We can’t teach what we don’t know

Educators are welcome to charter their own personalized learning path by self-enrolling into Level 1, 2, and 3 of the learning progression.

Research about professional learning, however, finds that sustained professional development in which teachers work in professional teams to actively learn, interpret, and create curriculum for their content areas is most effective and related to student gains (Darling-Hammond, Hyler, & Gardner, 2017). It is therefore ideal when groups of teachers complete the L1, L2, L3 learning progression as a team.

Level 1: Learn addresses the knowledge dimension in which educators demonstrate their understanding of how prejudice, discrimination, and racism operate at the interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional level. (Modules 1-5)
Level 2: Interpret addresses the application dimension in which educators engage in reflection, self-assessment, and internal auditing to uncover practices that undermine pedagogical equity. (Modules 6-10)
Level 3: Create addresses the synthesis dimension in which educators consistent with the local curriculum and state and local standards demonstrate the ability to create opportunities for students to learn about historical truths and empower learners to affirm the dignity and humanity of all people and become agents of social change to promote equity. (Modules 11-15)

L1, L2, L3 learning progression

Level 1: Learn

Developing the essential understanding of how prejudice, discrimination, and racism operate at the interpersonal, intergroup, and institutional level

Module 1

Understanding the definitions and differences between prejudice, discrimination, and racism

Module 2

Understanding multiple theories of race and ethnicity, including but not limited to racial formation, processes of racialization, and intersectionality

Module 3

Understanding the histories and social struggles of historically defined racialized groups

Module 4

Understanding the cultural content, world view, concepts, and perspectives of Minnesota-based American Indian Tribal nations and communities, including Indigenous histories and languages

Module 5

Assessing how biases, perceptions, and academic training may affect teaching practices and involuntarily perpetuate oppressive systems
Level 2: Interpret

Reflecting, discussing, and self-assessing to uncover practices that undermine pedagogical equity

Module 6

Exploring intersecting social identities and how they impact daily experience as an educator

Module 7

Identifying gaps where the curriculum does not address multiple perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds, and understanding how curriculum and instruction impacts students that are not part of the dominant culture

Module 8

Self-assessing and problem-solving strategies to analyze and reflect on existing practices and making adaptations and adjustments toward more equitable outcomes

Module 9

Recognizing practices, beliefs and assumptions about diverse students, their families, and communities that adversely impact learning

Module 10

Understanding that knowledge creation, ways of knowing, and teaching are social and cultural practices shaped by race and ethnicity, often resulting in racially disparate advantages and disadvantages

Prerequisite: L1 (recommended)
Level 3: Create

Creating opportunities for students to learn about historical truths and empower learners to affirm the dignity and humanity of all people and become agents of social change to promote equity

Module 11

Nurturing critical thinking about culture and race by offering a range of curriculum materials that include multiple perspectives and missing narratives from the dominant culture

Module 12

Featuring, highlighting, and using resources written and developed by traditionally marginalized voices and identities traditionally silenced or omitted from curriculum

Module 13

Using restorative practices to support students as they learn about biases, discrimination, prejudices, and structural inequities

Module 14

Choosing culturally relevant / sustaining instructional strategies to differentiate instruction for individuals and groups of learners

Module 15

Designing assessments that take into consideration the impact of disabilities, methods of communication, cultural background, and primary language on measuring knowledge and performance of students.

Prerequisite: L1, L2 (recommended)

Services

We can’t teach what we don’t know