Racial Equity Professional Development Program

In 2017-2018, OPRF launched a new, six-year professional development plan called Collaborative Action Research for Racial Equity, or CARE. This program helps teachers discover the challenges that exist in their racial relationships with students. About 40 CARE teams, comprising small groups of all faculty and administrators, are studying individual teaching methods and practices, curriculums, classroom processes, and classroom relationships. The goal is to understand the aspects of teaching that perpetuate race-based barriers to effective instruction and meaningful learning that exist throughout the educational system but are within their control to change. 

Collaborative Action Research for Equity
(CARE) Plan

2017-2018 Bridge Year  
Approximately 40 faculty and administrators receive year-long training in leading CARE teams for the next five years.

5 Essential Elements of 
Culturally Proficient Teaching
Each year focuses on a different aspect of cultural competence, which is the ability to successfully teach students who come from cultures other than our own.

Focus Area & Text for the Year

2018-2019
Year 1: Assessing Culture

Focus: Teachers
Text: What Does It Mean to Be White: Developing White Racial Literacy, by Robin DiAngelo

2019-2020
Year 2: Value Diversity

Focus: Students
Text: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations about Race, by Beverly Daniel Tatum

2020-2021
Year 3: Manage Dynamics of Difference

Focus: Society
Text: Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do (Issues of Our Time), by Claude M. Steele

2021-2022
Year 4:Adapt to Diversity

Focus: Education
Text: Despite the Best Intentions: How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools,  by Amanda E. Lewis and John B. Diamond

2022-2023
Year 5: Institutionalize Cultural Knowledge

Focus: Craft
Text: Everyday AntiRacism: Getting Real about Race in School, edited by Mica Pollock