The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) launched its inaugural $10M GENIUS Initiative on Mar. 18 at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood for improving the lives of Black students and the educational community through service, leadership, and advocacy by addressing opportunity gaps.
“We’re here to launch the GENIUS Initiative,” announced Dr. Kathryn Edwards, founding director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at LACOE.
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“It’s funded by the Equity Lead Grant from the State of California to support the education of African American children statewide and provides additional funding based upon the Equity Multiplier Index which identifies children in most need in the State.”
GENIUS (Genius, Empathy, & Nurturing Intellect of Underserved Students), also known as the Equity Lead Grant (ELG), was established in 2023 under Senate Bill 114 as a part of the California Statewide System of Support and aims to address disparities in outcomes. Awards are based on each agency’s capacity for leading this initiative’s statewide implementation. The 300 attendees on this first day of a 3-day event included school site, District, County, and teacher leaders focused on culturally responsive pedagogy, school culture, climate, and equity.
“This is our opportunity to change outcomes for African American students throughout the state,” urged Dr. Jamaal Williams, director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at LACOE.
“This is a 5-year grant and we’re excited to launch it here at Faithful Central Bible Church, a beacon for the community in improving outcomes for Black people in general. We’re taking this event on the road throughout the State and will have Communities of Practice (CoP) digging deeper into our schools that support our work before coming back in July.”
The GENIUS professional learning opportunity for teacher leaders will accomplish four things:
- Dissect the Supporting the African American Learner framework (STAAL) which provides practical and pragmatic knowledge through expert practitioner panels focused on the research core principles,
- Reveal the non-profits and community agencies that can augment school-based offerings,
- Support the closure of opportunity gaps, and
- Provide teams time to prepare to enact the research-based practices presented.
“We have alliances with LACOE,” stated Dr. Queenie Johnson, Director of Equity at KIPP SoCal Public Schools, who attended the event. “They inform our practice, charter, and renewal process. So, we are here to learn to understand the African American learner and what we can do to better serve our Black students at our KIPP SoCal Black schools to go forth and be brilliant.”
Keynote speaker Dr. Bettina Love, a William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College of Columbia University where she has been instrumental in establishing abolitionist teaching in schools, gave a fiery address on Culturally Responsive Teaching — an educational approach that recognizes and incorporates students’ diverse cultural backgrounds into the learning process, promoting engagement and success for all students. Love urged the audience, “Don’t let this current moment in time despair you.”
Schools and districts will utilize Equity Multiplier (EM) funding and other resources which helps investors and analysts evaluate how much of an organization’s assets are financed by shareholder equity versus debt, reflecting the risk associated with the company’s capital structure. Understanding EM is crucial for assessing a company’s financial leverage and providing schools with relevant research, resources, and promising practices to shatter opportunity gaps.
The Equity Lead Grant and Los Angeles County Office of Education sponsored the GENIUS Initiative launch event. The audience of District, County, and teacher leaders enjoyed complimentary breakfast and lunch, and a musical performance by Kendra Ross-Perkins. Each received a print copy of the award-winning publication, “Supporting the African American Learner Guide for Transforming Beliefs, Systems, and Practices for Black Students.”
To learn more, visit https://www.lacoe.edu/.
