| Justice Matters' projects change over time, with some
activities wrapping up while others are just getting under
way. This page will change periodically in order to highlight
some of our current activities. |
(Reclaiming Education, Access, and Learning) in Schools Now!
Region: West Contra Costa County
14,360 low-income students in West Contra Costa are struggling
to learn in schools that are facing serious federal sanctions.
12,600 of those students are Latino and African-American.
Due to rigid approaches to curriculum and teaching practices
that do not meet students' learning needs, children are receiving
an education that fails to prepare them for life after high
school—whether that entails college or work. (Some of
the problems that students in this district face relate to
high-stakes testing. To find out more about Justice Matters'
perspective on high-stakes testing, click
here.)
R.E.A.L. SCHOOLS NOW! is a campaign launched by Justice Matters
and Youth
Together to reclaim public education in the West Contra
Costa County Unified School District. We seek to create a
public educational system that is just, community-based, supportive
and people-centric. We aim to empower, mobilize, and build
self-determination among students and their communities. Through
a series of Town Hall Meetings in the community, a focused
media and public education campaign, and other strategies,
we hope to effectively change the conditions for poor students
of color who attend school in the West Contra Costa Unified
School District
Youth
Together is a multi-racial youth organization addressing
the root causes of educational inequities by developing youth
organizers and engaging school community allies to promote
positive school change.
Region: San Francisco Bay Area
Justice Matters is collaborating with Teachers
4 Social Justice to coordinate a study group for teachers
and parents of color in San Francisco. Students of color need
their families and teachers to have mutually respectful, active
partnerships. But racial and class divides, as well as a school
culture that excludes parents, often get in the way.
In this study group, parents and teachers come together on
an equal footing to honestly explore the barriers to respectful,
strong partnerships. They develop practices and policy ideas
that support the kind of relationships between parents and
teachers that make a difference for students of color. Click
here to read the PTSG report; Building Strong Parent Teacher
Partnerships.
Teachers 4
Social Justice, our partner in this project, is a Bay
Area group of teachers that organizes teachers and community-based
educators and implements programs and projects that develop
empowering learning environments, more equitable access to
resources and power, and realizing a just and caring culture.
(Reclaiming Education, Access, and Learning) for Minds
& Souls Study | Region: California
Justice Matters and Professor Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford
University are collaborating on a study to identify schools
that provide a truly just education for low-income students
of color. We are calling these schools R.E.A.L. (Reclaiming
Education, Access and Learning) Schools for Minds and Souls,
or “R.E.A.L.schools” for short.
The study will examine six R.E.A.L. schools to learn about
the types of policies that would support all schools to be
able to do what they are doing. Justice Matters will also
document and tell the stories of the R.E.A.L. schools, so
that the public will be aware of what such schools can do
and accomplish.
Linda Darling-Hammond is Principal Investigator of the School
Redesign Network at Stanford University. The School Redesign
Network responds to the need for new school models that are
designed to teach all children to high levels
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