America Never Was America to Me: Race and Equity in US Public Schools

EDUC 114C/EDUC 314C/CSRE 114C/AFRICAAM 114C

Facilitator: Jessica Stovall (she/her/hers)

jstovall@stanford.edu
(608) 852-6945
School of Ed 50, Office Hours By Appointment

Course Description: This cross-disciplinary course will use the 10-part docu-series America to Me to
discuss the complexities of race and equity in US schools. The series follows a year in the life of a
racially diverse, well-resourced high school outside Chicago, providing an in-depth look at the effects
of race, equity, culture and privilege on educational opportunities, and offers insights into the teenage
search for personal identity in today's climate. Two of the people featured in the series will be a part
of the class, and after screening each episode, a Stanford professor will give a short talk inspired by
the content of that episode. The talks will span several disciplines and theoretical perspectives,
including Critical Race Theory, History, Psychology, Youth Development, Film Studies, Linguistics, and
Teacher Education. Following each talk, students will engage in critical discussion around race and
equity in education. Episode 10 will air during Final Exam week, but there will be no final exam.

Essential Course Questions:

● How does race play out in the choices that students make and how they are defined?
● What is the impact of racial predictability of student achievement on academic success?
Discipline? Socio-emotional health?
● How is race predictable in your school, community, neighborhood, and housing practices? Are
there interventions? How are people interrupting those predicabilities?
● Who or what has had the most influence on your own racial identity development? How do you
know?
● What is the impact of race on white students versus students of color as they navigate OPRF?
● Why is racial identity development work in the classroom important?
● What have you learned about yourself while watching the stories and teachers at OPRFHS?
Has your perception of yourself or those around you changed?
● How do you take ownership in the spaces you are in to interrupt racism and inequality?

Course Expectations: I expect that you will:

● Attend class every week on time
● Be open-minded to new ideas and practices while also sharing your own wisdom and ideas
● Use devices for class-related work only
● Engage in rigorous and open-minded class participation
● Collaborate and build community, as we recognize we need each other to help us be better
listeners and act with more courage.
● Communicate with instructor via email if you need additional support or an extension.
Course Assessments

Each week you will fill out a short online survey and reflection after each session, which will be due by
Sunday at 11:59 p.m. the week after each class.

At the end of the course, you will turn in 3-6 page reflection on the primary learnings you got from the
series, the lectures, and the readings.

Course Structure

Time Activity

5:30-5:55 Optional dinner

5:55-7:00 Viewing of episode of America to Me

7:00-7:30 Informal Lecture from Stanford Professor

7:30-8:00 Small group discussions inspired by the content of the episode and the
short lecture

Please note that class will begin at 5:30 on the first and last day of class. For the first class, it’s to
meet the facilitator and get to know other classmates, as it’s a public lecture and therefore important
to go through class protocols before everyone shows up. For the last class, it’s because episode 10 is
90 minutes.

Class formally goes until 7:50, although the public will stay until 8 p.m. Please feel free excuse
yourself at 7:50 as needed.

Course Readings

Note: Lecturers may provide readings to supplement their lecture, and these readings will be added to
the syllabus a week before each session begins.

Week One

Required

DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004). “So When It Comes Out, They Aren’t That Surprised That It Is
There”: Using Critical Race Theory as a Tool of Analysis of Race and Racism in Education.
Educational Researcher, 33(5), 26–31.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding
Achievement in U.S. Schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3–12.

Singleton, G. E., & Hays, C. (2008). Beginning courageous conversations about race. Everyday
antiracism: Getting real about race in school, 18-23.
Optional

Lewis, A. E., & Diamond, J. B. (2015). Despite the best intentions: How racial inequality thrives in
good schools. Oxford. Oxford University Press.

Nieto, S. (2008). Nice is not enough: defining caring for students of color. Everyday Antiracism:
Getting real about Race in School, 28-31.

Wheatley, Margaret J (2002) “Willing to Be Disturbed” Turning to one another: simple conversations
to restore hope to the future San Francisco: Berrett-Koshler Publishers, Inc., 2002

Film Platform: In the case of an absence, please watch the episode from home. You may also want to
rewatch full or portions of episodes for your thinking and writing. As America to Me is still on the paid
Starz network, please use the following steps to access the series for free (only available through
June):
1. Go to https://filmplatform.net/america-to-me-registration/
2. Input this code into the "Conference Code" box (this is case sensitive): STANFORD2019
3. You will receive a link to activate your registration via email. Be sure to check your
spam/junk folder. This email often ends up there!
4. Click to activate. It will take you to a confirmation page. You will then receive a final
email with registration details before you can start using the tools and site.

Honor Code: Students are expected to adhere to Stanford’s honor code. According to the Office of
Judicial Affairs (OJA) website, “For purposes of the Stanford University Honor Code,
plagiarism is defined as the use, without giving reasonable and appropriate credit to or
acknowledging the author or source, of another person’s original work, whether such work is made up
of code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or other form(s).”

For further information, please consult the OJA website:

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/vpsa/judicialaffairs/students/plagiarism.sources.html

Students with Documented Disabilities: Students who may need an academic accommodation based
on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE).
Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable
accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in
which the request is made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice
is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-
1066, URL: http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/oae).
Course Lecturers in Order of Appearance

Week 1 Episode 1: What’s the Big Deal About Oak Park?

04/01/19 Synopsis: The school year begins at OPRF for Grant, Tiara, Charles, Terrence
and Ke’Shawn; controversy over a Black Lives Matter assembly still
reverberates as the school confronts years of racial inequities.
 Amy Gerstein, Executive Director of the John W. Gardner
Center for Youth and their Communities

Amy Gerstein joined the Graduate School of Education as Executive Director

of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities in 2009. In
this capacity, she provides leadership and strategic direction for the
Center’s community-based research and policy work. Gerstein brings the
rich experience of a career in educational policy and research, curriculum
and instruction, district reform, professional development, and project
management to her leadership role at the Gardner Center.

With extensive ties to Stanford’s near-neighbor community as well as a

national profile in the fields of education and youth development, Gerstein is
actively involved in fostering relationships between the university and youth-
serving organizations to catalyze community change—close to home and in
cities across the country. A skilled coalition-builder, she oversees a staff of
researchers and policy analysts engaged in a program of rigorous research
and capacity building that brings together and informs practitioners, policy
makers, educators and youth advocates.

Gabriel Townsell, Stanford University Junior and America to Me

series subject

Jessica Stovall, Stanford University PhD Student and America

to Me series subject

Jessica Stovall is a first-year PhD student in Stanford’s Graduate School of

Education’s Race Inequality and Language in Education program or RILE,
and she is a also Teaching Fellow in Stanford’s Teacher Education Program
(STEP). Previously, she taught English Language Arts for 11 years at Oak
Park River and Forest High School (OPRFHS) in Oak Park, Illinois, where she
worked to interrupt systemic racial achievement disparities. Her work at
OPRFHS is featured in Steve James’ 2018 documentary series, America to
Me, on the Starz network. In 2014, Jessica was recognized with a Fulbright
Distinguished Award in Teaching, where spent a semester in Wellington,
New Zealand, studying educational debts between white and indigenous
Māori students. Since her return, Jessica has embarked on two ambitious
education projects – a comprehensive teacher professional development
program and a workbook for teachers – both focused on eliminating racial-
predictability of student achievement. She holds a MA in Literature from
Northwestern University, and a BS in Secondary Education from the
University of Wisconsin--Madison.

Week 2 Episode 2: Stranger in a Room

04/08/19 Synopsis: Teacher Jess Stovall intervenes in Ke'Shawn's academic
struggles; his mother shares her own troubled history at OPRF; senior
Kendale and junior Chanti grapple with identity; the Homecoming dance is
very special for Grant.

Dereca Blackmon, Associate Dean and Executive Director of

the Diversity Education

Dereca is an educator, facilitator and spiritual activist with over

25 years experience supporting communities in radical healing
and strategic development. She has worked with a wide variety
of corporate, government, nonprofit and community-based
groups to facilitate “uncommon conversations” on issues of
race, gender, class and social justice.

Dereca is also a Stanford alumni with a distinguished history of

leadership and service in local and national organizing efforts
on subjects as diverse as ethnic studies and police
accountability, including serving as a lead architect in the
movement for justice in the murder of Oscar Grant, III in
Oakland, California. She is co-instructor for Psych 103
Intergroup Communication, an experiential course that
examines and explores group identity. Additionally, Dereca is
co-founder of Aya Unlimited, LLC, a social-justice consulting
firm that specializes in research on the intersection of race,
gender and class.
Week 3 Episode 3: There is No Pain That Compares to the Struggle
04/15/19 Synopsis: Kendale wrestles to become a starter; Chanti wrestles with
emotional trauma; Jess takes on the principal; senior Jada takes on a
teacher; OPRF's football team has a big game and a score to settle.

Dr. Clayborne Carson, Professor of American History, Director

of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute

Selected in 1985 by Mrs. Coretta Scott King to edit and publish

the papers of her late husband, Stanford University historian
Clayborne Carson has devoted most of his professional life to
the study of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the movements King
inspired.

Under Carson's direction, the King Papers Project has produced

seven volumes of a definitive, comprehensive edition of King's
speeches, sermons, correspondence, publications, and
unpublished writings. Dr. Carson has also edited numerous
other books based on King's papers, including The
Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2005 the King
Papers Project became part of the Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, with
Dr. Carson serving as its founding director.
Week 4 Episode 4: There’s Nothing Funny About Race!
04/22/19 Synopsis: Jada's conflict with a teacher grows more intense; Ke'Shawn's
run-in threatens his grade; Grant pursues love; Terrence loves Halloween
much more than school; Charles and Chanti audition for the poetry slam
team.

Dr. Bryan A. Brown, Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the

Graduate School of Education, Professor of Teacher Education

Dr. Brown’s research interest explores the relationship between

student identity, discourse, classroom culture, and academic
achievement in science education. He focuses on the social
connotations and cultural politics of science discourse in
small-group and whole-group interaction. Additionally, his
research work in science education examines how teacher and
student discourse serve to shape learning opportunities for
students in science classrooms. Dr. Brown's work in science
education in urban communities focuses on developing
collaborative curricular cycles and classroom pedagogy based
on developing discourse intensive instruction for urban
learners. His research has expanded beyond his focus on
science education, to include issues of college access in urban
communities. His recent work explores how classroom and
school culture shapes access to higher education. He conducts
mixed methodological work exploring how race, language, and
culture impact students learning in urban science classrooms.
Week 5 Episode 5: I Don’t Have to Think About Being White
04/29/19 Synopsis: White students Caroline and Brendan join the story; Jada's film
draws mixed reviews; Terrence's grade hangs in the balance; Christmas
lights up Kendale's home, while Ke'Shaen's family may lose theirs.

Professor Richard Thompson Ford, George E. Osbourne

Professor of Law

An expert on civil rights and antidiscrimination law, Richard

Thompson Ford (BA ’88) has distinguished himself as an
insightful voice and compelling writer on questions of race and
multiculturalism. His scholarship combines social criticism and
legal analysis and he writes for both popular readers and for
academic and legal specialists. His work has focused on the
social and legal conflicts surrounding claims of discrimination,
on the causes and effects of racial segregation, and on the use
of territorial boundaries as instruments of social regulation.
Methodologically, his work is at the intersection of critical
theory and the law.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1994,

Professor Ford was a Reginald F. Lewis Fellow at Harvard Law
School, a litigation associate with Morrison & Foerster, and a
housing policy consultant for the City of Cambridge,
Massachusetts. He has also been a Commissioner of the San
Francisco Housing Authority. He has written for the Washington
Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and for
Slate, where he is a regular contributor. His latest books are
Universal Rights Down to Earth and Rights Gone Wrong: How
Law Corrupts the Struggle for Equality.
Week 6 Episode 6: Listen to the Poem!
05/06/19 Synopsis: Jada clashes with junior Diane over her new film; Brendan recalls
a racially charged basketball past; Tiara and the cheerleading squad go for
the gold; Charles' poetry slam team faces an epic challenge.

Claude M. Steele, American social psychologist and a

Professor of Psychology

Dr. Steele is best known for his work on stereotype threat and
its application to minority student academic performance. His
earlier work dealt with research on the self (e.g., self-image,
self- affirmation) as well as the role of self-regulation in
addictive behaviors. In 2010, he released his book, Whistling
Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us,
summarizing years of research on stereotype threat and the
underperformance of minority students in higher education.

He holds B.A. in Psychology from Hiram College, an M.A. in

Social Psychology from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in
Social Psychology and Statistical Psychology from Ohio State
University.

He is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,

the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Board,
the National Academy of Education, and the American
Philosophical Society.

He currently serves as a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation

and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and as
a Fellow for both the American Institutes for Research and the
American Academy of Political and Social Science.

He has served in several major academic leadership positions

as the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Berkeley,
the I. James Quillen Dean for the School of Education at
Stanford University, and as the 21st Provost of Columbia
University. Past roles also include serving as the President of
the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, as the
President of the Western Psychological Association, and as a
member of the Board of Directors of the American
Psychological Society.

Professor Steele holds Honorary Doctorates from Yale

University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago,
University of Michigan, DePaul University and
Claremont Graduate University.
Week 7 Episode 7: Tsunami of Privilege
05/13/19 Synopsis: Jess Stovall gives her all to engage Ke'Shawn, whose situation
has turned dire; Kendale fights to advance in the playoffs, while star
teammate Gabe faces unexpected challenges; Terrence rebounds with his
mother's help.

Dr. Paula Moya, Danily C. and Laura Louise Bell Professor of

the Humanities, Director of Graduate Studies in English,
Director of the Research Institute of Comparative Studies in
Race and Ethnicity

PAULA M. L. MOYA’s teaching and research focus on

twentieth-century and early twenty-first century literary studies,
feminist theory, critical theory, narrative theory, American
cultural studies, interdisciplinary approaches to race and
ethnicity, and Chicanx and U.S. Latinx studies.

She is the author of The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading,

and Contemporary Literary Criticism (Stanford UP 2016) and
Learning From Experience: Minority Identities, Multicultural
Struggles (UC Press 2002) and has co-edited three collections
of original essays, Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century
(W.W. Norton, Inc. 2010), Identity Politics Reconsidered
(Palgrave 2006) and Reclaiming Identity: Realist Theory and the
Predicament of Postmodernism (UC Press 2000).

Moya is currently working with a team of faculty, graduate

students, and undergraduates to develop an online toolkit
designed to foster racial literacy through critical engagement
with multicultural literature. Moya and her team are developing
the “Reading Race” toolkit to help K-12 teachers and their
students uncover, examine, and question race and power in the
classroom in effective and interesting ways. They begin from
the premise that race is not a thing that people have or are, but
rather actions that people do as they interact with one another
and the world. The “Reading Race” digital toolkit will be hosted
by SPARQ (Social Psychological Answers to Real-world
Questions), and is based on interdisciplinary research
developed through CCSRE (Center for Comparative Studies in
Race and Ethnicity).
Week 8 Episode 8: Nothing Can Hold You Down
05/20/19 Synopsis: Chanti discovers a devastating truth about her grandparents;
Brendan's parents make him an offer he can't refuse; Caroline's anxiety
exacts a heavy toll; Kendale and his team pursue their dream for the
ultimate victory.

Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of

Education Emeritus

Dr. Darling-Hammond founded the Stanford Center for

Opportunity Policy in Education and served as the faculty
sponsor of the Stanford Teacher Education Program, which she
helped to redesign. She was recently appointed as the head of
the California Board of Education.

Darling-Hammond is past president of the American

Educational Research Association and recipient of its awards
for Distinguished Contributions to Research, Lifetime
Achievement, and Research-to-Policy. She is also a member of
the American Association of Arts and Sciences and of the
National Academy of Education. From 1994–2001, she was
executive director of the National Commission on Teaching
and America’s Future, whose 1996 report What Matters Most:
Teaching for America’s Future was named one of the most
influential reports affecting U.S. education in that decade. In
2006, Darling-Hammond was named one of the nation’s ten
most influential people affecting educational policy. In 2008,
she served as the leader of President Barack Obama’s
education policy transition team.
Week 9 Episode 9: The Invisible T Shirt
06/03/19 Synopsis: Kendale goes on a college visit, while Terrence goes to court;
Tiara and her mother fall out over grades; Jess pushes the administration to
adopt her teacher support program; prom arrives and Kendale's mother
loves it.

Allyson Hobbs, Associate Professor of American History,

Director of African and African American Studies

Dr. Hobbs is an Associate Professor of United States History

and Director of African and African American Studies. She is a
contributing writer for The New Yorker.com and a Distinguished
Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. Her work
has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times
Book Review, The Washington Post, The Root.com, and The
Guardian.

Allyson’s first book, A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing

in American Life, published by Harvard University Press in 2014,
examines the phenomenon of racial passing in the United
States from the late eighteenth century to the present. A
Chosen Exile won the Organization of American Historians’
Frederick Jackson Turner Prize for best first book in American
history and the Lawrence Levine Prize for best book in
American cultural history. The book was also selected as a
New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a San Francisco
Chronicle Best Book of 2014, a The Root “Best 15 Nonfiction
Books by Black Authors in 2014” Selection, a featured book in
the New York Times Book Review Paperback Row in 2016, and
a Paris Review “What Our Writers are Reading This Summer”
Selection in 2017.

She teaches courses on American identity; African American

history; African American women’s history; American road trips,
migration, travel and mobility; and twentieth-century American
history and culture. She also has taught classes on Hamilton
(the musical) and Michelle Obama. She has won teaching
awards including the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize, the
Graves Award in the Humanities, and the St. Clair Drake
Teaching Award.
Week 9 Special Q&A after Dr. Hobb’s Talk
06/03/19

Steve James, Academy Award nominated filmmaker, series

director of America to Me

Steve James previous work includes Hoop Dreams, winner of

every major critics prize and a Directors Guild of America
Award, a Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy Award. Other award
winning films include Sundance winner, Stevie; International
Documentary Association winning miniseries The New
Americans; The Interrupters, which won an Emmy, Independent
Spirit Award, and the DuPont Columbia Journalism Award; and
the Emmy-winning Life Itself, named the best documentary of
2014 by over a dozen critics associations, including The Critic’s
Choice Awards, The National Board of Review, and The
Producers Guild of America. His most recent film, Abacus:
Small Enough to Jail, earned James a fourth Directors Guild of
America nomination, won a Critics Choice Award and an Emmy,
and was nominated for an Academy Award, James' second.
His Starz docuseries, America to Me premiered at Sundance
and is one of the most acclaimed TV shows of 2018.
Week 10 Episode 10: America Will Be...
06/10/19 Synopsis: It's now or never for Tiara in chemistry; Terrence looks to the
future; Caroline wrestles with perfection, while OPRF grapples with
imperfect leadership; Kendale, Jada and Gabe celebrate graduation.

John B. King , President and CEO of The Education Trust,

Former US Secretary of Education

John B. King Jr. is the president and CEO of The Education

Trust, a national nonprofit organization that seeks to identify
and close opportunity and achievement gaps, from preschool
through college. King served in President Barack Obama’s
cabinet as the 10th U.S. Secretary of Education. In tapping him
to lead the U.S. Department of Education, President Obama
called King “an exceptionally talented educator,” citing his
commitment to “preparing every child for success” and his
lifelong dedication to education as a teacher, principal, and
leader of schools and school systems.

Before becoming education secretary, King carried out the

duties of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education, overseeing all
policies and programs related to P-12 education, English
learners, special education, and innovation. In this role, King
also oversaw the agency’s operations. King joined the
department following his tenure as the first African American
and Puerto Rican to serve as New York State Education
Commissioner.