RALEIGH, NC (October 7, 2023) – The annual Color Education Summit was held Saturday, October 7 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. Color of Education is a partnership between the Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity, the Public School Forum of North Carolina, the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, and the Center for Child and Family Policy that brings together brings together educators, policymakers, researchers, students, parents, community members, and other key stakeholders focused on achieving racial equity and eliminating racial disparities in education.
This year’s theme, A Path Forward: Co-Creating Equitable Spaces, explores actionable ways to address educational inequity with speakers including students, educators and community activists.
“The theme this year is Co-Creating Equitable Spaces because together we have greater impact,” said Dudley Flood Center Senior Director Deanna Townsend-Smith. “Even though we’re all working really hard in our respective places, when we do this together and co-create things together we have much greater momentum for change.”
This year’s summit had over 800 registrants and featured two keynote speakers, renowned authors Dr. Lisa Delpit and Jerry Craft. Dr. Delpit has been publishing works on culturally responsive and anti-oppressive teaching practices for nearly three decades. Craft is a graphic novelist whose work – which is partially based on his life as a young Black man – has recently landed on banned book lists. He has since been very vocal about the negative impacts of book banning.
“Color of Education is one of my favorite events because we are intentionally setting aside time to have these conversations about how to lift up our students or color,” said Ashtyn Berry, a Cabarrus County Schools elementary school teacher and the 2022-23 Southwest Regional Teacher of the Year. “We have to make space for and lift up the voices of our marginalized students.”
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About the Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity
The Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity & Opportunity (Flood Center) serves as a hub to identify and connect organizations, networks, and leaders to address issues of equity, access, and opportunity in education across North Carolina. The Flood Center works collaboratively to take action toward addressing issues of systemic racism by advocating for structural changes in policy and practice to build an equitable education system that meets the social, emotional, and academic needs of NC’s diverse student population. Specifically, the Dudley Flood Center exists to create an equitable education system by addressing the systemic inequities plaguing the educational system which limit opportunity and access for PK – 12 students and educators. Follow the Flood Center on Twitter @DudleyFloodCtr and visit our website at www.ncforum.org/floodcenter
About the Public School Forum of North Carolina
Since ou founding in 1985 as a nonpartisan “think and do tank,” the Public School Forum of North Carolina has been a champion of better schools and one of the most trusted sources in the state for research and analysis on vital education issues. In order to provide meaningful action on our state’s most important public education issues, we bring together leaders from business, education and government to study education issues, develop ideas, and ultimately inform and shape education policy. We do this through research, policy work, innovative programs, advocacy, and continuing education for educators and policymakers. Follow us on social media at @theNCForum and visit our website at http://www.ncforum.org/
About the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University
The Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects. Concerned with the economic, political, social and cultural dimensions of uneven access to resources, opportunity and capabilities, Cook Center researchers take a cross-national comparative approach to the study of human difference and disparity. Considering both global and local shortcomings, Cook Center scholars not only address the overarching social problem of general inequality, but they also explore social problems associated with gender, race, ethnicity and religious affiliation. Follow the Cook Center on Twitter @DukeSocialEQ and visit our website at https://socialequity.duke.edu/
About the Center for Child and Family Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University
The Center for Child and Family Policy pursues science-based solutions to important problems affecting today’s children and families. The Center emphasizes the bridge from research to policy and practice through an integrated system of research, teaching, service and policy engagement. Center research has grown to include an array of projects that touch on critical child and family policy issues. Center faculty fellows include a trio of scholars who focus on the effect of economic distress on child development. Other fellows study early childhood, the development of risky behaviors, childhood mental illness and a wide range of education policy issues including school truancy, charter schools, teacher training and education reform efforts.
Follow the Center for Child and Family Policy on Twitter @DukeChildPol and visit our website at https://childandfamilypolicy.duke.edu/
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