Equity in Education
Black Educators and School Reform: Looking Back and Moving Forward
Join us for a panel discussion that celebrates the publication of Not Paved For Us: Black Educators and Public School Reform in Philadelphia (Harvard Education Press, 2022) by Camika Royal, Ph.D., associate professor of urban education in the School of Education. Participants will discuss the struggles and triumphs of Black educators in the shifting political nature of school reform.
Panelists include noted pedagogical theorist, anthropologist of education, and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin, Gloria Ladson-Billings; the first chief of the office of equity for the School District of Philadelphia, Sabriya Jubilee; Baltimore City educator Tanefa Wallace; and Morgan State University professor Vanessa Dodo Seriki will be the panel moderator.
Event Details
Thursday, October 6, 2022
McGuire Hall
6 - 7:30 p.m.
Parking will be available at The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, with shuttle service to campus. Visit our directions and parking page for more information.
The Equity in Education series is sponsored by the Center for Equity, Leadership, and Social Justice in Education; the School of Education; and the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aciDeRZWG9c
Author
Camika Royal is the author of Not Paved For Us: Black Educators and Public School Reform in Philadelphia (Harvard Education Press, 2022). Her work focuses on the intersections of politics,
history, and urban school reform. She worked in the public schools of Baltimore City
and Washington, D.C., teaching, coaching teachers, and helping to lead a charter high
school. Dr. Royal has also worked with various colleges and universities in the Philadelphia
and Baltimore regions to teach, coach, and support urban school leaders and teacher
educators. Currently, Dr. Royal is an associate professor of Urban Education at Loyola
University Maryland. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in English Literature
at North Carolina Central University, her master of arts in teaching degree at Johns
Hopkins University, and her doctor of philosophy in urban education at Temple University.
Panelists
Gloria Ladson-Billings
Gloria Ladson-Billings is Professor Emerita and former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the former President of both the National Academy of Education (2017-2021) and the American Education Research Association (2006). She is author of the critically acclaimed book, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, two additional books and editor of 12 other books, as well as more than 100 book chapters and journal articles. She is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a Fellow of the American Education Research Association, and a Hagler Fellow of Texas A&M University. She has won numerous scholarly awards and 9 honorary doctorates from national and international universities.
Sabriya Jubilee
Dr. Sabriya K. Jubilee is the Chief of Equity, in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the School District of Philadelphia (SDP). In this role, she provides leadership and guidance, setting the overarching vision and organizational structure to advance equity in SDP. Prior to this role, Dr. Jubilee held a number of positions over her 13-year tenure with the District; including, School-based Data Specialist, Research Assistant, Regional School Improvement and Data Specialist, Director of Special Projects, Executive Director of School Improvement, and Deputy Chief of Equity. Throughout each position Dr. Jubilee has been a transformational change-agent and leader committed to systemic change through an anti-oppressive lens.
Seeing equity and social justice work as recompense for her existence in this world, as a Black woman raised in the city of Philadelphia, Dr. Jubilee is all too familiar with what it means to be “other.” As such, she believes it is her obligation to continue this work, started long before her, of dismantling systems of oppression within our education system.
A native of Philadelphia and graduate of the District, Dr. Jubilee holds a B.S. in Animal and Poultry Sciences from Virginia Tech with a minor in Black Studies, a M.A. in African American and African Studies with a concentration in Education from The Ohio State University, a M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Gwynedd Mercy, and a Ph.D. in Urban Education from Temple University.
In addition to her role at SDP, Dr. Jubilee is an ordained minister, serving as the Pastor of Administration for the Heart of Worship Restoration Center and is an adjunct professor of Urban Education and Sociology.
Vanessa Dodo Seriki
Vanessa Dodo Seriki is an Associate Professor of Science Education and the Program Director for the Graduate Programs in Mathematics and Science Education at Morgan State University. As a graduate of an urban school and former high school science teacher in Portsmouth, VA, and Baltimore, MD, Dr. Dodo Seriki understands the realities that face urban students, families, teachers, and schools. As such, she has dedicated her work to empowering urban teachers, students, and families through engagement in science learning. Dr. Dodo Seriki’s research focuses on the use of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Cultural Modeling in science education; the intersectionality of race, class, and gender in Education (including P-12, Higher Education, teacher education, and science education) as seen through the lens of Critical Race Theory; and the accessibility of STEM educational opportunities by Black children. Currently, she is a co-principal investigator on two National Science Foundation awards. One of these awards involves research community-based STEM programs, and the other is a methodological training institute for STEM teacher leaders and faculty members interested in researching urban STEM education.
Tanefa Wallace
Tanefa Wallace is a veteran teacher with experience teaching English from grades 7-12 in both Philadelphia and Baltimore as well as in School Counseling, grades K-12. Wallace is also a teacher leader having led teacher teams and coached teachers at almost every juncture of her career. Beginning her career with Teach for America, Wallace did not expect to teach long-term but fell in love with the craft of teaching English as a trained copywriter with a degree in Business Management and Communications from Notre Dame of Maryland University. She enjoys working with inner city youth tremendously and currently works with over-aged, under-credited students at Excel Academy @ Francis M. Wood leading the Attendance and Student Support Teams as an Educational Associate.