Equity Advisory Board Updates

On March 21, 2023, the Revere Equity Advisory Board (EAB) and its Racial Equity Working Groups (REWG) met for the seventh time. The meeting occurred in the Revere High School STEM Center and was facilitated by Dr. Lourenço Garcia, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Inclusion.

Twenty-six members attended the meeting, including students, community partners, and RPS staff.

After reading the norms, Dr. Garcia introduced a mid-year check-in document. The whole group reviewed this document and made adjustments and updates. This document is a pre-cursor to the School Committee presentation on May 16, 2023.

Each REWG continues to meet individually between meetings to work on their established equity projects for the year in preparation for the School Committee presentation.

Bias and Sensitivity

The Bias and Sensitivity Review Committee continues working with the Handbook Revision Committee to rewrite and format the handbook to ensure all stakeholders can easily access important information and policies.

Data and Accountability

The Data and Accountability Committee continues analyzing the data collected from the Class of 2022 Graduation Survey, with a focus on effective systems of support and barriers that students face on their paths to graduation. They analyzed the survey results to identify trends among student populations. They are organizing their data analysis findings and recommendations to share with relevant stakeholders. 

Educator Growth and Professional Development

The Educator Growth and Professional Development Committee continues to review the compiled slide decks of 50+ assessment slides created by PGTs district-wide. They are working on the final survey for educators to complete as they review the slides and reflect on their learning.

Family Engagement and Community Relations

The Family Engagement and Community Relations Committee continues to analyze data collected from last spring's family/caregiver survey. They are concentrating on communicationgaps from school to family, specifically ensuring families receive communications in their preferred language and the decline in feeling welcome in their students' schools. However, another gap appears in that families are confused about how they receive communications. Caregivers and parents receive communications from several apps, which can be confusing. As part of their strategic communication plan will address this inconsistency.

Student Agency/SEL Support/Restorative Justice

The Student Agency/SEL Support/Restorative Justice Committee recently had a new high school student join their group, and they anticipate gaining more student voices for their show, Amplify TV. The first episode of Amplify will be released at the end of March. They are planning other ways to promote and ensure students see the show. They will ask advisory teachers to share it with their groups. Once the community sees the first episode, the Committee will get feedback from students on topics they'd like to discuss in the future and will begin working on their next episode.

On January 24, 2023, the Revere Equity Advisory Board (EAB) and its Equity Working Groups (EWG) met for the sixth time this year. The meeting took place in the Revere High School Learning Commons and was facilitated Dr. Lourenço Garcia, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Inclusion.

Thirty members (students, community members, and staff) attended the meeting. New members were welcome and introduced by Dr. Garcia.

After reading the norms, the meeting began with an update from the Equity Advisory Board. Topics of discussion included preparing for a mid-year check-in for the upcoming School Committee presentation in May. The group decided it would be beneficial to do a dry run of the presentations to the EAB/REWG for feedback and recommendations.

The group also agreed to complete a schedule for the REWG interim meetings, which occur once a month between the meetings as a whole. The mid-year check in will take place on February 28^th. Draft documents detailing the project will be finalized by then.

Each REWG will continue to meet individually in between meetings to work on their established equity projects for the year. They intend to have a draft of their presentation ready for group feedback and comment in February.

Following this brief introduction, members of the REWGs dispersed into their groups to work on priorities for the 2022-2023 school year.

Data and Accountability

On December 20, 2022, the Revere Equity Advisory Board (EAB) and its Racial Equity Working Groups (REWG) met for the fifth time this year. The meeting took place in the Revere High School Learning Commons and was facilitated Dr. Lourenço Garcia, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Inclusion.

Thirty members (students, community members, and staff) attended the meeting. New members were welcome and introduced by Dr. Garcia.

After reading the group norms, Dr. Garcia introduced an ice-breaker activity called "Two Truths and a Lie." Participants sat in small groups and wrote down three facts about themselves – two had to be true, and one had to be a lie. The groups then sat together and, with their knowledge of the people in their group, discussed which "facts" were true and which were lies. Everyone enjoyed the activity, and it brought levity to the meeting.

Dr. Garcia then introduced the idea of an "Equity Pause” -- a time to pause, reflect and share our learning together and remind ourselves of our shared goals/practices, and name what we might do better in supporting racial equity and inclusion. (Equity Pause Information). Mass Insight Education & Research who performed the RPS Equity Audit, is writing a case study audit process in Revere, and they want to highlight the work the Revere EAB has completed. This will be added to the Equity Retreat process.

The EAB believes that taking the time to pause, reflect, and evaluate the extent to which all findings and recommendations highlighted in the Equity Audit report have been implemented with fidelity would be beneficial to our schools, as it ensures alignment of practice and help determine what is working and what is not, and make adjustments as necessary.

Each REWG will continue to meet individually in between meetings to work on their established equity projects for the year. They intend to have a draft of their presentation ready for group feedback and comment in February.

Following this brief introduction, members of the REWGs dispersed into their groups to work on priorities for the 2022-2023 school year.

REWG Areas of Focus – Discussion Summary

Data and Accountability

The Data and Accountability group continued their analysis of the 2022 RHS Graduate Survey using the ATLAS Data Analysis Protocol. The group broke the data into student sub-groups (e.g., IEP, age, and country of origin) and continued to interpret compiled data; they will complete a final round of data analysis to review student race/ethnicity and home language in the following meeting and prepare and share report of their findings with the group.

Bias and Sensitivity Review

The Bias and Sensitivity Review group set a goal of revising the elementary school handbook by June 2023. They have been researching other exemplary school handbooks to identify areas of improvement for the RPS handbooks and will devise a protocol to review the current handbooks. They are planning their stages of revision and, when completed, will invite other stakeholders to review changes, specifically Restorative Justice Coach Linda Barber.

Educator Growth & Professional Development

The Educator Growth and Professional Development group sent out their survey to determine which areas of Culturally Responsive Teaching can be a focus for continuing Professional Development. The survey uses culturally relevant teaching benchmarks to help create 5 hours of professional development materials for schools. Principals received this survey earlier this month. The group has received approximately 350 responses and will resend the survey to principals following the winter break. They have begun analyzing the data and will continue at their following meeting.

 Family Engagement and Community Relations

The Family Engagement and Community Relations group identified three main priorities for their project; they broke into three subgroups to brainstorm an effective way to move their work forward. The focus areas included a) strategic communication plan for community engagement, b) identification of school-based equity teams to support communication and family liaison involvement, and c) development of student showcase events, open houses, and multicultural nights. The group also discussed the idea of creating a book club, using “Beyond the Bake Sale" book as a guide to support their goal of increasing family engagement throughout the district.

Student Agency/Restorative Practice/SEL Support

The Student Agency/Restorative Practice/SEL Support group discussed their “Amplify Revere” project – a student-led television program ran with the help of Revere TV. They further discussed making the program more accessible to all students and methods to amplify student voices that are not always heard or voices of students who are often not comfortable speaking. The Rumney Marsh Academy Student Equity Board will hold a meeting to discuss these issues. They plan to film an episode in honor of Dr. MLK Jr. Day.

On November 29, 2022, the Revere Public Schools Equity Advisory Board (RPEAB) held its fourth meeting of the 2022-2023 school year. The meeting took place in the School Committee room and was facilitated by Dr. Lourenço Garcia, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Inclusion.

Thirty five members (students, community partners, and caregivers) attended the meeting. The Board welcomed returning members, as well as new ones.

After reading the groups norms, Dr. Garcia updated the group on the status of the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ Affinity Groups. Both Affinity Groups have held at least one meeting and have begun forming their schedules for the rest of the year.

Dr. Garcia also updated members on the status of the individual school equity plans. Alongside the district equity report, each school is responsible for developing its own equity plans, based on priorities identified in the equity report findings, upheld by the EAB. The group was equally informed that all schools have completed their equity plans, which are in the process of being translated and further posted on the district and schools’ websites for public view.

The group watched a video about culturally responsive teaching by Genevieve Erker, modeling what best strategies and instructional practices looks like in a culturally responsive teaching classroom. This was followed by a “turn-and-talk” activity, which asked participants to critique an aspect or instructional strategy of the lesson that most resonated with them.

Following this activity, the working groups met individually to discuss priorities for the 2022-2023 school year.

REWG areas of focus – discussion summary

Data and Accountability

The Data and Accountability Group completed their work on analyzing the 2022 Graduate Survey resultsusing the ATLAS method. The ATLAS method is a Data Protocol used to guide conversation when data is the focal point. The structured approach of a protocol, with clear norms and expectations for conversation, creates a safe space for all participants (ATLAS-Looking at Data Protocols).

In their analysis, they are breaking down the differences between EL (English Learners), FEL (Former English Learner), opt-out students, and non-ELs. Following this step, they will decide whether a similar survey should be given to 9^th and/or 8^th graders in addition to the 12^th grade survey. This will help them make an informed decision on how cohorts make their way through their high school education.

The post-analysis will consist of analyzing student subgroups based current grade 12 students who are on track for graduation. This will include identifying 12th graders for a focus group interview in order to get a baseline on issues they may have an impact on a student’s ability to graduate.

Bias and Sensitivity Review

The Bias and Sensitivity Review group (BSR) began by discussing the Affinity Groups. They discussed the current and upcoming meetings, and how best to support the teacher leaders who are running the affinity groups and their members. The group also discussed ways that the EAB can advertise the Affinity Groups with new flyers and posting on the website.

The BSR is also partnering with directors to perform a curriculum review. This process began with a faculty survey at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. The next-step in the process is use the survey data inform the next steps.

Another project the BSR discussed is revamping the student handbooks. They discussed that many expectations, guidelines, and provisions in the student handbooks are out-of-date and need to be replaced with more restorative based language that promotes belonging and inclusion. They also discussed the inaccessibility of the handbooks. While this project is in its infancy, the group believes it is a necessary step to promote equity in the district. Student handbooks are one of the first tools of communication families/caregivers receive; it needs to be family-and-student use friendly with language and content that are understood by the audience they are designed to target.

Lastly, the group discussed the Bias Reporting Form, brainstorming new methods of ensuring that all members of the school community are aware of its purpose and location.

Educator Growth and Professional Development

Educator Growth and Professional Development (EGPD) has been working on a survey to determineareas of culturally responsive teaching that can be a focus of continuing Professional Development. There are nine indicators they are analyzing:

1. Curriculum and Planning (how well an educator knows their subject matter; ability to adapt)
2. Assessment (educator uses multiple modes of assessment to meet the needs of all students)
3. Analysis (using classroom data to inform their teaching process; sharing data with relevant stakeholders)
4. Instruction (using instruction to engage all students)
5. Learning Environment (using methods and routines to ensure an emotionally and physically safe learning environment)
6.  Cultural Proficiency (diverse backgrounds, identities, strengths, and challenges are represented in the classroom)
7. Expectations (lessons are clearly explained and expectations are both clear and high; reinforce that expectations are based on effort rather than innate ability)
8. Engagement (welcomes and encourages families to be engaged in their students’ education)
9. Collaboration (collaborates readily and effectively with all colleagues)

Family Engagement and Community Relations

 

Family Engagement and Community Relations began by discussing the success of recent multicultural events, particularly the event hosted by the equity team and family liaison at the A. C. Whelan School that took place during the week preceding the Thanksgiving.

 

Further analyzing the data from the family survey sent out in the spring of 2022, the group discussed the limited response rate. Therefore, the group decided to use this information as a baseline, with a goal of expanding the response pool through community events.

 

The group discussed the district calendar and the best way to ensure it is kept up to date. Although this task generally falls into the purview of the administrative assistants, the calendar is not getting updated regularly to reflect upcoming events. An updated and functional calendar is imperative if the district is going to be successful bringing parents into the schools for community events.

 

Moving forward, Family Engagement and Community Relations is looking to partner with school equity teams and family liaisons to plan showcases and multicultural nights, which were identified in the survey as priorities for the families that did respond.

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The meeting was attended by 31 members, including students, teachers, district employees, and community partners. Several attendees, who previously worked on the Board, have rejoined and worked alongside current members and others new to the district and/or the Board.

Dr. Garcia also gave the Board an update on the progress of the individual School Equity Plans. These plans, built on seven key recommendations from the Equity Audit performed by Mass Insight in 2020 are constantly evolving and administrators and equity team leaders are working toward creating meaningful plan that will inform their equity work over the coming year.

The Board was also introduced to “Culturally Relevant Teaching Look-Fors”. These will guide teachers towards a more culturally-aware classroom, thus encouraging students from all backgrounds to thrive in school. As the population of our schools trends more and more towards multi-culturalism and multi-linguicism, it is vital that educators examine what their classrooms and curriculums look like in order to ensure all students are represented and visible.

The five working groups then met individually to discuss priorities for the 2022-2023 school year.

REWG areas of focus – discussion summary:

Data and Accountability

The Data and Accountability group discussed the data from the 2022 Graduate Survey. They began coding the 2022 survey by creating tables to track trends based on identified demographics (English Language Learners, Former English Learners, etc.).

While setting priorities for the year, the group formed the following plan:

          1. Focus on survey questions and responses
          2. Coding long-form answers to track data trends
          3. Potentially share findings with RHS principal earlier than in the past
          4. Merging characteristics together after forming them.

Bias and Sensitivity Review

In line with the discussion at the beginning of the meeting, the Bias and Sensitivity Review Committee (BSRC) decided to make Affinity Groups their project for the 2022-2023 school year.

The BSRC also created norms for the groups and recommend that Affinity Group leaders be compensated for their work. However, they also recommend that the groups not be only labor-focused, but also create connections within the district. To that point, they also recommend finding room in the budget for team building and opportunities for fun.

The BSRC further recommended that regular temperature checks be taken on the active members of the Affinity Groups in order to collect qualitative and quantitative data, assess and monitor the initiative for continuous improvement. Lastly, they hope to expand the initiative by branching the BIPOC group into multiple subgroups and adding additional identity groups.

Educator Growth and Professional Development

Building off of the work from last month’s meeting, the Educator Growth and Professional Development (EGPD) committee discussed forming a DEI arc of professional learning for all staff. This includes investing in professional learning structures and leveraging the RELB (Revere Educators Leadership Board) to support and inform professional learning.

Along with compiling a repository of DEI resources for staff, the EGPD discussed surveying staff to collect data on equity goals. The committee felt that each educator in the Revere Public Schools system, whether they are in their first year of DEI professional development or are further along in their journey, has created at least one equity goal as part of their growth.

Shortly after introducing the Culturally Relevant Teaching “Look-Fors” to the whole group, the EGPD developed a goal of using these sources to create self-assessments for all staff. They will use this information to compile five hours of professional learning resources for all schools.

Lastly, the EGPD will use the Center for the Study of Social Policy Key Equity Terms and Concepts glossary in order to help achieve these plans.

Family Engagement and Community Relations

The Family Engagement and Community Relations (FECR) committee discussed data collected from the Family Survey conducted at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Now that this information has been initially analyzed, the committee will meet in two weeks to discuss the findings. The group’s goal is to hold in-person events for families by the end of the school year, and this data will help inform the group as they decide what these events will look like.

When analyzing the data, they will use the District Improvement Plan to compare the data and look for alignment with the Mass Insight recommendations. 

The FECR also discussed methods for family engagement, including using S’more, to easily create newsletters that can be translated into any language using the Google Translate widget. Lastly, the committee discussed looking at the analytics for current newsletters to see who is using and reading these newsletters, and how to encourage more educators to use the tool.

Student Agency/Restorative Practices/SEL Support

In line with the plans made at the September meeting, Student Agency/Restorative Practice/SEL Support discussed continuing their Amplify Revere TV program.

Currently, they are working on recruiting new members in grade 8-10 to participate in the show. They will be collaborating with the Family Engagement group to work on a communication plan to advertise the program.

Alongside “Amplify Revere,” the committee will continue to analyze the findings from their restorative justice survey. Data and Accountability will assist with the analysis.

The committee will continue to help streamline leadership teams and student councils across the district to ensure that student voices are being heard at all levels and educate individuals on restorative justice practices. They will continue to collaborate with Educator Growth and Professional Development in order to provide training on bias that can impact student agency.

On September 27, 2022, the Revere Public Schools Equity Advisory Board (EAB) held its second meeting of the 2022-2023 school year. The meeting took place in the School Committee room and was facilitated by Dr. Lourenço Garcia, Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Inclusion.

The meeting was attended by 26 members, including students, teachers, district employees, and community partners. Many new members were in attendance, expanding both the district board as well as school based racial equity advisors.

The meeting opened with remarks by Anne Bolthrunis, Communications Coordinator, who introduced the new EAB Update Blog. The group also reviewed the Bias Incident Reporting Form and worked in small groups discussing and bringing about clarity to the role and purpose of the racial equity advisors in their individual schools and their liaison to the district’s EAB.

Dr. Garcia introduced new members to the equity work, while returning members continued to review the definition, roles and responsibilities of the EAB vis-a-vis school-based racial equity advisors. The whole group then broke into their respective individual working groups using the district school improvement plan and equity audit findings to identify priorities for the 2022-2023 school year.

Data and Accountability

The group analyzed a survey administrators to seniors prior to their graduation with goal of capturing data trends, specifically pertaining to the number of years a student is enrolled in RPS, the age of the student, and their ELL (English Language Learner) or FLEP (Formerly Limited English Proficient) status.

The group will analyze the survey data and decide on how to code long response questions in order to track data trends and the tendencies of the practice. They goal is to merge collected data and share the findings with principals and directors early in the process.

Bias and Sensitivity Review

The Bias and Sensitivity group discussed reviewing curriculum and instructional materials (e.g., textbooks, literature, and assessments) for bias and ensure they are diverse and represent the identities of all of our students, forming and supporting Affinity Groups, creating an auditing system for future instructional materials, and a process for all stakeholders to suggest materials for auditing.

Their goals for the year include continuing to audit the K-12 curriculum, assessing the data from the Affinity Groups formed last year and expanding them, collecting data on experiences of bias of teachers of color, and reviewing handbooks to ensure they are more accessible to all families.

Educator Growth and Professional Development

The Educator Growth and Professional Development group discussed creating a district-wide DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) professional development (DP) arc, including investing in current PD structures and ensuring DEI resources, training, and learning opportunities are accessible to all staff.

Their goals for the year include investing time in encouraging all staff to develop their own personal equity journeys, creating a shared vision for all professional development, developing a baseline of knowledge for all staff (e.g., a book study), and creating a self-reflection tool for staff.

Family Engagement and Community Relations

The Family Engagement and Community Relations group discussed analyzing survey data on school-family relationships and engagement in schools collected from caregivers in the 2021-2022 school year.

The group’s goals for the year include partnering with the Student Agency/Restorative Practice/SEL Support group to align communication plans based on the District Family Engagement Policy.

Student Agency/Restorative Practice/SEL Support

The Student Agency/Restorative Practice/SEL Support group discussed continuing their partnership with Revere TV with the Amplify Student Voice program, including creating more content to share on a regular basis. They also discussed ways to engage students at all levels, developing a communication plan with the community and with each school (partnering with Family Engagement and Community Relations), and streamlining leadership teams with student councils at all levels. Planning further action steps based on the findings from restorative justice survey data was also discussed. This step will occur with the guidance and support from the Data and Accountability working group.

The goal is to collaborate with the Educator Growth and Professional Development group and others to ensure that all staff members receive trainings on culturally relevant pedagogy and implicit bias, which tends to undermine student agency.

On August 18, 2022, the Revere Equity Advisory Board met for its annual retreat to review last year's accomplishments and map out a plan for the new school year. The meeting was facilitated by Great Schools Partnership.

Twelve members attended the retreat, including one parent, one community partner, and two students.

The group agreed to analyze last year’s equity work, confirm this year’s priorities, and develop an action plan for the 2022-2023 school year.

The retreat began with an opening activity, which required participants to identify critical aspects of their personality, including integrity, compassion, and empathy.

Members of the Equity team spent time reflecting on the previous year. Attendants broke into small groups to discuss the successes of the prior year. The priorities from last years completed equity audit are:

• Creating a district-wide DEI Arc of Professional Development for all staff
• Define, align, and articulate the equity work within the district by engaging stakeholders in the work of the improvement plan and specific DEI work
• Design a streamlined communication plan to communicate with and engage families effectively.

The team identified specific areas for improvement based on the previous year’s recommendations, including the following:

• Inconsistent understanding of the role of EAB and school-based equity advisors
• Balance between autonomy in individual schools and the ongoing work of the Board and its working groups
• Effective communication between the Board and all stakeholders
• Recruitment of new members, scheduling issues with current members.

The Board further participated in an Imagine it is Now 2025 activity aimed at identifying ideal outcomes of the RPS equity work. Board members broke into small group conversions brainstorming best-case scenarios and outcomes for the year.

Some identified outcomes were:

• Achieving 40% BIPOC staff for the district
• Interactive welcome boards in ALL schools
• Spaces for families and community partners (e.g., welcome centers) in schools
• Safe spaces for staff to have courageous DEI conversations (affinity groups)
• Robust understanding an application of equity, inclusion, and diversity in schools
• Strong equity framework to guide and support our schools. 

This activity gave board members concrete steps to take to continue current equity work, as well as envisioning an ideal future as they continue towards creating a more equitable school community.

Closing activities allowed members to reflect on the day and assess their feelings after the retreat.