Transcriber: Stevie Preater Reviewer: Mirjana Čutura
It's no surprise that I work in education.
It's in my blood.
My grandmother Alberta, a proud Chicana, lived in the projects in downtown Denver
and was in a gang.
She dropped out of school,
got pregnant with my dad
and went on welfare.
She realized the only way to end this cycle of poverty and violence
was through education.
So, as a single mom of three,
while my grandfather was incarcerated in prison,
she crossed the street from the projects to Auraria Campus
got her GED, bachelor's and master's
and became a social worker for Denver public schools.
(Applause)
She was a social worker for Denver public schools for 25 years.
And she went to college, my dad went to college,
I went to college,
and now my two Afro-Latino children, Trey and Avianna, will go to college.
(Applause)
My grandmother single-handedly transformed my family's trajectory
for generations to come
by pursuing an education.
And it's why I wanted to become a teacher:
to transform the lives of other Latinx and children of color like me.
My first job at out of college
was in a low-income community in Los Angeles as a third-grade teacher.
It was a closed campus, meaning families are not allowed on site.
They dropped off their children in the morning
and picked them up in the afternoon.
What happened in between was none of their business.
Soon I realized that this is a common mindset
among teachers, principals and superintendents across the country:
that families don't have a place in education.
Time and time again,
I've heard fellow educators say things like,
"Families don't care,"
"They're too busy,"
"They don't value education."
So at worst, families are not included in their children's education at all.
At best, families are asked to do volunteer activities
like chaperoning field trips or organizing bake sales.
Neither of which have anything to do with actual education
and academic achievement.
This persistent lack of communication and separation
between families and teachers
leads to a complete breakdown in trust.
You've seen it in the news.
We fall into this endless cycle of, "Who's at fault for our failing schools?"
Teachers blame families.
Families blame teachers.
The only thing that they can agree on is that the system isn't working.
And it's true.
The system isn't working,
especially for our low-income students and students of color,
who continue to graduate at rates far below their white peers.
In Colorado,
white students are graduating from high school at 85%,
black students are at 74%,
and Latinx students are at 73%.
Stats like these contribute to mindsets and the education system
that low income families and families of color
don't care, are too busy and don't value education.
But here's the thing.
As a teacher,
I saw how much our low-income families and families of color
wanted to be involved in their children's education.
They just weren't given a chance to.
And no one showed them how to do it.
So, I tried something different.
At this point, I was teaching kindergarten in East L.A.
I invited all of my students' families into my classroom
and explained why two skills, sight words and math facts,
would be a big part of their child's kindergarten success.
I showed them how to practice sight words and math facts at home
and how often to do it.
The results were miraculous.
After connecting with students' families,
I had one of the highest performing kindergarten classes in the school.
With families doing this work at home,
their children were mastering fundamental skills,
and I was freed up to teach above and beyond the standard curriculum.
I felt like I had a true partnership with my students' families.
We were mutually invested and mutually accountable.
And my job was 1,000 times easier.
And my students were exceeding expectations.
Then I realized
families are a sleeping giant.
Once awakened to the inequities that exist in our education system,
there's nothing they won't do
to ensure that their children receive the excellent education they deserve.
And the system will never be the same.
As educators, it must be our top priority to engage families.
The only question is,
How?
I co-founded RISE Colorado to focus on family engagement full-time.
We're based in Aurora, Colorado,
an official refugee resettlement city
and one of the most diverse school districts and cities in the state
with families from over 130 countries,
speaking over 160 different languages.
At RISE, our theory of change is
that those most impacted by the inequity that exists
must lead the movement for change themselves,
just like Dr. King and African Americans led the Civil Rights Movement
and Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez led the Farmworkers' Movement.
For education, that means we need low-income families and families of color
to lead the movement for educational equity
with us alongside and behind them as allies.
(Applause)
And that makes sense, right?
The number one authorities on the barriers families face
and the challenges that they have
are the families themselves.
Barriers like parent-teacher conferences on a Thursday night from 5 to 7 pm.
A time when many families are working their second shift
at jobs that are often low wage and inflexible.
Or barriers like school communications that are only in English,
when a family's native language is Nepali.
These barriers have simple fixes.
Low-income families and families of color can tell us exactly what the fixes are.
It's our job to educate, engage and empower them.
Just like we did with Diana.
Like many immigrant families arriving to the US,
Diana assumed that the education system would meet her daughter Miranda's needs.
After all, this is the land of opportunity, right?
But then we told Diana about the opportunity gap
during one of our workshops at her daughter's preschool
She had no idea that only 21% of third-graders
are reading on grade level in Aurora
or that Latinx students' reading proficiency rates
are less than half than that of their white peers.
We co-hosted workshops
and taught Diana skills and strategies to support Miranda's learning at home.
For example, to prevent the four-million-word gap,
Diana now reads to Miranda at least 20 minutes every night.
And it's paying off.
Miranda is now one of the top-performing students
in her second-grade class.
(Applause)
Diana's involvement went beyond Miranda's success.
We engaged and empowered Diana to lead systemic change
along with other family leaders.
After ICE raids,
Diana and other RISE family leaders wrote and led a resolution
to support students regardless of documentation status.
(Applause)
They collected over 800 signatures of support,
met with school board members, district officials and the superintendent.
It was a hard-fought battle.
But in the end, three Republicans, three Democrats and one Independent
voted in support of the resolution,
and it passed with the seven-zero votes.
Low-income families and families of color
are proving time and time again
that they are architects, and not just objects of policy.
And this is just one of many incredible organizing wins
by our African-American, Latinx, Burmese,
Karen, Karenni, Bhutanese and Nepali families.
To meet their language needs,
RISE family leaders work to improve interpretation and translation services
district-wide
by co-creating language ID cards
and a central language services office
alongside Aurora school district officials.
The majority of RISE family leaders
cannot vote and are learning to speak English.
But through the power of their stories
and their ability to create strong relationships
with district officials,
they're able to move a school district of 40,000 students
to make systemic change.
(Applause)
I'm a big fan of the musical "Hamilton."
And like Lin-Manuel Miranda said, "Immigrants: we get the job done,"
(Applause)
these families are getting the job done,
improving the education system for everyone, not just their own children.
It's time for families and educators to become true partners.
That means families are seen as decision-makers
and have seats in decision-making tables,
that we trust families to surface the complex challenges they're facing
and create their own solutions,
and that educators are co-creating learning experiences alongside families
to improve academic achievements
and are trusting families' expertise and guidance.
If we do not support low-income families and families of color
to lead the movement for educational equity,
we're going to be having these same conversations
in the next 10 or 20 years.
Students of color
will continue to graduate at rates far below their white peers
if the system doesn't change.
But our fates are intertwined.
And if the education system is failing students of color,
then it's failing all of us.
Families are ready to lead.
It's time to awaken the sleeping giant.
Thank you.
(Cheers) (Applause)