Learning Together

I've developed a resource with the support of Pastors for Florida Children and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida. Read on to learn the state of education today, why Christians care about this aspect of social justice, and how to make a difference to ensure that all children receive a high-quality education.

Read HERE.

Download your copy HERE.

Learning your child has a disability can be overwhelming. The following is the official guide from the Florida Department of Education.  

A Parent’s Introduction to Exceptional Student Education in Florida  

You don't have to travel this new road alone. 

• Does your child attend a public school in Miami-Dade County?
• Does your child qualify for free or reduced-price lunch?

Contact me to discuss my work as an Educational Advocate and find out if we can partner together for your child's future.

Contact me HERE.

The New York Times podcast “Nice White Parents” primarily focuses on the story of one Brooklyn middle school that opened in 1968 — and how white parents had influenced the trajectory of this school over and over, even when their children didn’t attend it.  The issues the podcast raises get at the heart of social justice learning via a case study of one Brooklyn middle school create a meaningful opportunity to explore the complicated realities of race, privilege and power across all American schools.
What should we be doing to make sure our schools provide a quality education for all children?

Consider these questions before you listen to the podcast.

1. What should be the goal of public education, and why?
2. What does it mean for schools to be truly integrated? Who benefits from integration, and in what ways?
3. Why do you think every child in the United States does not have access to quality education? What can we do to change that inequality?

Search for "Nice White Parents" on

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Online HERE

A "public schools first" approach is a commitment to neighborhood schools through advocating for fully funding public schools. Learning together about the threats facing education through privatization efforts, we can protect this common good as a matter of social justice.

Public schools are chronically underfunded and cannot accomplish its mission to serve all children effectively without proper funds. 

I support adequate and equitable funding for public education and partner with groups with the same goals.

READ MORE

·  “Three Big Problems with School ‘Choice’ That Supporters Don’t Like to Talk About” Washington Post 2017 https://wapo.st/30DCgqQ

· “Not Everyone Has a Choice” U.S. News and World Report 2015 https://bit.ly/2WSkwGW

· “Top 10 Reasons School Choice Is No Choice” Huff Post 2017 https://bit.ly/2ZUAS3T

· “Do Poor Kids Get Their Fair Share?” The Urban Institute https://urbn.is/2Dl0Apz

Studies show the importance of education to reduce generational poverty. It's an issue of social justice!

READ MORE 

• Education as a Tool for Breaking the Cycles of Poverty
• Break the cycle: Stopping intergenerational poverty through families and schools

The goal of educational equity is to provide all students with the appropriate supports to perform well in school and obtain positive post-secondary opportunities. Learning together we can impact this social justice aspect of education.

READ 

• 3 Practices to Promote Equity in the Classroom
• Why Teachers of Color Matter for Students of Color to Succeed

WATCH
This video, developed by The Leadership Conference Education Fund, explains the importance of ensuring educational equity in American public schools so that all students are prepared for college and career.
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Watch a video explaining how school segregation persists in America in this video, "Why Are Schools Still So Segregated?"
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 The most common definition of the school to prison pipeline is the disproportionate tendency of minors from disadvantaged backgrounds to become incarcerated, because of increasingly harsh school policies. This social justice issue starts with awareness of how zero tolerance policies disproportionately affect children of color. Learning together we can break this pipeline and offer a brighter future to students. 

READ
The ACLU released a report of Miami-Dade County School-to-Prison Pipeline. Read HERE

WATCH
Watch "The School to Prison Pipe Line Explained"
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Many states have textbooks that leave out the horrors of slavery and the holocaust and most school districts lack diverse literature. We need to promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people while facing all of US history.

READ 

• Literature as More than a Window
• Learning Diversity, One Stor at a Time
• Reconstructing the Canon
• How history textbooks reflect America’s refusal to reckon with slavery
• Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation and Educational Inequality

LEARN
Embrace Race has excellent reading lists including, 20 Picture Books for 2020: Readings to Embrace Race, Provide Solace & Do Good

Miami-Dade School Board Member Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall calls "for a review of currently available curriculum that addresses racial and cultural understanding, the creation of a student-led task force that reports to the School Board to discuss institutional systemic racism in the community." Read the full article here, https://www.miamiherald.com/article243431926.html