FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Laura Sperratore, Communications Manager, NAPE
Phone: 707-407-5118
Email: lsperratore@napequity.org
Cochranville, PA (April 4, 2014) - On Wednesday, April 9 the
National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE), working with
faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Education will
release an executive summary of a report entitled Solving the
Education Equation: A New Model for Improving Diverse Student
Outcomes through Academic Equity.
The executive summary will be released to a packed audience at
NAPE's 35th annual Professional
Development Institute during a public policy
luncheon on Capitol Hill. The full report is due out in late
June.
The report highlights the need for educators, researchers and
policy makers to focus on both sides of the education equation by
addressing equity issues, such as gender, race, ethnicity,
disability, and poverty, before equally high standards can be
achieved for all students. Based on work with partners in
practice and research in Maryland and Texas, the report
highlights a new model for understanding the impact of culture on
student academic outcomes and how educators, given the right
training, tools, and resources, can transform their classrooms
and increase student performance, persistence, and pathways to
college and career readiness. NAPE, in partnership with multiple
organizations across the country, has implemented a high-quality,
research-based, teacher professional development program that
addresses culturally based implicit biases in the classroom in
secondary schools and community colleges and that has
demonstrated significant improvements in student outcomes.
Today, educators are expected to be aware of a widening number of
socioeconomic, ethnic, demographic, and ability-based issues.
Yet, according to one of the authors, NAPE COO Claudia Morrell,
"most secondary school teachers spend their in-service
professional development hours on improving their content
knowledge and are unaware that they may deliver their content
through verbal and nonverbal communications--known as
micromessages--that convey the subtle and unconscious biases that
pervade our culture."
Carolyn Parker, Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University School of
Education faculty member agrees: "The work that NAPE is
doing is well-grounded in good, cutting-edge research that
demonstrates that small, thoughtful, and intentional
communications from an adult that demonstrates concern and caring
can make a huge difference in the classroom and in the lives of
their students. This work highlights how powerful the influence
of culture is in our lives and in our students' futures."
The work has been funded in part by the National Science
Foundation (Grant No. HRD 0734056, HRD 1203121, and DUE 1104163),
the Communities Foundation of Texas, the Texas Instruments
Foundation, High Tech High Heels, the Dallas Women's Foundation,
and others who support equity in education.
About NAPE
The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) is a
consortium of state and local agencies, corporations, and
national organizations committed to the advancement of equity and
diversity in classrooms and workplaces.
