EdConnective Statement on George Floyd and Civil Unrest

June 8, 2020 

I want to share EdConnective’s stance on the national upheaval we are in the midst of. Why speak on this? The ultimate measure of an organization is not where we stand in moments of comfort and convenience but where we stand in times of challenge and controversy. Also, the upheaval, around the nation, is inextricably tied to our work. The majority of our clients are urban school districts serving primarily black and brown children. We started EdConnective with the goal of targeting that population as that’s where the need is most. Students are affected by this. We need to be prepared to address it. Our partner schools and districts are undoubtedly wrestling with this as well. So what do we believe at EdConnective?

Black Lives Matter. 

Myself, and many people who also identify as people of color, feel like at any moment, whether in our own home eating a bowl of ice-cream, or jogging around the neighborhood, we could become the next George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, or Botham Jean. There is profound anxiety, fear, and despair that comes with the feeling that our lives can be taken with impunity. Imagine, your father, brother, or daughter navigating a world in which you know they can be executed at any moment, largely without repercussion, unless there is video footage, and even then, consequences are few and far between. That’s why we assert that Black Lives Matter at EdConnective, not because we believe they matter more than others, but because there is a mountain of quantitative and qualitative data that suggests those lives matter less in America. 

Institutional racism is real. 

The consequences affect nearly every facet of life for the populations we serve. EdConnective was born out of my roots as a research practitioner and I’ve been studying structural racism and societal issues since undergrad. Here’s a snippet of what we know:

Criminal Justice System

Black people are up to 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white people. In 99% of those police killings, the police were not charged. Prosecutors are more likely to charge people of color with crimes that carry heavier sentences than whites. Federal prosecutors, for example, are twice as likely to charge African Americans with offenses that carry mandatory minimum sentences. Judges are more likely to sentence people of color than whites to prison and jail and to give them longer sentences, even after accounting for differences in crime severity and criminal history.

School System 

It’s no secret that US school systems are highly inequitable. Urban and low-income districts are highly segregated and have less funding. That’s one of the first things I learned when studying education policy in grad school where EdConnective was born.  Both systems-level policy and individual human behavior created the inequity, and both of those factors are driven by institutional racism. 

What we’re doing to address structural racism.

Our goal with every coaching interaction is to make the world a more equitable place, pursuing a reality in which every student can thrive in school every day. Expanding this kind of transformational work has the potential to usher in a new status quo for schools. Over the last two years, our coach team has made an intentional effort to center diversity, equity and inclusion as critical to our work in order to dismantle the racial inequities and racism that students face in school. We have made ourselves students to the outstanding work of scholars and educators like Christopher Emdin, Glenn Singleton, Ibram Kendi, Monique Morris, and Zaretta Hammond. This spring we piloted small group coaching focus on anti-racist and culturally responsive teachers and we’re hopeful to see partnerships like these expand. In February, our Director and Associate Director of Instruction presented at the New Teacher Center’s national conference on the role of practice in teachers’ growth around culturally sustaining teaching. We believe coaching is an important tool in moving educators from being colorblind, “not racist,” or even isolate by racial trauma to being actively anti-racist in their teaching for the sake of each of their students. 

We stand with AASA, Learning Forward, and ASCD in condemning racial injustice. We are committed to upending structural racism and will work harder than ever before to positively transform the lives of students and educators across the nation through our world class training, feedback, and coaching. 

In solidarity,

Will Morris

CEO

EdConnective