The Equity & Social Justice Education 50: Critical Questions for Improving Opportunities and Outcomes for Black Students

by Baruti K Kafele

ASCD Bestseller! Baruti K. Kafele offers 50 timely and important questions on equity and social justice education for educators to reflect on and discuss. How do you ensure that no student is invisible in your classroom? How do you make the distinction between equity as the vehicle versus equity as the goal for each of your students? What measures do you take to ensure that you are growing as a culturally relevant practitioner? Can your students, particularly your Black students, articulate, beyond emotional reactions, the injustices that surround them? The foregoing are not trick questions. Rather, they are those that best-selling author Baruti K. Kafele poses and on which he suggests you deeply reflect as a teacher of Black students. The Equity & Social Justice Education 50 will help you understand the importance of having an equity mindset when teaching students generally and when teaching Black students in particular. It defines social justice education and sheds light on the issues and challenges that Black people face, as well as the successes they've achieved, providing you with a pathway to infusing social justice education into your lesson plans. And along the way, Kafele reveals personal experiences from his distant and recent pasts to highlight how important it is that your Black students see themselves in all aspects of education every day . You, the teacher, play a critical role in your students' success. The questions that Kafele asks in this book will help enhance your own understanding of race, systemic racism, and racial justice and guide you in developing strategies and lessons that speak to Black students in ways that truly support their achievement.

Genres: Education, Social Justice

156 pages, Paperback

Published May 26, 2021

Reviews

[Abby Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is made up of self reflective questions for educators. It’s makes so much to to think and discuss these things with out coworkers. What matters to our children needs to be what matters to us.

[Nichelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal! I couldn't put it down. This book speaks to the little girl in me that grew up as the invisible only student of color in gifted classes. It is as if he peeked into the classroom window and said, "I see you.". This book speaks to me as an African American homeschool mom in the early 1990s, knowing that there were few others like our family, but still believing that I was doing what was right by my children by shielding them (to the extent that I could) from the systemic racism of the American public school system. It is if he interrupted one of our homeschool days and said, "I see you." This book speaks to me as a virtual educator of children who have had to live through a whole world of mess in the last few years, but they enter our virtual space and hear historical narratives of people of the past who have lived through pandemics, war, fuel spikes, protests, and everything else of which humans are capable. I am attempting to encourage the anxious, change the perspective of the hopeless, and lift the cloud of the depressed through laughter. It is as if he has popped into my Google Classroom, "I see you." If you work with teens, particularly Black teens and you only have time to read one book this summer, read this one.

[La-Shanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you an educator seeking to build a culturally responsive classroom where each student feels welcomed and viewpoints are respected? Are you able to accept the feeling of being uncomfortable when discussing difficult topics while fostering a growth mindset with good intentions for self and the students you serve? If so, "The Equity and Social Justice Education: 50 Critical Questions for Improving Opportunities and Outcomes for Black Students" book is for you. Author Baruti K. Kafele (Principal Kafele) does a commendable job discussing equity and social justice for children of color in classroom.

[Chelsea Kulesza · Rating 2 out of 5]

The message behind the book is important; however, there are other books that articulate this message in a more meaningful and helpful way.

[Anthony F. Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must Read for Educators

I met Principal Kafele at a conference in 2018. My connection to his beliefs and ideas was immediate. Throughout this book I found myself thinking, “My teachers have to read this.” It affirms everything I’ve believed, said, or wanted to say to develop my staff in service of our students. It illuminated so much that was dormant among my beliefs and experiences, and even more that I didn’t know I felt. We’ll be engaged in a study of this book, no doubt.