Sharing Stories

A Strong & Diverse Teaching Profession

Diverse, prepared, and supported pre-K-12 educators are the cornerstone of advancing student­-centered, deeper learning and the focus of local, state, and national work of many within the Partnership’s network. Also see our Teaching Profession Playbook, developed by Learning Policy Institute, Public Leadership Institute, and many partners in our network. These stories support the needs, ideas, and solutions covered in the playbook.

Community Power

Teaching Partnerships in Community Schools

Find out how teaching partnerships work in a real Community School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Community Learning Center Institute’s neighborhood network of partners brought in Cincinnati’s first poet laureate, Pauletta Hansel, to forge connections with students around writing as a way to explore their identities and interests.

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Seen in the Classroom

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Seen in the Classroom

Aaron Harris, a New York City public school teacher, shares his experiences as a teacher of color in the classroom, and how race and ethnicity inform the role educators play in their students’ lives.

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Racial Equity

Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining Teachers and Principals of Color

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Racial Equity

Recruiting, Supporting, and Retaining Teachers and Principals of Color

Highlights from a panel discussion on recruiting, supporting, and retaining teachers and principals of color. From the Research & Revolt for CRE Conference, organized by Education Justice Research & Organizing Collaborative (EJ-ROC). October 6, 2019.

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Science of Learning

Kim Burnim - Keeping the Promise of Public Education

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Science of Learning

Kim Burnim - Keeping the Promise of Public Education

Educators are some of children’s first role models. Kim Burnim shares how her daycare teacher, Ms. Chandler, not only inspired her love for reading but led her to give back to the next generation as a Kindergarten teacher herself.

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Science of Learning

Jeffery Cole on Today's Students, Tomorrow's Teachers

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Science of Learning

Jeffery Cole on Today's Students, Tomorrow's Teachers

“It’s a mentorship program designed to support personal and professional growth.” Hear from Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Teachers Alumnus,  Jeffery Cole.

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Science of Learning

Leah Juelke, Language Arts Teacher

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Science of Learning

Leah Juelke, Language Arts Teacher

Leah Juelke, a 9th to 12th grade language arts teacher in Fargo, North Dakota supports immigrant youth to learn English and share their personal journeys.

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Raising a Critically Conscious Teaching Force

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Raising a Critically Conscious Teaching Force

Paul Forbes and Natalie Zwerger work to develop individual school and district-wide understandings of race, power, and privilege.

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Remodeling Education

Hinds Community College and Delta State University 2+2 Program

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Remodeling Education

Hinds Community College and Delta State University 2+2 Program

Teacher preparation programs can also increase recruitment efforts by partnering with community colleges to create degree-articulation agreements.  For rural communities, which are often far from a four-year university, local community colleges can support the teacher pipeline through innovative programs that leverage these articulation agreements.

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School Funding

Dear Educators, Don’t Quit!

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School Funding

Dear Educators, Don’t Quit!

A heartfelt message by teachers for teachers. We share in this struggle together. Don’t quit, remain positive, and continue to make connections with your students. You’ve got this.

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

Danielle's Story

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

Danielle's Story

Community schools are essential for kids facing poverty and trauma, says elementary teacher and National Education Association (NEA) member Danielle Harris.

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Science of Learning

Cynthia Tong teaches social studies through embodied lessons.

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Science of Learning

Cynthia Tong teaches social studies through embodied lessons.

Cynthia Tong, an 8th grade social studies teacher in Ewa Beach, Hawaii connects students to history and social studies through movement and embodied lessons.

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Being Culturally Responsive as a White Teacher

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Being Culturally Responsive as a White Teacher

When Erin Dunlevy left her hometown in suburban New Jersey to teach in the South Bronx, she was shocked to see a line of 2,500 students wrapped around the school building waiting to pass through the only operational metal detector on campus.

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Remodeling Education

Cicely Woodard, 8th Grade Math Teacher

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Remodeling Education

Cicely Woodard, 8th Grade Math Teacher

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Equitable, High-Quality Public Education

We’re amplifying the work of individuals, organizations, schools, and systems that are making learning rigorous, relevant, engaging, and available for each and every student. These films tell their stories. 

Remodeling Education

What are Community Schools?

This new animated explainer from the Partnership for the Future of Learning is a tool for anyone advancing Community Schools. Community schools are public schools that partner with stakeholders to create the conditions students need to thrive. (Now available in Spanish!)

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Remodeling Education • School Funding

Spend It On Schools

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Remodeling Education • School Funding

Spend It On Schools

Compare federal expenditures and investments with real costs of improving our public education system using this interactive tool. Choose how you’d prioritize education as a pathway for all young people to reach their full potential.

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Community Power • Racial Equity • School Funding

Mississippi Rising

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Community Power • Racial Equity • School Funding

Mississippi Rising

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Community Power • Racial Equity

Kings and Queens

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Community Power • Racial Equity

Kings and Queens

Kings and Queens is an exploration of inequity and a view into resilient communities on the south side of Chicago. Learn more about the issues in the film and get engaged at ourkingsandqueens.com.

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Remodeling Education

Promise

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Remodeling Education

Promise

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

Reimagining the Classroom

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

Reimagining the Classroom

Selectively overlooking parts of human history and culture limits both our individual and collective potential. Brian Williams of Georgia State University shares his powerful story of how disenfranchisement in the classroom motivated his journey to become an equity-centered educator.

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Remodeling Education

Schools that Work for Us

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Remodeling Education

Schools that Work for Us

Hearing Youth Voices, a youth-led social justice organization invented the “Schools that Work for Us” framework for thinking comprehensively about school transformation and what needs to be taken down and what needs to be (re)built in order for schools to be sites of true growth, development, and freedom for Black and Brown young people.

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

In Pursuit Of Liberty

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

In Pursuit Of Liberty

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Remodeling Education

The Bell Curve is Nonsense

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Remodeling Education

The Bell Curve is Nonsense

The burden of the bell curve has prevented us from supporting all young people and creating the conditions for them to succeed.

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Racial Equity

History and research have shown that race, even more than class, remains an indicator that determines disparities in school success, discipline, and a variety of educational and life outcomes. We’re amplifying the voices of those working to address racial inequities to show how public schools continue to be weakened by the historic racism and inequity and what communities and schools are doing together to make things better.

Community Power • Racial Equity • School Funding

A ROSe in LA

In Los Angeles, failure to fully fund Title I denies students more than $900 million a year. For students and educators at Susan Miller Dorsey High School in South-Central Los Angeles, this is an everyday reality.

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

The Pushouts

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Racial Equity • Remodeling Education

The Pushouts

For decades we’ve heard about America’s “dropout crisis.” Meet Dr. Victor Rios, a high school “dropout” and former gang member turned bestselling author and professor. Rios argues for a shift in the way we understand the problem. Filmed over more than 25 years, The Pushouts weaves Rios’s inspiring pushout-to-professor narrative with stories from YO!Watts, a youth center serving 16-24 year olds who are out of school and out of work. 

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Community Power • Racial Equity • School Funding

Journey 4 Justice

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Community Power • Racial Equity • School Funding

Journey 4 Justice

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Racial Equity

A Real Crime

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Racial Equity

A Real Crime

180: A Real Crime puts a human face on the issue of zero tolerance policies, and on the school-to-prison pipeline. It ends with a clear signal to the solutions available to us, if we reframe the way we think about issues of discipline and student support in U.S. schools.

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Community Power • Racial Equity • School Funding

Better Days are Coming

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Community Power • Racial Equity • School Funding

Better Days are Coming

Better Days are Coming is a call to action. It is a call to Congress to fully fund Title I. All around the country, education activists are taking action to demand public investment in public education.

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Powerful Communities, Powerful Schools

A real vision for public education is most powerful when it’s based on what’s already happening in public schools and communities. We support and amplify the work of individuals, schools, and communities that are advancing student­-centered, deeper learning, and creating positive, equitable learning environments. These films tell their stories. 

Remodeling Education

On the Rise: Cincinnati's Community Learning Centers

Community schools are the kind of public schools that families want and children need: coordinated, inclusive, comprehensive, adaptive, responsive, and above all else, equitable. Cincinnati’s Community Schools are called “Community Learning Centers” and this four-film series from MediaSutra and the Partnership for the Future of Learning takes a deep dive into how these schools are working!

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Remodeling Education

Nuestra

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Remodeling Education

Nuestra

Nuestra is a film about the inspiration behind and birth of Nuestra Escuela, Our School – a public school in Caguas, Puerto Rico designed to support students’ mental health. The film addresses issues of death, mental health, and suicide prevention and was released during National Suicide Prevention Month. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles.

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Community Power

The Power of Tribal History/Shared History

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Community Power

The Power of Tribal History/Shared History

This film from Oregon provides an example of what is possible in public education when curricula reflect the full, rich history of our students’ surroundings, including the voices that have been historically silenced and marginalized.

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

How a Community School Helps ELLs Succeed

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

How a Community School Helps ELLs Succeed

Visit Wolfe Street Academy in Baltimore, MD, a school with more than 76% ELLs, to see how this community school is supporting its students and families through programs and services that include dental screenings, food giveaways, after-school activities, and much, much more.

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Oakland SOL

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Oakland SOL

Created over three years of hard work and careful planning by a motivated group of local parents and educators, Oakland SOL paints a different picture of school creation — one that is squarely grounded in the aspirations of the families and children who will comprise its community core.

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Community Power • Science of Learning

The Long View

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Community Power • Science of Learning

The Long View

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Remodeling Education • Science of Learning

180: Thrive

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Remodeling Education • Science of Learning

180: Thrive

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Community Schools: As Unique as the Children They Serve

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Community Schools: As Unique as the Children They Serve

What is a community school? A learning hub that brings together academics, health and social services, youth and community development and community engagement under one roof, leading to improved learning, stronger families, and healthier communities. Find out more!

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Green Bronx Machine

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Green Bronx Machine

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Oakland International High School: 2017 Community School Awardee

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Community Power • Remodeling Education

Oakland International High School: 2017 Community School Awardee

Oakland International High School educates newly arrived immigrants and refugees as part of the Oakland Unified School District. With students from 30 countries speaking many languages, the focus of the school is on English language acquisition, acculturation, and helping students and families feel at home. As a community school, they work to provide resources throughout the community and beyond to support students and families.

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Remodeling Education • Science of Learning

NH Public Schools Rising

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Remodeling Education • Science of Learning

NH Public Schools Rising

New Hampshire is getting national recognition for its public education policies, practices, and outcomes. Why is this small, rural state getting so much attention?

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Racial Equity

America to Me

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Racial Equity

America to Me

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Community Power • Racial Equity

#WeVoteNext

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Community Power • Racial Equity

#WeVoteNext

As thousands of Americans gathered peacefully in the nation’s capital to “March for Our Lives” and demand an end to gun-related violence in America and investment in healthy communities and schools. Simultaneously, thousands of young people—primarily students of color—did the same in communities across the country- from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, recognizing that the issues and policies around gun violence impacts communities of color is distinct ways. Our young people are demanding change.

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Deeper Learning

We believe that all of our schools and systems need to constantly improve and that we can all learn from students and educators who are advancing new and different visions. We also know that students achieve deeper learning outcomes through student-centered approaches and structures. That’s why we’re supporting and amplifying the work of those engaging students in deeper learning—creating and advancing equitable learning environments, and preparing students for effective participation in a diverse democracy and evolving economy.

This section features stories from educators, classrooms, and Ask Why, a four-part series co-produced by ATTN and 180 Studio, designed to invite us to reflect on the assumptions we make about the thing we call “school.”

Science of Learning

Project-Based Learning Series from Edutopia

Project-based learning is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge. A video series is available from Edutopia, informed by research from Lucas Education Research.

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Remodeling Education

Ask Why - 180 Days

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The 180 Day School Year

School's out for summer. Why is that, exactly? The answer is in our newest #AskWhy video (produced by 180 Studio) -- it might surprise you.

Posted by 180 Studio on Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Remodeling Education

Ask Why - 180 Days

Why do young people attend 180 days of school each year? Why is the academic year separated by a long summer break that researchers now worry leads to“learning loss”?

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Remodeling Education

Ask Why - Carnegie Units

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Remodeling Education

Ask Why - Carnegie Units

“I am convinced the time has come once and for all to bury the old Carnegie Unit. Further since the foundation I now head created this academic measurement over a century ago, I feel authorized to officially declare the Carnegie unit obsolete.” – Ernest Boyer

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Remodeling Education

Instructional Leadership Corps Takes Root in Yuba City

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Remodeling Education

Instructional Leadership Corps Takes Root in Yuba City

A network is tapping into teacher expertise to help California’s educators teach to these new standards, which focus on developing higher-order thinking skills through student inquiry and problem-solving.

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Science of Learning

Ask Why - Grades

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Science of Learning

Ask Why - Grades

It’s hard to imagine school without letter grades and grade point averages in the forefront. But grades just don’t tell the whole story for every student.

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Remodeling Education • Science of Learning

Ask Why - Classrooms

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Remodeling Education • Science of Learning

Ask Why - Classrooms

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Science of Learning

Ask Why - Memorization

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Science of Learning

Ask Why - Memorization

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Remodeling Education

Ask Why - Ages

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Remodeling Education

Ask Why - Ages

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Science of Learning

Navigating Our Way

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Science of Learning

Navigating Our Way

Navigating Our Way offers a vision of what becomes possible for young people when all paths to realizing their potential are respected and supported. This story envisions how children and communities are made all the more vibrant when their education aligns with their passion.

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Remodeling Education

Jet Cockpits and The End of Average

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Remodeling Education

Jet Cockpits and The End of Average

Just like pilots need many different gauges, flexible cockpits, and co-pilots, we need a flexible dashboard approach to support multiple ways of learning, monitoring and improving.

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Culturally Responsive Education

The Partnership for the Future of Learning supports Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) as a way of working towards equity in public schools. CRE is a method of rigorous, student-centered learning that cultivates critical thinking and connects curriculum and teaching to students’ experiences, perspectives, histories, and cultures. These films tell the stories of students and teachers creating culturally responsive learning environments. Watch all nine films and learn more at crestories.org.

Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Race Conversations in the Classroom

Jillian McRae and Sam North co-facilitate a course about classism, sexism, and racism that creates space for students to have courageous conversations.

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Being Culturally Responsive as a White Teacher

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Being Culturally Responsive as a White Teacher

When Erin Dunlevy left her hometown in suburban New Jersey to teach in the South Bronx, she was shocked to see a line of 2,500 students wrapped around the school building waiting to pass through the only operational metal detector on campus.

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Relearning History, Telling New Stories

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Relearning History, Telling New Stories

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Raising a Critically Conscious Teaching Force

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Racial Equity

CRE Stories: Raising a Critically Conscious Teaching Force

Paul Forbes and Natalie Zwerger work to develop individual school and district-wide understandings of race, power, and privilege.

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