During the Appleton Area School District Board of Education meeting on 09/27/2021, the administrative team will be providing a presentation entitled “Distinguishing the Differences Between Critical Race Theory (CRT) vs. Culturally and Linguistically Responsive (CLR) Education Practices”.
Although Assistant Superintendent Steve Harrison initially indicated that the Board of Education had not voted on the implementation of culturally responsive practices, he has since told me that “during the 4/10/17 BOE meeting, the Board approved the implementation of CLR practices as part of the districts equity plan.
Per the agenda materials from that April 2017 meeting, the district had 4 goals for their equity plan:
- Infuse culturally responsive practices in our classrooms and school buildings. Culturally responsive practices include those practices that are free from discrimination and bias while being welcoming, inclusive and responsive to the diverse experiences and needs of our school community.
- Grow and support positive trusting relationships across all AASD stakeholder groups and individuals. All staff members will work to build trusting relationships between students, staff, parents and community members.
- Assure that curriculum, materials, instructional practices, and assessment are free of discrimination and bias and celebrate the diversity of humankind.
- Provide equitable opportunities for all AASD students to take part in co-curricular involvement and scholarships/awards. All AASD students will be encouraged and supported to take part in co-curricular activities and scholarships/awards that address their strengths and/or interests.
Additionally, when I asked Superintendent Harrison about what prompted AASD to institute these practices he stated, “Our District’s student performance outcomes have shown significant gaps between various groups of students. CLR practices are designed to build a sense of belonging for all students, which is a learner trait that is linked to improved student performance.”
Although the Board voted to implement Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Educational practices back in April of 2017, those practices do not seem to have decreased the achievement gap between various student groups, and Assistant Superintendent Harrison told me via email, “[O]ur achievement gaps have been relatively consistent.”
Although one of the purposes of CLR was to increase the sense of belonging among students in certain groups, it does not seem that AASD has been systematically tracking that data across all its schools until the 2020-21 school year so they have no year-over-year data at this point. It does however seem that, within that one year of data, students at the elementary level have a greater sense of belonging than those at the middle and high school level.
Per Assistant Superintendent Harrison, “Since last year was the first year of implementing the Panorama survey throughout the district, we do not yet have trend data to show growth or regression over time. With that said, results from last year indicate there are fewer discrepancies among racial demographics and a higher overall reported sense of belonging at the elementary level compared to the secondary level.”
Although the focus of the presentation at this upcoming Board of Education meeting seems to be explaining the differences between Critical Race Theory and Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Education Practices, one hopes that perhaps a future presentation will be given demonstrating the academic impact of CLR.
View full Board of Education meeting details here: http://go.boarddocs.com/wi/aasd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=C6WNTX613D8F
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