In unjust times, it's tempting to shrink your vision to fit the moment, but that would mean giving students less than they deserve. A commitment to racially just schools is about persistence in principle and creativity in practice. In Still Committed: How Educators and Teams Cultivate Just Schools in Unjust Times, Terrance L. Green offers guidance for educators working together to advance equity in schools, whether they are part of formally recognized equity teams, groups with a different name, or informal gatherings around a table.
The following excerpt introduces four anchors educators can rely on to help them frame their equity work in challenging environments without losing sight of their larger purpose.
When words are under attack, leaders and educators can feel like they are walking a tightrope: One wrong phrase and they risk igniting controversy, but avoiding contested language altogether drains the work of its meaning. What committed educators, leaders, and teams need are not clever word substitutions but deeper anchors that keep their framing steady. Four anchors can help leaders frame without losing the work:
- Purpose, not just words.
- Translation, not dilution.
- Context with evidence and stories.
- Holding the line.
Before I describe each anchor in turn, I want to warn you about taking the “all or nothing” approach. Sometimes, educators think they only have two options: Move boldly ahead with full steam or be silent, still, and actionless. But there are a lot of possibilities and actions between and beyond these two binary options. Let’s discuss four of them now.
Purpose, Not Just Words
When debates spiral around words, it is easy to forget why those words were chosen in the first place. Implementation science shows that successful change requires clarity of core components (Fixsen et al., 2005). However, scholars remind us, clarity is not just technical but moral. Gloria Ladson-Billings’s (2006) concept of education debt reframed the so-called achievement gap by exposing how inequities are not about student deficits but accumulated systemic harm. Anchoring in purpose forces leaders, educators, and teams to ask, “What injustice are we trying to repair?”
- Example: Instead of defending the abstract word equity, a principal, team, or educator might frame the purpose of a change directly: “Every student deserves the support they need to succeed at high levels. Right now, our data show that Black, Northern African, Middle Eastern, and Latinx students are not getting that chance. This is what our work is about.”
- Research Base: Fixsen and colleagues, 2005; Ladson-Billings, 2006
Leaders should not defend words abstractly but contextualize them with evidence and human stories of students in their classes, school, and district.
Translation, Not Dilution
Leaders can reframe contested terms into language that resonates locally, but they must resist erasure. Django Paris and Samy Alim (2017) argue that translation must sustain students’ cultural and linguistic practices, not water them down to appease dominant groups.
- Example: The term antiracist teaching might be reframed for a hostile audience as “ensuring our curriculum reflects all students and confronting historic wrongs when they show up.” The practice remains unchanged, but the entry point shifts.
- Research Base: Coburn, 2003; Morel and colleagues, 2019, on the dangers of “decoupling” change efforts; Paris & Alim, 2017, on culturally sustaining pedagogies
Context with Evidence and Stories
Framing is strongest when grounded in local realities. Geneva Gay (2010) has shown that acceptance of culturally responsive teaching gains power when it connects to stories of actual student engagement and achievement. Similarly, David Snow and Robert Benford (1988) note that frames are most persuasive when they resonate with lived experience. Leaders should not defend words abstractly but contextualize them with evidence and human stories of students in their classes, school, and district.
- Example: Rather than introducing the term restorative discipline practices, a superintendent might say, “Our data show that Black students here are suspended three times more often than their peers. Restorative conversations are how we confront and close that gap. During an empathy interview, an 8th grader shared, ‘That conversation kept me in class instead of at home for a week and helped me reengage with class.’”
- Research Base: Gay, 2010; Snow & Benford, 1988; Stone, 2012
Holding the Line
Some words cannot be abandoned without distorting reality. Derrick Bell’s (1992) theory of interest convergence teaches us that advancements for Black people often only happen when they converge with the interests of white people. In the same way, equity-based practices are often tolerated only when they serve dominant interests. Avoiding contested terms may ease conflict, but it can also betray the work. Leaders must decide in advance which words are nonnegotiable. Sonya Horsford and colleagues (2018) remind us that equity leadership is inherently political, and Decoteau Irby (2021) shows that naming racism directly is essential for educational change.
- Example: A district might allow the practice of culturally responsive teaching to be reframed as student-centered learning in certain parent communications, but it may refuse to erase the word “racism” from its equity policy, because silence on racism undermines truth.
- Research Base: Bell, 1992; Horsford and colleagues, 2018; Irby, 2021
Still Committed
When educators work together, they can withstand opposition, generate innovative solutions, and push schools and districts to transform. Still Committed offers the way forward for those who refuse to give up the fight for what's right.
