<![CDATA[Center for Ethical Leadership - March 2013]]>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 17:30:29 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[March 2013 Newsletter Articles]]>Mon, 07 Apr 2014 21:27:01 GMThttps://www.ethicalleadership.org/march-2013/march-2013-newsletter-articles Measuring Progress Towards Racial Equity in Minnesota Public Schools
The Center for Ethical Leadership connects communities across the country to share their successful approaches to fostering collective leadership and making community changes.  One of the members of this Community Learning Exchange network is MIGIZI, an urban Indian organization in Minneapolis.  MIGIZI has been instrumental in forming an Education Equity Organizing Collaborative (EEOC) comprised of eleven racially, culturally and geographically diverse organizations that are working together to promote education equity in Minnesota.  The EEOC is working to move the equity agenda at the state level.

What we measure in our education system matters.  It focuses our attention and resources.  If we want our public education system to provide equitable opportunities for all students we need to make equity a measure of educational success.  The EEOC is doing just that in Minnesota.  They are partnering with the Minnesota Department of Education and the Great Lakes Equity Center to create a set of equity standards and a rubric for measuring progress toward equity in districts and schools throughout the state.

Like many states, Minnesota has identified schools as “excellent” based on student test scores despite the presence of huge disparities in achievement between different groups.  For instance, Edina is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the metro area with a lower percentage of students of color and low-income students than most districts in the state. Its student body routinely outperforms others in the state on standardized tests, and the district is often described as “excellent” and held up as a model of what Minnesota education should be.  However, this definition of education “excellence” fails to take into account the huge disparities in performance between Edina’s affluent white students and the low income and children of color enrolled in the district.

The EEOC is seeking to change the definition and understanding of “excellence” in education to embrace a definition that puts equity front and center.  According to this new definition, Edina would not be considered an “excellent” district because there can be no excellence without equity.  What the equity framework and rubric will provide is a lever to move all schools and districts in Minnesota toward a greater appreciation of and commitment to equity.  This should lead to improving educational opportunity for all of the state’s students.

So far this partnership has produced an equity framework and vetted it broadly with educators, communities of color, and low-income people throughout the state.  Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, it will be piloted in a representative sample of schools selected by the state Department of Education.

Changing Racial Relationships Using Circles Process in Seattle
When people are treated inequitably or viewed as “the other,” it causes pain, trauma, stress and barriers between community members. This leads to an unhealthy social system that interferes with all the institutions and systems in our communities. The Changing Racial Relationships Circles initiative seeks to build strong relationships that are capable of holding important dialogues around race in the Puget Sound area.

During a three-day Circle, the Center for Ethical Leadership brings together a group of individuals from diverse racial backgrounds who are ready to open up to deeper cross-race relationships. Unlike most approaches to addressing racism, circles are not a training, workshop, or task-oriented meeting. Instead, they provide an opportunity for participants to do their own deep personal work regarding race. Changing Racial Relationships uses peacemaking circles, a unique approach to conflict resolution and healing based on traditional practices from a number of cultures.

Circles create a sacred space and structure that allows for people to share without engaging in back and forth dialogue. They emphasize building trust and listening and honoring other participants’ stories. The experience is deeply transformational, allowing participants to do their own healing so they can be authentic and open when tackling future challenging conversations about race. These Circles are an important part of building our collective capacity to confront deep-seated institutional and cultural inequity.

In 2010, Leadership Learning Community published a report on leadership and race that suggests that progress with regards to racial justice “requires a deep knowledge of oneself and others…making meaning of one’s own experience with issues of power.”  The Center’s circles process has made a powerful impact on participants.  A school district administrator who has participated in the Circles said,

“One of my biggest learnings is how important it is to establish strong relationships and trust especially among members of groups who have different cultural background, worldviews, and some historical animosities before trying to address the significant problems.  The circle process allowed me to change my approach to diversity. Based on this experience, I will create some community groups in order to get the parents more involved with the educational system in my school district. I would like to use the circle process and develop deep relationship among them before addressing the problems.”

Past participants also have incorporated Circles into important community work, using Circles to build greater understanding in anti-racism coalition meetings; to change the culture of diversity at a K-12 school; and to cultivate supportive relationships with a middle school for Muslim girls.  The Center will hold Changing Racial Relationships Circles throughout the year and will offer training to people who want to learn to lead Circles in their community.  The Center hosts monthly gatherings for Circle participants to provide a network of mutual support for one another’s work and foster continued relationship building.

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