Thank you to everyone who attended the book club today! I know this was a busy week for many people because of the holidays.
If you were not able to join us today, below are some highlights from our meeting. What are your thoughts on Chapter 3?
- Regarding equity-minded questions:
- Data stories - stories that you tell based on the data. Examples: “If you are a black or brown man, how will you do in this class?”
- Data can be uncomfortable for instructors because it can feel like a personal attack. Have to emphasize that data is not punitive and you’re not looking at instructors outcomes or assigning blame - data stories can help alleviate the feeling of being attacked
- If you’re at the beginning stage of collecting and using data, how do you move past the mindset that data is punitive? Are there approaches that can be taken as an institution?
- Hold many workshops about data, and present it in many different ways, it can take years to change the mindset
- Lots of conversations - be honest, report data, address it, and share what steps you are taking to close equity gaps
- Make sure discussions aren’t silo’d. Some departments may already be having these conversations, need to have an institution-wide discussion
- Weave into the strategic plan(s)
- Communicating Data
- Use term equity gap instead of achievement gap
- When presented with data, some will have a “deficit-minded thinking” ie, blame the students for not doing well. Some comments people have heard are:
- “…not have ‘those’ students in those classes”
- “Everyone has the same material”
- “students can choose to be successful”
- How to overcome this “deficit-minded thinking”?
- Cultivate a culture of curiosity
- Remember that data is just one step
- Be open-minded, polite