I’ve updated my Educational Consulting section of the website to include my latest educational achievement – an Equity in Excellence in Education (EEE) Certificate from McDaniel College.
For those of you who are interested, I highly recommend the program. Here’s a brief overview of the program. Designed as a collaboration between Montgomery County Public Schools, MCEA (The Montgomery County Education Association (Teacher’s Union) and McDaniel College, the program aims to build educators’ skills in teaching diverse learners through rigorous and focused instruction on diversity and equity classes. These classes examine the background history of race in American education, how it impacts local schools, curriculum, and instructors, and our place as teacher-leaders in the future.
Overall I highly recommend this program and personally think that, at bare minimum, the first two classes should be part of the required teacher education instructional program at EVERY teacher college/university. With the disparity between what many teachers look like and what our students look like, these two classes – Foundations of Social Justice Teaching in America and Race and Ethnicity in American Education – have improved my own teaching by leaps and bounds.
While the program offers a Master’s Degree (which I was tempted to do, but life in this case overrules the time requirements), I settled for the Certificate, which is five classes or 15 credits. The capstone of this project is a year – long research project where students investigate a problem/challenge/issue of their own selection at their school. My selected topic focused on the disparity between the racial component of the ineligible student population at my school versus the school’s racial make up as a whole, the literature behind the causes and possible solutions.
With the goal of the EEE program being to create teacher-leaders who make a difference at the classroom, school, and county level, I can say that this program has accomplished it’s goals. My school is making adjustments to implement some of my recommendations in regards to the disparity of ineligible students, and I am working with another teacher to create a Student Diversity Leadership team to help build student awareness and skills in regards to ensuring an equitable education for all.
Modern Papyrus 