Melissa Skiles was raised in a suburb of Saint Louis, Missouri and moved to Chicago, Illinois where she briefly worked in the advertising and non-profit sectors before pursuing a career in education. The transition was strongly rooted in her desire to support the largely disenfranchised, urban youth population. After completing her Masters degree at DePaul University, she taught within the inner city of Chicago as a licensed Learning Behavior Specialist and special education leader in public charter high schools. For eight years, she worked internationally as a Special Educational Needs Coordinator in Qatar, Head of Inclusion in Dubai, and Managing Director of a consultancy and training organization that specialized in inclusive practices, improvements, and strategies for international schools and leaders. Throughout this time, she has contributed to many international conferences and publications on diversity, equity, and inclusion, specifically in education. She holds additional qualifications in educational testing and adolescent mental health among others. Melissa recently returned to her home country, USA, where she now serves as the Director of Community Well-Being for an independent school in San Francisco, California
Self-paced course with six modules and one assessment to be completed in your own time.
This course explores the core concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion and its impact on school organizations. In it, the participant will learn how to self-reflect to understand one’s own biases; developing one’s own role in making systemic change; and positively impacting organizational culture.
Module 1: History and Impact of Inclusion
- Understand the short history of, and its impact on, inclusive education
- Identify the benefits of inclusive organizations
- Recognize and explore the impact of exclusionary school policies and settings
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Module 2: Key Concepts and Implicit Bias
- Understand, identify, and explain the core concepts of DEI and how they create social justice
- Define and identify implicit bias
- Assess and analyze social identity
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Module 3: Identifying and Breaking Barriers
- Recognize barriers to DEI and how to combat them
- Recognize and identify systems of oppression and exclusion within organizations
- Identify and problem-solve barriers to social justice
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Module 4: Equity and Access
- Understand the difference between equality and equity
- Identify and build components of equitable systems
- Assess accessibility design
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Module 5: Inclusive People and Culture Practices
- Define and identify differences in self expression and identity
- Assess and analyze the inclusiveness of an organization
- Analyze progressive recruitment practices
- Understand and apply the use of metrics in reforming systems
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Module 6: Creating and Leading Socially-Just Communities
- Explain intersectionality and why it relates to DEI work
- Identify and incorporate tools to create systems of social justice
- Apply a systems-change approach to leading with DEI
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Final Summary of Learning
- Apply understanding of course content to school scenarios
- Achieve mastery of content (at least 80%) through a multiple-choice assessment with unlimited attempts for completion of the course
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