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www.kateschatz.com

www.radamericanwomen.com

I am Kate Schatz (pronounced 'Shots'). I'm a queer feminist writer, educator, public speaker, and activist. I am the co-author, along with W. Kamau Bell, of Do the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book, as well as the author the New York Times bestselling "Rad Women" book series, which includes Rad American Women A-Z (City Lights Books), Rad Women Worldwide, Rad Girls Can, Rad American History A-Z, and the illustrated journal My Rad Life: A Journal (Ten Speed Press).

I learned to read in a clawfoot bathtub filled with pillows in a bookstore called Hicklebee's; after that, I often got in trouble for reading at the dinner table (and now my daughter does the EXACT same thing). I wrote my first book when I was in 2nd grade: it was called Little Sisters, and it was basically Ramona Quimby fan fiction. I still have it! I organized my first protest in 6th grade when I became a vegetarian and convinced my friends to stop eating Burger King because they were clear-cutting rainforests to graze cattle. I've been reading, writing, and standing up for justice ever since. I still love Ramona Quimby, and I still don't eat meat.

My book of fiction, Rid of Me: A Story, was published in 2006 as part of the acclaimed 33 1/3 series. Stories, essays, and articles have been published in LENNY, Buzzfeed, Signature, Oxford American, Denver Quarterly, Joyland, East Bay Express, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. My short story "Folsom, Survivor" was a 2010 Notable Short Story in Best American Short Stories 2011. I wrote the introduction to "Kamala", a collection of feminist fairytales from Feminist Press, and I contributed an essay on whiteness, race, and post-election reckoning in the anthology "Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times."

I've appeared on msnbc; numerous NPR affiliates; lots of great podcasts; and at 100s of schools, universities, libraries, non-profit organizations, and fancy tech companies all over the country to talk about my books and how we can empower ALL young people to be "rad", and to work to make the world a better place.

I live in the Bay Area with my family.

I am represented by the fabulous agent Charlotte Sheedy.

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Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book

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Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book [Bell, W. Kamau, Schatz, Kate] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book

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Our vision is diverse private school communities that ensure equal opportunity for all students and educators in Los Angeles. Scientific data concludes that diverse learning populations lead to better learning outcomes for all students. By supporting more students and educators of color to access private school opportunities, we can bridge the gap and take strides toward diversity and equality in our society as a whole.
Not only do we equip students and educators with the tools they need to join private school populations, but we also work to ensure that the private schools themselves employ best DEI practices through our DEI professional development and accreditation. Only then can schools authentically address the needs of students of color while creating an environment where all students can thrive.

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Supporting Students of Color Applying to Independent Schools in the Los Angeles Area

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October 23, 2021
8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Harvard-Westlake School is excited to host its fifth annual Pollyanna Conference! The theme of this year's conference is "Reimagining Resiliency with Resolve." Resilience is a complex word with mixed connotations. The formal definition is the capacity to recover, spring back, show flexibility, and embrace toughness. We often describe individuals and communities as resilient - in particular those who have faced generational adversity and systemic marginalization. But what does it truly mean for an individual or community to exist in a perpetual state of resilience? When resilience is examined through the lens of equity and inclusion, what new understandings can we gain about resilience? This year we will explore the expectations and biases that exist around resilience and we will reimagine what our communities would look like if we shift to instilling an unshakable resolve in addition to resilience.

We hope you will join us in person as a participant. As always, the day promises to be exciting and informative. We are excited to be back together on the middle school campus.

The mission of Pollyanna is to create a platform "where groups of people can explore together diversity, inclusion, and equity and share ideas, experiences and knowledge in order to become change agents in their immediate communities. The conference model is a dynamic, focused and interactive program that provides guidance and training for community leaders. The goal is to improve inclusion within communities and the understanding that racial, socioeconomic, religious and sexual diversity enhances all elements of the community."

Pollyanna is structured a bit differently than other conferences. Each school will be represented as a School POD - with approximately 15 individuals who play a role in advancing the diversity discussion at your school. We ask that you send two members from each of the following constituent groups, if possible: head of school, administrators, alumni, diversity coordinators, faculty, parents, students (8th through 12th grade), and trustees. We will ask for a list of your POD members in early September 2021.

EVENT DETAILS

The morning will begin with brief opening remarks and a special keynote speaker. The balance of the morning will be dedicated to workshops broken down by constituent groups, each individually facilitated. After a break for lunch, there will be a dynamic student presentation. Each school will then reunite with its members for afternoon workshops, which will focus on discussions of next steps for each school. The day will end with a closing share-out session.

LOCATION

Harvard-Westlake Middle School, 700 North Faring Road, Los Angeles, 90077

REGISTRATION

For additional information, please email jjones@hw.com.

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About > Diversity, Equity & Inclusion > Pollyanna Conference

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Harvard-Westlake School is excited to host its fifth annual Pollyanna Conference! The theme of this year’s conference is “Reimagining Resiliency with Resolve.” Resilience is a complex word with mixed connotations. The formal definition is the capacity to recover, spring back, show flexibility, an…

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Systems Thinking to Begin the Year 8_23_22

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Affinity Groups for the Youngest Learners

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Affinity Groups for the Youngest Learners

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It's critically important for young students of color to feel uplifted, confident, and to have a sense of self. More than a decade ago, The Gordon School (RI) created race-based affinity groups-Common Ground-as spaces where children could be their authentic selves without risking judgment. Forty-three percent of Gordon's enrollment is students of color, and 27% of the faculty and staff at Gordon are people of color.

Common Ground supports children of color as they speak freely about the experiences and challenges they face in school. Lower School Common Ground includes children identified by their parents as children of color and aged from first through fourth grade who meet for an hour weekly in eight week seasons. They discuss school issues, form bonds over common experiences, ask questions, and have fun together.

The goals for the students are deeply steeped in the tenets of Louise-Derman Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards' 2010 book,Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, among other titles by the authors, to inform the school's anti-bias and anti-racist practice with young children.

Each child will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.

Each child will express comfort and joy with human diversity; accurate language for human differences; and deep, caring human connections.

Each child will increasingly recognize unfairness, have language to describe unfairness, and understand unfairness hurts.

Each child will demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.

In March 2018, Common Ground expanded its reach even further. Families and school leaders observed the success of the lower school affinity group program, and they wanted younger students-often siblings of older Common Ground participants-to have an opportunity to play and learn with their peers. Gordon kindergarten teacher Julie Parsons, who started the first affinity groups at Gordon in 2006, worked with Shanon L. Connor, a preschool teacher at Gordon, to launch affinity groups among the youngest learners, the 5- and 6-year-olds.
A Personal Mission
Connor often reflects on her own experiences as an African American growing up in Rhode Island in the 1980s. She wonders how her life would have been different had she been given a chance to grow and thrive in schools that valued who she was. She had a proud, loving family that taught her about her culture, history, and the struggles her ancestors endured, but her time in school was less enriching. She remembers often feeling different or out of place, as if her thoughts, opinions, and life experiences were secondary to the majority.

In 2008, Connor joined Gordon as a preschool teacher. After teaching in Catholic and public schools in Philadelphia and Boston, where she believed she had made a difference in the lives of the majority of her students who were children of color, she was hesitant to change course and teach at a predominantly white, affluent independent school. Choosing to work in this new environment was a difficult decision, but as she became a part of the school community, she knew she could still have an impact on students in her care. She could encourage her preschoolers to love who they are and never be afraid of being their true selves. She could challenge stereotypes and be a role model for all children, but especially, children of color. She knew of the work Gordon was doing with affinity groups and was encouraged by its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Continuing Anti-Racist Work
Children of color continue to face many challenges in today's world, which doesn't always respect, accept, or appreciate their identities. Even at Gordon, where multicultural practice is a crucial part of the mission-one that its educators dedicatedly maintain daily-bias and discomfort arise. Students still express sentiments that mirror the data Gordon collected in a 2004 schoolwide assessment that explored the perceptions, attitudes, and expectations informing the educational experience of various racial and ethnic groups at Gordon. The study's statements from students, families, and educators still ring true:

Students still live in two worlds, both of which are critical to them.

Students of color still sit alone within some classrooms.

Students of color report feeling socially lonely, isolated, and devalued.

Students of color feel an innate affinity with one another.

The curriculum can drive some racially charged feelings.

Race is still used as one element in creating classroom groupings and cross-grade "buddy" pairs.

The assessment led to the creation of Common Ground, which has thrived as a companion to- not a replacement for-sustained anti-racist work in Gordon's classrooms, playgrounds, strategic planning sessions, and board meetings. Gordon teachers use a shared set of guidelines for multicultural practice to ensure that all students-white students alongside their classmates of color-take an active role in their identity development. This work begins at age 3. Gordon's white parents and faculty participate in their own race-based affinity groups, as do faculty and parents of color, and they come together throughout the school year in an ongoing series of cross-racial dialogues.
Expanding the Reach
Research shows that young students see and experience racism even if they do not have the words for it. That's why a play-based curriculum that explicitly affirms racial identity is essential for students of color in predominantly white spaces to feel a sense of belonging. Through books, games, art-making, conversations, and play, Common Ground students learn to love their skin tones, embrace who they are, and vocalize what makes them unique. The youngest children thrive as they joyfully interact with one another and get to know each other in in-depth ways, and fourth graders become leaders for Common Ground, sometimes helping or role modeling for the younger students. They groan when it is time to leave, and they always say the time passes too quickly.

Parsons and Connor understand why they feel this way. This time with their students is unlike the time they have with them in the classroom. During the school day, these students are powerful, strong, and opinionated. In Common Ground, these qualities are nurtured and amplified by the experience of being in the majority and feeling a sense of connection and belonging.

The impact extends into the classrooms, hallways, and playgrounds. For them, there is nothing like observing how elated a young Common Ground student feels when an older student of color they met in the affinity program gives them a hug or a high-five during the school day. Students have a sense of confidence in the classroom and can easily speak to their peers about what Common Ground means to them.

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed their campus in March, older students of color gathered online. Zoom conversations included talking about the protests and how they were taking action. As they plan for the upcoming year in these uncertain times, there's one thing they know for sure: Holding and creating space for students to gather for Common Ground will be an essential part of their programming. As early childhood educators, they are proud that Common Ground is an evolving space for students.

About The Blog

Independent Ideas: The Independent School Magazine Blog explores the issues and trends that matter most in education now. As a professional learning community, it features a diversity of voices and solution-oriented perspectives.

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Loving the Skin They're In: Race-Based Affinity Groups for the Youngest Learners

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It's critically important for young students of color to feel uplifted, confident, and to have a sense of self. More than a decade ago, The Gordon School (RI) created race-based affinity groups-Common Ground-as spaces where children could be their authentic selves without risking judgment.

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"You really shouldn't be having tests on a major holiday. We can communicate this up to the teachers and the administration," math teacher and affinity group leader Jeannie Rumsey told the students. "We can find another time for you to make that up, but this is a major holiday for you and you should be able to celebrate it." After organizing and communicating with their administration, the group succeeded in adding the major Muslim holy days to the following year's school calendar. The dates were given the same treatment as the Christian and Jewish holidays: no tests.

This example of collective action is one of the purposes of affinity groups in schools: They allow students who share an identity-usually a marginalized identity-to gather, talk in a safe space about issues related to that identity, and transfer that discussion into action that makes for a more equitable experience at school.

Dylan Posos, a student at John F. Kennedy High School in San Antonio, Texas, attests to the power of affinity groups to create safer learning environments. Dylan joined Kennedy's LGBT club in November 2014 after being disturbed by anti-LGBT bullying happening at school. He had not yet come out as transgender and was nervous about being judged. With the LGBT club, though, he found he could just be himself.

"The club motivated me to email my teachers. I came out with all my teachers, and now all my teachers call me Dylan," he says. "I'm more comfortable in school instead of being uncomfortable, not paying attention. It's like a weight off my back. The club gave that to me. It makes learning easier, really. It just gives me more confidence."

Having confidence in their identities is not always a given for students. Schools, like other institutions, are spaces in which those outside the dominant culture can feel disregarded, whether the disregard is intentional or not. Trying to negotiate and learn in such spaces makes the process of going to school stressful. Students of color, for example, may be dealing with what education professor Howard Stevenson calls racial stress: anxiety or fear that stems from racial encounters with individuals who are unaware or uncaring about the experiences of people of color. This kind of stress can contribute to feelings of loneliness and being "unseen" at school.

Darnell Fine, a seventh-grade English teacher and middle school diversity coordinator, speaks to the predispositions of many schools to overlook the needs of students outside the dominant group. "I think [school] can be a place that relegates students, especially students of color, especially students of marginalized groups, to silence," he explained. "It strips them of their voice. The students aren't voiceless, but due to the parameters of schools and how schools can marginalize students, they are at times not a place ... where students can express themselves."

Students need to be able to be themselves at school-and that's where affinity groups come in. A group of students who share an identity are going to relate to each other in ways they can't with peers who can't or don't understand their experience. It's about safety and, in some cases, about fundamental issues of injustice.

"The reason why affinity groups exist in the first place isn't because students want to segregate themselves from the rest of the population," Fine points out, "but because the population is excluding them to begin with." Gathering in safe spaces around shared identity allows students to engage in conversations about how they can subvert the structures that push them to the margins. In turn, these conversations "push the school to be more social-activist-oriented and less assimilationist-oriented," says Fine.

First Things First

Before a school can become more social-activist-oriented through affinity groups, someone has to get the ball rolling. Mike Ackerman, a counselor and affinity groups coordinator at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, Massachusetts, suggests starting by assembling a task force to get the initiative off the ground; this group should absolutely include students. Early collaboration can also involve soliciting the experience of other schools that have gone through the process of launching affinity groups, Rumsey noted.

In the idea-generation stage, an important step is to assess the attitudes and needs of the school. Fine recommends an anonymous diversity or multicultural survey of students, parents and school staff. Learning about concerns within the school community provides a springboard. "Let's say students of color don't feel comfortable going to their teachers," Fine illustrates. "You need to create a safe space for those students to voice those concerns and to start to organize."

Getting backing from the school's administration is also key, says Rumsey. "If your administration isn't in support of [forming affinity groups], it's not going to be successful. And, for that matter, the group's impact on your students will be severely limited," she says.

"I needed to have my principal and my admin on board with this because the conversations that we were having [in the affinity group] were very hard conversations. They were conversations that threatened the power structure," Fine says. "I knew my principal and the dean of students had my back. I wasn't tip-toeing around the conversation. I was allowing kids to voice their concerns and then propose initiatives to effect change in the school."

Launching a Successful Affinity Group

Once the higher-ups are on board, the task force can begin determining (based on the needs assessment) what groups are most necessary and finding facilitators. Another survey can be useful here, this time to find out how the adults in the school identify and what groups they'd be interested in leading. Rumsey and her team were careful to look for facilitators whose identities fit with the groups in question. Otherwise, the authenticity of the group's work could be in jeopardy. Fine puts it this way: "I can be an all-out advocate for my female students. It still doesn't erase the male privilege that I'm bringing into that affinity group."

But sometimes students need a group for which there is no appropriate adult leader. In that case, ask the students what they want to do. At Rumsey's school, Muslim students showed strong interest in having an affinity group for a couple of years, but no adults in the school identified as Muslim. She asked the students if they wanted to look for someone from the wider community or if they wanted her to lead it; they were comfortable with her and chose her.

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Affinity groups offer a platform for voices often relegated to the margins.

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Welcome to Raising Race Conscious Children, a resource to support adults who are trying to talk about race with young children. The goals of these conversations are to dismantle the color-blind framework and prepare young people to work toward racial justice. If we commit to collectively trying to talk about race with young children, we can lean on one another for support as we, together, envision a world where we actively challenge racism each and every day. Many of the blog's posts are geared toward White people but a community of guest bloggers represent diverse backgrounds and the strategies discussed may be helpful for all.
It starts one conversation at a time.
Quick Links

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Raising Race Conscious Children | A Resource for Talking About Race & Diversity With Young Children

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To support parents who are trying to talk about race and diversity with young children- with the goal of preparing young people to work toward racial justice.

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We hope to see you at the 2023 NAIS People of Color Conference in St. Louis, November 29-December 2!

PoCC is the flagship of NAIS's commitment to equity and justice in teaching, learning, and sustainability for independent schools.

This year's conference theme- Gateways to Freedom: A Confluence of Truth, Knowledge, Joy, and Power -calls us to converge from different paths to a common journey of truth, knowledge, joy, and power. In this year's theme, we evoke the presence and strength of our ancestors and the possibilities borne of our posterity and emergent futures.

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We hope to see you at the 2023 NAIS People of Color Conference in St. Louis, November 29–December 2!

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Strategies for Raising Anti-Racist White Youth

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Strategies for Raising Anti-Racist White Youth

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_Strategies for Raising Anti-Racist White Youth Chart (updated 2021)

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Anti-bias Leaders in Early Childhood Education

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Anti-bias early childhood equity social justice professional development teacher education

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Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning (AGES 12 & UP)
A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism--and antiracism--in America

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas--and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

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Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You - Ibram X. Kendi

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This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future.

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Parenting in Support of Black Lives: How to Build a Just Future for Kids

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Author | Speaker | Producer | Poet | Kwame Alexander

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Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, producer and #1 New York Times Bestselling author of 38 books, including AN AMERICAN STORY, THE DOOR OF NO RETURN, BECOMING MUHAMMAD ALI

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Our online groups and events, and other resources for

gender expansive youth and families during the time of Covid-19.

Gender Spectrum has years of experience in creating safe, successful online spaces

for adults and young people. If your organization is doing more work online, we can help.
Online Consulting
Gender Spectrum hosts online groups for pre-teens,

teens, parents, caregivers, and other family members.
View All Groups

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Gender Spectrum Homepage - Gender Spectrum

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Our online groups and events, and other resources for gender expansive youth and families during the time of Covid-19. Gender Spectrum has years of experience in creating safe, successful online spaces for adults and young people. If your organization is doing more work online, we can help.

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I would say that one thing that had a big effect on me in terms of opening up my perspective on social justice was the opportunity to be in the presence of and to listen to people who had different experiences from my own.  CCS gave me the opportunity to hear the voices and the world view of many different people and groups. Working with a diverse group of staff and families helped me to see and understand perspectives I never could have been exposed to if I had stayed within my narrow group of origin.  Sometimes those experiences were in line with my world view, and sometimes world views I was exposed to were challenging to me, but with time and a willingness to listen I was able to grow as a person.  Neal was the driving force in the school that made these things happen.  Neal and the Board of Directors supported bringing a diverse group of teachers and students to the school.  This wasn't an easy task, and I think that work will be ongoing as long as CCS exists. - Terri Agbodike

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Anti-Bias Leaders in Early Childhood Education

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Louise Derman-Sparks has worked for over 60 years on issues of diversity and social justice as a preschool teacher at the Perry Preschool Project, child-care center director, human development faculty member at Pacific Oaks College, and activist. She is author and coauthor of several books, including Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, and What if All the Kids are White? Anti-Bias/Multicultural Education for Young Children and Families, and of numerous articles. She speaks, conducts workshops, and consults on anti-bias education with children and adults throughout the United States and internationally. Louise is now retired as a professor emerita.

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Louise Derman-Sparks has worked for over 60 years on issues of diversity and social justice as a preschool teacher at the Perry Preschool Project, child-care center director, human development faculty member at Pacific Oaks College, and activist. She is author and coauthor of several books, including Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves , and What if All the Kids are White?

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Children’s Community School is a progressive school dedicated to teaching children to think for themselves, collaborate successfully with others, and take responsibility for their own education in a safe and loving environment. CCS embraces the principles of diversity, self-determination and participation in democracy. We foster critical thinking, compassion, and respect for each student, their community and their world.

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Seek intellectual challenge and growth

Possess a deep and complex understanding of the world

Know how to be a good friend

Be active and informed participants in our democracy

Advocate for themselves and others

Make and appreciate art

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"I hate it when we talk about Martin Luther King and everybody stares at me," a second grader said.

These words weren't shared in a classroom. The girl who experienced this emotion revealed her feelings to students who knew firsthand what it meant to be a child of color in a predominantly white school. In the safe zone of her affinity group, she shed light on a classroom dynamic that might otherwise have remained hidden.

Even in the most progressive independent schools, issues of race often lie just below the surface of children's daily experiences. In the relative security of an affinity group, these realities come to life. Affinity groups are places where students build connections and process "ouch" moments from their classes. Children talk about the isolation they sometimes feel. The relationships students gain through race-based affinity groups enable them to feel less alone with their emotions and help them build a stronger sense of self. At the same time, faculty facilitators gain valuable insights into ways their school's curriculum and culture can support children on the road to identity development.

So, why isn't every school clamoring to promote affinity groups?
When Do Children See Race?
I (Kimberly) am the director of diversity and multicultural practice at the Gordon School (Rhode Island). One early May morning, a faculty member of color walked into my office. Her son, who happens to be one of the few African-American children in his kindergarten class, was told by a classmate that he wasn't invited to a party because he is brown.

The boy's teacher handled the interaction between the children with gentleness and care, using it as a learning opportunity for both students. Nonetheless, the encounter stirred worries for the boy's mother, stemming from her own childhood and school memories attached to race. She had hoped her son would not have to hear those words of rejection so early in his school journey, if at all.

I remember the stinging feeling of such an event. When my own daughter was in third grade at another independent school, she shared how it felt to hear another classmate say, "I hope I can dance with a normal white boy," as her class was preparing for a colonial day re-enactment.

These are not isolated events.

Many adults believe that children see race only when it is pointed out. But as Beverly Daniel Tatum makes clear in her book,Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, children as young as three years old notice physical differences such as skin color, hair texture, and the shape of facial features. The research shows that, even in infancy, children demonstrate in-group preference. Consider the experiment conducted by Rebecca Bigler at the University of Texas.¹ Bigler randomly gave four- and five-year-old children red or blue T-shirts. She observed them while they played with each other freely at recess. Afterwards, when she asked children in red T-shirts, "How many reds are nice?" they said, "All." When children in red T-shirts were asked how many students in blue T-shirts are nice, they said only "some" are nice, but other blues are dumb or mean. Bigler noted that children "form these preferences on their own and naturally categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible."

The physical features that children see - such as eye shape, skin color, and hair texture - are connected to our society's description of race. In their book, Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards describe this physical recognition as children's first encounter with racial differences. They conclude that racial identity is "being shaped from the outside and constructed inside, meaning that children struggle to understand the connection between their external experiences and their internal feelings and reactions they have to observed differences." The authors describe four interacting factors that affect children's racial understanding: the larger society in which they live, their families and other significant people, their individual life experiences, and their stage of cognitive development.

A longitudinal study entitled "Race and Sex as Factors in Children's Classroom Friendship Choices" further supports this notion of preferences.² A friendship nomination questionnaire was given to 80 boys and 65 girls in grades one through four and six. The results showed that race played a significant role (though less pervasive than gender) in children's friendship choices, particularly when considering same-sex friendships.
Identity and Success in the Independent School
How does current research inform us about the experiences of children of color in schools where the dominant racial culture is white? A 2003 study by Edith Arrington, Diane Hall, and Howard Stevenson examined the variables that lead to success for African-American students in independent schools. ³ Of the students interviewed, 75 percent reported making a special effort to fit into their school communities, 82 percent reported that they had negative school experiences, and 40 percent did not believe the school treated all students the same. The authors concluded that, "for black students, success is best defined by a strong sense of connection to the school community; a positive sense of self across contexts, but especially in the school; social and emotional health; and a racial identity that would serve as a resource as they develop, but particularly when students encounter racism."

AnotherIndependent School article by Michael Thompson and Kathy Schultz (2003), focusing on the "Psychological Experiences of Students of Color in Independent Schools," highlights the fact that students of color, because they are in predominantly white schools, often experience intense social loneliness.

InCan We Talk About Race?, Beverly Daniel Tatum writes that it is essential for schools to actively address the "continuing significance of race and racial identity in ways that empower and motivate students to transcend the legacy of racism in our society." She defines the ABCs of creating and maintaining an inclusive learning environment: A is for affirming identity; B is for building community; and C is for cultivating leadership. In this article, we emphasize "affirming identity" because we believe that one's racial identity - reflected in the curriculum, faculty and staff, and/or classmates - helps to avoid what Tatum describes as "invisibility or marginality that can undermine student success."
Facing the Tough Questions
The research is there. The need is there. So why do many schools hesitate to establish affinity groups? It's mostly a matter of institutional will - and a willingness to take on critics and skeptics.

For any independent school that makes an effort to establish affinity groups - whether your school is deeply invested in multicultural education or just starting to examine the possibilities for your institution - you are bound to encounter resistance. At the Gordon School, which earned the Leading Edge award from the National Association of Independent Schools in 2004 for its work in equity and justice, one board member anticipated the response from the community when learning of the need for affinity groups. She knew it would be difficult for all school constituents "to come to the understanding that children of color can still be hurt in our school, even after we have done what feels like so much incredible work on diversity and multicultural practice."

Introduce affinity groups and, on cue, some concerned parent will say, "I can't believe you're promoting segregation at our school, in this decade, in this post-racialized country. For goodness sake, we have a black president!"

You may even be accused of segregation or reverse racism. "My child tells me she wants to participate," says a parent. "She thinks it's not fair because white kids can't join. My white student is being denied this opportunity."

Undoubtedly, some of the most complex questions about affinity groups will be presented to you in the hallway or at pick up time. Sixty seconds, surrounded by other students or parents, simply isn't enough time, nor is it the place, to consider these issues thoughtfully. However, this is a good opportunity to tell the parent that it is normal for a young child to question race in this manner, and to commend the parent for having a dialogue about race with his or her child. The latter point is important because too many in our culture avoid the topic, as if they believe it's incendiary.

You can validate parents' concerns by confirming that, yes, sometimes things do feel unfair, especially in the eyes of a seven-year-old. Make a plan with the parent to continue the conversation with you when everybody has more time to talk. Get the voices of dissension through the door, because if you don't, those voices will go underground and undermine your efforts to create affinity groups.

Building relationships with skeptics is an essential step in the process of creating affinity groups. A bit of listening and friendly discussion goes a long way. If you can help parents understand racial identity development and clearly express the goals of your affinity groups, you may in fact create newly empowered allies.

How do you define racial identity development? Tatum describes it as "the process of defining for oneself the personal significance and social meaning of belonging to a particular racial group." Children internalize aspects of racial identity from the adults and peers around them. For students of color in predominately white independent schools, resisting negative stereotypes and affirming carefully considered definitions of themselves are critical to counterbalance the limited number of role models who mirror them racially.

Over time, in our experience, more members of the school community will come to understand that well-facilitated, racial affinity groups are gatherings that facilitate positive identity exploration, where people can pose questions and process issues. As a learning base, affinity groups offer affirmation of identity, empowerment of the individual, and empowerment of the group within the learning community - all things worth fighting for.
Planting the Seeds of Change
Nearly a decade ago, Gordon School developed a Strategic Plan for Racial Diversity and committed itself to multicultural and anti-bias education. Two adult race-based affinity groups developed at this time: Parents of Students of Color (POSOC) and Faculty and Staff of Color. POSOC began meeting in the evening, with childcare provided. The informal get-togethers in the childcare area became the first school-supported opportunity where children of color from nursery to eighth grades could gather - even though the primary meeting was for adults. Children who participated began asking their families when the next POSOC night would be and demanding to go to childcare "so they can be with their friends." The desire for students of color to gather and play in a majority experience did not go unnoticed.

In 2004, the school's diversity committee created a task force to research student affinity groups in school settings. Committee members visited exemplary elementary school affinity group programs at Shady Hill School (Massachusetts), Nashoba Brooks School (Massachusetts), and The Orchard School (Indiana), as well as programs located at independent secondary schools and colleges. At the same time, Gordon also embarked on its first Racial Climate Assessment - "racial climate" deﬁned as the current perceptions, attitudes, and expectations that inform the educational experience of various racial/ethnic groups at an institution.

The assessment included data from division directors and middle school students. Broadly, perceptions of the students' needs and experiences were as follows:

* Students live in two worlds, both of which are critical of them.

* Students of color continue to sit alone within some classrooms.

* Middle school students were asking for affinity group meetings.

* Students of color felt an affinity with each other already.

* On their own initiative, students of color sought out faculty of color for support.

* The curriculum was driving some racially linked feelings.

* Students of color reported feeling socially lonely, isolated, and devalued.

* Race was used as one element in creating classroom groupings and cross-grade "buddy" pairs.

In 2006, based on these findings, Gordon created Common Ground, a race-based affinity group for the lower school (grades one to four). The task force decided to start with lower school students because the research reveals that it could be difficult starting affinity groups in middle school, especially an affinity group that can point directly to difference. Developmentally, middle school students feel the pressure to "blend in," and middle school programs in other schools found it a challenge to recruit students based on this fact.

Research indicates that starting a program in the younger grades can alleviate some of this peer pressure while providing the opportunity for students to practice discussions about race. The hope is that, when they reach middle school, the students who have participated in an affinity group in elementary school will feel more empowered and positively informed about their racial identity.

Common Ground met for one hour, once a week, after school, for eight sessions a season. It was a free and voluntary program for families of color. The school decided it would not be appropriate to charge for a program that exists because the greater institution was, in effect, broken.

Although participants included children of various races and ethnicities, and they belonged to several different social circles, they found commonality when they discussed their experiences as minorities in the school. During the first few years, nearly 50 percent of eligible families participated.
Learning from Experience
While working as a Spanish teacher at an independent school in the early 1990s, Zenaida Muslin observed a peculiar phenomenon. Her school would admit intellectually talented students of color, but by the end of the school year, academically, they would fall to the bottom of their classes. She concluded that her school was not prepared to support students who are linguistically, racially, and socioeconomically different from the majority. This realization inspired her first effort to create affinity groups for students of color.

Can a White Teacher Facilitate an Affinity Group of Color?

When Gordon School launched its Common Ground affinity group, there were no teachers of color in the lower school, due to maternity leaves. This presented a dilemma. Could a white teacher facilitate an affinity group for students of color?

After some deliberation, I volunteered to co-lead the affinity group with a fifth grade faculty member of color. My logic was simple: I didn't think that all diversity work should be on the backs of faculty of color, and I thought it would be beneficial for students in Common Ground to have a white adult ally they could identify with.

Like other affinity group facilitators, I participated in ongoing identity development. I also had some experience leading a white affinity group among interested faculty in my school. I engaged in dialogue and activity on numerous occasions at the White Privilege Conference and took part in a weeklong dialogue at the Social Justice Training Institute.

Six years later, I'm still at it. Common Ground now serves over 70 percent of Gordon's students of color, who comprise approximately 30 percent of the student body. The program is facilitated by four women - one who is white and two who are faculty members of color.

White teachers who are thinking about leading race-based affinity groups in their schools need to think deeply and ask themselves some difficult questions, such as:

* What do I understand about my racial identity as a white teacher/person?
* How do I feel about issues of race as they relate to children's school experiences?
* What issues are unresolved around my racial identity?
* How does my racial identity affect the way I relate to my students and colleagues within and outside of my school community?
* How do I help children of color find their voices to express their school experiences?

There is no perfect pathway or map to arrive at the answers to these questions, but it is important that we engage in conversation and collaborate with colleagues, administrators, parents, and board members to think about ways to address, affirm, and support all students around racial identity development. - Julie Parsons

In 2000, Muslin moved to the Bank Street School for Children (New York), where she serves as diversity coordinator. Here, she founded lower school race-based affinity groups that start in first grade and meet once a month for 45 minutes, facilitated by two teachers of color. At the same time that students of color work in their affinity groups, white children also discuss issues of race and identity. A follow-up lesson for the full class takes place during the same week of the affinity group meeting, allowing for cross-racial dialogue. The majority of students of color participate in the affinity groups, which encompass 70 to 80 percent of their student-of-color population.

Muslin describes experiencing "push back" from a handful of parents - primarily white parents, but also from those who have children of color, and from a smaller number of parents of color - but she also notes the value of the program.

"Our families need to be more forward thinking," says Muslin, "and realize that race continues to be an issue in the 21st century and is a part of our human condition - and that our children need to understand the importance of this fact."

Several schools have been doing this work for 10 years or more with clear success. Randolph Carter, a diversity consultant and director of the Eastern Educational Resource Collaborative, started a lower school affinity group at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School (Virginia) in 1999. Carter's group initially started in kindergarten, but he soon felt that second grade was a better starting point, as children of this age could understand the purpose of the group. The program ran from September until May during the lunch period, when he met with students by grade, once weekly. Eventually, the groups morphed into what he described as "multiracial groups," as students were allowed to bring friends. Carter recognized the need for white children to engage in dialogue about race. He emphasizes, however, that racial affinity groups alone are no substitute for the broad institutional change that needs to take place in schools.

Even after 10 years of diversity and inclusion work at their schools, Elizabeth Denevi of Georgetown Day School (Washington) and Sandra Chapman of the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School (New York) indicate that they still experience pushback from some parents around the issue of race-based affinity groups, but they also see the clear value for students.

Chapman encourages parents and colleagues to recognize that the white members of their community already spend much of their time surrounded by other white people. "For families of color, the affinity group experience can be profound," says Chapman. "It creates that safe space inside the school building."

Both Chapman's and Denevi's schools begin affinity work in lower school with informal meetings of children while their parents participate in parents of color meetings. More formal affinity groups for children begin in fifth grade.

Schools considering affinity groups can explore approaches taken by schools in various stages of race-based affinity work by visiting the websites of Shady Hill School (Massachusetts), Friends School in Baltimore (Maryland), The Hamlin School (California), The Village Community School (New York), and The Orchard School (Indiana). Even better, see if you can visit these schools to observe the positive impact of affinity groups on the entire school community.
Where to Begin
Schools interested in launching affinity groups for elementary age students of color can draw from the experiences of those who have been traveling this path now for several years. Although every school may bring unique challenges to the table, this short list of goals can guide educators in their program development.

* Conduct a Racial Climate Assessment to obtain useful data about students' school experiences.

* Facilitate positive identity exploration, self-awareness, pride, and self-esteem through books, games, discussion, and structured play activities that connect students to each other.

* Provide students with the opportunity to discuss topics of race, identity, and diversity in a safe space that will enable students of color to develop their voice.

* Encourage and develop leadership skills.

* Develop accurate language and vocabulary to describe themselves and others.

* Increase the school's ability to recruit and retain families and teachers of color.

* The purpose of the affinity group is to provide a majority experience for students regularly who are in the minority at school.

At Gordon, we have also learned to be flexible with regard to each student's needs and the group's desires. We want Common Ground to stay dynamic and to be fun. Ours is essentially a play-based program. Our third and fourth grade students receive more formalized programming around race and identity.

Some schools choose to focus on a theme for each season. Fall can be a time for building a sense of group identity and community. Winter weather makes a good time for projects such as scrapbooks, dance, and cooking that provide opportunity for more in-depth identity work. Spring is a good time to focus on closure, on celebrating what you've learned.

Every group creates its own traditions, whether it's celebrating the graduation of our fourth graders into middle school or sharing our goodbyes to our friends moving into new schools. Many resources exist to help facilitators with social and emotional learning activities, including Open Circle (www.open-circle.org); Tribes Learning Community (www.tribes.com), the Roots and Wings Foundation (www.rootsandwingsnj.org), and various education and diversity-related websites.

Past participants are another valuable resource. These middle school mentors can have a profound effect on the developing identity of an elementary school child.
Supporting Adults
As we worked to establish our lower school affinity group at Gordon, we had board approval, and also met with lower school faculty to educate them about the nature of the affinity group structure. We encouraged faculty to connect with the facilitators about the experiences of students of color in the classroom. In addition, we shared strategies with teachers that aid in addressing parents' concerns and questions about the purpose of the program. We have since learned that it is not a one-shot deal, but that we need to be continuously engaged with school personnel about how to talk about common ground with students and parents. Children will have developmentally appropriate questions and teachers need to respond accordingly. In 2008, Gordon School provided a forum for the school community to learn about Common Ground and voice questions. Voices of dissension were welcomed. In Spring 2012, we will be having a panel discussion about the value of affinity-group programming in elementary school.
Building a Common Language
First graders may not fully understand why they join an affinity group. By third or fourth grade, however, students often can articulate what the affinity group means to them and why it's important.

This confidence becomes especially important when they feel scrutinized by other students who want to know what they're "doing in there." Affinity groups help to reduce the pressure on these children by giving both students and adults in the school community a common language in which to discuss not only the program, but also larger issues of race and diversity. Affinity groups are a present-day Band-Aid for the conditions and experiences children of color are having in predominately white affluent schools. In the larger context, schools must be prepared to examine systemic changes in their institutions to provide a more equitable space for all students. All students - not just students of color - must be engaged in examining and clearly understanding the multiple facets of identity.

Eventually, "positive racial identity development" may become a standard element in the school lexicon, fitting seamlessly along terms like "developmentally appropriate" or "academically rigorous."
Notes
1. Bigler, Rebecca, 2009. "See Baby Discriminate," Newsweek, September 2009.

2. Graham, James A., Robert Cohen, Susan M. Zbikowski, and Mary E. Secrist, 1998. "A Longitudinal Investigation of Race and Sex as Factors in Children's Classroom Friendship Choices,"Child Study Journal, v28, n4, 1998.

3. Arrington, Edith G., Diane M. Hall, Howard C. Stevenson, 2003. "The Success of African-American Students in Independent Schools,"Independent School, Summer 2003.

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