The College Preparatory School

The school also committed to "Identifying and addressing barriers to the enrollment of more students who identify as Black, striving to be a school of choice for Black students who represent a broad and diverse cross section of the community."

Changes to the admissions process "included adopting a test-optional policy, requiring a graded writing sample, expanding our interview format to include parents, and editing our application questions to elicit responses with as much depth and character as possible."

On June 1, 2020, the school released a six-point plan in which it committed to, "Requiring anti-racist training for all employees and Board members."

The school provided an update on its "Racial Equity and Belonging" initiatives. To "Develop and provide explicit and developmentally appropriate equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression curriculum at each grade level through the Compass Program," the school "partnered with CircleUp Education to lead five Complexities of Racism Workshops." The sessions included "Conscious vs. Unconscious Racism," "Privilege, Power, Racism Hierarchies," and "Internalized & Interpersonal Racism." In addition to these student trainings, the school will, "Train all employees and Board members in anti-bias and anti-racism tools and frameworks - with Circle-Up."

The school also told BSU that, "The full school community has participated in anti-racist and anti-bias training this year. We continue to work on ways to better address racial misconduct, including the development of a restorative practices program." It also said, "College Prep has instituted training and is committed to holding training each year. The School is open to input from members of the school community on training. We will continue with holding faculty and administration responsible for making the final selections on consultants and approach. The School welcomes additional community input and is developing the best ways to structure that input."

On July 1, 2020, The College Preparatory School released a lengthy statement outlining new strategies the school has made in order to require anti-racist training for employees and to infuse anti-racist concepts in the curriculum, among many other goals. This post was also featured on its Instagram account.

The Atlantic Worlds course "seeks to examine the intersection of capitalism and race, democracy and race, and the construction of the identities of many people in this country: the construction of Blackness, whiteness, Latin-ness, Indigeneity, and alongside all of these the position of mixed-race people in a racialized society.” The instructor tries to "visualize what a more equitable and inclusive version of College Prep would look like; what moments of racial tension or harm could be averted? How could we deal with moments of racial harm in ways that ensure that students emerge as stronger, more empathetic, and more culturally competent people.”

The school also committed to "Using curriculum and expanding programming to foster an anti-racist culture of inclusion and belonging for all students, employees, and parents."

The school's Constitution class "will place greater emphasis on employing critical race theory (CRT) in our analysis of constitutional law. In particular, focusing on how 'race-blind' jurisprudence or the purported juridical equality of citizenship has perpetuated and even exacerbated discrimination and discriminatory outcomes." The instructor stated that students will not be assigned secondary readings on CRT.

The math department "changed the names on theorems from the white European versions." The Atlantic World history course featured material from the 1619 Project, and students were asked about their "understanding of slavery, race, systems of oppression, resistance, and/or the liberating power of culture." The U.S. and the World course "assigned more secondary source readings to challenge and decenter arguments and histories that privilege white/European perspectives." The Constitutional Law class "assigned selected readings and discussions from Khiara Bridges (UC Berkeley Law) and Kimberlé Crenshaw (UCLA and Columbia Law) on Critical Race Theory as it deals with Constitutional Interpretation and Law." The Latin curriculum included conversations about equity, white supremacy, and intersectionality. Faculty are working with Harvard’s Reimagining Integration: Diverse and Equitable Schools Project (RIDES) training.

The school also committed to "Creating accessible spaces and processes to enable critical feedback about experiences of racism on campus while implementing accountability measures and restorative and accountability pathways for students and employees."

The school will "Examine and revise policy language to ensure clear standards, expectations, and consequences for students, faculty, and staff regarding harassing or discriminatory behavior."

In response to the Black Students Union, the school said, "The School is creating an incident reporting system... that will be operational by Fall of 2021. There will be an annual reporting of incident types and community learnings based on an analysis of any trends that are observed."

The "Faculty and Staff Peer Equity Workgroup" started. According to the school's website, "The original charge was to create a committee for the faculty around equity and inclusion." The group chose to discuss "White Fragility" and "How to Be an Antiracist."

The Equity and Belonging site features interviews with university leaders (librarians, Dean of Equity and Belonging), racial justice updates, celebrations of “Black History/liberation month." It also contains resources on “Having Conversations about Racism” and “Understanding Racism and Inequality in Education.”

Connection, Pride, and Spirit (CPS) Day Workshops included “Anti-blackness, Systemic Racism, and the Carceral State,” “Sports, Activism, and Capitalism: Black Lives Matter,” “Black Lives Matter: Voter Suppression,” “Tools for Talking about Race,” “Mass Incarceration and ‘The New Jim Crow.’”

"The Office of Equity & Inclusion continues to engage the school community in practices of fundamental behaviors: bias management, cultural competence, and servant leadership."

The school pledged to "Continue to develop the Compass Program curriculum, refining the offerings in 9th grade Connections and Advising (CAP) and expanding Wellness and Decision Making to be inclusive of new course themes blending social justice education with personal decision-making and individual and interpersonal health."

The Equity and Inclusion Committee's goals have been to " determine the best ways to listen to our school community and work with the Head of School... and Director of Equity and Inclusion... to identify how to chart the course of a long lasting effort to bring racial equity to College Prep.”

The school also committed to "Strengthening transparency and communications about existing and future programming and anti-racist efforts to ensure visibility, accountability, and change."