Episode 2: Advancing Equity in Schools

Millicent 0:11
Hi everyone, you're listening to Vital Voices Podcast from Corning Incorporated exploring the innovative ways companies can be a force for good. I'm Millicent Ruffin Director of Community Affairs and the office of racial equality and social unity. And I'm

Sissy 0:27
sissy CRO. For the past two years, I've had the absolute privilege of partnering with Corning Incorporated to amplify their employees voices, and communicate their DNI that's diversity, equity and inclusion programs with their global workforce. In this podcast we're focusing in on Corning's education initiatives within their communities.

Millicent 0:50
So before we get started on today's episode, I definitely want to encourage everyone to listen to episode one if you haven't had a chance to already because it provides an overview of what this podcast is about and a little more background on who we are in the office of racial equality and social unity. Today's episode will center around RSUs first project in Corning, New York where our headquarters is based, and we'll be talking with the first hires within our group.

Sissy 1:27
This is really great. I'm really looking forward to it and I'm excited to hear what they have to say.

Debbie 1:31
I am Debbie fish back. I am a Diversity Equity and Inclusion dei education coordinator within the Office of racial equality and social unity.

Jarvis 1:42
My name is Jarvis Marlowe MacAllan. I serve as a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Education Coordinator with Corning Incorporated.

Sissy 1:49
So Millicent, why was it important for you to hire educators to help with our rescues initiatives,

Millicent 1:55
you know, when you want to bring change to a system, it's really best to work within the system in order to bring that change. And so we needed people in this role, who really understood what teachers are faced with on a day to day basis. And we needed people who had the skill set to interact with students and be able to listen to students and understand what students needed in the classroom as well. And then the other side of that coin is what's the benefit of all of this to Corning. And we talked about this a little bit in episode one, that when our students thrive, our whole community thrives. The businesses in that community are thriving, our families are thriving, which means that we have, you know, healthy happy employees at work as well. And so Corning cares about the whole life of its employees. And Corning cares about the communities where it's located. With that I am so excited for you all to learn a bit about Jarvis, who was the first DNI education coordinator that we hired in the office of racial equality and social unity.

Jarvis 3:18
I'm a rural black Southerner, loud and proud. I hold those identities very close to my heart. I joined AmeriCorps when I was an undergrad at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. I was in elementary school serving as a literacy support person really for first and second grade students. From there, I went on to wanting to research educational policy and practices. So I went to graduate school with a research agenda exploring the experiences of young students of color, but particularly black boys. I just wanted to learn more about their experiences. And why did I see so many placed into special education placed into remedial coursework not being placed into academically gifted environments. So I wanted to change or assist other folks in changing the narrative about young boys of color in educational environments.

Millicent 4:09
As Jeremy has shared, he has worked in higher education for almost 10 years before he moved to Corning, New York. And when we met him, when he responded to our job listing, he had just created a program that was designed to help black students in higher ed matriculate and graduate at the same rates as their white counterparts. And so he was very tuned in to the challenges that black students face and majority white institutions and you know, was just the talent and the perspective we needed to hit the ground running with this work. Yeah. So

Sissy 4:49
when did Jarvis joined the team?

Millicent 4:51
Jarvis joined us in September of 2021. So he just rounding out his first year in this role. Great. I Our second hire Debbie Fischbeck joined in October of 2021. And Debbie brings a very practical skill set to this work because she came directly from the classroom. Whereas Jarvis came to us from higher ed where he was developing programming based on needs that he saw in the classroom. Debbie is leading from personal experience in the front of the classroom.

Debbie 5:28
I am multiracial. So my mom is Indian, born in Trinidad, and my father is white. However, when I was young, I got vitiligo, that's when your body removes the melanin from your skin. So I have super pale skin. But I've noticed that as I've moved to a wider area, where I am in New York, people presume that my race is white. So I recognize that my racial identity is connected to how I appear people perceive me as white, although I do identify as multiracial.

Millicent 6:07
So Debbie had worked in multiple locations across the state of New York, she was a science teacher. And then lucky for us Debbie's husband got a job right here in Corning, and she relocated to a nearby middle school,

Debbie 6:23
I needed to find a school that qualified as high needs for my specific grad school program to be paid back. And a position popped up that was close by and I got the position. When I applied for the position, though, when I was interviewing with the superintendent, I asked what are the DEI groups or initiatives happening within the school district, the district didn't have any yet, but they would appreciate my support in starting the work within their district. So I kind of just said, Well, this needs to happen. If nobody else is going to do this, I can do this. I'm very passionate about racial equality in school. And there's a lot of lack of understanding when it comes to the racial inequity that does exist among white teachers.

Millicent 7:10
And her last teaching position, Debbie took on an informal leadership role actually volunteering to kick off the school's DNI work, forming the committee working with the superintendent to organize the strategy. But what she realized was that the pace was a lot slower than what she expected and even what she wanted. For example,

Debbie 7:35
we did not have a dei committee until many months after I asked for one,

Millicent 7:43
we've heard that from a lot of other teachers that it's really difficult to be within the system and be a force of change for the system at the same time. And so one day, during the summer of 2021, Debbie ran into the superintendent, again,

Debbie 8:01
and I asked about some di ideas that we were talking about just the state of where they're at. And he said actually, we're going to wait until Corning Incorporated hires a DI education coordinator. And so you know, I was like, oh, okay, and I looked into it later, and I realized that the position was still open. I wasn't planning on leaving the classroom. But I applied for the position and I'm in credibly happy to be in this position, although I'm still you know, a little bit sad to leave the classroom.

Sissy 8:32
So Millson what districts to drive us and Debbie work in,

Millicent 8:35
we work closely with the four districts surrounding Corning headquarters. So Corning painted post on Mayra heights Horseheads and Elmira city school districts are the main districts we support. Debbie and Jarvis. His roles were created a little bit differently, where Jarvis is a dedicated resource to Elmira City School District. His office is located in their board building. And Debbie supports multiple districts. Her primary focus is on Myra Heights School District, but she also pitch hits at Corning painted post in Horseheads as needed,

Sissy 9:17
when you say pitch hits, what exactly does she do if there's like if a need comes up? Or what would precipitate her going to another one of the other schools?

Millicent 9:25
A lot of the districts right now are in the process of drafting their DNI policy. And so they've asked for Debbie's assistance and consultation. Another example would be facilitating DNI activities at school board meetings or at board retreats. Okay, that's great. So that's my high level explanation. Let's hear Jarvis and Debbie share more specifics about their day to day work in this role.

Jarvis 9:57
I've been fortunate to work with local districts In this region who have demonstrated commitments to the work, can they really seeking strategy that really seeking support. So let's spend a lot of time listening, but also doing some professional development. So one of the goals within the district that I work in the Elmira City School District, I have some form of a professional development opportunity, whether it's a workshop to help educators think more critically about creating a welcoming and affirming environment for students who identify with an LGBTQ plus community. Does anyone have any thoughts about how this for our students who may identify within the LGBTQ community and are also students of color? What comes up for you?

Teacher 10:39
We have a lot of students who identify in the community who are students of color whose parents are not supportive at all, whose parents are combative Lee not supportive?

Sissy 10:54
Hmm, is it's so important that he's doing this work, correct me if I'm wrong, Nelson, he's helping these educators find a way to deal with this when they hear this from the students. Is that right? Or for them to really just understand more about the implications.

Millicent 11:09
I think it's the latter, it is helping teachers understand everything that may be going on in a student's life, and then giving them the tools or the language they need in order to set an inviting and affirming environment, so that they can learn. You know, I think it's really critical that teachers have that capability to reduce as many barriers to learning as possible.

Jarvis 11:39
Part of my role is working directly with the Elmira City School District leading and collaborating with their district leaders on some of their strategic diversity, equity and inclusion related initiatives. Some of those are related to hiring, ensuring that the workforce is representing the student demographics.

Debbie 11:57
Sometimes I'm meeting with the administrators of the school district to ask them questions about something and hear their ideas in order to understand what framework they're operating from, or it's to present some sort of information to them. Or it's to plan something together.

Jarvis 12:17
Also supporting students with amplifying their voices so that school leaders administrators are able to really learn more about the experiences of students, a lot of it is relationship building, a lot of my day to day is popping into other folks offices, learning about what they're doing, seeing how I can enhance and support.

Debbie 12:36
I haven't been so far removed from the classroom that I forget what that's like, there can sometimes be an animosity when, as a teacher, there are so many people outside of teaching who tell you what you should or shouldn't do in the classroom. And it can feel kind of insulting when people don't understand necessarily what it's like to be an educator. So I think having the perspective that I do understand, like, how challenging it is to be a teacher. Yeah, I think it helped me to get an in.

Millicent 13:09
I definitely think it helped her to get to get an end because that understanding and that shared experience enables her to relate directly to the teachers.

Sissy 13:20
Yeah. And I feel like she complements Jarvis nicely.

Millicent 13:23
Jarvis and Debbie make such a great team. You know, Debbie brings a very practical hands on approach. And Jarvis comes at problem solving from a theoretical place first, and then reduction to practice. They they do that piece together. And so they have very complementary skill sets.

Jarvis 13:50
It's just much better to have a support person, a colleague, who you can bounce off ideas, but also share those moments where that didn't really go as well as I wanted to. How would you have done something differently?

Millicent 14:04
A lot of the work that Debbie and Jarvis do is related to supporting our teachers and our school leaders, but also introducing some of them to culturally responsive and sustaining teaching practices. It's important that they can approach this work and meet the educators and administrators where they are on this journey, and not come in with a judgmental attitude. Yeah, that's

Sissy 14:33
a good point mill sent and I really liked the way Jarvis defines culturally responsive teaching.

Jarvis 14:38
My go to reference for culturally responsive teaching is actually culturally relevant teaching which came about late 80s and early 90s by a scholar named Dr. Gloria Ladson. Billings, and she wanted to learn a little bit more about what are some of the factors that support the educational experiences is an enrichment of young black boys. And she interviewed and observed the teaching practices of teachers, the majority were white white woman, what were some of their experiences that led to young black boys and also other students of color to experience success in the classroom? So the first piece is academic success. I believe that all students are gifted, academically gifted, therefore they can achieve in the classroom, therefore, I should have high expectations rigorous instructional practices. Secondly, is some of the teachers were engaging with students, were helping students understand their own sense of self. So cultural awareness, cultural competency, and that gets to that a third layer of culturally relevant teaching, which is socio political consciousness, how can I help students better understand their world? How can I use my skills, my talent to work toward eradicating a societal injustice?

Millicent 15:54
Debbie and Jarvis also do a lot of work emphasizing the importance of social emotional learning in the classroom.

Jarvis 16:01
Social emotional learning gets wrapped up grounded in equity, equity, meaning removing barriers that prevent access to opportunity, social emotional learning, what are some of the things that cause students to not to experience an opportunity to thrive in their day to day experiences inside the school outside the school and the classroom and outside the classroom. So relationship building, using inclusive language being an upstander, or someone who is going to take an active stance against something that is wrong, or going bad within their school?

Millicent 16:34
Debbie and Jarvis are in a pretty unique situation where the school districts that they support have very little diversity,

Sissy 16:44
how that's interesting are their numbers you can share that are related to that,

Millicent 16:48
I would say ranges from 90 to 95%. White in terms of the student body, but also the teachers in the districts are not diverse. And so across the roughly 1000 teaching positions across the four districts, less than 4% are teachers of color.

Debbie 17:07
I recently met with an ELA team, who is bringing in a book that has very strong racial themes. They're concerned, you know, how do we do this as white educators with predominantly white classrooms? How do we do this in the best way? You know, just thinking through changes to diversity in their curriculum,

Sissy 17:31
you really see why it's so important to address the EI, you know, especially for white teachers who may feel uncomfortable about it. But boy, they need to know they need to talk about it, they need to be able to address issues with the students and the students need to know they got their backs. That's absolutely

Millicent 17:47
right. So see,

Debbie 17:49
we have to include race in our academic conversations, and when we're discussing student issues and concerns because race is a real part of their lives and all of our lives, so we can't just ignore it. And even if we hold identity, like a white racial identity, we still have to do what is best for our students, even if that might make it a little bit harder to understand what a student is telling you.

Millicent 18:19
Given the demographics of the districts we support, the task may seem really daunting, but Debbie and Jarvis are happy that the districts where they work are actually interested and committed to improving how they incorporate DNI practices into their work.

Jarvis 18:43
Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs to do daily. Teachers are responsible for supporting, encouraging uplifting, they cultivate genius, they cultivate talent, and create environments that are joyful for students. And throughout it all teachers are ridiculed and have to go on to social media and new sites where there are people accusing them of doing things that they're just not doing.

Sissy 19:15
Oh, boy, I you know, I can't even understand what that must be like. It feels like so many things are stacked against teachers. Honestly, I don't know how they do it.

Millicent 19:24
One of the things that Jarvis has built into his role is supporting not just teachers, but all school leaders when it comes to having these difficult and sometimes challenging conversations.

Jarvis 19:39
Part of my framework with diversity, equity and inclusion is centered in grace centered interests centered in loving kindness. So I tend to lean upon that when I go to support school leaders, administrators, students, when they are seeking to create space and hold space for a conversation that might be difficult for some and rather's it's just another day.

Sissy 20:03
I love that he talked about centering it on Grace and loving kindness. I mean, you can't beat that. That's exactly right. It just makes me smile when I hear him say that.

Millicent 20:12
I know, his approach is so important. And when he spoke to us, he also emphasize the importance of setting up spaces that challenge thoughts and perspectives rather than challenging individual entities.

Jarvis 20:27
What does it mean to invite someone in versus call someone out? What does it mean to create a space where we can engage in something that might be so much grounded in people's preconceived notions or having bias wrapped up into it, but to be able to hold it all, and to know that we may not have answers in this moment. But if we move away with this being an ongoing thing that we can come back after some time of processing, whatever we talked about, we are more able and equipped to continue having these dialogues. What I

Sissy 20:58
really loved and found interesting was when I talked to Jarvis before, and he was saying that he likes to use the term brave space alongside safe space,

Jarvis 21:08
we seek to foster brave space. What do I mean by that we seek to create a space where when something happens, and not if but when something happens, that causes some kind of friction tension, a moment to step back and say, Ouch, that hurt me. We don't avoid it, we embrace it. And we embrace that with courage. And we embrace that with the skill and also the desire to be brave in that moment and share. I do recognize that sometimes we have to put a pin in or a comment on things, and we can come back to it. Not all things need to be or have to be addressed in the moment. When we think about safety, you know, what is that? What does that look like? And then when we articulate all the things that this is what's going to make this space a safe space for me, we realize, well, we might be missing some things but a brave space we can visualize, we can see that we know some of the actions,

Sissy 21:58
what he just said is it in a nutshell, you just have to step into it, versus holding back to be safe. And that really stopped me stopped my mind when he said it. I thought Yeah, that's exactly the posture, or the movement that has to happen to make change.

Millicent 22:12
I agree. And I think that they do a good job of fostering an environment where vulnerability is encouraged. And it takes quite a bit of bravery to be vulnerable in a space where you've just felt hurt. But they've been able to create space for these dialogues to happen, and in that they've been able to allow healing to happen. And it's really a great transformation to be able to sit back and watch. Because it's changing the tenor of our schools and the tenor in our classrooms. Yeah.

Sissy 22:53
And I think that, again, is part of what he was saying with leaning forward with love and grace, because that has to happen. That has to be there, you know, for the to any kind of trust, especially invulnerability.

Millicent 23:03
And so I mentioned earlier about the demographics and the statistics in our surrounding districts, and Jarvis and Debbie are thinking a lot about the importance of workforce diversity, and how we can help increase workforce diversity, specifically in the education space, we realize that this is so important to the environment that we think all students need to be able to thrive. By coordinating we have created diversity in education and diversity, awareness and education as one of our three strategic initiatives for our organization.

Jarvis 23:38
We recognize that diverse workforce environment benefits all people. But specifically when we think about the impact of educators of color, specifically teachers of color, students of color benefit,

Debbie 23:51
having one black teacher within grades K through three, and then again, in three through five, reduced the rates of drop out for low income black boys by about 40%.

Sissy 24:05
Well, that just gave me chills. That's astounding, honestly.

Millicent 24:10
Yeah. It's hard to digest.

Sissy 24:12
It really is.

Millicent 24:13
It's a huge impact. And I mean, when we think about success rates, right, there is a systemic portion to it. And there's a behavior portion, right. It's what you choose to do with the opportunities that you have. That's the behavior portion. And then there's a systemic portion of what is the system designed to do. And, you know, I think that this is showing how important both of those components are. That teacher can impact both aspects of this problem right there showing what they can accomplish because they've done it and they're there. And so when we see statistics like this, that just having to Whew black teachers in an elementary school can improve dropout rates by 40%. I mean, let's go. Let's do it. Let's find them, recruit them, bring them. So in addition to improving attrition rates, Jarvis also shared some of the other benefits of having teachers of color in the classroom.

Jarvis 25:21
Their grades increase, they're less likely to be punished for engaging in similar infractions as their non student of color peers or their white peers. They're more likely to go to college, their grit and a personal skills increase. And particularly with the impact of black teachers, black students, their rates of being placed in honors, gifted AP placement, skyrockets. Also, other benefits of teacher diversity is attendance. So chronic absenteeism is something that is pervasive among our young men of color, more specifically, young black boys, when you have black male teachers and men of color teachers are young men see themselves and they see an opportunity that I can do this. This thing called education or teaching is something that I can do in life.

Sissy 26:11
You know, he's talking about the data, but it's so clear that it's from his own personal experience, you really feel it when he's talking about this.

Millicent 26:17
Yeah, this is true.

Jarvis 26:19
I was fortunate to have my first teacher ever preschool, black woman, kindergarten, black woman, first grade, second grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, middle school, black teachers, black woman, black men High School. Even in college, I was encouraged to take honors AP dual enrollment courses, it was a direct result of they saw in me, something I didn't see in myself. And it's not just to say that only black teachers can do that. We also have to provide professional learning experiences for all teachers, particularly white teachers to be able to see the gifts, the assets, the talent, and students who don't mirror their racialized identity.

Debbie 26:57
teachers of color hold students to higher standards. That was something that I think was a little bit hard for teachers to hear, because it brings up bias that exists in schooling, then, you know, you start thinking about well, why is it that white teachers are holding black students to lower standards,

Millicent 27:18
having a teacher of color in the classroom is beneficial for all students, regardless of race, because it also impacts implicit biases that students may have developed

Debbie 27:29
students of all races and ethnicities, when they have diverse teachers, they develop less implicit bias. Maybe that's the first interaction that they've had. And they're breaking down these biases and stereotypes just by having that interaction with an adult.

Millicent 27:47
Debbie and Jarvis worked together last year to develop a professional development series called equity in hiring,

Jarvis 27:55
Debbie and I were tasked with creating a learning experience for local districts, particularly our school leaders to be able to think strategically about a comprehensive plan for workforce diversity beyond teachers as well school counselors, principals, etc.

Debbie 28:11
We know that there is drastic under representation of black teachers and administrators in schools across America, but also in our local schools. And it's interesting that when you talk to some people about this, and you bring it up, sometimes you're met with the phrase, you know, it shouldn't matter what race a person is, we hire the best person, regardless of their color. So when I was thinking about how can we help schools to hire more educators of color, they need to understand why it's important before they can actually take action on it. So that was why the first part in our professional development series was all about what are the current demographics of students and teachers? What value do diverse teams bring? And then what value do educators of color bring to schools?

Sissy 29:07
And of course, this first part of the presentation includes all the data that we just heard Debbie and Jarvis talk about the lower rates of absenteeism and dropouts, higher test scores and rates of being placed into honors classes,

Debbie 29:20
participants were sometimes surprised they didn't realize how statistically significant the impact of black teachers and teachers of color are on the achievement of students. And that's, that's awareness. That's the first step is is understanding Oh, why? Why do we actually need to take action now to diversify our applicant pool? Why do we need to change where we look or broaden where we look for teacher candidates so that we actually can bring in teachers of color because now we realize how important it is.

Jarvis 29:59
So the second thing Question is more so about the impact of implicit bias and how that shows up in the search and hiring process. So things like names on a resume, we know that there are studies that show that a name that's typically associated with a man might be more likely hireable than a name typically associated with a woman, even though they might have the same credentials on the resume. And the third session is, let's do some x. And let's think about some strategies. Let's think about some of our practices and policies with regard to hiring. What can we tweak? What can we continue what needs to be changed.