Community of Resistance: KairosPDX Workshop Series
Gina Condon, SVP Partner and President of Construct Foundation, attended part of a workshop series facilitated by KairosPDX co-founder Zalika Gardner. These are her reflections:
With demographics in Portland’s public elementary schools approaching 50% children of color, we have an opportunity to transform 21st century pedagogy, and to ensure that it promotes the empowerment of children of all races and cultures. But first, we need to identify and break through institutionalized practices in education that serve to marginalize children of color. Enter KairosPDX, a nonprofit in northeast Portland, with its exemplary vision for equity in childhood education.
KairosPDX is working to eliminate the educational achievement gap for historically underserved children. It does so by addressing the needs of these communities while also celebrating their assets. KairosPDX is developing strong, confident leaders in a culturally affirming environment—one that can serve as a model of high-quality early education for families, organizations, and policy-makers. To meet its desired outcome, KairosPDX's five-tiered approach employs:
Early Learning Networks to educate in-home providers and family/friend/neighbor caregivers of low-income youth and youth of color.
The Early Learning Center with its Reggio-inspired curriculum for pre-K youth and their families.
Family Connections Programming to ensure that all children have access to quality early-learning experiences.
Policy Efforts that press for funding equity and charter school access for these children.
K-5 Learning Academy guided by a Reggio-inspired, multicultural philosophy.
The KairosPDX Learning Academy, a K-5 public charter school, has developed a curriculum that is based on the research of Howard Gardner and Lisa Delpit, and derives much of its philosophy from the Reggio Emilia Approach. As KairosPDX states on its website, its mission is to "eliminate the prolific racial achievement gap and cultivate confident, creative, compassionate, leaders who exceed expectations at each milestone ages 0-10."Community outreach and training are fundamental to KairosPDX. In November 2014, I attended the first of KairosPDX's five-part workshop series called Communities of Resistance. The event was facilitated by KairosPDX co-founder Zalika Gardner, M.Ed., who has devoted much of her career to developing culturally responsive pedagogy.
This collaborative workshop brought together a cohort of 20 teachers from around Portland. The primary goals were to 1) equip public school teachers with strategies to increase literacy engagement with students of color in grades K-1, and 2) create a community for educators that inspires reflection, risk, and commitment to culturally responsive instructional practices. Upon graduation from 5th grade, after having been engaged by a curriculum based on these goals, students of color will have the critical thinking tools and, importantly, the self-esteem to resist stereotypical messaging that values whiteness over blackness.
My Workshop Experience
It was deeply inspiring to be among some of our city’s most resolute elementary school teachers, determined to instill and support a lifelong love of learning for the entire student body of Portland's public school system.Among the powerful takeaways from this workshop:
Color may often be invisible to the white majority, but is felt acutely by people of color themselves.
Children's self esteem—including how they feel about their skin color and cultural background—is a critical social justice issue.
The achievement gap is an institutional and pedagogical problem that can have devastating, lasting effects on children and communities.
To build a community of resistance is to build a coalition of resources, resiliency, and direction.
The dominant paradigm will not shift easily; creating a community of resistance requires that we identify, rise above, and replace educational practices and messages that reinforce inequity.
Time for Meaningful Change
The Greek word kairos means a moment that is right for opportunity and action. Construct Foundation is proud to support KairosPDX as it seizes this moment to transform education in Portland and beyond. If efforts in education are going to engage all our children, equity must become a more central value in the way we prepare teachers and how we design curricula.
Thank you, KairosPDX, for your efforts to bring forth a well-developed, culturally responsive pedagogy that can be spread through colleges of education and other avenues of teacher professional development.
The Community of Resistance workshop series was funded by the Oregon Department of Education in partnership with Portland State University, Warner Pacific College, and Portland Public Schools. These sponsors all deserve our gratitude for their generosity and commitment to equity in education.