Cynthia DeVese, coordinator of Educational Equity at Westerville City Schools, shared the district’s equity work and implicit bias training with Inspire, a podcast created by Ohio State University’s College of Education and Human Ecology.
The episode, which aired March 17, focused on how nationwide disparities in discipline and academics have hurt students of color, as well as what various communities are doing to confront systemic and implicit bias in their schools.
DeVese highlighted some of the district’s efforts, including the rollout of the Be the Change!: Implicit and Institutional Bias training across the district and schools this year. The College of Education and Human Ecology developed from the implicit bias training module created by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity to center on school experiences.
Westerville is among six school districts in Central Ohio that worked with the College of Education and Human Ecology to bring the Be the Change! training to their school communities.
You can find the episode via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Podbean. (DeVese’s comments are at the 9:19 minute mark.)