Street Data Calls Out Inequity in Ways Educational System Evaluates and Marginalizes Students through Satellite-View Big Data

USA - English

• USA - English

OAKLAND, Calif. , June 9, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In the midst of a quadruple pandemic of COVID-19, systemic racism, economic challenges and climate change, the U.S. educational system is called to enact a massive transformation that will lead to better access and equity for its students. It has become alarmingly clear that the ways in which we assess knowledge and learning is inherently flawed and perpetuates racism and exclusion for many students. The "this is how it's always been done" mentality is proving to be more detrimental to education and workforce development, with students at the margins suffering.

Education professional development leaders Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan recently released their book, Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation (Corwin Press, March 2021), which defines what street data is, how to gather it and how it compliments other forms of data to reveal a humanizing path to equity for schools and districts struggling to make their commitments real. It offers a next-generation, asset-based model for equity and deep learning that will help us transform how we analyze, diagnose, and assess all aspects of education, from student learning to district improvement to policy.

Street Data methodologies help us shift away from an outdated, satellite view of assessing student success to focus instead on an eye-level view of the whole child, which integrates the holistic human experience and draws on expanded ways of knowing, based on Indigenous and Afrocentric cultures, as well as many others. Chapters engross readers on a journey, highlighting:

Epistemology: We can't flip the dominant data paradigm until we comprehend how we know what we know and why we value what we do. This is an important step in recognizing biases and dismantling systemic racism.
Climbing out of equity traps and tropes: Equity isn't a destination, it's an unwavering journey. Even the most well-intentioned approaches to equity and inclusion can fail due to the 10 traps and tropes this book explores, unpacks, and climbs out of.
Choosing the margins: To disrupt the legacy of systemic racism, educators must center children and adults at the margins, gathering data through deep listening and engagement with those who have been least heard.
Student voice and agency: Equity work is first and foremost pedagogical. Equity efforts begin once we redefine success and cultivate student agency by nurturing the domains of identity, belonging, mastery, and efficacy.

These aspects of Street Data create the foundation for understanding what needs to be done and nurturing a pedagogy of voice for educators.

"I was a teacher and principal before No Child Left Behind became federal law. I saw first-hand how that swift policy shift narrowed students' access to deep learning, constricted our metrics for success, and diminished joy and teacher agency," said Safir. "Compliance-driven pedagogy and pacing guides for educators highlight what's wrong in our students and communities. The street data paradigm strives to highlight what's right."

"When we look at current education policy and standardized assessments, they're framed on data models that are very narrowly Western, Eurocentric, and frankly racist," said Dr. Dugan. "We call on all school and district leaders, educators and policy makers to rebuild the school system from the student up, not from the legacy fix-and-fill-the-gap standpoint. The later approach hardly considers the students in the margins. It's time we distinguish the root causes of inequity to transform learning."

Since its release in March 2021, Street Data has remained within the top ten of Amazon's Best Sellers in Education Administration list. For more information on Street Data, please visit http://www.shanesafir.com/street-data/.

About Shane Safir

Over two decades, Shane Safir has worked at every level of the education system, bringing passion, skill, and unique solutions to the challenge of school transformation and the promise of educational opportunity for every child. She served as the founding co-principal of San Francisco's June Jordan School for Equity. She has provided coaching, facilitation, and professional development for hundreds of leaders in schools, school districts, and educational organizations across the U.S. and Canada. She's a frequent contributor to Edutopia and ASCD's Educational Leadership. She authored her first book, The Listening Leader: Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation (Jossey-Bass) in 2017, which uses powerful stories and practical tools shows how educational leaders can leverage the vital, yet often overlooked, skill of listening to transform their schools. Shane holds a bachelor's degree in History from Brown University, a master's degree in Education from Stanford University, and an administrative services credential from California State University East Bay.

About Jamila Dugan

Dr. Jamila Dugan is a leadership coach, learning facilitator, and researcher. She began her career as a teacher in Washington D.C., successfully supporting her school to implement an International Baccalaureate program. After being nominated for Teacher of the Year, she later served as a coach for new teachers and a director of learning and leadership development for teachers in Oakland, California. As a school administrator, Jamila championed equity-centered student services, parent empowerment, and the development of the first Mandarin immersion middle school in Oakland, California. She currently serves as a leadership development coach in urban areas. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Fresno State University, a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education from George Mason University, and a doctorate in Education Leadership for Equity from University of California, Berkeley.

About Corwin
Corwin, a SAGE Publishing company, is the premier provider of professional learning products and services that equip educators with the resources needed to improve teaching and learning. Corwin offers print books and eBooks, digital products, and onsite consulting services for all types of educators at all stages of their careers. Corwin resources are authored by experts on the topics most relevant to education; formatted for hands-on, practical guidance; research-based and peer-reviewed for quality; and designed for professional learning. For more information, visit http://www.corwin.com.

###

Media Contact

Kim Peterson, Corwin, +1 (720) 316-4517, [email protected]

SOURCE Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan