Restoring the Soul to Education: Equity Closes the Achievement Gap - Softcover

Ayala, Carmen I; Young, Bea; Kilgore, Michael L

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1610660773 ISBN 13: 9781610660778

Publisher: Writers of the Round Table Press, 2019

Synopsis

Mainly aimed at educators and administrators, this book is also relevant for any parent or community member concerned with equity and quality education. While it is nonfiction, it can be read with the same eagerness one often approaches fiction—you will keep turning pages, eager to see what will happen in each school district. The engaging and heart-centered writing makes the concepts, examples, and practical tools more accessible, giving the reader a better grasp of the challenges in pursuing educational equity and what can make a significant difference. Dr. Carmen Ayala, Dr. John Harper, and Bea Young become real-life heroes whose commitment to students will make you want to keep reading to see the impact of their work. This book also includes a chapter on culturally responsive curriculum, written by Susan O’Halloran, a nationally recognized equity consultant.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. Carmen I. Ayala has 36 years in education and serves as the 30th State Superintendent of Education in Illinois. She is the first woman and person of color appointed to the position. Previously, she served children and families as a bilingual and general education teacher, director, assistant superintendent, and district superintendent. She has a strong background in systemic curriculum development, which has resulted in all students being able to thrive, grow, and achieve.

Bea Young has been actively involved in supporting educational equity since her teaching days in the 1960s. She spent the summer of 1964 in Mississippi helping to develop the curriculum for the Civil Rights Freedom Schools. In 1965, she became the first education services director for the Illinois Commission on Human Relations and was later appointed to executive director. Shortly thereafter, she became a consultant in the business world where she was a pioneer in developing cultural change through diversity and inclusion for Fortune 500 companies across the country. In 2005, she returned to her first love, education, and created Bea Young Associates, LLC: Collaboration for Educational Equity.

Michael Kilgore worked as director of education and planning at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics during the 1980s. Over the past four decades, he has partnered with Bea Young, managing corporate and educational change efforts related to diversity and now educational equity. He coauthored cultural audits for multiple school districts, including those for Plainfield District 202 and Berwyn North District 98. Michael is also a magazine editor, musician, and vocalist.

Review:

The fight for educational opportunity is the fight for equity. You can’t get to the first without a courageous commitment to the second. But when you actually live those values, the difference you can make in the lives of students is extraordinary.
Arne Duncan, former United States Secretary of Education

At a time when all the ills of society are being dumped at the schoolhouse door, the remarkable success of these two school districts provide guidelines and a methodology which, if followed, will produce positive change in academic achievement for all students. It is a blueprint educators will relate to and understand, one that can be measured and replicated.
Dr. Charles Ponquinette, retired Illinois School Superintendent

Restoring the Soul to Education is a gift to the world. It’s written from the heart and soul with practical and applicable solutions. An engrossing while digestible story, told through the coauthors’ lives and experiences, offers us “how to’s” so many are craving on the quest for educational equity.
Jeannine Carter, former Director of Diversity Initiatives, Denver Public Schools, and Head of Diversity Engagement, Facebook

In an era when children of color are nearly the majority in Illinois and the nation, two trailblazers, Bea Young and Carmen Ayala, joined forces to chart a course providing a primer to obtain educational equity, not just for students of color, but for all students. They demonstrate the importance of acknowledging the cultural gifts and strengths that students bring to the classroom, often ignored in our educational settings.
Sylvia Puente, Executive Director of the Latino Policy Forum

About this edition

• Publisher: Writers of the Round Table Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1610660773
• ISBN 13: 9781610660778
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 130