OESIS Pebble Beach
Reimagining DEI Convention
at Stevenson School (CA)
Feb 7th and 8th, 2025
The Conference takes place at the Stevenson School (Pebble Beach CA).
The conference begins at 4.00 pm on February 7th and finishes at 6.00 pm on February 8th. Dinner on the 7th and Breakfast and Lunch on the 8th are included.
The conference begins at 4.00 pm on February 7th and finishes at 6.00 pm on February 8th. Dinner on the 7th and Breakfast and Lunch on the 8th are included.
7-Point Summer Plan to Rethink DEI
Step 1: Take a free personal inventory of your curriculum ideology. Have it mapped (like the image below) so you can see at a glance where you fall in terms of the tenets behind each of the four main curricular ideologies (Social Justice, Learner-Centered, Scholar Academic, and Social Efficiency). BTW, the image below captures the aggregate results of 69 Math teachers in our 2022 Survey of 343 teachers at 207 independent schools.
Step 2: Read our OESIS 2022 Teacher Survey in depth. Ask yourself why the responses on Social Justice skew the way they do. Would that be the same for you, your school or your department?
Step 1: Take a free personal inventory of your curriculum ideology. Have it mapped (like the image below) so you can see at a glance where you fall in terms of the tenets behind each of the four main curricular ideologies (Social Justice, Learner-Centered, Scholar Academic, and Social Efficiency). BTW, the image below captures the aggregate results of 69 Math teachers in our 2022 Survey of 343 teachers at 207 independent schools.
Step 2: Read our OESIS 2022 Teacher Survey in depth. Ask yourself why the responses on Social Justice skew the way they do. Would that be the same for you, your school or your department?
Step 3: Order the book "Curriculum Theory- Conflicting Visions & Enduring Concerns" by Professor Michael Schiro of Boston College. It is expensive $218 but instead, you can read the following articles on Intrepid that have dissected his work inside out: Why DEIJ is Desperately Looking for a Curriculum Date? and the series called The Next NAIS President: What Knowledge Should independent schools value most? The articles are free to OESIS member schools- ask Lynn for your free coupon code to register as a premium user.
Step 4: Order the book Faces at the Bottom of the Well by Derrick Bell. One of Harvard's first Black professors and a legal scholar, Bell is considered the real father of Critical Race Theory. Reflect on his pedagogical approach and what it might look like if, instead of telling people what to think, we let critical thinking be the foundation of critical race theory.
Step 5: Examine the long game. Read the book (see free pdf link) by the father of the Social Justice curriculum that few remember, George Counts: Dare the School Build a New Social Order. Interrogate your position regarding Dewey and the Learner-Centered Curriculum. What is his point about Purpose? What do you think of the purpose of the Scholar Academic ideology now that objective truth is under attack? How about the longevity of a Social Efficiency ideology in the Age of AI?
Step 6: And what about Anti-Semitism? It still seems like an outlier in most discussions of race, intersectionality, and social justice. Why has Holocaust education not worked? Register for the video recordings-based summer course of OESIS Dartmouth and watch/listen to them on the beach (video trailer). Don't wait: cohorts start mid-June.
Step 7: Having gotten this far, your head is spinning–you have learned so much and the whole picture starts to come into focus. You understand the problem from a curricular perspective. You are dying to collaborate about it but where will you find such dialogue? But no one will listen because they have all rushed headlong to the POCC and into DEIJ programming which is now falling apart. So what do you do?
You’re in luck! Register for OESIS Pebble Beach Reimagining DEI Convention, and insist that at least 4 colleagues come with you.
If you’re ready, ask OESIS to do a curricular ideological analysis of your whole school, division, or department so you come armed with the data you need (it's only available to member schools).
And finally, if you believe you can contribute and shape the conversation, consider doing a submission.
Step 4: Order the book Faces at the Bottom of the Well by Derrick Bell. One of Harvard's first Black professors and a legal scholar, Bell is considered the real father of Critical Race Theory. Reflect on his pedagogical approach and what it might look like if, instead of telling people what to think, we let critical thinking be the foundation of critical race theory.
Step 5: Examine the long game. Read the book (see free pdf link) by the father of the Social Justice curriculum that few remember, George Counts: Dare the School Build a New Social Order. Interrogate your position regarding Dewey and the Learner-Centered Curriculum. What is his point about Purpose? What do you think of the purpose of the Scholar Academic ideology now that objective truth is under attack? How about the longevity of a Social Efficiency ideology in the Age of AI?
Step 6: And what about Anti-Semitism? It still seems like an outlier in most discussions of race, intersectionality, and social justice. Why has Holocaust education not worked? Register for the video recordings-based summer course of OESIS Dartmouth and watch/listen to them on the beach (video trailer). Don't wait: cohorts start mid-June.
Step 7: Having gotten this far, your head is spinning–you have learned so much and the whole picture starts to come into focus. You understand the problem from a curricular perspective. You are dying to collaborate about it but where will you find such dialogue? But no one will listen because they have all rushed headlong to the POCC and into DEIJ programming which is now falling apart. So what do you do?
You’re in luck! Register for OESIS Pebble Beach Reimagining DEI Convention, and insist that at least 4 colleagues come with you.
If you’re ready, ask OESIS to do a curricular ideological analysis of your whole school, division, or department so you come armed with the data you need (it's only available to member schools).
And finally, if you believe you can contribute and shape the conversation, consider doing a submission.
"This was by far the most comprehensive, thoughtful, and varied diversity conference that I have been exposed to. " Brandon Saltz, Upper School Science Teacher, Harvey School (NY)