Courageous Conversations About Race is a field guide for achieving equity in schools. The topic is as important, or even more important now than ever before. One of the best things about this book is that it is written to help people - teachers, administrators, parents, community leaders, and even university professors - begin to engage in emotionally difficult conversations about race. If you are looking for a bit of confidence and even permission to ask the tough questions about racial equity in schools, this is the book study for you.

This course renews annually and is ongoing.

Registration for this course is completed through Teacher Study via the external link provided. You will pay the course registration fee to them. The clock hours for this event are sponsored by ESD 112. When you complete the course, you will receive instructions for claiming your clock hours in pdEnroller.  You will need to upload your certificate of completion when you claim the clock hours.  Once the hours are claimed and all the steps are completed, the clock hours will record to a pdEnroller transcript. 

The fee for this course is $175. The $90 clock hour fee is in addition to the registration fee.  The clock hour fee is waived for members of the ESD 112 Clock Hour Cooperative.   

Students will purchase and read Courageous Conversations About Race - Second Edition, by Glenn E. Singleton

Students will complete answers to all of the questions on the Book Study Handout.

Students will choose one of the following four assignments:
1.  For the purposes of better understanding and personalizing the Courageous Conversation Compass found on page 29 of the book, consider the following topics: Affirmative Action, Bilingual Education, O.J. Simpson Trial and Indian Gaming. As you consider each of the topics, think about their significance and connect them to your own personal experiences. Then for each topic, decide where you locate yourself on the compass? Write a 2-3 page paper in which you reflect on how your personal experiences influenced where you located yourself on the compass for each topic. 

2.  Reflect on the Four Agreements of Courageous Conversation. Then, write a 2-3 page paper reflecting on which agreement will be the easiest for you to implement and which will be the hardest. Be sure to telly why.

3.  Read about Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District beginning on page 24 of the book. Write a 2-3 page paper reflecting on what achievement similarities and differences exist between that district and your own school system. In which ways could your system benefit from similar equity efforts?

4.  Considering the definitions of racism and institutionalized racism found on page 53 of the book, write a 2-3 page paper reflecting on where you notice these phenomena most obviously existing in your school system. What do you consider to be the next important steps toward achieving equity?