“Trying to address race and racism in the curriculum was something that I and a lot of faculty members were trying to do on our own, and grant funding provided by Fordham helped us to support each other in doing this work,” said assistant professor Elizabeth Leisy Stosich, Ed.D., who co-hosted the retreat. 

The retreat was specifically designed for members of GSE’s division of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy. It was the most recent part of a two-year-long journey initiated by Stosich and her colleague Elizabeth Gil, Ph.D. The two educators sought to bring equity and anti-racism to their own division at Fordham—a program that prepares educators for leadership responsibilities and positions.   

A Collaborative Effort with Prestigious Educational Leaders

During the 2021-2022 school year—the first year of grant funding—five ELAP faculty members worked together to center equity and anti-racism in five of their program’s graduate courses. With this year’s funding, they wanted to include students and alumni—educators themselves who possess unique perspectives in leading equity and anti-racism work. 

“The most rewarding aspect of coming together was working in community with one another to do deep and meaningful work that is ongoing,” said Gil. “Our faculty’s willingness to share their syllabi and receive feedback was also key for us to delve into strengthening our courses and programs. People’s willingness to share their instructional plans can sometimes be a challenge, but these instructors were willing to be vulnerable in order to help us all improve in our practice.”

The all-day retreat was attended by 11 members of the ELAP program, including former New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, who recently graduated from Fordham with her Ed.D. and now serves as an adjunct professor at GSE. Together, they analyzed five course syllabi in their program. 

‘A Major Impact on Our Curriculum’ 

First, they looked at the syllabi’s mission statements and adjusted words to make them more powerful and actionable, said doctoral student Lizzette Ruiz-Giovinazzi. Next, they analyzed core assignments and pointed out things that the professors had missed, she said. Who was the author? Did they have a “white-centric” mindset on what leadership should look like? Did the syllabus include resources written by diverse authors who could provide a different perspective?

“I’ve always thought that you can’t criticize the instructor. At the end of a course, you often fill out these surveys that feel very surface-level … But this retreat was so open and interactive. It was a safe environment for us to all talk, and it gave us a voice,” Ruiz-Giovinazzi said. “It created a sense that feedback does matter.” 

The retreat was partially facilitated by Edward Fergus, Ph.D., an expert on leading for equity and anti-racism who works extensively with schools and districts. Fergus, who served as the keynote speaker at the 2020 Barbara L. Jackson, Ed.D. Lecture, helped the team to create conditions where they felt comfortable about doing this important, yet sensitive work, and gave them guidance on how to revise their courses and the overall ELAP program. The ELAP faculty plan on sending their revised syllabi to Fergus, who will provide additional feedback for revisions. Then they will incorporate their revamped syllabi in their actual classes as early as this fall, said Stosich. 

“In total, we will have revised 10 of our courses to center equity and anti-racism. This will have a major impact on our curriculum,” said Stosich. 

Lyntonia Gold, a second-year doctoral student in the ELAP program, said that the decision to include current students and graduates from all programs—including those who studied online and at the Rose Hill campus—allowed a broader range of feedback given to faculty. 

“Including a diverse set of stakeholders from various areas of an organization and gathering a variety of perspectives is essential to building a program that values equity and anti-racist practices at its core,” said Gold, who is also an executive director in strategic partnerships for advancing collective equity in the New York City Department of Education’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Belonging and Inclusion. 

The retreat may have long-lasting impacts beyond Fordham. Ruiz-Giovinazzi, a Bronx-born Puerto Rican who serves as the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at Nyack Union Free School District, said that she wants to encourage her district’s teachers to share their syllabi with each other and provide constructive feedback, too. The retreat was also influential in a more emotional way.  

“I find it very hopeful that the professors took the time to do this work. I was in awe that these conversations were even happening, and I was emotional while driving to the retreat. I was nervous about taking the day off because I’m new in this school district,” said Ruiz-Giovinazzi, who started her position last spring. “But my superintendent was like, ‘This is important work. Go ahead.’ … All of this makes me feel a sense of hope for where education is going.”

“My job will be to remove the barriers to direct resources where they are needed most and communicate clearly around our shared goals and commitments at every school, in every neighborhood, in every single borough,” Porter said at a news conference on Feb. 26. 

Porter, a longtime city educator and executive superintendent of the Bronx since 2018, will replace the current chancellor, Richard Carranza, who announced that he was stepping down from his position on Friday. Porter faces several herculean tasks in the months ahead, including the full-time reopening of New York City schools this fall and the desegregation of city schools. 

“I think the mayor and the chancellor have already begun to make great grounds in this area. [But] the reality is segregation exists, and I’m not going to shy away from the importance of really looking at inequities around admissions processes and really pushing forward for ways we can create opportunities and access for all students across New York City,” Porter said at the Friday news conference. 

Porter, a Queens native who was raised by a family of educators, is also a product of the New York City public school system. She graduated from Queens Vocational and Technical High School, earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Hunter College, and received her master’s degree in administration and supervision from Mercy College. Porter also completed a school district leader certification through the New York City Department of Education’s Advanced Leadership Institute. 

In 2018, Porter became a student in Fordham’s newly redesigned Ed.D. program. Over the past three years, she has spoken about the importance of diversity in schools and leadership at Fordham events, including a 2018 panel alongside other Bronx educators and a 2020 lecture that addressed racial bias in Bronx schools and beyond. 

“When you tell someone you live or work in the Bronx, there is a reaction that you get. It is not, ‘Wow’— it is, ‘What?’” … One [of my responsibilities]is to retell the Bronx tale and rewrite that narrative in the way that we know,” Porter said in the 2018 panel. “We know a Bronx that not everyone knows, that is full of beautiful places, people, and children doing amazing things.”

This year, Porter worked with GSE’s Center for Educational Partnerships to help Bronx schools prevent student violence with a nearly $600,000 federal grant. She is also a partner in the Graduate School of Education’s iLEAD initiative with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

“Now with the coronavirus, there’s just so much more pressure on everyone,” said Anita Vazquez Batisti, Ph.D., founding and executive director of the Center for Educational Partnerships, part of Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, which applied for the grant this past summer. “A lot of adolescent children are at their tipping point, and they need even more help.”

New York City schools have historically struggled to prevent in-person and online bullying. This past December, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a mental health plan that aims to bolster social, emotional, and academic support for students citywide this fall. This $588,233 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, received by Fordham in October, will enhance the mayor’s goal, said Batisti. 

Identifying Triggers

“Our focus is on the psychological and environmental triggers, which often result in at-risk adolescents engaging in antisocial behaviors,” Batisti explained. “We feel that the people working with the kids need to identify these triggers so things can be avoided and deescalated before they reach a very serious situation.” 

The Center for Educational Partnerships plans on training teachers, students, guidance counselors, principals, and safety officers on how to prevent and reduce student violence against others and themselves through school-specific tactics, including anti-bullying training and strategies for mental health crises. The training program will also host workshops aimed to help the school community better understand negative emotions, recognize trauma and grief in students, and involve parents and caregivers in restorative justice practices.

The training program will be conducted by mental health consultants and faculty from Fordham, including social workers and psychologists. They will operate virtually and transition to on-site training when it is safe to do so.  

The center will work closely with Meisha Ross Porter, the executive superintendent for the entire Bronx borough and doctoral student at the Graduate School of Education, to select eight schools each year in the borough that would benefit most from anti-violence training, for a total of 24 schools at the end of the grant-funding period in 2023. 

School-Specific Strategies 

Before training begins, the center plans on conducting an outside assessment with school faculty and staff and examining each school’s unique challenges, past training experiences, and current mental health support systems. In a few weeks, the center’s new project coordinator will form a small advisory group with the schools from the first cohort of eight and begin virtual training.

“The committee will be formed with members from the learning community and the staff who serve the children so that needs are met at a very granular level,” said project coordinator Kathleen Walsh, Ed.D., GSE ’77, who was previously a school superintendent on Long Island and founding principal of a high-needs school in Brooklyn. “The needs are focused on the realities of each school.”

De-Escalation Strategies for the Future

At the end of each training period, the center will evaluate the success of the program by analyzing anecdotal feedback and school incident reports. The center, in collaboration with the Bronx superintendent’s office, will later create a custom list of de-escalation strategies and recommendations for each school. 

Students and staff from eight Bronx schools will be trained by the end of September 2021, and the second cohort of schools will start training in October. 

Walsh said she hopes the program will reduce negative mentalities toward struggling students and provide much-needed support for school personnel, safety officers, and parents.

“There is respect that we have to grow, earn, and work with,” Walsh said. “But when you believe in students and bring good people together, I know it works.”