Education is a Right!

Not Just for the Rich or White!

NYCoRE’s 3^rd Annual Conference

Location: Vanguard High School

317 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10065

Date: Saturday, March 24, 2012

 CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Proposal application due: Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Conference Page (for more details)

Conference Overview:

Over the past year, our country and the world have witnessed increasingly visible protests against the influence of private pursuit of profit over our public institutions and interests. This spirit of protest has developed in tandem with the proliferation of spaces for critiquing the injustice of this system and organizing communities of resistance. An ongoing struggle within many of these spaces has been acknowledging the ways in which historical and ongoing racism has caused the pursuit of profit to have far more devastating effects on communities of Color than on White communities. The annual NYCoRE conference seeks to carry out anti-racist work by addressing these disparities in the context of our education system. Our goal is to carry forward the spirit of protest by critiquing the current profit-driven policies and culture of our school system, and specifically identify the ways in which racism is intertwined with those policies. We also seek to be a space for building something new, for taking steps toward the more just, equitable world of which we dream. Through this conference, we hope to build connections, to gain inspiration, and to share practical ideas for creating spaces that work to fight racism rather than ignoring it. To this end, we are seeking workshops that will be of relevance to educators in varied settings that are diverse in their focus topics. Relevant political critiques are welcomed, as are curricular ideas, classroom strategies, presentations on community work, and other ideas for inspiring practice. We are also specifically seeking workshops that contribute to bridging the gap that often exists between educators and young people by bringing the voices of youth into workshop sessions. All proposals should demonstrate relevance to the conference theme, described in detail below.

Goals of the Conference

• To share information and critical thinking around the conference theme, namely examining the relationship between the influence of private interests and the perpetuation of racial injustice
• To provide stakeholders in the education system with information and new ideas that can strengthen our effectiveness as activists, both within our classrooms (and other sites) and beyond them
• To forge connections between and among educators, researchers, parents, activists, and students, fostering new and innovative partnerships and collaborations
• To develop structures for ongoing discussion and working groups about education and social justice
• To organize a national voice in the ongoing debate over education reform
• To plan actions, advocacy, future meetings
• To bridge the gap between youth and educators by creating a space to make young voices heard.
• To develop and share ideas for inspiring practice, both inside classrooms and in communities

Conference Theme: Education is a Right – Not Just for the Rich or White!

In New York City, public schools have faced merciless budget cuts, resulting in growing class sizes, lack of materials, and huge layoffs. These cuts disproportionately affect schools in communities of Color. Meanwhile, our state and local government continue to award huge contracts to private consulting firms, charter schools, and other corporations. Patterns of resource distribution reveal the values of those making the funding decisions. These patterns are telling in their prioritization of profit over people, as well as in their disregard for communities of Color.

For this year’s conference, we are seeking proposals that explore the connections between the increasing privatization of our schools and racial injustice. We seek to create opportunities for deepening our understanding of the intersection of racism and the neo-liberal agenda so that we can more effectively organize against them. This is a forum for provocative questioning, for story-telling, for information-gathering, for inspiration, for developing our craft, for activism, for providing new fuel to the ongoing struggle for justice.

Workshop Topics

We welcome all proposals that are relevant to the theme described above. However, in the past, the following topics have been underrepresented, and we are actively seeking proposals that address them:

• The perspectives of young people told through their own voices
• Math
• Science
• Elementary school topics and curriculum
• Special education

Workshop Session Format

Applicants may submit proposals to facilitate a workshop. All sessions will be one hour and 30 minutes in length. Workshops are interactive sessions intended for 15-40 participants and may utilize a variety of formats including small group work, multimedia presentations, open discussion, and break-out sessions.

Workshop Session Characteristics

We are seeking workshops that are diverse in topic, intended audience, age-level focus, and format. What will unify all accepted proposals are the following characteristics:

• A critical perspective on the intersection of capitalist values and racism.
• Consistency with NYCORE’s Points of Unity (which can be found here: http://www.nycore.org/nycore–info/points–of–unity/
• An engaging, dynamic plan for workshop presentation using interactive pedagogical strategies

Please see the attached rubric for more information regarding criteria for evaluating proposals. In addition, please note that while we will be using the scores from the rubric to help inform our decision about which proposals to accept, our final decisions will be made through a more holistic process to ensure appropriate breadth and balance among conference topics.

Timeline:

• Proposal APPLICATION due: Monday, January 3, 2012
• Submit proposals on-line: http://www.nycore.org/conference/proposal-form/
• Notification of acceptance: Wednesday, January 26, 2012
• Accepted Facilitators confirm sessions by emailing us by Monday January 31, 2012

Conference Forms & Details

• Conference Proposal details: Proposal Detail
• Conference call for proposals: CfP.NYCoRE.conf.2012
• Rubric for proposal selection: 2012 Conference Workshop Rubric

Resource Sharing Tables:

Organizations can also participate by setting up an informational table in our resource sharing area. Please contact Rebecca Wolfe-Lamiero: rwolfelameiro@gmail.com or Diana Cordova: dcordova48@gmail.com

Questions/Contact Regarding Workshop Sessions:

Alanna Navitski: anavitski@gmail.com or Karla Tobar: kxtobar@gmail.com