New AACTE Webinar Series Launches with ‘Discussing Race in PK-12 Classrooms’
In this new year, AACTE is recommitting its efforts to support the field in combating the racism that permeates throughout our education system. As a part of these efforts, AACTE will host a webinar each month that is centered on naming, learning, addressing, reforming, and promoting antiracist culture and policies throughout the education system. During these one-hour virtual sessions, you will hear from members and leaders in the field who have been doing the research and work to ensure PK-12 students receive a truly inclusive education. Our goal is for all participants, whether you are an administrator, faculty member, candidate, or current practitioner, to walk away with actionable steps to address internal, interpersonal, and systemic racism.
Racism is a broad and entrenched system of discrimination that has been largely ignored in our history, and every individual in our education system has a part to play in correcting it. Therefore, to begin this series, we want to focus on Discussing Race in Classrooms. In addition to learning how to prepare candidates to discuss racism in PK-12 classrooms, the webinar will address how educator preparation programs and other education field leaders can do the internal, interpersonal, and system-wide work to effectively support and prepare candidates to do so within those programs.
Register Today to join AACTE and the esteemed panel for or its first webinar: Discussing Race in PK-12 Classrooms, Why it’s an Essential Skill, on January 25, 2:00 p.m. EST. We exist in a world of relationships, and therefore, it is imperative that we examine our country’s and our education system’s historic relationship with racism and students of color before we endeavor to implement antiracist policies in our programs. In this session, we will take a look back at the central historic systemic inequities that have created an environment in which a majority of educators are ill-prepared and unwilling to name and discuss race and racism in classrooms. From that historical perspective, we will look at its effects on discipline and special education systems, both of which maintain systemic inequities and exacerbate racial discrimination for students with intersectional identities.
Register for Discussing Race in PK-12 Classrooms, Why It’s an Essential Skill
Panelists:
Erica McCray
Co-Director, CEEDAR Center
Erica D. McCray is director and associate professor in the School of Special Education, School Psychology, and Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. She earned her doctorate at the University of South Florida, Tampa. McCray’s experience as a special educator for students with behavioral and learning disabilities in elementary and middle school settings led to her interest in issues of equity and diversity. She is currently co-principal investigator of the CEEDAR Center, an Office of Special Education Programs funded technical assistance project, as well as a National Science Foundation research project to broaden participation in engineering.
Kent McIntosh
Philip H. Knight Chair of Special Education, University of Oregon
Co-Director, Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
Kent McIntosh is the Philip H. Knight Chair of Special Education at the University of Oregon and Director of Educational and Community Supports, a research unit in the College of Education. His current research focuses on implementation and sustainability of school-based interventions, reducing racial discipline disparities, and integrated academic and behavior support. He is lead author of over 80 peer reviewed journal articles, presenter of over 50 keynote addresses, and principal or co-investigator of over $60 million in federal grant funding. As co-director of the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, he leads the Center’s Equity Workgroup. He is a founding member of the PBIS-SCP Canada Network and a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Positive Behavior Support.
Rebecca Zumeta Edmonds
Managing Researcher, American Institutes for Research
Rebecca Zumeta Edmonds is a managing researcher at the AIR in Washington, DC, where she serves as co-director of the National Center on Intensive Intervention, and as principal investigator of the PROGRESS Center, both funded by the Office of Special Education Programs. She previously directed an Investing in Innovation and Improvement development grant, and she coordinated services for the Response to Intervention Center at AIR.
Tags: AACTE online resources, diversity, events, Race Matters
