There's a partnership between District 742 and GRIP that includes the Kirwan Institute. The goals for the partners are to provide information about GRIP’s work with the Institute and to talk specifically about the opportunity to work together on goals that both the District and GRIP have in common (directly from our Equity VisionCard) by beginning with a focus group with the Kirwan Institute.
GRIP’s work with the Kirwan Institute includes Opportunity Mapping, a tool that analyzes underlying causes relating to accessing opportunities within the community. The tool can show community based disadvantages and inequities that affect quality of life, etc., as well as ways to unite community stakeholders. Another opportunity with Kirwan is the development of a communication strategy that would help to focus efforts to increase opportunities for families; it would also focus efforts on increasing student achievement and would help us to collaborate on agreed upon goals and solutions.
A first step in terms of communications strategies is to agree on some goals for dialogue. It was stated that focus dialogue groups in our community would assist in developing a communication strategy. A focus group could be organized to learn about perceptions and beliefs, as well as develop formative language based on common ground. Information would be gathered that allow policy makers to make informed decisions and create public service messages to transform community member perceptions. Groups could initially be separated, and then brought together to talk about common barriers, values, and themes they share, as well as a common understanding. Additional goals would include an inclusive curriculum that honors cultures and history of students.
The direction of the focus groups would need to be worked out. The Kirwan Institute is working with a number of school districts across the nation. St. Cloud is much like other regional centers that are becoming more diverse, and other smaller districts could benefit from the work St. Cloud is doing.
We believe we have some of the finest programs in the country for our students, and that anything we can do to reach more families in the community to build those bridges and partnerships, and to gain an understanding that this District is about moving forward with all students (not just those in poverty situations) would be beneficial.
We are recommending that focus groups be centered on the integration/equity VisionCard and how it aligns with GRIP goals, and then problem solve on how to make movement on that VisionCard. The Kirwan Institute would help us identify deeper issues surrounding the goals and allow us to ask complex research questions.
There’s a report going back to the Kirwan Institute that the District is on board with this (no cost to the school district). Equity Services staff will be involved in the equity VisionCard. We will add an area about equitable curriculum as an additional line in the VisionCard. All players will determine research questions to be addressed with the opportunity mapping provided by the Kirwan Institute.
