Advancing Antiracist Policies and Practices in Schools

As social justice allies and advocates, the top professional priority of school social workers should be to embrace and advance antiracist policies and practices to (re)build schools as institutions of equity, inclusion, and opportunity. This chapter addresses a critical question related to the struggle for diversity, equity, and inclusion in P-12 schools in the United States. It explores how new school social workers in their first three years of practice can establish themselves as leaders in guiding their school to assess the degree of cultural acceptance, while taking steps toward advancing antiracist policies and practices. Finally, the chapter offers an array of tools regarding assessing cultural acceptance and techniques for incorporating them across all tiers of a school community.

A Conceptual Framework: Creating Socially Just Schools for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities

Students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) are among the most marginalized group of students in ourschools. In essence, students with EBD are often denied their civil right to a free and appropriate public education(FAPE) which is a social justice issue. Teachers who become social justice allies are more likely to create a sociallyjust school when they promote the implementation of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) throughevidence-based practices (EBP) for positive behavior interventions and supports through a social justice lens.Implementing these interventions while being social justice allies in socially just schools offer the best opportunityfor students with EBD to receive an equitable and socially just education in schools thereby achieving social justiceregarding their civil right to a FAPE.

Aspiring Social Justice Ally Identity Development: A Conceptual Model

Individuals who are supportive of social justice efforts are not always effective in their anti-oppression efforts. Some who genuinely aspire to act as social justice allies are harmful, ultimately, despite their best intentions, perpetuating the system of oppression they seek to change. Different underlying motivations of those who aspire to be allies can lead to differences in effectiveness, consistency, outcome, and sustainability. The conceptual model presented here, using underlying motivation to frame the different issues and challenges facing those who are aspiring allies, is offered as a tool for student affairs professionals’ self-reflection and developing students as allies for social justice.