Case Study: KIPP Metro Atlanta, Atlanta Georgia
While COVID-19 shaped our lives in the foreground, 2020 reminded us of another chronic pandemic—white supremacy—and its impact on our relationships.
We need to look at the schools and leaders that are using an equitable design lens to respond to the impact of both pandemics, and study how they have impacted the student and family experience.
This case study of KIPP Metro Atlanta Public Schools in Atlanta Georgia illustrates how the principles of the equityXdesign framework look in practice, and the beauty that emerges when equity is centered in our leadership and design practices.
In the case study, Atlanta educators Courtney Bell, Mini'imah Shaheed and Kinnari Patel-Smyth represent the equityXdesign framework in 5 key areas:
Conducting empathy interviews to assess the connectivity of every student in the system
Designing at the margins to address the needs of families facing housing insecurity, food insecurity, job loss, and the social impact of white supremacy
Ceding power by getting principals involved in classroom instruction and putting the lives of black children, teachers, and families first
Reassessing existing policies and practices from an equityXdesign perspective—and dismantling the old policies that didn’t hold up
Committing to speaking a new future: “We unpacked our own biases, our own stories, and had to recognize that some of our ways of working and being together were compromising our commitment to equity. Before we asked anyone else to change, we as the leadership had to change.”
Read the full case study below.
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