Diversity and Equity
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Cultural Responsiveness
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Central office administrators, principals, and certified staff have been engaged in professional learning experiences with external consultants in all the phases of the Deep Equity process as outlined by national equity expert Gary Howard. Deep Equity is a multi-year, comprehensive, and train-the-trainer process. Cultural competence workshops are offered to all classified staff. New teachers and administrators are provided an introductory session to Culturally Responsive Teaching during their induction week.
School Equity Teams
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The District has been organized in equity facilitation teams to implement Deep Equity and Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) in all the District’s 19 schools. Each team consists of the principal, assistant principal, school counselor, parent coordinator, and a teacher leader.
Youth Equity Stewardship Program (YES)
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This is a three-day program designed to prepare high school youth along with adult advocates to be powerful change agents in building inclusive, innovative and inspiring school climates. The content combines live musical performance, structured dialogue, creative expression activities, and experiential learning. The arts-based curriculum is designed to build deeper relationships and connections across the spectrum of identities including (but not limited to) culture, race, gender identity, ability, age, belief, economics, learning preferences and academic history.
Family Engagement
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The District has full-time Parent Coordinators assigned to each school. These are bilingual/bicultural paraprofessionals who know the community, the families, and how the educational system works. They help connect families with resources/organizations in the community. Parent engagement is also promoted by specialized programming such as Opening Doors (available for pre-k and K parents) and Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT), currently a pilot program at 12th & Marion Elementary School.
Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence & Equity (DVCEE)
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The University of PA's Delaware Valley Consortium for Excellence & Equity provides networking, Professional Learning with nationally recognized Equity consultants and trainers, student leadership institutes, and other opportunities.
School Climate
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This is partnership with The Pennsylvania Intermediate Units (PAIU) and the Office of Safe Schools, Pennsylvania Department Education (PDE) aimed at increasing the capacity of educators to lead school climate improvement efforts.