Have a Seat with the C-Suite, Vol. 13
Back-to-school fervor has already started, believe it or not. (Full disclosure, two of us in the C-Suite teach Summer classes so we never really left school.) Even so, we are among the many educators thinking about how to retool and revamp our curricular materials for the coming year. Some questions are perennial: What activities worked or didn’t work? How will I differentiate for this year’s students? How can I enhance engagement throughout the year? Still other questions may be new or require more consideration: How do I evaluate gender bias in my curricular materials? With whom can I collaborate? How do I teach students to have critical conversations about race and privilege? The articles in this week’s roundup begin to address some of those questions so those of you who plan ahead may be interested. We also have a number of curriculum resources ready and waiting for you on our website and we’d love to talk more with you about the specific needs of your school or staff – send us a note!
Try: Minister looks for signs of gender bias in federal science departments
When it comes to curriculum, the people who makes decisions matter. Canadian Federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan has made gender equity in science and science education one of the priorities of her tenure in the position. She began by collecting data on professional women in education and found that 42% of women surveyed identified gender bias as a barrier to promotion and 27% believe men are preferred for leadership roles. Her influence on curriculum and education will be particularly interesting when it comes to the ways in which science education takes place at the university level. Duncan suggests that diversity and excellence are necessary partners in order to increase gender equity among professionals, so she continues to study rates of pay among women and minoritized people. In fact, her first initiative“was reinstating the University College Academic Staff Survey that was cancelled by the previous Conservative government.” How might these changes apply to your context? Perhaps you can ask some of the same questions Minister Duncan has asked (and then collect data to find out where corresponding shifts are needed in your curriculum and teaching):
- Who occupies the positions of highest instructional leadership in your organization?
- Do your instructors of different genders make the same salaries?
- Do women move as quickly through the ranks of seniority as quickly as men?
Read: Despite the avalanche of change, it is still possible for schools to develop a curriculum fit for the 21st century
Author and educator John Dunford kicks off this article with a discussion of the ways in which education and curricula are often subject to the same social, political, and environmental pressures as are other spheres. “It takes a lot of determination and positive thinking,” he says, “Not to be diverted from the core purpose of the school – high quality teaching and learning – while all around you is changing and creating multiple, and sometimes, conflicting, pressures.” Coherent curricula, which address not only academic objectives but socio-emotional and cognitive development, comprise what Dunford refers to as Whole Education. Whole Education “plans the development of skills and personal qualities, as well as knowledge, as part of a coherent curriculum. It aims to make all learners life-ready, work-ready and ready for further learning.” We are all-too familiar with the kinds of pressures that reduce curricula to test scores and proficiency cut points but Dunford advocates a broader view of curriculum that accounts for student and faculty experiences, school culture, and “the planned development of skills and personal attributes alongside knowledge.” The real question, though, is how to do that when political and financial pressures are real and mounting. He offers a few solutions:
- Stick to your values. If you and your school consistently articulate and realign with your stated values, it will be easier to evaluate whether your curricula also adhere to those same values.
- Partner with like-minded schools. Shared best practices reduce the burden on any single organization to sustain the development and implementation of high quality curricula.
- Identify the needs of your students. School leaders, suggests Dunford, have more power than they realize and they can best set the direction of school culture and curricula when they identify their most important objectives.
Share: The future of education reform in Indiana is pushing career-readiness to the forefront
One element of curricula not frequently at the forefront is workforce education. Given what we know about women, the workforce, and access to the highest-paying professions, the kind of reform taking place in Indiana might benefit female students in K12 and higher education. What has this meant for curriculum? Some innovations include efforts to help adults receive diplomas, expanded internship opportunities, and school-employer partnerships, and integration “employability skills” into K12 standards. This kind of reform has been pitched by advocates as a more bipartisan-friendly alternative to school choice policies; it still offers students choices regarding their K12 pathways and secondary placement opportunities but does not come with the same degree of political discord as do charter and voucher policies. This curricular shift has, however, raised questions of content and delivery in K12 schools. “I think unless you are willing to really dig down to how we deliver education and how we should be innovative and change our system from early childhood to post-secondary and beyond, I think we’re just tweaking at the edges,” says Representative Bob Behning. Consider sharing this article with your social media networks or within your organization - what do your friends and colleagues think of curricular shifts that prioritize student choice in the form of workforce development?
Lead: ASU researcher appointed to NSF STEM Education Advisory Panel
Kimberly Scott, a professor at Arizona State University and founding director of ASU’s Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology has been appointed to a National Science Foundation (NSF) panel on innovation in STEM. Dr. Scott’s research examines “the social and academic development of girls of color in informal spaces and their technosocial innovations.” A little bit of a dive into her CV reveals that she has long been an advocate of professional development that support gender and racial equity. She also has experience in international contexts, working in education law, and provided guidance for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art. The panel to which Dr. Scott was appointed will look specifically at developments in STEM education. This is a great example of how the individuals making decisions will have the power to influence not only what goes into STEM curriculum but how it is delivered. In this case, we are delighted to see Dr. Scott’s expertise not only acknowledged but deployed so that more young women of color find themselves in STEM classes, represented in STEM curricula, and staying in STEM fields beyond college and into career placements.
- Lauren