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Successful Practices in the Education of Black Students

Webcast: February 23, 2006

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With Dr. Asa Hilliard.

Also contributing:
Dr. Christopher M. Spence: Director of Education at Hamilton Wentworth Board of Education; Elizabeth Sinclair-Artwell: Superintendent of Education, Peel District School Board; Dr. George Dei: Professor at OISE U of T, Faculty of Education; Dr. Carl James: Professor at York University, Faculty of Education; David Green: Student at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University; Dr. Miriam Rossi M.D.: Professor at University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine; Camille Williams-Taylor: Student Achievement Officer and Equity Team Leader at the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat

To make the most of this webcast, please download and print the viewing guide found to your right.

The Context for the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat's LNS focus on Equity of Outcomes.

The government of Ontario has made improvement in making publicly funded education the centerpiece of its mandate. This commitment begins with improved student learning and achievement in literacy and numeracy.

The first step in realizing this goal requires that every student in Ontario develop reading, writing, mathematics, and comprehension skills at a higher level by the age of 12. Progress will be measured by ensuring that by 2008, 75 percent of students reach the provincial standard.

The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat has identified nine strategies for facilitating student success. Our focus in this webcast is on strategy number six, namely: Mobilize the system to provide equity in student outcome.

In addressing this strategy, the goal is to ensure that educators are aware of the challenges faced by specific groups of students who have been identified by research as lagging behind in achievement. In addition, the LNS is committed to providing educators with ways to facilitate greater success for these students.

This webcast focuses on one such identified group: Black students.

Our task as educators is to identify the challenges that Black students face which impede their progress at school. With reflection and research, we will be able to acquire and apply successful practices that work to facilitate success for this group of students.

The purpose of this webcast is to inspire dialogue, reflection and action as participants explore the following:

• The specific strategies that work well to foster success among Black students.
• Why these strategies work and how they look in a real classroom and school setting.
• The experiences that Black students have that cause disengagement and those experiences that foster success.
• The realities that exist in a school setting for Black children, as well as the teacher's own powerful role in influencing that reality.

Much of the research identifies the following as necessary conditions to facilitate success for Black children:

• High expectations: Teachers must assume the brilliance of Black children, and all children: don't teach them less, teach more.
• Mentorship: A caring adult who takes a personal and professional interest in their students has a great impact on the success of those students.
• Connection to community: The involvement of parents and the greater community in the learning circle has a significant impact on student engagement.
• Curricular relevance: Students benefit from seeing their reality reflected in what they are learning; the content of the curriculum exemplifies the possibilities that are available to them.
• Precise/Effective teaching: Student improvement is more likely to occur when we utilize strategies that have proven effective through evidence and research.
• Use data to inform practice: By collecting and reflecting on data, we are able to monitor progress, identify student needs, and adjust programming.

In order to inform your exploration of these points, this webcast will provide an insight into the research about, and practice of, these strategies.

"Teachers who embrace equity pedagogy assume that all children can learn. They work to develop student potential and to create a classroom environment that is encouraging and filled with opportunities for success."

-Banks and Banks, 1995

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