Shattering Inequities: Real-World Wisdom for School and District Leaders

by Robin Avelar La Salle, Ruth S. Johnson

Overview

For education leaders who believe that all students deserve the premium education that only some currently experience, Shattering Inequities: Real-World Wisdom for School and District Leaders shows how your leadership can provide equitable outcomes for our most vulnerable students. Chapters include examples of actual equity leaders and leadership lessons as easily retrievable equity hooks—memory cues of complete, complex, and nuanced leadership takeaways.  In the throes of educational transformation, the book’s examples provide leaders with practical ways to quickly and effectively infuse substantive thoughtfulness into common equity challenges and inspire equity-driven action to ensure that demographics do not determine destiny.  An excellent guide for teachers, administrators, or anyone who wants to turn good intentions into reality for the children they serve.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475844177
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/14/2018
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	188,034
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Robin Avelar La Salle earned her Ph.D. in education from Stanford University and is the Co-founder and CEO of Principal’s Exchange; a technical assistance organization with a 20 years history partnering with schools and districts that serve struggling students. Her career as an “equity warrior” is captured in her book, “Data Strategies to Uncover and Eliminate Hidden Inequities: The Wallpaper Effect: (co-authored with Dr. Ruth Johnson). Ruth Johnson, is a nationally known expert in the use of data to promote equity. She is the author of several books including ''Data Strategies to Uncover and Eliminate Hidden Inequities: The Wallpaper Effect'' (with co-author Dr. Avelar La Salle), and ''Using Data to Close the Achievement Gap,'' a bestselling book published by Corwin Press.

Table of Contents

Foreword Michael Fullan Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: How Do Equity Leaders Get Started? Chapter 1: A Moral Imperative Equity Hook: Go to Work and Look for Trouble Chapter 2: Data as an Equity Engine Equity Hook: Beware the Wallpaper Effect! Part II: How Do Impactful Equity Leaders Lead? Chapter 3: When Adult Behavior Poses Equity Challenges Equity Hook: Everyone’s Got a Story Chapter 4: Inspiring Equity Action Equity Hook: Lead with a Flashlight, Not a Club Chapter 5: Growing a Culture of Equity Equity Hook: I Want You To Want to Chapter 6: The Power of Expectations Equity Hook: Language Is a Window Into Belief Systems Chapter 7: Setting the Conditions for Building Collective Equity Muscle Equity Hook: A Star Does Not a Constellation Make Part III: What Are the Most Common Threats to Equity Leadership? Chapter 8: Self-Imposed Equity Hurdles Equity Hook: Get Out of Your Own Way Conclusion: Make Educational Equity Your True North Equity Hook: Do You Want To Be Right or Do Right? References About the Authors Index

Editorial Reviews

In this book it is claimed, up front and loudly, that all students are entitled to the best education regardless of family circumstance or zip code –and all means ALL.  But it takes courage, and we need to be esteeming leaders who remove the predictability of success or failures that currently correlate with any social or cultural factor.  Shattering Inequities provides the directions, methods, and imperative to deliver on this claim.  You just need to bring the courage to deliver.

John Hattie

Shattering Inequities is a powerful yet practical guide for educators who seek to address deeply entrenched disparities in the educational experiences of their students. Written in a style that is clear and direct, this book will serve as an invaluable asset to educators who seek to make a difference in their schools, and in the lives of the children they serve. 

Pedro Noguera Ph.D

Shattering Inequities is written for educational leaders with the courage and readiness to expose those systemic practices and mindsets that betray the promise of educational equality for students from historically-disenfranchised communities. The reader profits from what we’ve learned from academic research, combined with the authors’ years of on-the-ground experience working in schools. Avelar La Salle and Johnson provide a myriad of proven strategies for imagining and instituting new practices that enable all students to achieve academic success. The text is consistently engaging, replete with brainy concepts, metaphors, and moral imperatives that simultaneously enlighten, inspire, and instruct. 

Ricardo D. Stanton-Salazar Ph.D

Shattering Inequities is for anyone that finds educational disparities unacceptable and wants to initiate sustainable strategies to eliminate these gaps. Avelar La Salle & Johnson’s honest appraisals of personal and systemic barriers, paired with their “equity hooks” offer practical guidance that will take you from wanting to see a change in your school to being the change agent that makes it happen.

Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards

At last- a solution that guarantees that kids get what they need and deserve. Should everyone embrace the strategies and courage needed to do the work recommended in the reading, we won't have to worry about educational gaps any longer.

Paul Gothold

In Shattering Inequities, former California school administrator Robin Avelar La Salle and co-author Ruth S. Johnson, an emeritus faculty member at California State University, detail how to address deeply entrenched disparities in a practical and sensitive way. Each chapter revolves around a real-life example derived from the authors’ work in improving schools and districts serving high-poverty, high-minority communities. As they unravel processes and the assumptions on which they are based, the authors provide what equity leaders should say and do when they encounter obstacles. They even suggest how leaders with an equity lens should respond when they don’t know what to say and do. This book is powerful because of its specificity and concreteness — attributes not always found in education leadership texts. This is real-world wisdom indeed.

School Administrator

I believe that all educators come to their work to make a difference for the children who need us the most. Holding that desire in your heart is a necessary condition, but alone will not make a difference. It takes thoughtful, strategic and deliberate action to accomplish this. Robin and Ruth give you a roadmap with proven paths to turn your good intentions into reality for the children you serve. You simply add courage and determination. If you can only read one book this year, read this one.

Laura Schwalm