Join WestEd’s Natalie Walrond and Dr. Saroja Warner at the 2022 National Coalition on Education Equity (NCOEE) Conference, October 5-7, at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis. The theme of the conference is Equity in Action: Research, Policies and Practices to Successfully Educate Students of Color.
NCOEE gathers educators, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers committed to equity to explore research, policies, and practices to improve education outcomes for students of color, marginalized students, and students with disabilities.
The goal of the conference is for attendees to learn and share transformational programs and policies to improve student outcomes and to form a network of educators who will, over time, develop a national plan for education equity.
Natalie Walrond and Saroja Warner are Distinguished Speakers at the event, which is co-sponsored by WestEd. Natalie serves as Director of the national Center to Improve Social & Emotional Learning and School Safety housed at WestEd. She works nationally to build state and local capacity to integrate evidence-based approaches to social and emotional development and to school safety with academic teaching and learning. Also, as WestEd’s Director of Cross-Sector Initiatives, she helps the agency develop bodies of work that invite partnership across social sectors (such as education, health, justice, and child welfare) to strengthen children, families, and communities.
Dr. Saroja Warner, Director of Educator Development and Diversity at WestEd, is committed to ensuring each child experiences teaching and learning in classrooms and schools led by racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse and culturally responsive educators. She is a leading national expert on the research and evidence base related to Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education (CRSE), educator diversity and effectiveness, educator preparation and professional learning, and school and district improvement.
October 6, 2022
Plenary Session #2B: Health & Wellness is NOT an Option
Speaker: Natalie Walrond
Time: 9:50 a.m. – 10:40 a.m.
Safe and culturally affirming learning environments are critical for achieving equitable outcomes, particularly for underserved students. This presentation and panelist discussion will include lessons from research and practice about how in culturally affirming spaces, small practices have big payoffs—pronouncing students’ names correctly, speaking positively about families and communities in front of students, and sharing one’s own intercultural experiences—and hold significant value for students’ academic progress. These spaces encourage meaningful engagement, communicate belonging, validate students’ and adults’ lived and historical experiences, center culture as a learning vehicle, and promote authentic stakeholder connection.
October 7, 2022
Plenary Session #3A: Advancing Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education in the Era of Truth and Decay
Speaker: Saroja Warner
Time: 8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Racial inequities, particularly in education, that have long existed and have been exacerbated by the events of the pandemic make the need for culturally responsive and sustaining education (CRSE) more important than ever before. At the same time, the political climate has jeopardized decades of work to advance CRSE. In her keynote remarks, Dr. Saroja Warner will share her thoughts and perspectives on the importance of CRSE and examples of how education leaders across the country are overcoming obstacles to advance CRSE in the service of educational equity.
Other Distinguished Speakers:
- Linda Darling-Hammond, President, California State Board of Education
- Robert Scott, Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, U.S. Congress
- Kenneth Wesson, Neuroscientist, Education Consultant