Update from Lifting as We Climb

There are an abundance of teachers here at the summit! I'm sitting at a table with teachers from San Lorenzo Unified and Berkeley Unified. The opening plenary started with a prayer and the singing of the Black National Anthem accompanied by a beautiful video. 

Dr. Gloria Ladson Billings, Professor of Education, University of Wisconson

and Dr. Joe Johnson, Executive Director Center for Urban School Transformation, Professor of Urban Ed., San Diego State University

opened the event with calls to change out mindset about education. Dr. Ladson Billings even challenged us to STOP using the phrase "achievement gap" and start using "education debt". African-Americans have overcome on an unequal foundation starting from the founding of our nation!

One of the threads weaving this summit together is the fact that African-Americans are a people of hope, we stand on the shoulders of a powerful and inspirational ancestry. The stories of speakers' lives shows just how much of an impact the pillars in our community have on a student's educational growth and achievement. People like you and I have an enormous task at hand to engage and challenge this next generation!