Decolonizing School Systems: Racial Justice, Radical Healing, and Educational Equity inside Oakland Unified School District

by Christopher P. Chatmon and Vajra M. Watson

Christopher P. Chatmon is the deputy chief of equity at the Oakland [California] Unified School District. Vajra M. Watson is the director of research and policy for equity and founder of Sacramento Area Youth Speaks at the University of California, Davis.

A deep district-wide commitment to racial equity for African American male students, based on the framework of targeted universalism, has laid the foundation for expanding the focus to include African American girls, Latino/a students, and Asian and Pacific Islander students.

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Issue 48

The Boys Aren’t Broken, The Systems Are: Changing the Narrative about Young Men of Color

Scholars and practitioners in school districts around the country are collaborating to build an asset-based counter-narrative about young men of color and develop evidence-based strategies to better serve them. However, these change agents do not always have a chance to work with their peers in other districts to collectively challenge structural racism.

This issue of Voices in Urban Education builds on a 2017 conference, sponsored by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and organized by NYU and AISR, that aimed to address this need. Researchers and practitioners from seven sites gathered in New York City to share system-level strategies that challenged deficit mindsets and implicit bias, nurtured healthy and respectful relationships, and developed culturally sustaining practices. In this VUE issue, you will read some of their stories.

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