Professional Learning Opportunities

We’ve heard that we all have biases, but what does that actually mean? And more importantly, how does it affect our daily interactions in the workplace? In this workshop we will not only learn how to define and identify implicit biases, but also understand how we are affected by and affect others with deep-rooted preconceptions. Furthermore, we will learn what we can do to acknowledge and address our biases in order to create a more inclusive and just environment. 

Duration: 60 minutes

Target Audience: All - Board Members, Leaders, Faculty, Staff, Students and Parents

Learning Objectives

Understand implicit bias and its impact

Build a foundation to name and identify biases

Identify and reflect where you belong on the continuum of bias and anti-bias

Connect how bias influences how we view others (and how our own bias impacts our daily interactions in a school community, including the classroom, in hiring, in admissions, etc.)  

Create and use strategies to overcome biases

We want to believe our hiring decisions are fair, inclusive and equitable. However, unless we explicitly take steps to identify and address the biases that exist throughout the process, we will miss out on some exceptional candidates. This training expands on The Impact of Implicit Bias workshop to drill down on its effects on recruitment and hiring in schools. Once aware of how biases impact the recruitment process, participants will examine their current practices and take steps to reduce the influence of recurring prejudices and preferences. When armed with this new information, we are more likely to slow down our decision-making process, resulting in more equitable and inclusive outcomes.

Prerequisites: Implicit Bias Workshop

Duration: 90 minutes

Target Audience: Anyone involved in hiring in your organization

Learning Objectives

Name the recruitment biases

Acknowledge our own biases

Anticipate the ways our biases influence how we consider candidates when we recruit

Examine the complete recruitment process and the different stages where bias often occurs

Develop effective strategies to address biases

First impressions, including a new hire’s first year with your school, matter. The onboarding process begins when a job offer is accepted and refers to how new hires are integrated into your organization. This can be especially challenging when employees arrive from around the globe with different experience levels, and unique lived experiences. How you make them feel seen, valued, and supported while also exposing them to your school's structure, culture, and mission not only influences their ability to be productive contributors to your organization, but also shapes their contract renewal decision.

Duration: 60 minutes

Target Audience: Anyone involved in the onboarding process

Learning Objectives

Create a common understanding of onboarding and why it matters

Recognize the different expectations and experiences of new hires

Learn how to best identify gaps in the current onboarding process

Develop practices to accommodate the diverse needs of new employees

All organizations aim to keep their best employees, but this can be especially challenging in less diverse communities. However, all schools can take small actions which will have impactful and lasting effects. Learning how to differentiate what you already do to meet the diverse needs of your employees is an essential starting point. In this workshop, participants will also learn how to create an employee retention program that provides a foundation for learning and training where employees feel safe, included, and valued.

Duration: 60 minutes

Target Audience: Anyone involved in the recruiting and onboarding process

Learning Objectives

Identify the challenges of retaining faculty from underrepresented groups

Recognize how identifiers influence individual experience

Develop effective strategies for feedback and communication

Learn how to differentiate the response

Schools strive to be a place where their members all share a sense of belonging. When a community truly belongs to us, we feel comfortable bringing our whole selves to work or school daily. Found widely in any organization working to be more inclusive, from universities to global businesses, affinity groups are especially powerful for students, faculty, and families from underrepresented communities in our schools. They are places that allow individuals to share, connect, grow, and learn, and as a result, the entire community benefits.

Duration: 60 minutes

Target Audience: All - Board Members, Leaders, Faculty, Staff, Students and Parents

Learning Objectives

What are affinity groups and what are the common misconceptions

How different constituencies within your school benefit from affinity groups

What are the key components of successful affinity groups

Planning the implementation effectively and anticipating the questions

Who are you? A simple question should invite a simple answer. But there is nothing simple about you, me, or the society in which we live. And this complexity of identity does not disappear when we go to work or school. This workshop will explore how our multifaceted identities intersect across race, gender, class, age, ability, and much more. We will understand how different aspects of our identity become more salient depending on the given environment and how that can lead to advantages or disadvantages.

Duration: 60-minutes

Target Audience: All - Board Members, Leaders, Faculty, Staff, Students and Parents

Learning Objectives

Explore the multiple identities of a person

Recognize how the saliency of our specific identifiers change depending on the setting

Empathize with others and their identities

Create your own narrative for your identities

How can we use our identities to improve our communities? This workshop builds on the identity workshop and empowers participants to positively influence their communities. Within a given context, some of our identifiers afford us privilege while others do not. This workshop helps participants identify how key aspects of their identity influence their own daily interactions and those of others around them. By recognizing where we hold social power (and we all do), we can determine how and when to advocate for others while creating a more just and equitable school.

Prerequisite: The Complexity of Identity

Duration: 60-minutes

Target Audience: All - Board Members, Leaders, Faculty, Staff, Students and Parents

Learning Objectives

Define privilege

Recognize that privileges and oppression come with different identities

Acknowledge the different ways identities have advantages and disadvantages

Utilize our position and privilege to improve our community

In addition to the workshops listed above, The Diversity Collective works with schools to:

Build a demographic survey of your community, including data analysis

Create a needs assessment of your school, including setting realistic goals and reasonable timelines

Consultation and workshops specifically tailored for members of your school community (board, leadership, teachers, students and parents)

DC consultants are available for online and in-person training and workshops. We aim to be as inclusive and accessible as possible and will adjust our prices when necessary. For more information about fees and availability, please contact us.