EQUITYx: Whiteness - A Barrier to your School's Equity Goals

Dr. Katie Pekel
February 6, 2024
6:00-7:00 pm CT

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Event overview

Whiteness –defined as structural arrangements and ideologies of race dominance – is a significant barrier to achieving educational equity in schools and districts, and Whiteness functions in every aspect of schooling. Yet the influence of whiteness often goes unnoticed and unaddressed in schools and school systems. This special event in our EQUITYx Series features the scholarly and applied work of Dr. Katie Pekel, the Principal in Residence for the University of Minnesota, who will present research and practice to help you better understand the root causes of inequitable outcomes in school systems. Join Dr. Pekel and the CRSLI team for a short presentation, facilitated interview, and time for Q & A as well as digital downloads to help you deepen your leadership work and engagement in culturally responsive practices.

Overview

What is EQUITYx?

In the busy educational professional landscape, we can be overwhelmed by information and struggle to distill the latest research and its implications for socially just practice. EQUITYx solves for this problem by bringing you leading scholars in educational equity, antiracism and social justice in a distilled and practitioner-focused format. Each hour-long EQUITYx session includes:

EQUITYx Talk

A short, 10-15 minute presentation by our guest scholar on timely, significant research and practice related to CRSL.

Facilitated Interview + Q&A

A 30 minute interview with the guest scholar by the CRSL team, and time for YOU to ask questions and interact with our guest scholar.

Digital Downloads and Resources

We strive to bring you relevant resources, links and follow up material to help you implement ideas and practices you learn about at each event.

Patrick Jones - Course author

Katie Pekel, Ed.D

Co-Founder of the CRSLI Legacy Academy

Dr. Katie Pekel, is the Principal in Residence for the University of Minnesota. In this role Dr. Pekel serves as the department’s direct connection between the fields of research and practice in PK-12 education. She leads the Minnesota Principals Academy, co-directs the Urban Leadership Academy, developed the University’s District Leadership Academy with Dr. Kim Gibbons and the Culturally Responsive School Leadership Academy with colleague Dr. Muhammad Khalifa. Dr. Pekel also serves as a graduate coordinator or the Educational Policy and Leadership track within the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development. She teaches courses for aspiring school principals and doctoral students and coordinates the Executive PhD cohort for educational leaders. Dr. Pekel has also worked with the University’s College Readiness Consortium guiding school principals and leadership teams from over 150 schools across Minnesota on their implementation of Ramp-Up to Readiness™, the University’s school-wide college readiness program for students in grades 6-12. Dr. Pekel has served at all levels of K-12 education first as a high school English teacher, as an elementary principal and most recently as a middle school principal for six years in Austin, MN.

Where we are

1041 Grand Ave Box #276
St. Paul, MN 55105
612.584.9478

info@crsli.org

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Thank you!

Darlinda Anderson serves as the senior vice president of Ajusted Equity Solutions/CRSLI. Her role within the organization is to charter leadership, organizational objectives, sustainable strategy, and advantageous expansion. For the last twenty years, she has worked in human resource management, K–12 education, and process-led project management. Overall, Darlinda’s passion for balance and equity in the service of societal disparities—especially those in disadvantaged groups and professions—was the start of her overarching search for finding and supporting an organization that creates long-term sustainable opportunity for disadvantaged minorities.

Because of her passion for systems and organizational development, after graduating from Purdue University, Darlinda went to work for Hewitt Associates, a global leader in human resources outsourcing and programmatic financial services. This was her segue into the fields of project management, education, interactive broadcast media, and marketing. Though she initially started in business within the healthcare sector, it allowed her to realize how deeply she loved working in the service of others and for an equitable cause. This was the beginning of her journey to earning her master's in educational leadership. As her multiple career paths progressed, Darlinda searched for an opportunity to serve with the US government agency Americorps. There, she completed her educational service through Teach for America. Darlinda continued to serve as a K–12 public education teacher after her initial service to Americorps ended for another ten plus years.

As a classroom teacher, Darlinda saw firsthand all the struggles that Title I schools faced. After becoming a department chair, she began studying full-time to earn her master’s of business administration in human resource management. She continued to seek out opportunities beyond the classroom, where she knew she’d be closer to influencing systematic and district-level change. She continued navigating impactful roles that affected internal shifts, which led to working as a district program manager for a few years and later leading as a director of programs over the span of the next few years in educational organizations across the country. Today, her overall goal is to continue to serve, cultivate, and create world-changing avenues that make far-reaching equitable ideals a reality.