The Diversity Journey at DSST Public Schools

DSST was founded upon the premise to  transform urban public education by eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century. To accomplish this, DSST would be a values-driven organization and a deliberately integrated community, serving students from all walks of life. The ideal to be a deliberately integrated community has become a highly contested one across our nation, within Colorado and even in neighboring cities and school systems that claim to see others only as human and no identifiable race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and/or religion (to name a few of many identity markers that drive our unique experiences and human condition).

With the ideal to be a deliberately integrated community, serving students from all walks of life, comes the wondering of how one can do that without a deliberately diverse personnel for whom students can relate, build relationships, see as examples of success across multiple groups and cultures. Diversity is defined as “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.”  At DSST, this is not a practice of hiring staff of color for the sake of hiring staff of color, nor is it a statement of belief that white staff are incapable of teaching students from racially diverse backgrounds. The research is very clear, regarding the impact of a diverse staff on all students in the learning environment: 

• According to Teachers, Race, And Student Achievement In A Randomized Experiment, “Assignment to a same-race teacher for one year increased the math and reading achievement of both Black and white male students by about 3-4 percentage points.” 
• According to The Effects Of Teacher Match On Students’ Academic Perceptions And Attitudes, “In classrooms where students share gender and/or racial characteristics with their teachers, reports of happiness in class, feeling cared for and motivated by their teacher, and the quality of student-teacher communication is increased. Students also report putting forth more personal effort and have higher college aspirations…”
• According to Unconscious Bias In The Classroom: Evidence And Opportunities, “The unconscious biases of teachers and school leaders lead to underrepresentation of women and minorities in computer science and STEM. These biases have been confirmed in various studies including one where professors were sent emails from fictitious prospective doctoral students to professors asking to meet. White male students received more, and faster, responses than female and non-White students in computer science and STEM. Implicit association tests also find that both genders unconsciously associate men with hard sciences and women with the liberal arts.”

When it comes to diversity, several question its authenticity if we are to be a nation that thrives on the merits of one’s resolve, resiliency, and hard work. That is a fallacious pondering. The fallacy is in the belief that to achieve diversity one must lower the bar of excellence for one group - meaning that the traditionally group of power is somehow an inherently superior pedigree. It is not a determination to be diverse or equitable for "equality and diversity should be supported for their own sake."

As DSST continues its commitments to be an anti-racist organization, a diverse talent pool is essential - not a practice of hiring staff of color for the sake of hiring staff of color  nor a  belief that White staff are incapable in teaching students from racially diverse backgrounds.  We are committed to overcoming the systemized and structural forces that seek to speak of one America and one nation, while simultaneously ignoring the differences that make us each uniquely American. Join us in this journey to craft experiences across lines of difference for our staff, students, and families by learning more about the impacts of diversity in schools and organizations. Sse the links below:

• Effects of Diverse Teachers on Student Outcomes
• The Effects Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace
• 14 Important Benefits Of A More Diverse Leadership Team

In solidarity, 

Aaron, Ash, Aubrey & Mercedes