A key function of the Office of Strategic Partnerships is to provide guidance and resources to partner organizations that equip them with the information and skills to best meet the needs of students. To that end, OSP houses a number of guidance documents, program office alignment guides and frameworks to support district aligned best practices.
In addition, OSP offers free workshops throughout the year, designed in response to partner and school needs.
Below, you’ll find our library of guidance documents, workshops, and alignment resources.
We are always looking to enhance our resources and workshops to better serve partners and schools. If you have suggestions for a new guidance document or workshop, please reach out to us at partnerships@philasd.org.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: Our Call to Action for Partners
We believe partners play an important role in making schools feel more welcoming to students (Guardrail 1) and supporting antiracism work in school buildings (Guardrail 4). Partners help our schools and students flourish by highlighting and developing the strengths of our students, schools, and communities.
The District is advancing equity by cultivating prosperity and liberation for students and staff, starting with historically marginalized populations, by removing barriers, increasing access and inclusion, building trusting relationships, and creating a shared culture of social responsibility and organizational accountability.
We believe:
All students achieve when our system works to ameliorate academic, social, and psychological barriers, and provides access to the resources that support academic learning and student led innovation.
The best kind of programming cultivates a sense of belonging through engaging culturally-relevant activities and instruction that embrace different ways of knowing and understanding.
It is our collective responsibility to build a learning environment that is supportive and inclusive of the most marginalized groups within the school community.
Engaging our parents, families, and communities in authentic interactions where their suggestions and concerns are seen and heard, is central to developing a framework of shared decision-making that amplifies their voices.
In the distribution of funding, programs, and resources based on community need.
We recommend partners:
Design programs based on perceptions of our students that are rooted in their potential and strengths, as opposed to stereotypes.
Provide regular training and support to staff on the topics including managing unconscious bias, recognizing privilege, identifying microaggressions, combatting saviorism, anti-racism etc.
Ensure that voices of those who are marginalized (e.g. racially minoritized , LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, etc.) are sought out and heard within your organization/program.
Hire historically marginalized people and ensure they are not only employed in direct-service positions, but also leadership and decision-making positions within your organization.
Establish and maintain a diverse board that reflects the community you serve.
Connect with our office to share your strategies and resources!
Definitions:
Antiracist
One who is expressing the idea that racial groups are equals and none needs developing, and is supporting policy that reduces inequity.
Source: Ibram X. Kendi, How to be an Antiracist, Random House, 2019
Code-switching (MLL)
Switching between different languages, dialects, or styles of communication depending on context.
Example: Students may transition between Standard American English and African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Spanglish when communicating different ideas or to different people.
Source: Castellano, A. (2022, July 10). Words matter: language-affirming classrooms for code-switching students. Cult of Pedagogy.
Different facets of a person’s identity may be more or less of a factor in how they see themselves and how they move through society. This can also change depending on context and environment.
Example: Two students who are both ethnically Italian may have different levels of connection with that as a source of identity. It could be incredibly important to them, not really a factor in how they view themselves, or somewhere in the middle. Additionally, it may be more important to them during certain times such as winter holidays or discussion of family traditions.
Source: Morris, R. (2013). Identity Salience and Identity Importance in Identity Theory. In Current Research in Psychology. University of Iowa.
Microaggressions are defined as the everyday, subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups.
Example: Having one student consistently have to be the voice of their community or assuming they are an expert just because they hold a certain identity
Source: Limbong, A., & Nadal, K. (2020, June 9). Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away : Life Kit. NPR.
When a racial group’s collective prejudice is backed by the power of legal authority and institutional control, it is transformed into racism, a far-reaching system that functions independently from the intentions or self-images of individual actors.
Racist
One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea.
Source: Ibram X. Kendi, How to be an Antiracist, Random House, 2019
Unconscious Bias
“Unconscious bias operates outside of the person’s awareness and can be in direct contradiction to a person’s espoused beliefs and values.” from Kimberly Papillon Esq. (2019). This may also be referred to as “Implicit Bias.”
Example: Automatically placing a disproportionate amount of boys in leadership roles over the girls in your program.
Source: Papillon, K. (2012). Bias and Well-Meaning People. National Center for Cultural Competence; Georgetown University.
An unacknowledged system of favoritism and advantage granted to white people as the beneficiaries of historical conquest. Benefits include preferential treatment, exemption from group oppression and immunity from perpetuating social inequity.
White Supremacy
A system of exploitation to maintain wealth, power and white privilege.
Sign up for our Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Training Series for Partners. There are two tracks: one for admin/leadership and another for school-based staff. See our 1-pager and sign up here.
LGBTQIA+ Students, Students with Disabilities, and English Language Learners
Each year our office surveys school leaders to learn about needs for additional resources/partnerships in the coming school year. In SY23-24, school leaders indicated that LGBTQIA+ Students, Students with Disabilities, and Multilingual Learners were not having their needs met fully by after school programming.
In response, OSP with the support of numerous other District offices and expert partner organizations, developed guidance documents, short informational videos, and opportunities for partners to share best practices, discuss ways to implement new supportive strategies, and ask questions. Our goal with these resources and opportunities to connect is for partners to be better equipped to meet the needs of various marginalized student groups and ensure that all students are included and supported in partner programming.
We regularly offer workshops for partners on a variety of topics that fall under Social Emotional Learning or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. See the links below to register for an upcoming workshop or view the materials from a past workshop.
Our office’s Severin and Emily worked with ImpactEd and stakeholders including partners, school staff, students, and district leaders to develop a definition of “enrichment” and the outcomes that it can offer our students. See the full PDF linked below.
Our office expects fully compliant partners to submit a logic model as part of their School Partner Agreement. See a template and more information at the link below.
Our office is working with content area experts in the District’s central office to create guidance documents on how partners can align their programming to District curricula. Currently there are guidance documents for social emotional learning, athletics, nutrition education, and STEAM in the works. Stay tuned for their release over the summer!
“The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.”
