Fostering Strong Supportive Relationships in an Environment of Shifting Demographics

November, 2024

by Raphael Curtis, Instructional Facilitator, Talent Development Secondary (TDS)

It’s Native American Heritage month! As we recognize Indigenous peoples and their enormous contributions to our world throughout the month of November, it’s also a great time to think about the gift of feeling seen and how we extend this gift to all the students we serve.

I recently participated in a connection circle with roughly 30 teachers from a high school located in New Orleans, LA. At Talent Development Secondary (TDS), we use connection circles at the start of our convenings with unfamiliar groups as a means of recognizing every voice hoping to learn something about each individual and build community. Connection circles are an element of Restorative Practices. The strategy is easy to implement and can be quickly deployed in a variety of settings for a multitude of purposes. Typically, we limit our circles to about 10 to 15, but due to unforeseen circumstances this circle was much larger than what we had originally planned. Instead of two circles, we adjusted our strategy to include all participants in one large circle. We then found a space that would accommodate everyone as I, the circle facilitator, began modeling the strategy.  I spoke first, answering the shared question, then passed the question, sometimes using a talking piece, to my left as we moved clockwise through all circle participants. Although originally thought to be a forced pivot, shifting from two circles to one turned out to be the happiest of accidents as you will learn later.

New Orleans is a city known for its unique traditions and culture. What you might not know is New Orleans is also a city that has experienced decades of disinvestment in public schools, which has exacerbated long standing racial and economic inequities. In the mid-2000s, during the era of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), New Orleans was designated one of the lowest performing school districts in the country. As a result, the Louisiana Department of Education made the unprecedented decision to take over the largest school system in the state, subsequently converting the entire system into a collection of independent charter schools. At the time, New Orleans was the first and only school district in the country composed of 100% charter schools, meaning no feeder patterns and limited local school board control. As is the nature with charter schools, however, some succeed while others crumble under the weight of the challenges. This is the backdrop in which these educators apply their practice. 

Now, back to our connection circle. We asked participants to think back to their favorite or most impactful teachers in high school. We then asked teachers to think about what made these teachers their favorite and to keep their answers to one minute. What we experienced over the next 30 minutes was truly inspiring. Participants expressed a range of emotions while describing teachers that impacted their lives most. I was most struck by the fact that there wasn’t one “I was a great student” in the bunch. Participants shared stories of teachers going above and beyond to impact the lives of the students in their care in meaningful ways despite their many challenges. We heard stories of disengaged gun toting teens that were experiencing feelings of unworthiness and a lack of connection to school. Champions picking students up from “the bricks” (the nickname for the housing projects) to give them exposure to experiences outside of their communities. Champions who brought clarity and support to students that felt like oddballs without a sense of belonging in their school communities.

The circle was all that we had hoped for and more. Our goal was simply to surface the idea that, when they’re older, students don’t remember state tests, homework assignments or what grade they received in a teacher’s class. It’s those deep supportive relationships that students hold onto through adulthood, some forged through mutual understanding or adversity. The late great Rita Pierson said, “every child deserves a champion, but who are these champions?” 

Why do some teachers connect effortlessly with students while others struggle? In each story shared in our connection circle, the teacher exhibited empathy. The teacher and student either shared similar lived experiences and hardships, or the teacher understood that each student is unique, and that uniqueness was worth holding onto. As we imagine what this looks like on a larger scale, I will refer to research and the GRAD Partnerships’ definition of a student success system. Research tells us that one caring adult, our champion, can be the difference in whether a student graduates from high school on time. The GRAD Partnership, a collaborative of nine organizations working together to advance student success systems, has identified strong supportive relationships as a foundational piece to student support. It goes on to outline four types of supportive relationships including:

• school adults and students, 
• students and students, 
• school adults and school adults,
• and school adults and parents/caregivers. 

These relationships depend on a school culture of belonging, where everyone feels accepted and treated fairly. 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, since 1995, public schools have become browner and poorer in the last quarter century. Our teacher corps has remained steady with 74.3% of teachers being women, while 25.7% are men. The average age of the US teacher corps is 42 years old. The most common ethnicity of teachers is White (68.8%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (12.9%), Black or African American (10.1%) and Unknown (3.9%) according to the National Center for Education Statistics . Yet, empathy requires imagining what it feels like to be in someone else’s shoes, so to speak.

Can a teacher from a different ethnic group and economic status empathize with students of color? Of course they can, but it requires intentionality. It requires all of us to acknowledge our own implicit biases while learning about different cultures. This reminds me of an interview that Denzel Washington did with SiriusXM in which a correspondent asked his perspective on culture, inquiring why it was important to have a Black director for the movie Fences. In his explanation, Denzel referenced directors Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. He explained that Scorsese is capable of directing a movie like Schindler’s List and Spielberg has the skill necessary to direct Good Fellas, but there are cultural differences. He went on to illustrate this point by referencing the smell of a hot comb hitting hair on a Sunday morning. Speaking directly to the mostly Black cast members, he says you know, and I know what that smells like. In the words of Detective Alonzo “Lonzo” Harris, boom! 

Webster defines culture as the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group but, it is also a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. If we are serious about developing champions of the future, we must acknowledge that we know very little about each other. We must establish an instructional culture that values voices and experiences that in many cases are different from our own. In these times of breakaway districts, concentrated poverty, and Education Savings Accounts, no one is coming to save public education, at least not a mere mortal. We need champions to do that.