The USC Equity-Minded Teaching Institute is a learning experience that typically includes 8-9 modules with weekly 2-hour sessions that focus on embedding racial equity in teaching practices and creating classroom cultures that are genuinely inclusive for Black/African American, Latinx, Native American/Indigenous, and Asian American students.
While many traditional theories for measuring student success focus on the effort students invest in their education, we believe in focusing on faculty’s efforts to create classrooms that are critically race-conscious and equity-minded.
SECTION TOPICS:
OVERVIEW
The USC Equity-Minded Teaching Institute is designed for faculty from the same campus to develop how to:
- Embed racial equity in their teaching practices and create classroom cultures that are genuinely inclusive of students from all racial backgrounds;
- Exert their influence and skill to make a difference in the lives of students for whom higher education has been the least successful in educating; and
- Design and adopt culturally-relevant and inclusive pedagogy, curriculum, language, roles, routines, and symbols that foster racial equity in the classroom as the norm.
LEARNING EXPERIENCES/DAY PLANS EXAMPLES
Session 1:
THE CLASSROOM IS A RACIALIZED SPACE (3 hours)
Classrooms are racialized spaces that, just like our greater society, are impacted by racism and whiteness, both fueling racial inequities. This session will provide the foundation to understand ways in which racism and whiteness play out in higher education spaces. This session will also provide an introduction to foundational concepts and terms pertaining to race and racial equity in higher education and we’ll set discussion agreements that will lay the foundation for the rest of the Institute.
Session 2:
THE SYLLABUS AS A TOOL FOR RACIAL EQUITY (2 hours)
The Syllabus Review Session is designed to make visible the ways students, and particularly students from minoritized racial/ethnic groups, may experience the language, tone, and information provided in the syllabus.
Session 3:
USING DISAGGREGATED COURSE OUTCOME DATA TO UNDERSTAND THE STATE OF RACIAL EQUITY PRODUCED IN YOUR CLASSROOM (2 hours)
Instructor-level course success data disaggregated by race/ethnicity is a powerful tool for identifying who, by race/ethnicity is and isn’t being served by current classroom practices. This session will provide guidance on making sense of disaggregated instructor-level data in equity-minded ways and using it to set actionable equity goals.
Session 4:
RACE-CONSCIOUS GRADE AND ATTENDANCE MAPPING (2 hours)
In this session participants will come to understand the power and potential of race-conscious grade and attendance mapping and how it reveals contextualized ways practices can be modified, reconsidered, or replaced to increase racial equity.
Session 5:
EXAMINING POWER & PRIVILEGE AT THE INDIVIDUAL & INSTITUTIONAL LEVELS (2 hours)
In this session we’ll spend time:
• Developing a clear understanding of your own identities, especially as they relate to the constructs of power, privilege, and marginalization
• Seeking to better understand how whiteness perpetuates racism and the racial colonial foundations of higher education
• Building a shared understanding of what racial equity is on your campus
Session 6:
RACE-CONSCIOUS CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS (2 hours)
Participants will be introduced to methods of conducting race-conscious classroom observations, an inquiry strategy that brings to light any racialized patterns in, for example, who the instructor calls on, speaks with, and—ultimately—signals as ‘mattering’. Race-conscious classroom observations also enable instructors to see new ways of remediating existing practices to better serve racial equity.
Session 7:
RACE-CONSCIOUS CLASSROOM FACILITATION ANALYSIS (2 hours)
This session is designed to show how an instructor’s classroom facilitation—what they ask students, how they direct students, etc.—can have an impact on the classroom’s state of racial equity. This session also highlights discourse strategies underway in current math classrooms that support racial equity that can be adopted across academic disciplines.
Session 8:
CREATING AND SUSTAINING EQUITY-MINDED CHANGE (2 hours)
This workshop will focus on the ways in which practitioners can embed equity-mindedness into institutional routines, policies, and culture in order to sustain equity-oriented change. Equity-minded approaches to program review, data collection and use, hiring and promotion, and student services will be detailed. In addition, the workshop will engage participants in collaborative action planning to identify barriers and opportunities to creating and sustaining equity-minded change on their campus.
OPTIONAL MODULE ($5,000)
Session 9:
RACE-CONSCIOUS INQUIRY TOOL: FACULTY EVALUATION REVIEWS (2 hours)
Faculty and staff reviews are an opportunity for embedding equity-minded practices like reviewing course outcomes disaggregated by race/ethnicity and planning race-conscious inquiry into taken-for-granted curriculum and instruction. We’ll explore how your existing faculty evaluation processes support or could better support equity-minded practices in inviting, non-punitive ways.
COST & ENROLLMENT
The cost of the USC Equity-Minded Teaching Institutes for campus teams for the 2024-2025 year can range from $40,000 – $60,000 depending on the number and length of sessions and number of participants.
The cost of the USC Equity-Minded Teaching Institutes for individuals for the upcoming cohort can be found here.
TOOLS
This guide intentionally focuses on racial equity and what syllabi communicate to students from minoritized racial groups—Asian, Black, Latinx/Latiné, and Indigenous students, and students from other minoritized racial/ethnic groups.
GUIDE GOALS:
Build an understanding of the ways race is made salient and racism can operate in syllabi; Support race-conscious inquiry as an institutional practice; and ‘Uproot’ and replace messages perpetuating or enabling racism with messages that are intentionally equity-minded (Greer, 2022).
AT-A-GLANCE
| CAMPUS TEAMS |
INDIVIDUAL FACULTY (Up to 5 Participants per Institution) |
|
| Learners: | Faculty from the same campus (spanning multiple academic departments or narrowed to only one) | Individual Faculty from multiple campuses |
| # of participants: | Ideally 20 – 30 participants | Up to 5 participants per Institution |
| Availability: |
Campus teams schedule their eight sessions directly with the Race and Equity Center (REC) based on their preference and the REC’s availability. If you are interested in an Equity-Minded Teaching Institute solely for your institution (a Campus Team offering), please contact us. |
If you are interested in signing up as an individual for the USC Equity-Minded Teaching Institute please learn more and register to attend here. |
| Pace and length: | 1 session per week for 8 weeks (for Campus teams, sessions can also be bi-monthly or distributed over campus professional development days) | 1 session per week for 4 weeks |
| Format: | 2 hour synchronous, virtual modules via Zoom meeting (although please note that the first session for campus teams is 3 hours to accommodate introductions and ground rules). |
| Key Elements: | • Individual-level skill-building for faculty (inquiry practices)
• Deep-dive into course outcome data disaggregated by race • Racial equity goal implementation in the classroom • One hour 1-on-1 session with each faculty participant included (for campus teams only) |
Contact Us
Use this form to reach the following department contact:
Debbie Hanson
debbiepe@rossier.usc.edu
