School Social Work and Leadership: Putting Racial Equity into Practice

by Dr. Veronica L. Hardy, LCSW

     As a social worker, have you ever perceived yourself as a leader in promoting racial equity? This is a question both my colleague, Dr. Summer Woodside, LCSW, and I have posed to several school social workers over the past years. This is one of the opening questions to a workshop focusing on racial equity and leadership in schools. The purpose of the workshop was to motivate, empower, and educate school workers to confront racial inequities in schools. To do so, it is first necessary to have an idea of what racial equity means. According to the Center for Assessment and Policy Development, racial equity may be defined as follows:

     “Racial equity is the condition that would be achieved if one’s racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares. When we use the term, we are thinking about racial equity as one part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root causes of inequities, not just their manifestation. This includes elimination of policies, practices, attitudes and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or fail to eliminate them.”

     Further, it is important to consider how to view policies and practices through a “lens” of racial equity. According to the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity, a racial equity lens is defined as a process that,

“… brings into focus the ways in which race and ethnicity shape experiences with power, access to opportunity, treatment, and outcomes, both today and historically. Assessing racial equity in our institutions involves ‘analyzing data and information about race and ethnicity; understanding disparities and learning why they exist; looking at problems and their root causes from a structural standpoint; and naming race explicitly when talking about problems and solutions.’”

     As a school social worker equipped with the definitions of racial equity and racial equity lens, there is now the opportunity to explore and assess policies and make recommendations. However, what are a few tools needed for social workers to engage in this form of social justice advocacy and promote change in policies? Below are three tips to aid in this process.

Begin with the data.

     When seeking to promote changes in policy, it is critical to begin with data to determine if there is evidence of disparities, contributing factors to those disparities, and the processes that are sustaining inequitable practices—for example, state and district accountability scores, expulsion, and suspension data, or even discipline referrals. These can also be assessed according to subgroups including gender or ethnicity. Overall, assess the multiple forms of data to observe if specific patterns are taking place across groups such as whether certain groups have more suspension rates than others and the causes or the number of discipline referrals and the reasons noted.

Examine existing school policies.

     To promote change in policy, it is important to become familiar with the current policies and discerning whether the wording is contributing to inequitable practices. For example, is the assessment process objective (measurable) or subjective (affected by perceptions of the observer). Subjective measures could result in decisions influenced by forms of bias. As a result, this may lead to inequities in how the policies are applied.

Build a plan.

     If you have noticed forms of inequities after studying the data and reviewing the policies, it is time to develop a plan of action. Action can take place in many forms. For example, building an interdisciplinary network of school personnel to further examine the data and policies to gain further insight. The use of an interdisciplinary team allows the opportunity to create measurable goals, objectives, and to develop and provide racial equity trainings across personnel, including sharing about data and recommendations for policy enhancement. After implementing a plan, it is critical to have evaluation measures in place including surveys to assess knowledge and awareness enhancement as well as continual reviews of data.

     Overall, there are multiple ways to act as leaders in promoting racial equity in schools. Consider what are current interventions your school system may be using. In what ways can you build upon those efforts? Remember, leadership includes influence, mentoring, and empowerment—skills reflective of social work professionals.

Dr. Veronica L. Hardy, LCSW, is a Professor of Social Work at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Dr. Hardy is a social justice advocate, professional consultant, author, and mentor to new social workers and junior faculty members. She is the creator of The Social Work Lounge, a mentorship group facilitated via Facebook.