CAIS: Equity Pedagogy and the Diversity Journey -- Lessons Learned by Lick Wilmerding

A bit of orientation. Lick-Wilmerding School (commonly known as Lick)   is a coeducational college-preparatory school in San Francisco with an enrollment of about 440 to 450 in grades 9-12.  It began in 1895  as a school to produce "educated craftsman."  In the mid-1950s, Lick began developing a college-preparatory curriculum. Two great changes happened in the early 1970s:

1. Lick, after 30 years of boys' only returned to co-education
2. After over 70 years of being tuition-free,  began charging tuition

It's not perfectly clear where Lick was between the early 1970s and the late 1980s. However , Al Adams was named headmaster in 1988.  In a letter he wrote to the school community reflecting on his service, he was charged then with three goals:

1. to crystallize the School’s mission;
2. to ensure that Lick would always be accessible to students from all walks of life, and
3. to transform the technical arts so that they would become a magnet for students and more integral to Lick’s curriculum.

The second goal was the subject of the session described below.

Lick is, for a day school, exceptionally fortunate financially, which makes it possible for them to attract a wider range of socio-economic diversity than some of their peers in California.

According to Lick's 2007 IRS form 990 (the most recent available from Guidestar) the annual budget was $18.5 million.  The endowment was reported at about $40 million, valued at cost (the fair market value certainly must be much higher).  It allocated about $3.5 million in tuition grants to 175 of its students, or 39% of the student body.  Lick does not use the phrase "financial aid". Rather it uses the phrase "flexible tuition".  Diversity at Lick is defined thusly: "we appreciate the robust richness of Bay Area families. As a result we include ethnic, racial, socio-economic, geographic and various talents in our definition of diversity."

Session Description from the meeting program:

Equity Pedagogy and the Diversity Journey Al Adams, Head of School, (see his articles and Karen Eshoo, Assistant Head of School, Lick-Wilmerding High School 

It is one thing to provide access to our schools for students from diverse backgrounds; it is another to build a culture where they and their families feel authentically included. It is yet another to ensure that they succeed. Probing hard questions about the relationship between teaching practice and our school’s commitment to embrace students from all walks of life, Lick-Wilmerding’s faculty is addressing

1. the challenges of seeing that our students are fully known, including any dimension of their lives or learning styles that inhibit their progress and
2. expanding teachers’ pedagogical palettes to give every student the best possible chance to succeed, while enriching the learning environment for all students.

The broader context for this workshop is Lick’s two decades of intense wrestling with the thorny questions related to access, inclusion, and success in a diverse independent school.

I've been wrestling with how to summarize this presentation for several days.  The take-away points for other schools isn't the number of students whose parents do not pay the market-rate tuition, or how big Lick's budget is.

The point is that Lick, over the past two decades, has developed four elements in tandem:

1. A coherent underlying philosophy of inclusion and diversity that continues to evolve based on experience;
2. A continuing commitment to operationalize the philosophy through the school's  administrative structure, programs,  requirements for both the teaching staff and the students.
3. continuing commitment to provide both the time and the resources for the entire community to do diversity work.
4. continuing commitment to testing whether or not Lick's approach to diversity and multicultural education is in fact "working" -- both in the sense of raising student achievement and in the sense of creating a community where all feel known and understood.
5. continuing commitment to having the sense and the courage to alter programs or processes that aren't working.

Some takeaway thoughts

Lick does not use the phrase "financial aid", preferring to use "flexible tuition".  All families pay something.  In other words, the framing is that all families pay according to their resources, rather than the Bountiful School Helping The Less Fortunate. 

As part of the continuing self-assessment as to what makes diversity work, the administration rolled both the cost of textbooks and food service into the annual tuition amount -- no more nickel and diming or budget surprises for families. (I'm not sure about field trips)  

Lick hosts an orientation each summer for "families new to independent schools" -- using this structure, rather than an orientation for families who are not paying the full market rate, has had benefits.

Some resources:

• Download James Banks On Multiculturalism and Equity Pedagogy(pdf)
• Download Albert M. Adams Essay- Access, Affordability, Inclusion And Success (pdf)
• Center for Multi-cultural education
  

Reporting from the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) 2010 Heads & Trustees Conference

• Overview & "What Is A Private School?  What Is An Independent School"
• Keynote: Mark David Milliron at CAIS 2010:  “Ten Emerging Insights on Learning and the Road Ahead” --Elaborations & Reflections; Live Tweeting a Presentation
• Equity Pedagogy and the Diversity Journey -- Lessons Learned by Lick Wilmerding
• Data-Informed Decision Making Lessons from Crane School
• Charter Schools and the Shifting Educational Landscape
• Closing Keynote from NAIS President Patrick Bassett  The "New Normal" -- A Game-Changing Model for Financially Sustainable Schools

Comments

[Miss Incognegro]

Hi, Liz!

It's been a long time since I've posted here.
So, it's nice to be back.

I think many independent schools, led by misguided intention, threw a lot of money at diversity, without having concrete goals. It's not just about the money. As the mission of Lick states, it's also about inclusion and
success. A full tuition ride means nothing if there's the belief on the part of faculty and staff that "those kids can't succeed" or don't feel safe and
included.

I also like the fact that Lick orients families new to independent schools, and requires all families to pay according to their ability to pay. Again, many schools provide the full ride, even though many families can, in fact, pay something. I don't believe in entitlements such as tuition remission for faculty kids, or on the basis of race/ethnicity. Yes, we want to encourage faculty and staff at independent schools to enroll their kids, and yes, we want schools which are racially, ethnically and socio-economically diverse, but providing full scholarships to attain these ends don't send the right message. At my place of employ, faculty and staff families get 95% tuition remission, which comes out of the financial aid budget. The thing is, many of these families can pay much more than 5% of the tuition.

[fridan0302]

I loved this post. I really like the ideas they provide and as the subject development. thank you very much!