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ELP is excited to share our Den Talk for this year’s Deeper Learning Conference- Listening to Black Women: What Conditions Enable Black Women Deeper Learning Leaders to Thrive?
Deeper Learning Coach, Alcine Mumby, will be hosting and spotlighting the wisdom of 3 Black women leaders: LaShawnna Harris, Sabrina Moore, and Kai Mathews. All three are alumni of ELP’s Deeper Learning Leadership Forum.
This will be a Kiva panel where Black women systems leaders from various levels of the deeper learning movement with embodied knowledge and expertise will share their wisdom on creating conditions for Black women and Black learners to thrive in this community. Participants will take notes as they listen deeply, scribing exact words and phrases that resonate with them, then reflect on the shifts and new learning created when they listened to understand to Black women. This promises to be a transformative den experience for participants as they seek to practice the foundational equity skill of listening to disrupt/dismantle their own beliefs about deeper learning, leadership, and equity for liberation.
Kai Mathews
Dr. Kai Mathews is the MTSS (Multi-tiered System of Support) Director at UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools. In this position, she co-leads a statewide pilot aimed at improving school climate and conditions. Dr. Kai (as her students call her) has dedicated her life to creating innovative and equitable learning environments for underrepresented populations. She is an educator, researcher, and creative strategist who is passionate about innovative reforms and practices in K-12 and higher education. With over 10 years of practical work and research experience with students, teachers, and administrators in various school districts around the country, her areas of expertise and passions include educational equity; culturally responsive, inclusive, sustaining education; Project-Based Learning (PBL); Universal Design for Learning (UDL); Blended Learning (BL); and Design Thinking.
As a former 8th grade teacher at High Tech Middle, Chula Vista, Dr. Kai prides herself in creating immersive, project-based learning environments that push, uplift, and teach the whole child and allows students to engage in critical inquiry, social advocacy, and divergent dialogue.
She has a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies with a specialization in K-12 education from the University of San Diego, an M.A. in Communication from Ellis University, and a B.A. in English with a minor in Creative Writing from Spelman College.
Sabrina Moore
Sabrina “Bri” Moore, is an Oakland native. She has been a student, teacher, and is now an administrator in service of students and families in Oakland.
Sabrina “Bri” came to education as a career changer. She remembers the day she made the decision to leave a 15 year career with AT&T Telecommunications for teaching. She was in the midst of obtaining a masters degree and remembered her high school teacher telling her “if you get a masters degree you can be a teacher.” She quit a few months later to do just that and has been pushing for Oakland students ever since.
Her orientation towards school leadership began during her time with Teach Tomorrow in Oakland as a facilitator of professional development and providing mentoring and coaching support to new teachers. “I was encouraged as a new teacher to take risks, to try new approaches and to share my successes and failures with my colleagues,” recalls Moore. “If offered an opportunity to learn something new as a teacher, or as a teacher leader, I never said no- I took all opportunities offered to me to continue to learn and grow.” The same has been true of her in administration. Seeking every opportunity to learn, grow and improve for kids.
She is currently pursuing a doctorate of education in social justice from California State University East Bay in hopes to become the future superintendent of Oakland Unified School district.
When asked to describe her leadership style, Bri says she sees herself as “an anti-racist liberatory leader who is unapologetically Black, Proud and pushing for kids that look like me, come from where I come from and deserve way more than we get”, she is also dedicated to speaking truth to racism so we can see a change to systems, practices and policies that stay perpetuating hate and marginalizing folk.
Bri currently serves as the principal at MPA Primary, facilitates diversity, equity and inclusion professional learning for several organizations, provides adjunct professional learning for new principals and is a new principal mentor for OUSD. She works from one core value, “Kids First” and believes everything else is secondary. She loves what she does so much, even on the worst day she’s SMILING!
Sabrina believes that teaching and leading changes lives and with the best team possible strives for excellence in education. She is driven by the dream of seeing, “kids like me be whatever they want – no excuses and every opportunity to Live their best Lives.”
LaShawnna Harris
LaShawnna Harris is the Founder and President of Creative Station LLC a NYC based education consulting firm. She received a B.S. in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, M.S. in teaching from the Fordham University and a M.S. in school building leadership from Mercy College.
LaShawnna previously worked as an elementary school teacher, math staff developer, assistant principal, founding principal, new principal coach and most recently as the Senior Director of School Improvement for the New York City Department of Education.
As the founding principal of PS 330Q, it was her vision that all students would learn in a supportive environment that focused on their academic and social-emotional development, so they could pursue and achieve their dreams. LaShawnna was noted in the Huffington Post article, “Why School Culture Matters, and How to Improve it” by Michael Haberman that showcased her work with Morrison Healthcare through the school’s PENCIL partnership to improve school culture.
She has a passion and commitment to supporting school leaders with school improvement. Her strengths are facilitating small group professional learning community sessions on managing complex change, strategic planning, collaborative problem solving and improved systems and Operations.
Register for the session using this link: https://sched.co/i5i4
For more information about the Deeper Learning Conference and to register, click here.
Learn more about Deeper Learning Coach, Alcine Mumby, in her “I am ELP” highlight.
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Insights, partner highlights, guest perspectives, and resources to support your work
A newly published case study from the Center for Innovation in Education (C!E), featuring Envision Learning Partners in Appendix C, highlights Allen County, Kentucky’s multi-year effort to redesign assessment and accountability through Inclusive Design. The report, Better Together, shows how the district co-created their graduation competencies called “Profile of A Patriot” and embedded project-based learning and performance assessments to place students’ passions and real-world skills at the center of learning.
Envision Learning Partners has been proud to support Allen County in this work, and we’re excited to share C!E’s new case study. We’ve partnered closely with C!E through the Assessment for Learning Project, working together to advance learner-centered assessment practices nationally.
A reflection on how the Linked Learning Conference renewed momentum for Envision’s college and career pathways, inspiring stronger partnerships and the return of Envision Academy’s job fair.
By Michael Viera, Envision Education’s College and Career Pathways Manager
Several years ago the city of Oakland came together to support college and career programming for high schoolers, by advancing and deepening career pathways in alignment with the Linked Learning Alliance standards and methodology. The Linked Learning Alliance hosts an annual conference where educators share best practices and takeaways from school sites around the state. Oakland schools always show out in big numbers at the conference, but this year it took place in downtown Oakland, so the presence was even greater.
I had been to the conference previously, but this time was different. Being my 3rd year at Envision in this role, I felt like I finally understood what it was all about. I had colleagues from Envision Learning Partners in attendance and collaborating with me. I got to connect with colleagues from other Oakland schools. I knew what to look for and who to listen to in order to improve our programming at Envision Academy and across the Envision network.
The conference was motivating, to say the least. It is a breath of fresh air being in rooms of educators who are excited and realistic about their work in schools, and who understand the skills students need to have success in their futures.
I came back from the conference and immediately organized Envision Academy’s first job fair since COVID. We had twelve community partners visit our campus to share information with students on internship opportunities, after school and summer programs, and community resources. Students seemed excited about these experiences that they can be a part of outside of their regular curriculum.
At the end of the event, two students stayed back and pulled me aside. I thought something bad had happened. Instead, one of them simply said, “Mr. Viera, we just wanted to thank you for putting together this event. It’s really inspiring to see all these opportunities we didn’t know about until now.”
After a couple of weeks of back and forth emails and phone calls with partners, planning meetings with administration, and quite literally running around setting up tables and chairs on the day of the event, those students made it all worth it. When students are able to take their learning outside of school walls and make connections with their community, they feel seen and they thrive.
Hear from Michael and ELP Assessment Design Partner, Josette Neal-De-Stanton on their takeaways from the Linked Learning Conference.
A reflection on how the Linked Learning Conference reinvigorated Envision’s college and career pathways work, leading to strengthened community partnerships and meaningful opportunities for students. Michael Viera shares how renewed insights and collaboration resulted in Envision Academy’s first post-COVID job fair—and the student impact that made it all worth it.
Envision Education is excited to share the culmination of its two-year research project, Pursuing Equity for Black & Latine Students with Learning Differences, which
documents and illustrates the systems, practices, cultures, and supports that are associated with the well being and success of Black and Latine students with learning differences – students with disabilities and multilingual students with disabilities.
In 2023, Envision Learning Partners (ELP) and Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) embarked on a research study to identify and learn from schools that demonstrated positive outcomes for Black and Latine students with learning differences (including students with disabilities and multilingual learners). After a review of data from secondary schools across the country, the study team identified two schools for a more in-depth study, which was conducted during the 2023–2024 school year.
The results of the research are shared through case studies of the two schools that were the focus of the research: 1) Crosstown High: Building a Culture of Inclusion; 2) Capital City: An Inclusive School Community Committed to Whole-Child Learning and Well Being; and 3) An Executive Summary/Synthesis of Findings.
In addition, we have authored four practice briefs based on the findings of the research that provide practical steps that schools can take to create more inclusive environments that support the success of Black and Latine students with learning differences.
This research was made possible through the generous support of New Profit, a venture philanthropic organization, and the Oak Foundation.
Envision Education is excited to share the culmination of its two-year research project, Pursuing Equity for Black & Latine Students with Learning Differences, which documents and illustrates the systems, practices, cultures, and supports that are associated with the well being and success of Black and Latine students with learning differences – students with disabilities and multilingual students with disabilities.
Explore our diverse events. Enhance your expertise, connect with thought leaders, and broaden your horizons.
A newly published case study from the Center for Innovation in Education (C!E), featuring Envision Learning Partners in Appendix C, highlights Allen County, Kentucky’s multi-year effort to redesign assessment and accountability through Inclusive Design. The report, Better Together, shows how the district co-created their graduation competencies called “Profile of A Patriot” and embedded project-based learning and performance assessments to place students’ passions and real-world skills at the center of learning.
Envision Learning Partners has been proud to support Allen County in this work, and we’re excited to share C!E’s new case study. We’ve partnered closely with C!E through the Assessment for Learning Project, working together to advance learner-centered assessment practices nationally.
By Michael Viera, Envision Education’s College and Career Pathways Manager
Several years ago the city of Oakland came together to support college and career programming for high schoolers, by advancing and deepening career pathways in alignment with the Linked Learning Alliance standards and methodology. The Linked Learning Alliance hosts an annual conference where educators share best practices and takeaways from school sites around the state. Oakland schools always show out in big numbers at the conference, but this year it took place in downtown Oakland, so the presence was even greater.
I had been to the conference previously, but this time was different. Being my 3rd year at Envision in this role, I felt like I finally understood what it was all about. I had colleagues from Envision Learning Partners in attendance and collaborating with me. I got to connect with colleagues from other Oakland schools. I knew what to look for and who to listen to in order to improve our programming at Envision Academy and across the Envision network.
The conference was motivating, to say the least. It is a breath of fresh air being in rooms of educators who are excited and realistic about their work in schools, and who understand the skills students need to have success in their futures.
I came back from the conference and immediately organized Envision Academy’s first job fair since COVID. We had twelve community partners visit our campus to share information with students on internship opportunities, after school and summer programs, and community resources. Students seemed excited about these experiences that they can be a part of outside of their regular curriculum.
At the end of the event, two students stayed back and pulled me aside. I thought something bad had happened. Instead, one of them simply said, “Mr. Viera, we just wanted to thank you for putting together this event. It’s really inspiring to see all these opportunities we didn’t know about until now.”
After a couple of weeks of back and forth emails and phone calls with partners, planning meetings with administration, and quite literally running around setting up tables and chairs on the day of the event, those students made it all worth it. When students are able to take their learning outside of school walls and make connections with their community, they feel seen and they thrive.
Hear from Michael and ELP Assessment Design Partner, Josette Neal-De-Stanton on their takeaways from the Linked Learning Conference.
Envision Education is excited to share the culmination of its two-year research project, Pursuing Equity for Black & Latine Students with Learning Differences, which
documents and illustrates the systems, practices, cultures, and supports that are associated with the well being and success of Black and Latine students with learning differences – students with disabilities and multilingual students with disabilities.
In 2023, Envision Learning Partners (ELP) and Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) embarked on a research study to identify and learn from schools that demonstrated positive outcomes for Black and Latine students with learning differences (including students with disabilities and multilingual learners). After a review of data from secondary schools across the country, the study team identified two schools for a more in-depth study, which was conducted during the 2023–2024 school year.
The results of the research are shared through case studies of the two schools that were the focus of the research: 1) Crosstown High: Building a Culture of Inclusion; 2) Capital City: An Inclusive School Community Committed to Whole-Child Learning and Well Being; and 3) An Executive Summary/Synthesis of Findings.
In addition, we have authored four practice briefs based on the findings of the research that provide practical steps that schools can take to create more inclusive environments that support the success of Black and Latine students with learning differences.
This research was made possible through the generous support of New Profit, a venture philanthropic organization, and the Oak Foundation.
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