EQUITYx: "Why not Black Males?" Leading the Office of Black Male Student Achievement
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Dr. Michael Walker
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5:00-6:00 pm CT
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January 17, 2024
When Dr. Michael Walker was asked to create a racial equity initiative for Minneapolis Public Schools, the gap between Black and white males was 26% for graduation, and over 50% on the math, reading, and science portions of the Minnesota state assessment. Black Males were at or near the bottom on every academic success indicator and at the top on every negative behavior indicator. Not knowing what strategies to implement, Minneapolis Public Schools leadership decided to hire a person who could lead, create, and implement a vision to address the myriad of disparities affecting Black male students across the district.
Overview
What is EQUITYx?
In the busy educational professional landscape, we can be overwhelmed by information and struggle to distill the latest research and its implications for socially just practice. EQUITYx solves for this problem by bringing you leading scholars in educational equity, antiracism and social justice in a distilled and practitioner-focused format. Each hour-long EQUITYx session includes:
EQUITYx Talk
A short, 10-15 minute presentation by our guest scholar on timely, significant research and practice related to CRSL.
Facilitated Interview + Q&A
A 30 minute interview with the guest scholar by the CRSL team, and time for YOU to ask questions and interact with our guest scholar.
Digital Downloads and Resources
We strive to bring you relevant resources, links and follow up material to help you implement ideas and practices you learn about at each event.
Michael Walker, PhD
Associate Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools
criticalquestioning.org
criticalquestioning.org
Dr. Michael V. Walker brings a career focus on youth development and assisting black youth to achieve success. He earned his undergraduate degree in physical education from Southwest Minnesota State University and his master’s degree in counseling from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls as well as his Administrative and Superintendent License from St. Cloud State. Most recently in January 2022, he completed his PhD at the University of Minnesota in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development.
In 2022, Dr. Walker was appointed the new role of Associate Superintendent for Minneapolis Public Schools. He is the founder and CEO of Critical Questioning consulting where he provides a framework that includes: Becoming an Unapologetic Advocate for Black Students Institute, Accountability Coaching, and groups for Kings and Queens all designed for supporting Black Students in districts across the country.