“It is impossible to discuss closing the achievement gap without acknowledging the role of race and culture. In schools, as in other organizations, all ethnic groups, including white Americans, bring their particular cultural values to their environment. Consequently, those environments (schools or organizations) develop cultural values, which may be conscious or subconscious, but they exist. To reach students, teachers need a cultural understanding of themselves, the students they teach, the families that raise them, and the communities that house them. This level of consciousness benefits the students, teachers, parents, and community.”

— Superintendent Jack O’Connell, California, 2008



Key Benefits

Schools that complete the
Ensemble program will:

  • Have more effective tools with which to teach a culturally diverse population
  • Build trust between school staff, local families, and communities
  • Understand the impact of culture and socioeconomic differences on teaching, learning and student development
  • Establish relationships between school staff and community-based organizations
  • Improve the overall school climate.


The Center for Collaboration and the Future of Schooling

All seminars and direct technical assistance is delivered in partnership with The Center for Collaboration and the Future of Schooling – an Ohio-based consulting firm committed to helping improve learning opportunities for all children, especially those from low income and disenfranchised communities. www.futureofschooling.org

Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League

Ensemeble is delivered to schools in partnership with the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, a local nonprofit with a mission to enable people of color to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights. www.mwul.org

Gilliam Foundation

Ensemble is delivered to schools in partnership with the Gilliam Foundation, a local donor-advised fund established by the Gilliam family to facilitate their charitable support of a range of community needs and opportunities.

Ensemble

Build a Respectful School Culture and Develop Positive
Relationships Among Students, Families, Staff, and the Community

The Ensemble program is a seminar series that helps the entire school staff better relate to an increasingly diverse student population. This research-based program begins with a site audit to determine the school’s cultural make-up and current practices. Audit results are used to customize the on-site seminars, which fuse professional development and relationship building in an integrated, site-specific program.

A signature feature of the Ensemble program is the cultivation of strong, collaborative partnerships between the school and local community-based organizations. Such partnerships embed the school in the community, and provide additional resources for students and families.

While specifics may vary to address the findings in the site audit, the following summary conveys the general framework of the seminar series.

Between seminar sessions, schools have access to an interactive Web-based tool that provides supplemental instructional materials and resources, as well as ongoing engagement for participants.  This web based tool has been developed by the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League (MWUL), and is offered as part of the Ensemble training through a partnership between MWUL and Innovative Schools.


Seminar 1

Teachers explore information about themselves and their students and examine how cultural context impacts their perceptions and interpretations of behavior.  Participants create student profiles as inputs into their emerging cultural frames, and identify key community-based organizations and potential partners.


Seminar 2

Teachers review student profiles and discuss the challenges of creating meaningful school-community partnerships.


Seminar 3

A Community Panel Presentation allows educators and representatives from community-based organizations to focus and discover shared concerns about helping all students succeed. Potential collaborative opportunities are explored.


Seminar 4

School leaders and teacher teams prepare for visits with potential partnering community organizations. They reflect on the Community Panel Presentation outcomes, review information packets about each of the organizations they will visit, and discuss guidelines for gathering further information.


Seminar 5

School teams make pre-arranged visits to potential partnering community-based organizations, interview each organization’s Executive Director and other representatives, then review the information gathered and discuss opportunities for partnerships.


Seminar 6

School teams develop an action plan for collaborating with selected community-based organizations.