Meet The Advancing Equity Cohort Facilitators
Here at SchoolWorks, our team is excited to share that representatives from the schools participating in our Advancing Equity Cohort have just completed their most recent monthly meetup. The time was spent hearing each school’s written mission and overarching vision, followed by a group feedback session working to ensure a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is well represented within each statement. They wrapped up the meeting with a deep dive into goal setting.
Ultimately, all 5 AEC schools will have an established written mission, vision, goals, and core values that reflect their dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion along with effective metrics to measure interim progress towards goals.
This program would not be possible without our amazing facilitators, Dr. Sean Larry Stevens and Lyn Bajaj, who bring their own unique expertise and experience to this flagship enterprise.
Dr. Sean Larry Stevens is an author, entrepreneur, educator, host, producer, and life coach. His work as an educational leader is centered around social justice, school reform, youth empowerment, and black male identity. Previously serving thousands of students in urban, marginalized areas as a principal for almost a decade, Dr. Stevens has been sought out by some of the nation’s largest school districts to improve education and life outcomes for students. A Cornell University graduate and Teach For America Alum, Dr. Stevens has served in some of America’s most under-resourced school districts and drastically transformed systems through his leadership. He holds a Master’s degree in Education Leadership, Politics, and Advocacy from New York University, and a Doctorate degree in Leadership and Learning in Organizations from Vanderbilt University.
Lyn Bajaj is an experienced educational leader who has successfully led large and small-scale organizational development efforts in school improvement, systems alignment, and educational equity. Ms. Bajaj holds an executive education certificate from Harvard Law School Program on Leadership and Negotiation, as well as a certificate for Turnaround School Leadership from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Ms. Bajaj earned a Master of Arts degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix at Denver and has served in school-and-district-level leadership roles across Colorado’s front range. Ms. Bajaj currently serves as a Site Professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado at Denver, and as an educational consultant on the Colorado State Board of Education’s State Review Panel and External Review Teams. Additionally, Ms. Bajaj engages school districts across the country in quality reviews and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) assessments, and as an independent consultant and owner of Imagine Education, LLC in the areas of turnaround leadership, systems improvement, and educational equity.
Please join us in welcoming them to our Advancing Equity Cohort and feel free to pose any questions you may have about this initiative through the comment form below.
Join the Equity Journey!
If you are a school leader, we invite you to complete our free Equity Assessment Survey. Based on SchoolWorks’ Equity Audit Protocol, the survey is designed to help you think through the effectiveness of your current systems, policies, and processes in providing an equitable learning environment for all students. Upon completing the survey, you’ll receive insights into how other school leaders, like you, identified their own strengths and challenges. This feedback will help you understand your context within the greater education community, so that you can prepare for next steps.
