Christian Science Monitor reporter Stacy Teicher Khadaroo sat in on part of the Reimagining Education Summer Institute at Teachers College in July, reporting on a story about teens in New York City who are bringing their own experiences into school and taking things into their own hands to declare, more than 60 years after “Brown vs. Board of Education,” that “separate still isn't equal.”
Khadaroo writes that she caught up with Leanne Nunes, “a rising high school junior in the Bronx and director of equity at IntegrateNYC who took part in the Institute. ‘We’re the new face of integration,’ Nunes says. ‘It’s still about desegregation, but we plan on doing it way better.’ Nunes had just spoken at the Reimagining Education summit, where educators from around the country learn best practices for working in diverse environments.”
Khadaroo writes that Nunes’ “promise gives hope to Teachers College professor Amy Stuart Wells, who has found in her research that not enough thought was given to students’ experiences as schools integrated after the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision.” She quotes Wells: “‘The educators – who were mostly white, because we fired most of the black and Latino teachers [when schools desegregated] – weren’t prepared to help student grapple with issues of race,’ [Wells] says.”
The third annual Reimagining Education Institute, four days of professional development for educators and others who want to learn more about teaching and learning in racially and culturally integrated classrooms, took place from July 16-19 at Teachers College.
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