Kali Ladd on Helping to Heal and Learn

Kali Ladd is Executive Director of KairosPDX, an education focused non-profit attacking Portland’s persistent achievement gap through innovative pedagogy, community collaboration and family partnership. She recently attended the New Schools Venture Fund 2015 Summit, an annual gathering for education innovation thought leaders. Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work was the keynote speaker and she has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness and shame. Below are Kali’s reflections.

“In allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and in being supported in our vulnerability, we feel worthy of connection and are able to do so with others.” – Brene Brown

Imagine that. Imagine what education would look like if this truth were lived out in our schools and classrooms. Imagine how things would change.

As I listened to Brown talk about shame and vulnerability – her subject of research for over a decade- I was struck by how much the education system currently reinforces actions that can be destructive to children. Tangled up in the ever important “results” and “data” we (collectively) have lost sight of some pivotal truths like the importance of love and nurture. Brown pulls us out of the mire that is high-stakes instruction and testing and asks us to consider these deeply significant facets of all humans.

When I think about the work of KairosPDX- our learning academy, family connections programming and early learning network- I am struck by the opportunity we have to not only spark a new narrative but to design an educational structure that is as much about healing as it is about learning, as much about restoration as it is about imagination.

There is so much known now that we didn’t know before. Among the most impactful is the striking neuroscience around trauma and the brain. Kairos is unpacking the various suitcases in which trauma is stored while examining the scope of impact on the brain and its neural pathways. We are examining the role that systemic racism plays in trauma and using that knowledge to inform our practice, how we work with children and families, how we listen to and support them each other and how we catalyze growth and learning.

Brown’s research reminds us that children who have experienced trauma are predisposed to feeling shame. This reality makes our attention to Brown’s work an imperative in our mission of liberating education. Shame is defined as a fear of rejection. It is tied to distrust and the need to self-protect. It is correlated with a variety of maladaptive behaviors and not a single positive one. If children who have experienced trauma are especially vulnerable then we must carefully consider the messages sent by the exclusionary discipline, negative characterizations and frequent power struggles anchoring far too many behavior management systems. We must do better for our kids.

Research shows that using shame to discipline is in no way good for any child. Schools and early learning supports have the powerful opportunity to teach children that they can be held accountable without pressure or insult; that feeling vulnerable can be empowering. I believe these are the conditions critical to thriving youth and families. We must create spaces for vulnerability, listening, and love. After all, Brown explains, “that it is through vulnerability that we find comfort and courage.” Isn’t that the hallmark of leadership? Isn’t that what our children truly need to become their best, most educated selves?

At Kairos I believe we are on to something. I’m inspired by the knowledge that our way of working with children and families is backed not only by neuroscience, but behavioral research as well. Never before has the “urgency of now” been so visceral for me. As I left the conference my mind spun in a myriad of directions and my heart grew even larger for the work we are doing. But the work can’t be ours alone. My deepest hope is that others will hear this clarion call…and that in hearing, they can forgo assumptions, embrace vulnerability, claim their ‘kairos*’ and take action. Kairos is an ancient Greek word meaning the supreme moment, a moment when something special happens.