“To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We fail when we fail to try.” – Rosa Parks

As we embrace Black History Month and all the Black Excellence that it celebrates, I cannot help but view the month through the lens of an educator.  As such, I see a dichotomy; a long list of accomplishments, inventions, milestones, and grand efforts achieved as much as because of the education of black people as despite it.

Reflecting on all that Black History Month propels to the forefront of America’s consciousness, the call to action for changes to an education system built to support an agrarian school calendar, designed to sort and select, segregated by the color line from its onset, rings loud and clear.

That bell has been rung by many heroes of past and present. Black History Month is a time to salute education heroes like Justice Thurgood Marshall, who successfully argued against the constitutional sanctions for segregation by race and made equal opportunity in education the law of the land in 1954. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, marked a turning point in the history of race relations in the United States and sparked the Civil Rights movement.

Now in her 80s, Marian Wright Edelman connected her work as founder of the Children’s Defense Fund in 1973 and its fight for social justice to the urgency of that call today when she joined the Black Lives Matter protests this past summer. Wright, who made popular the phrase “every child is sacred,” is a living history of the work still necessary to make sure that equity for all students becomes the cornerstone of education and the bridge for historical and next generation Black Excellence. Mrs. Edelman now serves as president emerita and has handed the reins to Dr. Starsky Wilson, an activist and St. Louis minister.

Last month, I listened with an educator’s ear as Amanda Gorman, the nation’s first ever youth poet laureate, recited poetry during the 2021 Presidential Inauguration. I heard her describe our work as a hill to be climbed … “The hill we climb, if only we dare. It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it.” Gorman has mentioned Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Yusef Komunyakaa, Tracy Smith, Phillis Wheatley and others as having shaped her work.

It also made me think of modern-day education idols like Geoffrey Canada, renowned around the world for his pioneering work helping children and families through the Harlem Children’s Zone, and Gholdy Muhammad, Georgia State University professor and author of Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy. Their repair work to raise the voices and exploit the potential of black students who have been marginalized and underserved by the education system is a steep hill to climb. They, along with educators and activists across the land, must continue that climb because it is the platform that ensures Black Excellence will flourish and cannot ever be stamped out.

I was honored this past month to visit virtually with East Cleveland (Ohio) City School District’s former Director of Teaching, Learning and Innovation, Andratesha Fritzgerald, a powerful advocate for racial justice in public education.  Our conversation centered around her recently published book entitled: Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning – Building Expressways to Success, and we touched on everything from educator authenticity to institutional racism.

I’ve known Andratesha since our introduction when her district joined the Ohio Team of the ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC), involving a network of Northeast Ohio school system and community leaders drawn to the work of School Improvement, Leadership, and Equity (a national collaboration project of the Wallace Foundation). The ELLC network has been engaged in leadership for equity work since 2016 as thought partners and bridge builders in support of a public-school model in need of urgent social justice reform and the educators on that mission. I was prepared for a profound and engaging dialogue when we discussed her book, and I think you will find that is exactly what our Q&A session netted.

Q: What was your purpose in writing “Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning – Building Expressways to Success?”

A: The temperature in the world is right for change and I wanted to equip teachers with actions that answer the frequently asked question: “Where do I start?” Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) helps teachers of Black and Brown children to understand what it means to honor every child. It also tells them what it means to bring out the best in them, and what strategies you can use to reach them, to teach them, and to learn from them.

Q: How can school districts capitalize on the social justice movement currently sweeping the nation in a way that is sustained as a movement and not just a moment in time? Not only urban schools but suburban and rural ones, as well.

A: A twin pandemic of racism and COVID-19 has cast a spotlight on inequalities that have existed for a long time. Inequities in schools are windows to the larger vision of economic disparity, the digital divide, and most of all racial tensions that are at a fever pitch in this country. But people are now open to taking action to change things. While there is attention to and opportunity for change, we must make a shift in the experience that Black and Brown learners have in and out of the classroom. We can create learning environments that are culturally responsive, culturally sustaining, flexible, and empowering. This is the time for every learning environment to evaluate the experiences and outcomes for all students (and especially Black and Brown learners) and get serious about the work of designing instructional supports for success.  Every child deserves an education that is free from the disease of racism and we have an opportunity to make changes on purpose.  Now is the time!

  Q: Should and how could an anti-racist element be added to teacher training and licensure requirements?

A: Antiracism must become a required component to teacher training and licensure requirements simply because teacher decisions and designs are integral to systems that perpetuate predictable outcomes for learners based on race.  We must change teacher preparation if we want to change the data that says Black students are three times more likely to be suspended than their white counterparts.  We must change teacher training if we want classrooms designed by teachers with all students in mind. If teachers are not equipped with design strategies and antiracism training, then another generation of Black and Brown students will be marginalized and labeled as failures, when the responsibility for the failure actually belongs to a system that chooses to ignore their needs.

Q: Is there or should there be a differentiation between anti-racism training and anti-black racism training, especially in light of the Black Lives Movement? 

A: Antiracist training must address every form of oppression because Black people are not monolithic.  Oppression oozes into every cross-section and intersection of our existence. If we are to defeat racism, we must see its multifaceted effects.  You cannot separate antiracism from the specificity of anti-blackness if you want to dismantle it.  We must confront the antiblackness to tear it down with antiracism.

Q: How can a teaching pool that is largely white teach an anti-racism curriculum with empathy and authenticity? 

As I explain in the book, controversy is born the moment dreamers begin taking actions to invite the marginalized ones into the secret society of success. That means, it takes courage to dream beyond the locked gates of educational access for all.  When we say “all,” we must identify those students whom the system has not traditionally served. It is more important than ever to recognize that our systems are not just or equitable for our Black and Brown students.

Q: What exactly is Antiracist UDL?

A: It is a merging of methodologies and strategies that acknowledges, identifies, recognizes, names, and studies barriers in systems caused by racism. Once the barriers are acknowledged, identified, recognized, named and studied — then they are systematically dismantled, erased, and eradicated with intentionally designed supports and systems that lead to desired outcomes at every level.

Antiracist UDL is intentional and action oriented. Action and intention are a strategic method to addressing racism. In many systems, racism exists and persists with debilitating outcomes, reminding Black and Brown learners that most systems were not created for them, nor will it change for their success. There are few systems that take on the challenge of being intentionally antiracist, and to be truly antiracist, the system must also be truly universally designed.

Q: We often hear the term “institutional racism,” how does the education system reflect such a structure?

A: Traditional systems that perpetuate institutional racism and block on-ramps to learning are designed for a mythical average learner.  One who is white, privileged, at grade-level, and self-regulated. The default language, culture, social and economic assumptions, and goals of traditional public education are oriented toward the white, suburban middle class. Often educators will say, “our systems are broken.” This is not true. Our systems are doing exactly what they were designed to do — allow white privileged students to succeed and move ahead while others are held back. UDL requires us to do better — to name barriers like racism and eliminate them by providing support and high achievement standards for all.

Q: What do you think is your book’s greatest value? What makes it special or worthwhile from your perspective?

This book is for teachers and school leaders who are serious about the actions required for equity to be actualized through antiracist universal design. If we do nothing to change, then we are practicing dishonor to Black and Brown children. We are encouraging their failure and embracing a system that has proven to be racist for as long as schooling has been in existence. Antiracism must be active, not passive. Universal design must be intentionally implemented — not just intended. Success for all must be more than passion. It must be powered by empowerment!

Q: Are you hopeful about a change?

There is hope for change when we decide that we are ready to make changes.  The brilliance of Black and Brown children comes alive when we mine for the gem and disturb the status quo.

Andratesha Fitzgerald’s book: Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning – Building Expressways to Success, offers an effective framework for school system leaders and teachers who are committed to promoting leadership for equity and interested in making equitable student learning outcomes actionable.

The promise of a new year brings a sense of fresh starts. The response of educators in delivering quality education during a global pandemic proved that, as educators, we can endure much more than we ever would have thought possible. The very sense of urgency that was applied to the creation of new structures, capacity expansion and innovative collaborations during the Coronavirus pandemic must not be lost by leaders as 2021 ushers in the hope of effective vaccines and an end to Corona-life as we knew it in 2020.

Although we know districts managed a number of challenges presented by the pandemic, a fresh start in 2021 for educators does not mean simply moving beyond the pandemic. What we experienced in 2020, has cast a blinding light on the inequities of public education and even exacerbated those inequalities.

Equitability, or rather the lack thereof, has been a drum beat of educators for decades. Our fresh start in 2021 is the opportunity to leverage the recognition of educational inequities that COVID-19 shoved into the realm of public discussion. I dare say that never have systems been so pumped and primed for such dialogue. How do we build on the work that’s been accomplished and continue to make a difference for our students, schools, and districts?

Education leaders must be poised to move the needle from dialogue to action. Teams must be positioned for success. Courageous conversation and bold change are the only ways forward. Communication and collaboration with your educators and policy makers must be prioritized. To borrow a phrase from the former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the time has come to stop treating the problem of educational inequity as “a grinding, eat-your-broccoli exercise.” It is time to start treating it as an opportunity for innovation and accelerating progress.

For many organizations, this fresh start means powering up an already aggressive mandate for change. Others may be heading with resolve to the starting line. Though I have engaged in this work with passion, resolve, and urgency since 1996, I am starting fresh in 2021. I have never been more excited to assist educational organizations transform leadership as if lives depend on it, because they do.

Nearly 93 percent of households with school-age children reported some form of distance learning during COVID-19, according to the US Census Bureau. Education leaders met this unprecedented and unforeseen shift in teaching practices with a warrior spirit. You developed new tactics for collaboration and stretched your team in ways that just one year ago would have seemed unimaginable. All the while, the expectations you held for your administrators, teachers and learners remained high.

Even in the best of times, educators are commonly regarded as heroes. But the year 2020 has created an even greater appreciation for your work. “It is hard to imagine there will be another moment in history when the central role of education in the economic, social, and political prosperity and stability of nations is so obvious and well understood by the general population,” the Brookings Institute wrote in a recent report.

The weapon you wield is not one that can be seen, but rather felt. Passion and a strong belief that all students can and deserve to reach their full potential drives your warrior spirit. As 2020 draws to a close, take pride in all the challenges you have overcome, the innovative strategies you have deployed, the inner strength you summoned, the lessons you have learned and, most importantly, the lives you continued to impact – even as the world changed around you.

A special thank you to educators across the nation for all your incredible work—your work makes a difference!