The IDRA South Central Collaborative for Equity provides one- and two-day workshops to local education agencies with staff development needs in the areas of race, sex and national origin desegregation issues, supporting existing staff development plans or helping to establish new ones. IDRA professional development is designed to assist people to create educational solutions through innovative, participatory, and hands-on presentations, workshops and technical assistance that promote sustained growth and development. IDRA assistance values the needs and cultures of participants and acknowledges their experiences. Training is carefully crafted to include reflection and application.

Sample workshops are listed below.

Alternative Assessment: Using Portfolios in the Classroom
Traditional assessment has long been recognized as inadequate for providing a complete and “authentic” assessment of student learning. This session examines equity issues in standardized testing and provides alternative methods being developed and utilized, especially portfolio assessment.

Creating a Sex-Fair and Multicultural Environment
This workshop provides participants with positive images of both men and women from diverse ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds. Activities include screening curricular materials for bias and discussions of the impact of bias on both male and female students.

Meeting the Needs of a Multicultural Student Population
Participants learn about the three barriers to communication and the elements of surface culture and deep culture from several groups. Ideas will be generated for validating the culture of their students.

Multicultural Education: An Overview for Practitioners
Created for teachers and administrators, this workshop defines multicultural education and identifies the goals of this thrust in education. Participants will examine terms and concepts related to the understanding of multicultural education and identify activities for implementing multicultural education in the classroom.

Racial Hostility and Violence in Schools
This workshop helps administrators and teachers understand their responsibilities regarding racial hostility and violence in schools. Procedures for identifying whether or not a hostile environment exists, procedures for conducting sexual harassment investigations at the campus level, and procedures for creating a report of findings are all presented in this workshop.

Responding to Diverse Learning Styles in the Classroom
Everything from deficient nutrition to an unstable home life can detract from a student’s ability to learn. In this workshop, educators learn how to identify characteristics that may affect a student’s education and how to shape their teaching methods accordingly. Race, gender, economic differences and personality types are some of the topics that will be discussed.

Second Language Acquisition: What Mainstream Teachers Need to Know
Bilingual education, and associated curriculum, are important steps in the education ladder. This workshop takes educators back to the basics by reviewing the language acquisition process. In addition, participants identify those skills needed for academic success and real-life skills.

Sexual Harassment and the Law
This workshop is designed to help administrators, particularly principals, understand their responsibilities under the law regarding sexual harassment. The session provides definitions of sexual harassment, information on the two types of sexual harassment, the legislation that governs sexual harassment, a review and discussion of liability and responsibility under the law, and procedures for identifying whether or not a hostile environment exists.

Teaching Content: ESL Strategies for Classroom Teachers
This workshop will enable classroom teachers to modify their teaching strategies to meet the needs of language-minority students. Participants will become familiar with the linguistic and cognitive needs of language-minority students in the content area classroom. Teachers will acquire strategies that will enable language-minority students to participate successfully in the content area classroom.

The Bottom Line on Bilingual and ESL Instruction
This workshop explores the linguistic and cognitive needs of language-minority students. The language acquisition process will be reviewed and there will be a presentation covering current research on bilingual education and English as a second language (ESL) programs.

Validating Students’ Culture in the Classroom
Nowhere is America’s “melting pot” of cultures more evident than in the classroom. This workshop takes this into consideration as it explores the aspects of multicultural education. Teachers, administrators and counselors will be exposed to three barriers of communication.

Working Together: School and Home (Trabajando Juntos: La Escuela y El Hogar)
Involving parents in their children’s learning experiences can be very beneficial to a school. This workshop will help parents examine ways that they can make a difference in their children’s academic success. Parents will also develop skills for conducting parent-teacher conferences and reinforcing learning at home.

Other workshop topics addressing equity issues are available upon request. If you are unsure which topic would best suit your needs, call us and talk to a desegregation specialist.

For more information on the South Central Collaborative for Equity contact Bradley Scott, Ph.D., at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 210-444-1710.