Our Journey Toward Equity and Social Justice

OUR JOURNEY TOWARD EQUITY & SOCIAL JUSTICE

For years, leaders in Mankato’s College of Education assumed they were progressive and unbiased, and they were training teachers and educational leaders with similar qualities. However, as the demographics of the K-12 classrooms continued to change and the achievement disparities between white students and students of color continued to expand, it became clear teacher education and educational leadership programs needed to change. In 2010, the College of Education began a process of selfexamination related to individual and systemic racial bias. In 2018, the new vision statement fi rmly prioritized its goals to include racial equity and social justice:

While other organizations held similar values, few had the courage to use such explicit language. “Dean Haar gets tremendous credit for revising the mission and vision to be explicit,” said Robin White. “It is not the kind of thing you can talk about sometimes. It has to be at the forefront.”

Ten years later, the college has integrated its vision into every aspect of its programs and services. Administrators, faculty, staff , students, and partner districts are challenged (and challenge others) to think diff erently and take responsibility to make change happen.

TO INSPIRE LIFELONG LEARNING AND PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT THROUGH RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND INCLUSION WITHIN A GLOBAL CONTEXT.

WHY IS RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SUCH A BIG DEAL IN EDUCATION? White is a consultant who has worked with higher education institutions across the country. She helps them implement foundation-funded eff orts designed to transformed teacher education. White began working with the College of Education in 2009 as it prepared its proposal for the Bush Foundation’s Teacher Education Initiative. She said training educators and educational systems to recognize and change racial bias may be the most critical determinant of what happens to the next generation of students in the K-12 system. “I don’t believe that having a teacher who may be slightly better at math or chemistry is going to make that much diff erence. Rather, having a teacher who respects all students, who knows how to practice racial equity and social justice in a classroom and lives that every day to engage students and make them feel valued will make the diff erence between whether they want to be in school or not.”

From the outset, White noticed Mankato was prepared to set the bar high and take some risks. Th e college established a recruitment goal that 25 percent of its students would be people of color. “Considering the makeup of the national teacher ed pool and the location of the university, this was an especially aggressive and loft y goal.”

CHANGE IS REQUIRED BECAUSE ‘THE WAY WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE THINGS’ ISN’T WORKING. Change that moves the college toward that loft y diversity goal of 25 percent requires some deep analysis and system alternations. It takes time. A decade has passed. What, exactly, does this change look like?

Guided by the new vision statement, the college routinely reviews all aspects of its services, practices, and policies through a racial equity and social justice lens—from student recruitment and curriculum to partner district interactions and professional development opportunities. Some changes are subtle, while others disrupt the system.

2008–2009 2010 2013 2015

College of Education Identifi ed a goal to achieve 25% students of color in the teaching programs Teachers of Tomorrow is created—a student organization to support students of color as they navigate academic, licensure and graduation requirements

Created an Advisory Board to guide the college in its equity work. Reword to: Initiated professional development focused on racial equity; Implemented Courageous Conversation protocol.

Tracy Stokes-Hernandez, student relations coordinator for the College of Education, described one change that keeps the goal front and center, “Each leadership meeting begins with a grounding exercise where we ground into the work of equity and social justice. It lets us get into the right headspace to have these topics front of mind when making decisions on policy or admissions or curriculum or programing.”

Beth Beschorner, chair of the Department of Elementary and Literacy Education, said, “We recognized our admissions process was marginalizing students of color, so we changed the process.” Now, each applicant must submit a video response to questions related to how their lived experiences have contributed to their ability to teach racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse children. The department did not change its admission standard; it added a video component to the process. Because, as Beschorner noted, “GPA is not the only criteria for becoming a good teacher.”

In addition to changing admission practices, the college is also intentional about creating positions and hiring new faculty who can contribute to the vision.

One of the newer faculty members is Bernadette Castillo. She joined the Department of Education Studies in 2018. “The vision of the College of Education is one of the reasons I am at Minnesota State Mankato. I wanted to work with colleagues who were also committed to equity through a lens of racial consciousness and social justice. The vision guides us. I have the opportunity to work with faculty, staff, and students to realize that mission through course curriculum, professional development, and college-wide seminars.”

WHAT PROOF IS THERE THESE CHANGES ARE MAKING ANY DIFFERENCE? White talked about the adage, ‘What gets measured is what gets done.’ In 2019, College of Education admission data showed students of color made up 10 percent of the incoming class. While it is a long way from the 25 percent goal, the numbers are trending upward. The college continues to examine its data collection practices, ask the hard questions, and use the responses to make improvements. In addition to recruitment, the college is carefully examining retention factors.

For example, some students of color reported that field placement supervisors favored their white counter parts. The college paid attention to the feedback, which led to additional training and reflection for mentor teachers and field placement supervisors.

Beschorner said, “Our partner districts continue to look at their own racial disparities. We work through the challenges together. It’s not easy. Students of color who have gone through our program have not always had an easy time. Teacher candidates are sometimes in classrooms with teachers who are well intentioned but are working on their own journey. It creates challenges. Fortunately, we have partner districts that are committed to doing the work. And our students of color have shown perseverance and a real commitment to the field of education.”

Sometimes the changes feel transformational, other times it feels frustratingly slow. Gina Anderson, director of the Center for Educator Support, understands the need to be patient, “We are planting the seeds, but we don’t expect to eat the fruit the same day.

“We are having conversations about things we were either unaware of or we chose to ignore years ago.” Anderson shared a pivotal moment in her own journey. “I remember as a K-12 teacher, my experience as a supervisor of a student teacher of color really pushed me on my racial equity journey. I said, ‘I don’t see color.’ A faculty member from the College of Education challenged me, ‘Don’t you think you need to?’ I was in my thirties and had never been called out on color blindness. I thought that was the right thing to do. The College of Education’s mission and vision had an impact on me long before I worked here.”

While much progress has been made, there is still much to be done. Anderson is excited about continuing the journey with the college, “Our mission and vision means we can continue to do this work for a really long time. Racism has been growing for 400 plus years; we have a lot of untangling to do.”

FALL 2018 2018 2020-2021

Drafted vision and revised mission to reflect our equity work. Began offering Racial Justice seminars to teacher candidates. Implemented Critical Race Theory course. Secured grant support to increase number of teacher candidates of color and support equitable teaching.