The Task: Stepping Up To The Moment
The new decade has brought with it a renewed focus in education policy on racial inequity and injustice, its causes, and its implications for our children, our students, and our nation. This work is not new, as there have long been strong advocates for justice both within and outside of the scholarly community who are committed to fighting for a more equitable world. However, we are faced with new challenges as we try to work for good in this political age, and our current moment calls for us to work in community to advance actions and understandings that take racial justice seriously. We need to provide greater opportunities for conversation and development of justice-oriented scholars in active fellowship with advocates in education policy.
The Mission: Knowledge to Action
The purpose of Just Education Policy is to foster community among developing scholars, advocates, and policy actors while also developing scholars’ skills in doing serious work in racial justice in education policy. Our goals are to:
Train developing scholars in theoretical and methodological approaches to studying justice in education policy,
Inspire research in racial justice and education policy,
Foster a community of education policy scholars who can, together, produce impactful research that advances social justice, and
Deepen knowledge about the historical and contemporary contexts and perspectives related to race-conscious education policy and politics.
The first annual Just Education Policy summer program was held in Summer 2021, where we were able to bring together 43 doctoral students interested in advancing racial equity and justice through education policy research for 12 hours of educational programming and networking opportunities. These scholars interfaced with over 40 practicing scholars and policy actors in education policy. Sessions included a mix of panel discussions, networking sessions, and opportunities for direct feedback. The original purpose of this institute, which has been refined over time, was to provide a space for developing scholars to engage with real questions about how to advance racial equity and justice via research, providing an answer to some of our most pressing challenges as a society as the work of justice faces increasing barriers.
The content of the Just Education Policy summer program covers foundational skills and understandings that translate across a wide range of research interests. The sessions included foci such as historical perspectives on racial justice and injustice, thinking about justice into research design and methodology, and how research is used in advocacy. Our speakers represented a wide range of experts and mentors, all committed to racial equity and justice in education. Some of these speakers are listed below, and several others also now serve on our advisory board (see Our Team):
Adrienne Dixson from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Stefan Lallinger from The Bridges Collaborative (The Century Foundation)
Gary Orfield from the University of California, Los Angeles
zakiyah shaakir-ansari from the Alliance for Quality Education
Erica Turner from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
The JEP 2021 program was made possible through the generous donations from the University of Georgia Mary Frances Early College of Education, the Michigan State University College of Education, the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, the Civil Rights Project at the University of California at Los Angeles, and the Penn State College of Education Center for Education and Civil Rights. Feedback gathered informally via personal communications and social media as well as results of a formal evaluation were overwhelmingly positive, emphasizing participants’ high levels of satisfaction with the program and desire to see continued efforts like these.
The JEP 2022 program followed in a similar format, supported by funding from the Spencer Foundation as well as the Michigan State University College of Education. The program was condensed from 12 hours over four days (over three weeks) to 12 hours over three consecutive days. This program featured more direct conversations about research methodology, increased group reflection time, and extended conversations about working with practitioners and advocates as well as navigating the academy.
The JEP 2023 program, also supported by funding from the Spencer Foundation, was further refined to go even deeper. The program was expanded to 15 hours over three consecutive days. Further, we narrowed the scope of the program for Summer 2023 to focus on the theme, “Justice as Action: Conducting Policy Research to Combat Racism.” The objective was to engage policy scholars in dialogue and instruction about how to conduct research that is rigorously driven by principled and sound resistance to ideologies that would dismiss the role of racism in our modern society. As such, the total number of participants was reduced to 20 in order to facilitate more focused, connective, and thorough conversations.
The JEP summer program is currently on hold as we re-evaluate our strategy in the current context and identify opportunities for expansion and growth. We do plan to offer the program in the future. We look forward to communicating soon about plans for the future and continued opportunities to engage and learn, as a community.