Proof of Concept

• This initiative built upon the prior “proof of concept” from the Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies” initiative that was generously funded by Spark Washington.
  • This one academic year initiative involved seven college teams of four faculty members per team to reimagine their ENGL&101 courses.
  • This initiative ran from September 2020 through June 2021.
  • Some of the faculty participants on this initiative, signed up for the Antiracist Curriculum Initiative explained below.

How Antiracist Curriculum Initiative Organized

• As part of the supplemental operating budget allocated to the Washington State Board for Community and Technical College (SBCTC), the Washington State Legislature has allocated 1.5 million over two years to fund antiracist curriculum review in ENGL&101 in the State’s community and technical college system. This funding began July 1, 2021 and ended June 30, 2023.
• Asao B. Inoue, a national expert in antiracist writing assessment, along with a multi-racial leadership team of 3 and later 6, designed and implemented a process for faculty to engage in an antiracist curriculum review and implementing labor-based grading in ENGL&101 with three goals
  • Increase the number of students who successfully complete ENGL&101 within their first year of enrollment
  • Close equity gaps within that outcome indicator
  • Build a model for antiracist curriculum review and implementing labor-based grading that can be used in other courses and disciplines
    • Anticipated; additional funding in the next biennium for antiracist curriculum review in other courses and disciplines (July 2023 to June 2025).

How DID We Define “Antiracist”?

Antiracism is deeply personal, reflective, and intentional work. It is action-oriented in that it is a process of identifying racist practices, policies, behaviors and then working to interrupt, change/refine, and confront those practices, policies, behaviors in our personal and professional lives (Davis, 1972; Kendi, 2019). As an antiracist educator, we work to develop language that allows us to notice and address systemic racism in our classrooms, institutions, disciplines, and the larger higher education system.

Becoming an antiracist educator requires continual unlearning of habits of white supremacist culture and learning a more complete and accurate history and understanding of our disciplines, higher education, and this country. Further, antiracism asks us to move toward abolitionist education to both stop the harm happening to students of color and other systemically non-dominant students (Jenkins, 1995-Present) AND center our systemically non-dominant student’s needs. In this, we work to identify with our systemically non-dominant students, to construct a learning environment where they are loved and respected, and where we protect their potential similar to how systemically dominant student’s potential has always been protected (Love, 2019).

Therefore, antiracism is:

• Action-oriented
• Personal AND professional
• Intentionally practiced
• Ongoing and purposeful unlearning/learning
• Protecting the potential of our students of color and other systemically non-dominant students

Antiracism is not a catchphrase, is not a tips and tricks toolkit, and is not as such, ever finished. This is ongoing iterative work. As humans, we do not do one antiracist thing and are forever antiracist. We must choose antiracism in every moment, interaction with others, and in our analysis of policies and practices. It requires the adoption of a radical imagination to do things differently. The work will shift as the landscape shifts. We may create an antiracist process today that begins causing harm to one or more groups tomorrow. We need to remain attuned to that and work to interrupt and make change when and where necessary. In this project, space will be made to dig into the personal work collectively and individually so that we may impact our professional work and protect the potential of our students of color. While the work is urgent and critical, it has taken us approximately 520 years of colonization in the Americas to reach this point (Bartolome de las Casas). The work of dismantling a colonial system that birthed systemic racism, will not be completed in one quarter, one academic year, or even one decade. Yet, this is the system we have inherited. It is incumbent upon us to lay the antiracist groundwork for the future generations who will come after us. This antiracist curriculum review is just the beginning of our individual and collective work.

How DID this Project Support Faculty Learning and Changed Practice?

• 75 faculty participants from each of our 34 community and technical colleges (CTCs) participated in a scaffolded learning experience.
• The faculty and the leadership/facilitation team met one time per month during the regular academic year for 3 hours.
• Faculty participants were assigned homework to be completed prior to each convening.
• Each convening was conducted over Zoom and organized for faculty participants to meet in small groups to think through tasks and homework, share homework prepared for the convening, and to strategize how they would revise their courses, assignments, and assessments.

Winter Quarter 2022:

• Participate in a pre-survey so we can understand our starting place individually and collectively
• Read chapters 1 through 3 of Asao B. Inoue’s book Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies: Teaching and Assessing Writing for A Socially Just Future and participate in asynchronous online discussions.
• Attend three synchronous large-group convenings.
• Submit 4 entries into a reflective teaching journal (prompts will be provided)
• January homework assigned at end of convening:  Complete a Critical Assessment History using Jesse Stommel’s questions but from their experience as students. Collecting data on pass rates in their ENGL&101 classes, responding to a reflection prompt, etc. Each lead submits a sample for inspiration, modeling, deep discussion.
• February homework assigned at end of convening:  Read another portion of Asao’s text and put together a draft map of the following elements of their classroom ecology: Purpose, Power, and Parts.
• March homework assigned at end of convening:  Read another portion of Asao’s text and put together a draft map of the following elements of their classroom ecology: Processes, People, Places, and Products. Participants will be asked to submit their work on Canvas at least a week before our next session together so the core team can draw on their materials before the next large-group convening.

Spring Quarter 2022

• Attend three synchronous large-group convenings.
• Submit 4 entries into a reflective teaching journal (prompts will be provided)
• April homework assigned at end of convening:  Revise, refine, and submit a map of their AWAE [antiracist writing assessment ecology] for all seven elements on the Canvas course site prior to May 3rd.
• May homework assigned at end of convening:  To create a draft syllabus and labor-based grading contract for their Fall 2022 ENGL&101 class.  Core team provides the participants with labor instructions for the qualities and elements of successful labor-based grading contracts: for example, rather than just a grid to calculate the grade, there is a preamble that explains the philosophy etc. Process of HOW you will introduce this to students. This again could be short videos. Example: Asao could go over a preamble … what is first contact, second contact, etc.

Summer Quarter 2022

• June and July homework:  To revise/refine their syllabus and grading contracts based on the feedback they received and submit a final draft to our Canvas course shell.  We’ll also ask participants to create one (1) artifact that reflects how they will change a part of their ecology in response to their transition to labor-based grading.  Options include:
  • Paper prompt + rubric
  • Class policies
  • Instructor feedback
  • Peer review activity
• August and September homework:  To revise/refine their artifact based on today’s peer review session and submit a final draft to our Canvas course shell. Participants will be encouraged to post any final questions they have (or support they need) on the Canvas discussion board in advance of them transitioning to labor-based grading in the fall.

Fall Quarter 2022

Fall quarter began with a slight shift in focus. After experiencing a moment of collective conflict, the leadership/facilitation team decided that the group needed to build some foundations for the ongoing antiracist work around ungrading/labor-based grading. The work for the second year of the Initiative involved a deep dive into anti-Blackness – the history, legacy, and higher education impacts. This began with shifts in the leadership/facilitation team, two people left the Initiative, with the remaining multiracial team remaining.

The ungrading/labor-based grading work continued with faculty participants sharing innovations, challenges, and ideas in breakout groups. This shift also necessitated identifying and bringing in experts to present, workshop, and discuss anti-Blackness, how to center Blackness responsibly, and how to protect the potential of systemically underserved students. Dr. Xyanthe Neider kicked off the series with two workshops on the history of anti-Blackness in the U.S. and anti-Blackness within higher education. Dr. Jeremiah Sims continued the learning in two workshops discussing how to center Blackness responsibly. Dr. April Baker-Bell came and spoke with the participants about how to work with students in writing class settings who speak and utilize African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Felicia Rose-Chavez returned to workshop with the faculty participants about ways to construct a writing classroom around equity by utilizing her writing workshop framework. And finally, Dr. Bettina Love came and spoke with the participants about protecting the potential of their Black and other systemically underserved students.

The well received series was one of two major changes the leadership/facilitation team made. The second change was to invite faculty participants to form Leadership Teams. This work began in December 2022. Please see the section in this chapter about Leadership Teams.

• October:  This meeting was revised to be a processing meeting where faculty participants and the leadership/facilitation team reflected upon where the Initiative has been and what had work had been completed up to that point.
  • Faculty participants and the leadership/facilitation team thought through and discussed the ways in which the Initiative needed to change moving forward in order to continue to build antiracist curriculum and assessments and to build the work the community had initially agreed to build.
• November: Dr. Xyanthe Neider lead the first workshop in the Centering Blackness Responsibly workshop series.
  • This workshop covered the history of anti-Blackness in the U.S.
• December: Dr. Xyanthe Neider led the second workshop in the Centering Blackness Responsibly workshop series.
  • This workshop covered anti-Blackness and higher education.

Winter Quarter 2023

• January: This meeting centered on decentering Whiteness and centering Blackness responsibly with Dr. Jeremiah Sims.
  • Faculty participants were also given time to meet in Leadership Teams and start to plan out their deeper dive into one of the areas identified by the leadership/facilitation team and faculty participants.
• February: Faculty participants were given time to meet in Leadership Teams and/or in small groups sharing innovations, challenges, and ideas.
  • This was a shift from assigning homework to reflecting on implementation and innovation.
• March: Dr. Jeremiah Sims returned to workshop and discuss recentering Whiteness and centering Blackness responsibly in breakout groups.
  • Faculty participants were given time to meet in Leadership Teams and/or in small groups sharing innovations, challenges, and ideas.
    • This was a shift from assigning homework to reflecting on implementation and innovation.

Spring Quarter 2023

• April: Faculty participants were given time to meet in Leadership Teams and/or in small groups sharing innovations, challenges, and ideas.
  • Felicia Rose Chavez lead two workshops on the writing lab writing classroom and building racial and linguistic equity outside of regular convening hours from the end of March 2023 through the end of April 2023
  • Two leadership teams shared out their plans and progress with the larger group
    • Communication and Professional Development Resources Leadership Group
    • Data Collection and Evidence Leadership Group
• May: Dr. Bettina Love conducted a workshop on protecting the potential of our Black and other systemically underserved students
  • Dr. April Baker Bell conducted a workshop about how to work with students in writing class settings who speak and utilize African American Vernacular English (AAVE) outside of regular convening hours.
• June: The convening was 6.5 hours as the group decided to have a one day convening instead of the 2-day original plan
  • This final convening was one of celebration and sharing out from the Leadership Teams.
    • Communication and Professional Development Leadership Team
    • Data Collection Leadership Team
    • Ungrading Practices and Resources Leadership Team
    • Antiracist Curriculum Leadership Team

Faculty Participants & Compensation

• This project will engage 75 faculty from the 34 Washington State Community and Technical Colleges (CTCs).
  • 2 to 3 faculty from each of the 34 colleges who will teach at least 1 section of ENGL&101 fall quarter 2022 and winter quarter 2023.
• Antiracist faculty labor will be compensated through a misc grant to the college.
• SBCTC is committed to supporting at least two faculty members from every college to participate.

Leadership Teams

Purpose: To offer you choice and agency based on your needs in the moment.

Rationale:

• There are multiple areas of interest, concern, and passion to members of our community of practice– far more than we can cover in the three hours we meet once a month.
• In addition, there are specific requests for a more distributed leadership model that highlights the expertise and wisdom of participants.
• In addition, there has been a call to include more theorists and models for practice.

The Invitation:

• Participation is optional and compensated.
• While each leadership group will focus on a different area, the charge of every leadership group would be to suggest supplemental scholarship, voices, readings, etc.
• Interested in forming a group? Please do! We just ask that you submit a proposal with:
  • A deliverable for how to share back the learning of the group (annotated bibliography, Canvas module, presentation/workshop, etc.)
  • Proposed compensation based on how much time and labor you anticipate being able to commit to in this expanded role
  • Draft meeting frequency and deliverable deadline

Proposed Groups:

• Evidence Collection Winter Quarter 2022: This group will work closely with Dr. Joe Lott to determine how we might evaluate our implementation efforts. Some questions to consider: what is the impact of changed practice by implementing labor based grading on instructors? On students? On the relationship between instructors and students?
• Opportunities of Practice with Labor Based Grading: This group will focus primarily on identifying, documenting, and creating high-impact practices in response to the specific challenges to implementing labor based grading in our Washington State community and technical college system.
• Student and Department Resistance to Labor Based Grading– Responses & Strategies: This group will focus on identifying and addressing concerns and objections from two primary audiences: students and colleagues.
• Antiracist Curriculum Design: While this stage of the project is focused on the implementation of labor-based grading, shifting your classroom assessment ecology also means paying attention to your assignments, how you offer feedback, and how you structure peer review. This group will focus on antiracist assignment design, feedbacking, and workshopping/peer review.
• Propose Your Own Leadership Group: Interested in forming your own group? You can do that as well!