Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Staff Culture Audit From BARWE
Staff Culture Audit From BARWE
Staff Culture Audit From BARWE
Dillard. This
resource is inspired by Jess Lifshitz’s curriculum audit we used in January, and builds on our Co-constructing Spaces of Joy tool from
March.
Co-constructing Staff Culture that resists white supremacy culture and makes space for Black joy
As you go through the reflection below, keep in mind the characteristics of white supremacy culture and how they show up in your
staff culture. It is important that you collaborate with BIPOC folks on your staff as you move this work forward. While some of these
issues may be new to you and other white educators, they will not be new to your Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous colleagues.
You should also acknowledge that some BIPOC colleagues may not want to collaborate, and that should be OK. Remember, the
important work is rooted in building real relationships from which positive and purposeful collaboration occurs.
It is also important to recognize that spaces can and should be curated by Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous staff members.
Often, white colleagues are not even aware of these spaces and that’s okay. The important thing is that the school culture gives
space for BIPOC educators to exist authentically and voluntarily, as opposed to them being formed due to an oppressive and racist
school culture.
Questions to Consider Current State of our Staff Changes Needed and why: Resources To Support
(always with an eye to Culture: Changes (see additional
interrogating white readings and guides below):
supremacy culture):
● Black Women Educators' Roundtable on Teaching and Current Events from Facing History
● I'm a Black Male Teacher Who Works for a Black Principal. It's Been a Game Changer.*
● Diversifying the Teaching Profession*
● Through Our Eyes*
● Disciplinarians First and Teachers Second
● The Burden of Being a Black Teacher
● Schools Have Committed to Hiring Teachers of Color. Now They Need to Keep Them*
● Urban Teachers of Color Pushed Out by Jamilah Pitts *
● Retaining Teachers of Color in Public Schools
● What White Colleagues Need to Understand by Clarice Brazas and Charlie McGeehan *
● Black Parents, Teachers, and Students See a Need for More Black Teachers (video)
● In Isolation: Uniting Male Teachers of Color (video)
● Disrupting the Culture of Silence in Schools by Brendon Jobs *
● Keeping Teachers: Black men and teachers in rural areas are in especially short supply
● Dear White Teacher by Chrysanthius Lathan *
● Why America Needs More African American Teachers - And How to Recruit and Retain Them *
● To Get To College, It Helps Black Students To Have a Black Teacher Early On by Mayowa Aina *
● An Overlooked Cause of the Teacher-Diversity Problem by Melinda D. Anderson *
● Why Black Teachers Walk Away by Youki Terada *