137. Creating Equity to Improve Education with Carlon Howard

Imagine being at a school where 80% of the students look like you…but you’re the only one like you who is in the honors and advanced classes. That’s where this week’s guest, Carlon Howard, found himself as he readied to graduate from high school. And that experience put him on the pathway that landed him as a leader and impact-maker in educational equity.

 

Carlon has a passion for supporting individuals who feel stuck in cultural narratives due to a lack of equity, inclusivity, and diversity in leadership. And his organization, Equity Institute, is taking what they’ve created and teaching organizations how to develop these initiatives in their own communities.

 

In this episode, Carlon and I talk about doing the work in the messy gray space, why teacher pathway programs are so valuable, why schools need support outside the traditional education space, and how he built Equity Institute organically from a place of connection and decompressing.

 

I love Carlon’s philosophy of teaching others to do the work, rather than assuming his organization knows the answers for every situation. We need more of this in leadership roles.

About Carlon Howard:

Carlon is the Chief Impact Officer and Co-Founder of Equity Institute. In his role, he leads organization-wide strategic and operational planning, ensuring EI’s vision is realized through clear prioritization and high-impact operational execution. In addition to helping launch the Equity Institute, he also co-founded re*generation (formerly EduLeaders of Color R.I.). Now an initiative of the Equity Institute, re*generation hosts monthly meetups designed to support education leaders from underrepresented backgrounds.

 

Before entering his current role with Equity Institute, Carlon was executive director of Breakthrough Providence, served as a City Year AmeriCorps member and Impact Manager, was a classroom teacher, and was a policy fellow for a former Colorado Senator. He graduated from the University of Georgia with undergraduate degrees in criminal justice and political science and completed his graduate degree in education from Rhode Island College. He also earned a graduate certificate in nonprofit management and leadership from the Institute of Nonprofit Practice, in affiliation with Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Additionally, he completed formal training as a leadership and performance coach. Outside of his full-time work, Carlon is an adjunct instructor at College Unbound.

Jump in the Conversation: [1:39] - How education transformation began for Carlon [3:39] - In an 80% black school, Carlon was the only black male in the honors classes [5:09] - A quarter life crisis [7:03] - All the world’s problems exist in schools but schools don’t have the means to solve them [7:59] - The origins of the Equity Institute in 2019 [10:10] - Students weren’t being served in a way that made sense [10:50] - Helping design and implement innovative solutions to build more diverse, equitable, inclusive, professional learning environments [12:35] - What other profession goes home and does more work for free [13:22] - TA to BA educator pathway program [17:51] - Well-meaning initiatives are challenged by getting into new communities [19:40] - Has insights to help others; can be inspiration and accountability [20:30] - Things aren’t black or white; the real work happens in the gray area [21:46] - First steps to take to create to support others in educator pathway [25:39] - Turbo Time [28:05] - Carlon’s passion in equity work [31:42] - Carlon’s Magic Wand [33:40] - Maureen’s Takeaways Links & Resources Equity Institute Connect with Carlon on LinkedIn College Unbound Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich Email Maureen Maureen’s TEDx: Changing My Mind to Change Our Schools The Education Evolution Facebook: Follow Education Evolution Twitter: Follow Education Evolution LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution EdActive Collective Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids Micro-school feature on Good Morning America The Micro-School Coalition Facebook: The Micro-School Coalition LEADPrep