DEB in Program & Curriculum

DEB at Every Grade Level

EARLY LEARNING (Preschool & Pre-Kindergraten)

As our children begin their learning journey at Westside, the goal of our Early Learning teachers is to nurture our students towards empathy, inquiry, collaboration, and activism.

Through play, storybooks, classroom conversations, and observations teachers guide children’s understanding of the ways that people are different and the ways in which they are the same. Our purpose is to honor and learn about the identities, cultures, and traditions of the students in our classroom communities as well as the diversity of the world we live in.

We strive to create a learning environment that teaches children to understand, appreciate and respect different identities, beliefs, and cultures; and to have the confidence to speak and stand up to inequity and injustice. We believe that the early development of these skills lay the building blocks for the DEB and Social Justice learning that is continued in our Lower and Middle Schools.

LOWER SCHOOL (Kindergarten-4th Grade)

boy holding up paper with various shades of purple paint

Lower School teachers promote age and developmentally appropriate content to stimulate learning in the areas of identity, diversity, justice, and action.

We believe that children thrive when they are given opportunities to see themselves reflected in the literature they read, the projects they create, and the problems they solve. Additionally, children increase their capacity for empathy and collaboration when they are offered a diversity of perspectives and ideas. As educators, we focus not just on exposing students to multiple perspectives but also on raising students’ awareness of their role as change-makers. Moving from compassion to action happens on the playground, in classroom projects, and in spontaneous teachable moments.

MIDDLE SCHOOL (5th-8th Grade)

As our children mature and move to Middle School, one of the goals is to cultivate empathy and interpersonal responsibility in each child.

In Middle School we challenge one another to examine the dynamics of diversity from a global and multicultural perspective so that we can become responsible citizens dedicated to social justice.

Our curriculum and community honor a variety of traditions, value a diversity of cultures, and respect the contributions of all people. We make space for our students to develop skills, such as how to constructively conduct discourse on race, social justice, and oppression, in both historical and current events. These skills enhance our students’ abilities to engage in their study of systematic oppression by providing a means of analyzing and interpreting events and figures from multiple perspectives. By exploring the dynamics of our diverse world and nation we believe our students will be responsible citizens long after leaving Westside.

Field Trips

Bainbridge Japanese American Exclusion Memorial
Chinatown
Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle
Neighborhood House
Mary’s Place
Student Diversity Leadership Retreat

Integrating DEB Into the Fabric of Westside

2nd graders in a circle with their hands on a heart

Westside has been working to incorporate Learning for Justice Anchor Standards into our program. During the 2020-2021 School Year our faculty underwent a mapping process to analyze, annotate, and assess how these standards are lived out and incorporated into our units of study. A Social Justice Continua was adopted. This continua increases common language, common goals and a framework for social justice skills being taught in a progression, like any other subject. Teaching these standards is the work of all of our teachers, from Early Learning to Middle School.

Each year faculty members will review Westside’s collective annotations to our evolving Social Justice Continua to identify and discuss our collective strengths and growth areas. Thereafter, faculty will select one standard that they don’t currently address in their classroom and set a goal to implement this standard into their curriculum.

The work of Learning for Justice

The work of Learning for Justice

The Work of Learning for Justice

“In our work with educators, schools, students and communities, Learning for Justice seeks to uphold the mission of the Southern Poverty Law Center: to be a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people.

We provide free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create inclusive school communities where children and youth are respected, valued and welcome participants.

Founded by the SPLC under the name Teaching Tolerance in 1991, Learning for Justice was originally created to prevent the growth of hate by reducing prejudice. In the last 30 years, our work has evolved to center justice and the action that students and educators can take to realize change.

Our program began by publishing a magazine and producing films chronicling the modern civil rights movement. Today, our community includes more than 500,000 educators who read our magazine, screen our films, visit our website, listen to our podcasts, attend our trainings and webinars, use our frameworks or participate in our social media community.”

In 2021, we changed our name to better reflect our mission. Our new name speaks to the collaborative work of learning and growing together to reach our goal of justice for all.”

Find out more about Learning for Justice here.

A Framework for Anti-bias Education

The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K–12 instruction. Comprised of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes, the Standards provide a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

Anchor Standards & Domains

Identity

Identity Anchor Standards

1. Students will develop positive social identities based on their membership in multiple groups in society.

2. Students will develop language and historical and cultural knowledge that affirm and accurately describe their membership in multiple identity groups.

3. Students will recognize that people’s multiple identities interact and create unique and complex individuals.

4. Students will express pride, confidence and healthy self-esteem without denying the value and dignity of other people.

5. Students will recognize traits of the dominant culture, their home culture and other cultures and understand how they negotiate their own identity in multiple spaces.

Diversity

Diversity Anchor Standards

6. Students will express comfort with people who are both similar to and different from them and engage respectfully with all people.

7. Students will develop language and knowledge to accurately and respectfully describe how people (including themselves) are both similar to and different from each other and others in their identity groups.

8. Students will respectfully express curiosity about the history and lived experiences of others and will exchange ideas and beliefs in an open-minded way.

9. Students will respond to diversity by building empathy, respect, understanding and connection.

10. Students will examine diversity in social, cultural, political and historical contexts rather than in ways that are superficial or oversimplified.

Justice

Justice Anchor Standards

11. Students will recognize stereotypes and relate to people as individuals rather than representatives of groups.

12. Students will recognize unfairness on the individual level (e.g., biased speech) and injustice at the institutional or systemic level (e.g., discrimination).

13. Students will analyze the harmful impact of bias and injustice on the world, historically and today.

14. Students will recognize that power and privilege influence relationships on interpersonal, intergroup and institutional levels and consider how they have been affected by those dynamics.

15. Students will identify figures, groups, events and a variety of strategies and philosophies relevant to the history of social justice around the world.

Action

Action Anchor Standards

16. Students will express empathy when people are excluded or mistreated because of their identities and concern when they themselves experience bias.

17. Students will recognize their own responsibility to stand up to exclusion, prejudice and injustice.

18. Students will speak up with courage and respect when they or someone else has been hurt or wronged by bias.

19. Students will make principled decisions about when and how to take a stand against bias and injustice in their everyday lives and will do so despite negative peer or group pressure.

20. Students will plan and carry out collective action against bias and injustice in the world and will evaluate what strategies are most effective.

DEB AT WESTSIDE

DEB Overview

as a Community

In program & Curriculum

Resources

2022-2023 EQUITY & INCLUSION SPEAKER SERIES

Westside School is excited to partner with local independent schools to bring the Equity & Inclusion Speaker Series to our communities. The purpose of this series is to raise awareness, challenge ourselves, deepen understanding, and empower our communities to advance their efforts to actively recreate systems into equitable, inclusive, and antiracist institutions.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND TO RSVP FOR THE SPEAKER SERIES

Partnering with Rainier Scholars

Westside has a strong relationship with Rainier Scholars, which began in 2012. Each year, Westside welcomes Rainiers Scholars into our Middle School community. Westside usually has 4-8 scholars among our Middle School student body and offers 2-6 scholarships to rising 6th graders annually.

The Rainier Scholars program supports students most underrepresented on college campuses: Multi-Generational African American, African immigrant, Hispanic/Latinx, first-generation Asian, Pacific Islander and Native American students who have the greatest number of barriers to achieving a college degree. Partnering with local independent schools, including Westside School, Rainier Scholars engage in a 12-year model that combines academic preparation, career and leadership development, and personalized, comprehensive support. The students’ twelve-year journey includes a fourteen-month intensive academic phase, placement into the area’s top schools (both independent and public), leadership development, and support which lasts throughout their college years. By offering access to exceptional educational opportunities and ongoing comprehensive support, Rainier Scholars works to increase college graduation rates and to develop a new generation of leaders.

Rainier Scholars Program Success

At Westside

Between 1-5 new Rainier Scholars are added to our Westside MS program each year
100% of scholars graduate middle school on time and ready for high school placement
100% of scholars are admitted to at least one top tier independent high schools in the Seattle area

At Large

Nearly 850 lives transformed to date
60 new Rainier Scholars added to the program each year
98% of High School Seniors are accepted to a 4-year college or university with 90% on track to graduate.

Find out more about the Rainier Scholars Program here.

Student Diversity Leadership Retreat

Westside is proud to partner with other member schools to design and attend the Student Diversity Leadership Retreat. Modeled after the NAIS SDLR Conference, the NWAIS Student Diversity Leadership Retreat (SDLR) is a multiracial, multicultural gathering of middle and upper school student leaders (grades 6-12) from across the Northwest Association of Independent Schools. SDLR is annual, but rotates among middle and upper school student years. Westside sends Middle School students and teachers when SDLR serves the MS population. Westside’s Middle School Director is proud to serve yearly on the planning committee. SDLR focuses on self-reflection, forming allies, and building community. Led by a diverse team of adult and peer educators, participating students develop cross-cultural communication skills, design effective strategies for social justice practice through dialogue and the arts, and learn the foundations of allyship and networking principles. In addition to large group sessions, SDLC “family groups" and "affinity groups" allow for dialogue and sharing in smaller, more intimate settings.