Michael Troeger of New York Explores How Education Leaders can Promote Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Learning Environments

Michael Troeger of New York acknowledges that, in today’s landscape, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become an important touchpoint for a variety of industries with education standing as no exception. For learning environments, DEI can serve as a vital tool for promoting inclusion and equity among all students and staff.

Here, Dr. Troeger explores a few ways that education leaders can work to promote diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environments for their students.

Make DEI a Part of Staff Training

Today, many schools are looking into how they can make DEI a pivotal part of their staff training to contribute to healthier, more inclusive learning environments. Dr. Troeger mentions that creating a framework for DEI in training can go a long way towards keeping staff on the same page and encouraging them to learn more about the subject of promoting and accepting diversity within classrooms. One of the most important elements of DEI friendly training is providing opportunity for reflection, which fundamentally occurs in a safe, respectful environment. Opportunities for reflection empower us to interact with our mindsets to identify potentially troubling thoughts, opinions, or processes in a way that promotes growth. For example, some staff find through self-reflection in DEI trainings that they are inadvertently contributing to identity erasure that can be equally damaging as racism or classism. Training creates the opportunity to do better by your students and remember that learning is a constant effort.

Consult Assistance

For education environments that are serious about DEI, it is always a good idea to ensure that teams have access to a professional who can help keep goals on course. A consultant or professional experienced in DEI can help spearhead DEI framework and measurement goals to give the institution everything it needs to get staff on the same page. This is why many schools explore hiring on DEI ambassadors who can promote awareness while spotlighting those who are interested in more comprehensive programming. The NYS Education Department (NYSED) is earnestly seeking to advance DEI efforts in schools.

Don’t Shy Away from Difficult Conversations

A common misconception that institutions have as they explore DEI initiatives is that there will be no challenges along the way. What some find, however, is that there may be opposition from professionals who either do not understand what DEI entails or have trouble envisioning how DEI can fit into their schools’ existing processes. Dr. Troeger explains that, even in supportive, healthy, learning environments, leaders should feel comfortable having difficult conversations about the subject as they look to launch initiatives and make progress. This firstly requires establishing a culture of trust and mutual respect. Tiptoeing around concepts such as diversity, equity, and inclusion serve to make these topics taboo within education environment rather than them being presented as the gold standard. Expect there to be a few tough conversations along the way as leaders educate others on the value DEI brings to all students and staff.

Provide Platforms for Students

Students will provide you with the clearest picture of how well your efforts to promote DEI are going. With this in mind, it is always a good idea to make sure that there are platforms in place that give students a voice to speak on their thoughts and feelings related to their learning environments. Michael Troeger of New York mentions that one common way to provide students with platforms is by giving them access to student forums. When students are able to gather to discuss DEI topics and events it promotes safe spaces where they can speak freely and get to the bottom of challenges. Student forums can be done with student government leaders and can even present students with the opportunity to field questions to staff and administrators. How well your school can facilitate student forums is often indicative of how in sync students, educators, and administrators are in terms of handling DEI.

Monitor and Evaluate Results

Michael Troeger of New York maintains that it is crucial to establish what you would like to monitor and evaluate your results for best success with DEI initiatives. Moreover, there are statues which govern such protections. For example, the New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act (The Dignity Act) “seeks to provide the State’s public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus and/or at a school function.” Schools and universities also set anti -discrimination and anti-harassment policies, as recipients of federal funding. These polices operationally define such behavior, set forth a reporting procedure, should ensure the rights of all parties, and are overseen by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Schools and universities monitor the data from these types of investigations, and also elicit feedback by conducting surveys that contain questions about feelings of safety, inclusion, and belonging for the student body to answer. Surveys can also be an excellent way to get a clear picture of how teachers and staff feel about efforts to improve DEI as well. Whatever your method, Michael Troeger mentions that it is important to ensure that your evaluations assess diversity and inclusion from a 360° perspective, provide a neutral vision of progress, and include tangible metrics that leaders can work to improve upon.

Stay the Course

One of the most interesting things about diversity, equity, and inclusion is that there will always be new insights, resources, and information available to those who seek it out. Similarly, however, there will always be challenges to implementing systems that challenge old ways of doing things. For this reason, Michael Troeger of New York encourages institutions to stay the course when working towards promoting DEI in their learning environments. Never stop learning, find out what your school can take from other examples of successful initiatives, and find your fuel for motivation as you look to make improvements to existing frameworks.

Interested in More from Michael Troeger of New York?

In today’s landscape, there are many people who want to learn more about the education field from experienced experts. If you are interested in growing your understanding of a variety of topics linked to education, look no further than future posts from MichaelTroeger.com.