The National SEED Project: Promoting Inclusive Education and Personal Transformations Through SEED Leader Training

• In Event: 66.048 - Social Justice on the Ground: Strategies for Culturally Responsive School Environments

Abstract

We describe the SEED project’s first large-scale research study of the program’s impact over the past 26 years of creating gender fair, multiculturally equitable, and globally informed education. Participants include 134 seminar leaders who took an online pre-post-survey and 30 participants who were interviewed at the beginning and end of their first year. The majority of Leaders reported important personal growth in their first year, including being more confident to facilitate SEED-related dialogue and being more inclusive in their classroom practices. However, SEED Leaders often struggled with entrenched school and organization systems, feeling isolated at their schools. Addressing specific supports and challenges in integrating SEED tenets in classroom and particularly systems levels may help implement and sustain lasting change.

Authors

• Michelle V. Porche, Boston University

• Linda Charmaraman, Wellesley Centers for Women

• Jennifer M. Grossman, Wellesley Centers for Women