Front Page
By Theresa Kelly Gegen
This issue of the Illinois School Board Journal — November/December 2023 — centers on issues on Educational Equity and its companions of diversity, inclusion, belonging, and leadership. We are once again reminded that we are all on an equity journey, and we are all different stages of that journey.
But we also are realizing that the journey itself keeps changing.
Gloria Ladson-Billings, Ph.D. is a renowned scholar, developer of culturally relevant pedagogy theory, Professor Emerita and former Kellner Family Distinguished Chair of Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, a critically acclaimed book that is now in its third edition.
In a keynote address at the first Equity Symposium sponsored by the Illinois State Board of Education, Ladson-Billings spoke to the changing journey and the four – yes four – pandemics that the education community as a whole and today’s students in particular are coping with: COVID-19, of course; the George Floyd murder and the reckonings in its aftermath; the economic downturn that is most severely impacting women and children; and climate change, which is the top concern of young people today.
Ladson-Billings seeks to find a “ray of hope” as we seek equity in education during and through these pandemics. She cites The Pandemic Is a Portal by Arundhati Roy, “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”
This Journal shares several perspectives on the equity journey ahead. Our collaborators at the Latino Policy Forum discuss serving newcomers and addressing barriers to learning, a two-part series starting on page 14.
Don Parker, Ed.D., opens a series, “Be The Driving Force for School Leader Integrity to Promote Equitable Leadership in Schools,” focusing on four crucial characteristics of leaders of integrity: courageous, ethical, collaborative, and action-oriented, “as it relates to fostering a more equitable educational environment.” Find the first installment on page 21.
On page 29, James Harden, Ed.D., brings to readers the idea of “Sticker Shock” and DEI in the arenas of communication, finance, and transportation.
Also, on page 11, IASB’s Associate Executive Director for Field and Equity Services, Nakia Hall, Ed.D., asks “Are we truly seeing the results we desire to see? In order for an action or initiative to be impactful it must be transformative. It must change something from its original state to a better state. It must be a notable change that has brought about substantive growth and evolution.”
Equity voices are amazing. For this Journal, we garnered so much interest in contributions on equity, we’ve had to save some of it for another time. I thank all these contributors for sharing their time and talents, and encourage readers to take their words to heart. No matter where you started or where you are now, the journey continues, with rays of hope, initiatives for action, and opportunities for transformation.
Theresa Kelly Gegen is Director of Communications/Editorial Services at IASB and Editor of the Illinois School Board Journal. You can reach her at tgegen@iasb.com.