School-based Programs

Introduction

Raising Multicultural Kids was founded in 2019 after our President’s (Kelly Lamb) Kindergartener experienced multiple racial incidents at school. After reaching out to the local community for support, she found that her family was not the only one experiencing racial issues, as many children of color began to have these experiences as early as K, 1st or 2nd grade. School-based racial incidents are a nationwide issue and certainly not unique to Easton, but our group of parents decided to take ownership of what was happening to bring about positive change in the school system and community.  This effort led to the development of programs that not only address racial incidents but promote anti-bias competency overall.  The success of our school-based Initiatives, in particular our Diversity in Classroom Leadership and Literature program, has attracted other schools and organizations to our work, enabling us to expand into 6 towns in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Diversity in Classroom Leadership and Literature (PreK-6) Program Goals

1.     Increase diversity in classroom leadership roles

Studies show that representation impacts a child’s educational trajectory.  Data indicates that having just one black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grade reduced low-income black boys’ probability of dropping out of high school by 39 percent (Gershenson et al, 2017).  Black students are 7% more likely to graduate high school and) more likely ((19% (female)/29% (male)) to enroll in college if they’ve had one black teacher by third grade (Gershenson et al, 2017).  Teachers of color have a positive impact on students of all races and provide the opportunity for white students to form critical relationships that could disrupt common stereotypes, misinformation and racism that is less likely to be questioned or challenged in an all-white environment (Quiocho, A. & Rios, F. 2000). Our staff work with local universities to make sure students of color see our job postings and understand the importance of our mission and as a result, over 80% of RMK TEACH Leaders identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

2.   Provide Pre-K-6th grade children with a multicultural education 

Studies indicate that there are many benefits to providing students with a multicultural education including helping students become more open-minded and flexible thinkers. Students learn perspective taking skills and increase emotional intelligence and empathy, while also enhancing creativity and problem-solving skills.  Additionally, the ability to work with and understand different cultures is more necessary for employment as the workforce grows further diverse and the marketplace more global. 

3. Within 5 years, build up a district’s internal capacity to support teacher of color and diversify curriculum

Meaningful change is more likely to occur when it is developed within rather than a continued outsourced program, so RMK efforts include weekly professional development for classroom teachers.  This professional development is designed to increase a teacher’s knowledge and comfort in creating and managing classroom conversations around race, culture, language, socioeconomic status, ability, and family structure. As one of the program goals is to help each district diversify its staff, we must also consider what would help retain teachers of color.   Cultivating the entire staff’s knowledge and skills around issues many of our staff have faced will help improve teacher retention rates.

4.   Increase the number of students of color pursuing a degree in education in Massachusetts

There have been many efforts across the state to increase the number of students of color pursuing a degree in education, but there has been very little impact on improving teacher demographics.  The progress is greatly hindered by the fact that students see very few to no teachers of color in their classrooms and that we must find creative ways to address this issue for students of color to begin considering a career in education.  It has been our experience that exposing college students to teaching in the classroom opens up a career possibility to them that they had never considered.  Their work in our programs also provides the necessary representation for elementary students of color to consider teaching as a potential career.

5. Assist our TEACH Leaders in finding a job upon graduation and the districts we serve in hiring more teachers of color

We support our TEACH Leaders through their education and beyond. We offer all our students’ reference and resume assistance.  We help non-education majors find connections in their field of study as best we can.  For our education majors, we first connect them to the districts we serve, as it is our goal to have them hire a few TEACH Leaders within 5 years.  However, we are also regularly contacted by other districts looking for quality candidates and share that information as well.

Program Timeline

August 20-September 20:  Advertise, recruit, and interview student teachers, which we refer to internally as TEACH Leaders (TLs). We work with key individuals and departments at Bridgewater State University, Stonehill College, Massasoit Community College, Bristol Community College, and Dean and Quincy College to find students interested in the program.

Late September:  RMK holds Employee Orientation

Late September-October 29:  TEACH Leaders receive 30 hours of training in RMK’s Diversity, Civics and Advocacy Modules, RMK guiding principles, good mentorship practice, multicultural curriculum, culturally responsive teaching practice, CASEL social-emotional learning framework, lesson planning, classroom management, engaging reading techniques, trauma’s impact on the brain and behavior, and trauma-competent practice. Students also visit their assigned classroom to observe the current classroom teacher’s classroom management style and routines.

RMK provides one training per district to Pre-K-6th Grade teachers on cultural competency and mentoring TLs.

RMK provides 1-2 parent and community education sessions on curricula and ways they can welcome and support TLs.

November-Mid-May:  TEACH Leaders spend one hour a week in each classroom reading a multicultural book and doing an activity. They then spend ten minutes with the classroom teacher on the lesson they provided and how to continue the conversation throughout the week, to give each teacher short but consistent doses of professional development. We aim to build up the districts’ internal capacity to continue this work beyond their five-year commitment to our program. Multicultural books are about race, culture, socioeconomic status, language, ability, and family structure. Students are given a 1-hour video tutorial weekly to review and practice the lesson before they deliver it. 

Mid-May-June 30:  Survey student and classroom teachers, paper and in-person interviews, on the program and ways to continually improve it.July-August 19:  Debrief on key takeaways from the school year and use this data for planning for next year.

References

  1. Gershenson, S. Hart, C. M.D. et al. (2018) The Long-Run Impact of Same-Race Teachers. National Institute of Economics Research. Online: https://www.nber.org/papers/w25254

Check out this clip of RMK in the classroom!

See an example lesson plan here