The pursuit of equality and social justice in American classrooms will take center stage on Jan. 27 when Sonya Douglass Horsford, the Founding Director of the Black Education Research Collective (BERC), hosts leaders of the New York City Department of Education and the New York State Board of Regents, for a virtual roundtable on leading for educational equity and the need for emancipatory leadership from the boardroom to the classroom.
Horsford will be joined by new NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks and New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young, Jr.
The panel will share thoughts and insight in an hour-long discussion on “Leading for Educational Equity in New York: The Case for Emancipatory Leadership.”
[Register for the virtual panel on Jan. 27 here.]
Horsford and BERC in 2021 authored a revealing report on the shaping of Black lives and learning by the “triple pandemics of Covid-19, the pandemic recession and racial violence.”
BERC under the guidance of Horsford, a Professor of Education Leadership, is currently developing an interdisciplinary, Black studies program for implementation in K-12 public schools across the city.
Funding for the Equity Education Action Plan comes from a $10 million New York City Council grant.
Banks assumed leadership of the nation's largest school system on Jan. 1. An educator, social justice advocate and civic leader, he has drawn national attention as the founder of the Eagle Education Foundation, the non-profit overseeing the Eagle Academy for Young Men, a school network serving male students of color in New York and Newark, N.J.
Banks was a member of the first cohort of educational leaders in TC's inaugural, and now independent, Cahn Fellows Program.
The new schools leader has targeted equity and diversity as top priorities in his leadership of the nation's largest school system.
Young is the first African American to hold the Chancellorship. A former teacher, principal and superintendent, he was appointed to the position in 2021.