in which all students not only feel a strong sense of connection but are truly loved.
Reviewed by Bren Elliott, chief of school improvement and supports, Washington, D.C.
Stakeholder Engagement: Improving Education through Multi-Level Community Relations
edited by Henry Tran, Douglas A. Smith and David G. Buckman, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2019, 180 pp., $63 hardcover, $34 softcover
As a compilation of nine research studies and one book review,
Stakeholder Engagement: Improving Education through Multilevel Community Relations presents clear evidence that educational leaders who listen to and consider stakeholder voices when making decisions can improve student outcomes and build coalitions of support. Conversely, leaders who choose not to engage with their communities often fail to address the needs of all students and risk a loss of public confidence.
Stakeholder Engagement has three editors: Henry Tran, assistant professor in the University of South Carolina’s Department of Educational Leadership; Douglas A. Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of community college leadership and higher education at Iowa State University; and David G. Buckman, Ph.D., assistant professor of educational leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.
Part One of the book focuses on stakeholder engagement in PreK-12 schools, and Part Two relates to higher education. Superintendents and other PreK-12 leaders may find the higher education studies less relevant to their work, although valuable insights may be gleaned throughout the text.
A broad theme linking the studies is the importance of stakeholder engagement in creating ownership and a common sense of direction within an organization or a community. When educational leaders promote authentic engagement, they empower others to move a classroom, program, school or district beyond the status quo and realize exceptional results.
The scenarios in Stakeholder Engagement include familiar challenges such as passing bond referenda, improving students’ math achievement, addressing teacher shortages and communicating with immigrant and refugee families.
Some chapters in
Stakeholder Engagement would benefit from a skilled copy editor and proofreader. The text contains numerous writing errors, and the overuse of certain words is a distraction. (Note to the authors: “Thus,” is not needed multiple times in one paragraph.)
Overall, this book is useful in understanding the complexity of engaging stakeholders at multiple levels. Stakeholder engagement is essential for developing and delivering high-quality education programs.
Reviewed by Tom Hagley Jr., chief communications and public engagement officer, Vancouver, Wash.
How Much Does a Great School Cost? School Economies and School Values
by Barbara J. Smith, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2021, 153 pp. with index, $60 hardcover, $28 softcover
Barbara J. Smith begins and ends her book,
How Much Does a Great School Cost? School Economies and School Values, with a quote from President Joe Biden, “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” In the book, she aims to offer a text that provides new ideas and new sources of budgeting to reimagine and improve schools in cost effective ways.
On one hand, Smith — who has four decades of experience in public, independent, international and charter schools in Canada, the United States and Europe — presents a text that lives up to its billing. beginning with a definition of greatness culled from the responses of sixteen international educators (“inspired learning through responsible actions in an inclusive culture”), the book packs a dizzying array of ideas and specific examples in its brief 133 pages. Chapters are succinct, averaging only a few pages long; but are also detailed and relatively expansive, with numerous progressive ideas related to school design in all its forms.
On the other hand, as an administrator in a public school district of more than 20,000 students, I too often found myself disconnected from suggestions and illustrations that seemed more suited for small, independent and/or charter schools. To be fair, Smith does note in chapter sixteen that “all roads in this examination of great schools leads back to small schools;” however, this emphasis made the text less practical and, ultimately, less immediately useful than I had hoped.
How Much Does a Great School Cost is an inspirational and aspirational read. As the opening quote suggests, it is a book that encourages readers to grapple with big ideas and their own value systems in the creation and funding of Smith’s “great school.” Those looking for a pragmatic approach to funding transformation in a public school district may wish to look elsewhere, but for those in the world of independent and/or charter schools, or those simply wanting a thought-provoking glimpse into what schools could — and probably should — look like, this is a book worth reading.
Reviewed by Tiffany Campbell, assistant superintendent of instructional services, San Marcos, Calif.
Achieving Equity and Justice in Education Through the Work of Systems Change
by Jennifer Neitzel, Lexington Books, Lanham, Md., 2020, 140 pp. with index, $85 hardcover
Achieving Equity and Justice in Education Through the Work of Systems Change by Jennifer Neitzel focuses on two objectives: demonstrating the institutional racism in schools and advocating for a bottom-up rebuilding of the educational system. Neitzel provides a thorough review of the failings of the current educational system and offers suggestions for dismantling and rebuilding through a community-based strategic planning process.
Neitzel is executive director of the Educational Equity Institute. She brings experience as a researcher in childhood trauma and as an early childhood educator. This short book — 120 pages of text — reads as a textbook with a thorough review of the literature.
The first 80 pages of
Achieving Equity and Justice in Education document the root causes of the achievement gap in society and in schools. For those unfamiliar with the history of race and education, this is a concise overview told from a researcher’s point of view. Neitzel dismisses what she calls first generation equity changes as surface-level Band-Aids that don’t go deep or far enough. Single interventions, she says, must be replaced by actively challenging the status quo systems.
The remaining chapters address the second-generation equity changes — the systems changes — needed to dismantle the educational system. Neitzel advocates for community activism to disrupt the system from the outside. “Radical change will not originate within our systems,” she says.
This book is written for activists that wish to do the “hard work of dismantling the White supremacist systems that sustain the status quo.” Educators may find it useful as a call to action.
Achieving Equity and Justice in Education is short on useful, practitioner based, ideas for educators working to improve racial equity.
Reviewed by Larry L. Nyland, retired superintendent, Seattle, Wash.
System Recall: Leading for Equity and Excellence in Education
by Alma Harris and Michelle S. Jones, Corwin Publishers, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2019, 132 pp. with index, $21.95 softcover
“Children have one chance to flourish, to develop their talents and to realize their potential.” This statement in the first chapter of
System Recall drew me in and incited my curiosity. Emphasizing that there are no second chances, the authors waste little time in establishing what is most important as educational leaders grapple with the roles of equity and excellence in education.
The straightforward way Harris and Jones address structural inequalities and their detrimental impact on access to a robust education is refreshing. Further, acknowledging the growing wealth divide and its negative impact on educational attainment made clear that young people are not the problem. Rather, leaders must closely examine practices and policies that are aimed at reversing inequality and inequities in education.
The authors share Mike Pollock’s definition of equity, which means “supporting the full talent development of every student and all groups of students.” This introduced the second chapter, which I felt was most impactful.
In this chapter, the reader is led to explore the question of excellence over equity. Even through a pandemic, educators were pushed to narrow achievement gaps as we considered “unfinished learning” and the “COVID slide.” These phrases and other labels have the appearance of addressing inequities, but typically lead to educational practices that have the opposite effect as they emphasize excellence over equity.
The book also includes strategies for leading for equity, exploring hard truths and engaging the community with illustrated samples to include powerful excerpts from leading researchers. Though there are no easy answers, the reader is left encouraged to believe that through collaborative efforts and bold leadership, equity and excellence in education can be achieved.
Overall, I would recommend this book as it does provide a rich body of research and practical scenarios to inform the work of educators committed to both equity and excellence.
Reviewed by Avis Williams, superintendent, Selma, Ala.
Team Up, Speak Up, Fire Up!: Educators, Students, and the Community Working Together to Support English Learners
by Audrey Cohan, Andrea Honigsfeld, Maria G. Dove, ASCD, Alexandria, Va., 2019, 163 pp. with index, $28.95 softcover
The authors of
Team up, Speak up, Fire Up!; Educators, Students, and the Community Working Together to Support English Learners, are three educational professionals associated with Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y. They use their 153 pages to “present the essential building blocks of sustained collaboration, continuous learning for ELs and their peers, and coordinated support for students, teachers and families.” This book also supports continued learning for a variety of school community members.
This book will help readers navigate through upcoming interactions, involvement and engagement with children, parents, peers and community members. It will be appropriate for a novice teacher group, a Professional Learning Community, staff professional development and members of the community, including parent organizations.
The authors repeat the same format throughout each of the five chapters, so it is a user-friendly book. The book poses two questions that I see as essential and enduring: “Is a language other than English within a community considered a barrier or a resource?” and “Do diverse racial and ethnic groups feel welcomed in the school, and do they have opportunities for full participation?” To these questions I would add, “Why or why not?”
The authors include questions and additional resources in each chapter. The concepts in each chapter build upon each other and therefore could be absorbed quickly or slowly. To use this as a resource for educators, it would be helpful to reframe some of the questions in the Additional Resources to engage people in discussions and to dissuade participants from sharing only “yes, no or maybe” responses.
Overall, the content of this book is practical for the upcoming school year and onwards. The topic of diverse people working together to support English learners has and continues to be one that impacts us as a nation.
Reviewed by Hope S. Blecher, educational consultant, Parksville, N.Y.
Educational Politics for Social Justice
By Catherine Marshall, Cynthia Gerstl-Pepin, Mark Johnson, Teachers College Press, New York, N.Y., 2020, 209 pp., $120 hardcover, $39.95 softcover
Brilliant and timely,
Education Politics for Social Justice takes a much-needed deep dive not only into educational policy but also the intentionality of exclusivity. These policies often particularly exclude children of different races and cultures who are in the most vulnerable populations. Challenging politics as it is known, this book is about the why and how of educational policy. It looks at using a Centering Justice Framework to foster positive change.
Marshall, Gerstl-Pepin, and Johnson discuss the equitable power and biases that are embedded in policy making — often supporting some students while leaving behind others from less affluent neighborhoods and communities. For education to truly make differences in the lives of all students, regardless of their zip codes, the injustice and historical disadvantage must be eliminated from educational policy making.
Education Politics for Social Justice provides a great introduction to policy making for educators new to the field but is also a realistic reminder to those seasoned educators of the history behind today’s policies and initiatives as well as the heightened sense of accountability. More significantly, the authors encourage leaders who can make policy change to do so not just with the privileged in mind but to ensure that underrepresented populations will be at the same advantage in each policy.
Education Politics for Social Justice asks the powerful who are in the position to make educational policy and change to do so through a lens of social equity. This book is for anyone who has a sincere interest in the field of education and how it serves all students.
Reviewed by Priscilla A. Boerger, chair, Department of Education, Regis College, Weston, Mass.
Substantial Classrooms: Redesigning the Substitute Teaching Experience
by Jill Vialet and Amanda von Moos, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, Calif., 2021, 224 pp. with index, $24.95 softcover
Jill Vialet and Amanda von Moos’ new book,
Substantial Classrooms: Redesigning the Substitute Teaching Experience, offers so much more than the title suggests. Yes, there is a deep dive into improving the teaching and learning experience associated with approximately one year of each student’s academic career, and that’s huge.
But this book is about far more than substitutes. It’s about innovation or, more deliberately, “design.” The book and its lessons seem particularly resonant at this point of inflection in education. As we emerge from the COVID crisis, we ought to be reinventing education, right? But where to start?
Substantial provides a case study in attacking the significant, largely un-tackled problem of substitute teaching and learning through a deliberate design process and shows readers how to make easy connections to other challenges within our school systems.
While reading
Substantial, for example, I reflected on our district's creation of an educational option for families who did not want virtual school for the 2020-21 school year. In just a few weeks in the summer of 2020, we quickly created a long-term Independent Study program option. This quick, first iteration has generally been successful, but it is also quite imperfect. I will be asking my team to read
Substantial, focusing on the design process as we move forward with the next iteration for the coming school year.
The concept of "empathy interviews" to understand the perspectives of substitute teachers, classroom teachers, administrative assistants, principals and students is particularly resonant in a district like ours with a strong SEL focus. Effective solutions,
Substantial argues, can only be created when perspectives are sought, listened to and integrated.
Why didn't we think of the concept of "empathy interviews" when we developed a "supervised learning group" (a safe, well-equipped space for students to engage in virtual school) for students living in a local homeless shelter? In planning, we talked to everyone — city officials, teachers, principals — except the families. Consequently, we created a solution to a problem that did not match family needs, and no one showed up! The authors of
Substantial share their discovery that the best solutions are very often the ones that cause us to say at the end, "Why didn't we think of that before?" To achieve the best result, starting with empathy interviews makes a lot of sense.
While reading this book, teachers and principals will encounter so much that has been hidden in plain sight simply because we’ve just assumed it must be that way, or perhaps we’ve never encountered a challenge to how the system is. Vialet and von Moos explore these challenges and seek to redesign a reality we weren’t even aware we had given up on.
Reading
Substantial will fill you with hope — but as we all know, hope is not a strategy.
Substantial also provides a process to follow to address substitute teaching and other challenges within your system.
Reviewed by Michael Gallagher, superintendent, Sunnyvale, Calif.