The Center for Educational Opportunity (CEO) has released a white paper titled, A Sacred Space: 12 Expert Teachers Share Stories of Resilience, Success and Leadership from the Vantage Point of Fragile Communities. The white paper is a collection of teacher-leader narratives from the lens of fragile, underserved communities spanning, urban, rural and tribal settings.

The CEO sought the expertise of Katherine Bassett, founder of Tall Poppy, LLC, a company devoted to the training of education leaders and standards revision/development; and of Research and Assessment Design Solutions, an organization focused on solutions to assess social and emotional skills. She is the former President and CEO of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year. Bassett curated stories ensuring diversity of race/ethnicity, gender, school setting, developmental level of students taught, number of years teaching experience and diversity of experiences.

Included are 12 case studies grouped thematically under Training and Offering Ongoing Support to Educators; Education Beyond the Classroom and Advancing Social and Emotional Learning. Each contributor provided an introduction, challenges, solutions, outcomes and lessons for educators

“We believe that these teacher-leaders’ proximity to students and families can help us find connections between research and practice,” said CEO Founding Director Dr. Kathaleena Monds.

The white paper calls for “a community-based approach involving innovative strategies, fluid planning and decision making, a multifaceted support system, and most importantly, teacher leaders willing to be boundary spanners and seek innovative strategies in the pursuit of change,” stated Katherine Bassett.

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