Promoting Excellence For All Facilitator's Guide

Promoting Excellence for All eCourse Facilitator's Guide: Module I

The resources included on this webpage (linked below) have been created to support facilitation of Module 1 of the PEFA eCourse: Understanding Race in Education, which was designed to help guide educators in becoming more equitable in their practices. These resources are intended for anyone providing professional development to districts and schools; including district and school administration, instructional coaches, teacher leaders, etc. Coaching considerations have been written into the facilitation guide as well; so it is encouraged that coaches also become familiar with the facilitation guide as a resource for facilitating professional development or during coaching sessions. The information from each of these resources should be adapted to your specific district, community, and school circumstances to maximize its impact.

Furthermore, each of these resources are intended to assist educational leaders in guiding their teams to identify educational gaps (specifically race based outcomes/gaps) to support team/professional learning communities in becoming more conscious of their biases, and to transform practices to more positively impact student learning outcomes. These resources provide school and district leaders, including coaches, the tools necessary to facilitate embedded professional development that support teachers in assessing and finding solutions for authentic and immediate problems of practice as part of a cycle of continuous improvement (Hawley & Valli, 1999; National Staff Development Council, 2010). Resources will help teams make a direct connection between learning and application in daily practice, thereby requiring active teacher involvement in cooperative, inquiry-based work (Hawley & Valli, 1999).

We recommend you review each of the following resources before facilitating each session:

1. Facilitator's Guide by Session
   • The Facilitator's Guide by Session includes a clear guide to each session, activities and pacing for the session, and a link to the handouts and resources necessary for participants. There are also coaching connections embedded into each session, empowering a coach to support implementation of new learning.
2. PEFA eCourse Introduction/Considerations
   • The PEFA eCourse Introduction and Considerations gives facilitators an overview of the PEFA eCourse and outlines important things facilitators can do to prepare for having race-based conversations.
3. Readiness Guide
   • The Readiness Guide includes essential questions addressed in each session, supporting facilitators in determining if they are prepared to lead each session. If a facilitator feels they are unprepared to address the essential questions within a session, it is crucial they engage in more learning before facilitating that session. They could also seek support from a facilitator with more readiness for that session before leading the session themselves.
4. Glossary of Key Terms
   • The glossary gives a working definition of key terms used in the PEFA eCourse to ensure common understanding among participants.
5. Extended Learning Resources
   • The Extended Learning Resources provide additional resources for extended learning on understanding race in education. We recommend sharing these resources with participants during each session to support continued learning.

If it would be beneficial for your school or district to participate in the PEFA eCourse individually or remotely as a group, the Disproportionality Technical Assistance Network (DTAN) is offering this course as on online eCourse twice a year. Please contact DTAN should you like additional information.

We want your feedback! Please complete this feedback form to help us ensure we are making the facilitator's guide as useful as possible for you and your participants. We will consider your feedback in updates to the facilitator's guide, as we continue to work together to close Wisconsin's racial achievement gaps. 

Thank you for engaging in this important work.