Spoiler Alert: The Fix is about Seeing Privilege

Last time I concluded that to “fix” declining EQAO test scores, we need to “fix” equity. Fortunately/unfortunately, however, there’s no way equity can be fixed until we SEE what is inequitable. When we ignore the conditions that perpetuate inequities in educational contexts, the status quo becomes “the trouble with normal is it always gets worse” (Cockburn, 1983). The term 'status quo' is rarely a compliment—but because inertia is the biggest enemy of change in education systems, more of the same re: declining test scores is exactly what we have ahead, if we don’t change our approach to equity.

Every time we act as if privilege didn’t exist, we step further away from the schools we need, and the schooling system we already have is reinforced. That space, that gap between what is and what could be, undermines potential and limits futures. The reality that privilege exists is not only the reason for declining test scores in Ontario, but SEEING that could actually help us begin to resolve the mess. Today, I want to talk about hope and moving forward.

WHEN we consider that:

- white students are overrepresented in gifted programs in the Toronto District School Board (Brown & Parekh, 2010), underscoring systemic biases;

- racialized groups face higher suspension rates than averages in boards like Hamilton‑Wentworth and Peel (Tozer, 2023; CBC News, 2020); and

- nearly half (48%) of expelled students over a five‑year period in Ontario self‑identified as Black despite Black students comprising a smaller proportion of the overall population (Radebe, 2024),

we must acknowledge that educational statistics in Canada tell a story about belonging.

Paul Kuttner’s (2023) work on the right to belong in school makes it clear that belonging is complex, and not simply an experience but an active process that is “reciprocal, interpersonal…that involves choice, even though that choice is constrained by factors out of a person’s control” (p. 3).

Kuttner dismantles the notion of belonging as something that students are given (or not given) by others in schools, and posits a 6‑component framework of belongingness. Belonging at school is about many things, but foundationally is about how students negotiate their identities within the context of a larger community. For Kuttner, education is an inherently political space because it is here that human experience and agency come into direct contact with the boundaries concerning expectations and policies, and locates us within a grid of power. Kuttner asks, “Who is Us—and who is Them?” (Kuttner, 2023, p. 5).

In the coming days, I will be doing a deeper dive into the edges of what I am calling a New Pedagogy of Possibility. Asking critical questions that define a more equitable, productive, and safe educational system that includes ALL students at the table of learning is a priority. Everyone has the right to belong, to learn, and to thrive in school. Stay tuned.

References

Brown, R. S., & Parekh, G. (2010). Special education: Structural overview and student demographics (Research Report No. 10/11‑03). Toronto District School Board. https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/research/docs/reports/SpecEdStructuralOverviewStudentDemo.pdf

Cockburn, B. (1983). The trouble with normal is it always gets worse [Song]. On The trouble with normal [Album]. Columbia Records.

Kuttner, P. J. (2023). The right to belong in school: A critical, transdisciplinary conceptualization of school belonging. AERA Open, 9(3), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584231183407

Radebe, P. (2024). Anti‑Black racism in the Ontario public school system: Problematizing the labeling of young Black students as troublemakers. Journal of Black Studies, 55(5), 555–572. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219347241245365

Tozer, A. (2023, May 15). Data shows racialized students suspended at higher rate: HWDSB examines anti‑Islamophobia strategy and suspensions. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/hwdsb-anti-islamophobia-strategy-school-suspensions-1.6881150

CBC News. (2020, March 12). Review finds Black students disproportionately suspended in Peel. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-racism-1.5496611