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Inquiry Series
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Current Year: '25-'26 School Year
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- September: What is keeping us together, focused, and motivated to do this work in 2025?
- October: Revisiting the Helms White Identity Model
- November: Learning from White Anti-Racists of the Past
- December: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in ourselves and our institutions?
- January: How can we create classroom culture that resists white supremacy and that nourishes Black joy?
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Current Year: '25-'26 School Year
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If this is your first year doing this series, you might consider using our Inquiry Series 3 material for the year or hosting an orientation meeting using our September material before moving on to the current month.
Last summer, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down affirmative action. In particular, the Court ruled that college admissions can no longer consider race as one of many factors in deciding which of the many qualified applicants are admitted. This created confusion for students deciding how to approach their essays and uncertainty for those advising them. The Court’s decision allows universities to consider an applicant’s discussion of how race affected their life as long as they tie such considerations to the applicant’s individual lived experiences of resilience, courage, or leadership. What this means in practice remained unclear this past admissions season.
While you may not advise juniors or seniors thinking about college, many of our students navigate some sort of admissions process. Many 8th graders apply to attend magnet schools in their districts. Many high school students apply to IB and AP programs within their schools. This week, we encourage you to think about the role of race in whichever admissions process you might be connected to.
Primary Resource: A Confusing New World for College Applicants
Last summer, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down affirmative action. In particular, the Court ruled that college admissions can no longer consider race as one of many factors in deciding which of the many qualified applicants are admitted. This created confusion for students deciding how to approach their essays and uncertainty for those advising them. The Court’s decision allows universities to consider an applicant’s discussion of how race affected their life as long as they tie such considerations to the applicant’s individual lived experiences of resilience, courage, or leadership. What this means in practice remained unclear this past admissions season.
While you may not advise juniors or seniors thinking about college, many of our students navigate some sort of admissions process. Many 8th graders apply to attend magnet schools in their districts. Many high school students apply to IB and AP programs within their schools. This week, we encourage you to think about the role of race in whichever admissions process you might be connected to.
Primary Resource: A Confusing New World for College Applicants
Questions:
- What sort of admissions processes do your students navigate? Independent/magnet high schools? IB/AP/Honors courses? College?
A) How do you advise and support students of color as they navigate these processes? How do you advise and support white students, especially to think critically about racialized narratives of admissions? - If there are any admissions programs, such as independent schools, magnet programs or IB/AP/advanced courses, how equitable and accessible are the admissions processes for these programs?
A) What is your application process like?
B) Are there barriers to the application process that could affect students based on race or class? How could you dismantle these barriers?
C) Is the committee in charge of these decisions made up of individuals with diverse identities? - If you are an elementary school educator, how much do tests and test prep play a role in your curriculum? What effect would this have on students of color or poor/working class students in particular?
Secondary Resources:
- Students Navigate College Admissions After Affirmative Action’s End
- Broadening Access to Advanced Placement
- IB: From Principles into Practice (p. 30-31 for Student Selection Process)
Facilitation Reference Guide:
- Set a day and time for your group to meet - Make sure to send reminders. If you’re meeting in person, snacks are always a good idea!
- Send this month’s Primary Resource to your group. Look through the additional readings to see if there is another reading that might be better suited to your group and its interests.
- Prepare yourself to facilitate by reading through our Norms and Discussion Protocol.
- Pass the Hat and collect donations for your choice of Heights Philadelphia or Beyond 12 this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for next month by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on June 1st.
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year six, we hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.
Pass The Hat:
In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.
At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add “Building Anti-Racist White Educators” after your school name
Your choice of Heights Philadelphia or Beyond 12.
Heights Philadelphia is “committed to transforming the pathways to college and career for Philadelphia’s students. That’s why Heights has merged the resources of Philadelphia Futures and Steppingstone Scholars to become the most dynamic educational nonprofit in Philadelphia.
Together, we’re able to accomplish more for students: More holistic support from coordinators and advisors. More sustainable access to academic and workforce opportunities for Black, Brown, and first-generation students. And more advising relationships with students spanning from middle school into their professional careers.”
Beyond 12 “is a national technology-based nonprofit that aims to increase the number of students from under-resourced communities who graduate from U.S. colleges and universities, and translate their degrees into meaningful employment and choice-filled lives.”