Phase 2 of the Canadian School Board’s Anti-racism Initiatives

Primary Investigator Dr. Jerome Cranston
Partner Organization Canadian School Boards Association

 

Description

The goal of this two-year project is to enable Canadian school boards to become leaders in racial equity. In 2021, the CSBA completed Phase 1 of its anti-racism strategy which identified recommendations and next steps.  The second phase of the project aims to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in school boards and school board trustees and to increase school board and trustee awareness of systemic racism in Canada that continue to disadvantage students and families who are Indigenous, Black or otherwise racialized.

Led by Dr. Jerome Cranston, the project has five main activities:

  • The development of an action plan for the implementation of policy changes
  • The creation of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion self-assessments to member Associations and their respective member School Boards.
  • The development and launch of a national campaign focused on increasing the diversity of locally-elected School Boards.
  • The development of online facilitated learning modules for Trustee and Board professional development. These modules are web-based, professionally facilitated discussions with scholars who work in the fields of anti-racist, anti-oppressive and decolonizing fields of study and practice. Topics include: Understanding the history of colonization and racialization in Canadian society; Understanding race, racism and systemic racism in the Canadian school system (K-12 and post-secondary context); Combatting systemic racism in school boards and schools.
jerome-cranston
Investigator Bio

Research Interest

Currently the Dean of Education at the University of Regina, Dr. Jerome Cranston researches and teaches as part of an interdisciplinary, international “community of inquiry” on topics that explore formal and non-formal teacher preparation and the ethical dimensions of school leadership with a particular focus on how capacity building in the education system can transform a set of seemingly random acts into a just enterprise. Prior to becoming an academic he spent 16 years in the K-12 education system as a teacher, principal and superintendent in a career that spanned Canada’s “prairie” provinces. Dr. Cranston is a sought-after keynote speaker on the topics of diversity and systemic racism in the education system.

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