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Showing posts from October, 2021

The Curb-Cut Effect

When I received my copy of Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance ) magazine last month and read the cover article on the “Curb-Cut Effect,” a lightbulb went off.  This was such a clear and concise way to explain much of what we are trying to do through our DEIJ work.  You can read the article here , but this is the gist of what I took away: In the 1970s we started cutting curbs in cities and installing ramps to improve access to city spaces for people in wheelchairs.  It was a targeted intervention to help one group of people.   In the 50 years since then, curb-cuts and ramps have improved accessibility for people with strollers, delivery men and women, those with luggage, etc.  A targeted intervention for one group has improved conditions for many other groups .  Making changes to our teaching practice or school policy to improve access to our curriculum, the physical building, our extracurricular activities, or our school community and culture as a whole, for any one stu