Forward Together Action Plan

You are correct. It has taken a long time. International ACAC leadership was slow to recognize our problem with diversity. We acknowledge that this has caused pain for members who have felt excluded. All of our leaders past and present understand the hurt and distrust this has caused and would like to extend a collective apology to you.

International ACAC members have raised concerns around issues of diversity and inclusion for some time now. While past leaders have always acknowledged the importance of these concerns, and made small and incremental adjustments to become a more inclusive organization, it is true that DEIJ was not well understood or sufficiently valued. In fact, it was often moved to the back burner when other, more seemingly urgent matters came up.

The organization has experienced tremendous growth in a very short time and managing the workload for an all-volunteer team took a lot of the leadership’s attention, time, and energy. Tackling tasks like conference planning for thousands instead of hundreds, creating additional PD programming, updating technologies and systems, maintaining membership data, complying with NACAC and other requirements of incorporation, were always pressing concerns. The expansion of staffing created the space to move beyond managing increasing numbers into more mindful growth planning.

In 2020 our organization, along with most of the world, had a dramatic reckoning with our deficits in the area of DEIJ. Faced with a crushing pandemic, the inequities in wealth, health, education, and other systems became even more evident.

The events surrounding the murder of George Floyd by the police, and the subsequent world-wide protests, made us all begin to come to grips with DEIJ issues in our countries and institutions. The US conflict was a catalyst, but many around the world began looking at their own spaces through this lens.

For International ACAC this was also a crucial moment. As the Board worked on a response, the fissures in our organization around inclusion and exclusion finally were recognized by many as fault lines in our profession. This was a turning point. Members from all regions called for institutional change. Our conference pivoted to focus on diversity and inclusion. The Board started talking about what to do. And, all along, the members who were always at the forefront of this conversation, kept steering us in the direction of self-reflection and change. For that we are extremely grateful.

We are all on the same page to center this work and make it our priority in all areas of the organization. On our website there is a new section that outlines the next phase of  our work called #ForwardTogether. Here you will find an introductory video from julius erolius, our DEIJ consultant, his full report, graphic representations of the data, and our proposed plan of action. Please visit the page and share your feedback and questions using a form we have prepared for this purpose.  We will probably fumble. This is hard work and we will need you to continue to hold us accountable. We will need you to work with us to move #ForwardTogether.

The International ACAC Board and Staff takes members’ concerns about DEIJ very seriously and is committed to the goal of organizational change and growth with DEIJ at the forefront of all services and programming. As the Board became more deeply engaged with this work it became evident that our volunteer leaders and our small staff would need additional capacity, skills, and expertise, to assess and shepherd this process. The Board discussed this need and the immediacy and importance of this initiative and voted to seek out, and hire, a consultant with expertise in DEIJ and organizational change.

International ACAC partnered with an external consultant, julius erolin of Erolin Solutions (ES), to facilitate a holistic organizational change process on diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ). Key outcomes of the DEIJ Initiative were:

• Begin to build capacity (skills, tools and resources) for achieving DEIJ Goals;
• Gather baseline data on the current state of DEIJ in the organization (organizational assessment); and,
• Provide actionable recommendations for the organization on DEIJ.

The elected Board works on behalf of all members. These decisions were taken by the elected board in order to advance this work in a timely manner.

The Board received a comprehensive report, which included an assessment of International ACAC's current strengths, challenges and opportunities on achieving its commitment and goals on DEIJ. ES was also tasked with identifying organizational areas needing improvement that may not directly relate to DEIJ.

The assessment consisted of:

• Review of relevant documents such as current bylaws, policies and procedures, previous survey results, Facebook posts, member and leadership communications, and previous training evaluations.
• A member survey completed by 621 members, consisting of 17% of current members (37% of those members who opened the email communication).
• Semi-structured interviews with 12 key individuals, including past presidents, current staff, and some members who had previously expressed concerns about DEIJ at International ACAC.
• 14 focus groups across all organizational regions, attended by 71 members.
• A Change Workgroup consisting of 21 members from across regions who applied and volunteered to review the assessment process and results, and provide their perspectives and recommendations.

The assessment results provided sufficient data for sound analysis of the progress of the organization in relation to DEIJ, and for development of actionable recommendations.

This is important work and we want to get it right. We followed the advice of our consultant to slow things down and take the time to listen. Organizational change often fails because it is done too quickly.

The board has been progressively working towards this since 2017 when the ad hoc Committee on Issues of Diversity was established.  Since then we have taken several steps, including:

• The Diversity Training Initiative for members (launched at the 2019 annual conference)
• Establishing a seat on the Executive Board for a co-chair of the Diversity Committee
• Pivoting in July 2020 from the Diversity Training Initiative to the Diversity Initiative for organization review and change
• Intentional work
• Our Annual conference session selection committee and session selection processes were modified - process of selection included a double blind process, Name of applicant and application were separated so focus could be on content of application vs name familiarity. Additionally, in the July 2020 conference, every session slot included a session with a DEIJ focus.
• Governance and Nominating Committee (GNC) structure policy changed in October 2020 to shift from leadership-heavy focus to broaden member-at-large representation.
• Beginning in 2021, the committee application process has been expanded to include serving on the GNC as an option for members to express interest. This brings the GNC application/appointment process in line with that for the association committees. (Note: GNC members serve a one-year term.)
• A co-chair of the Committee on Issues of Diversity was appointed to the Executive Board as a Member-At-Large in August 2020.
• Committee appointments continue to undergo review and discussion, with particular emphasis on involving members from across regions, and being transparent and accountable with members about the process.
• We have made small changes in word usage within our organization, (e.g. moved away from seasonal references and use month/date specific terminology.)

The events surrounding the murder of George Floyd by the police, and the subsequent world-wide protests, made us all begin to come to grips with DEIJ issues in our countries and institutions. The US conflict was a catalyst, but many around the world began looking at their own spaces through this lens.

In DEIJ work the US lens is frequently a default. For International ACAC we need to understand that exclusion manifests in different ways in our various communities. Race, socioeconomic status, religion, caste, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, and other identities manifest in various ways around the world. As educators we are also mindful of learning differences and how they affect our students.

Through this work our organization has identified that we are trying to be more inclusive and become less US centric.