The UCAP School is hosting an “antiracist white affinity space for teachers and school leaders”

The UCAP School (Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program) is a public middle school located in Providence, Rhode Island. Parental advocate Nicole Solas shared a flyer on X from the organization East Educational Resource Collaborative of an “antiracist white affinity space for teachers and school leaders” at The UCAP School on November 2, 2023. The flyer states that the group will “explore how white racial identity impacts our work with students, families, and colleagues and the role of white antiracist affinity spaces in promoting antiracism.” Affinity spaces, often called affinity groups, are groups of people segregated by their immutable characteristics, such as race and ethnicity.

The flyer continues to state that the affinity group “will look at institutional resistance to challenging racism and strategies for effective engagement.” Another purpose of the group is to implement “racial equity” into the curricula taught to students. The cost of participation per person is $250 or a “$600 discounted tuition for three from the same institution.” Participants will receive a copy of the book Learning and Teaching While White.

The East Educational Resource Collaborative states on its website that it works in partnership with the organization Teaching While White to offer “workshops and events that focus on methods to achieve academic excellence with equitable teaching practices and healthy school climates” while “utilizing current research in the field of anti-bias education.” An additional workshop offered by the group is “Decolonizing Your Curriculum & Pedagogy.”

The organization Teaching While White offers workshops to help teachers “in developing inclusive, antiracist curricula and school communities.” Topics of workshops include “Anticipating Resistance and Countering Backlash,” “Antiracist Curricular Integration,” “Affinity and Accountability,” and “Why Your Bias Matters: How Teacher Expectations Impact Student Achievement.”