The Collaborative for Equity in Education (CEE) is a non-profit policy, research, and practice cooperative housed at the University of Florida. CEE engages and empowers local, community-based educators, policymakers, and university-based researchers to transform the preK-16 educational system to provide access to quality schooling for all learners. Our work aims to help formulate and implement policies and practices that provide equitable learning opportunities for historically minoritized and marginalized students, locally and nationally.

Akwaaba Freedom School

The Akwaaba Freedom School is a Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom School that was launched in Gainesville, FL in June 2022 under the leadership of Drs. Chonika Coleman-King (Executive Director) and Taryrn Brown (Project Director). CDF Freedom Schools are modeled after the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project. This six-week summer program focuses on motivating children and youth to read and encourages civic engagement. Each week of the program focuses on one of the following themes: I can and must make a difference in myself, my family, my community, my country, and the world, with hope, education, and action. Freedom Schools offer a free, high-quality reading curriculum, extracurricular activities, field trips, and  also includes meals and snacks. Freedom Schools bring various constituents together to support educational equity by drawing on the resources and expertise of parents, educators, community members, and local leaders. The Akwaaba Freedom School has been supported by the University of Florida, the Children’s Trust of Alachua County, and Alachua County Public Schools.

Broward County

Dr. Maya Israel (Associate Professor, STL) is working with Broward County Public Schools and their #BrowardCodes initiative to provide both general and special education elementary teachers with professional development (PD) on strategies for meeting the needs of students with disabilities in their ‘CS for All’ initiative (CS – Computer Science). Ten dyads of general and special education teachers are receiving PD during the 2019-2020 academic year in the area of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and equity-focused student collaboration strategies in CS education. In addition to this PD, we are engaged in a collaborative relationship to study pedagogical approaches to meet the needs of all students in CS education. This work has led to a small grant funded by the Infosys Foundation in the 2018-2019 academic year to provide technologies to teachers working with students with disabilities in CS education and the development of an NSF DRK-12 proposal being submitted in November of 2019.

Pace Center for Girls Alachua

Dr. Taryrn T.C. Brown (Assistant Professor, STL) is working with Pace Center for Girls Alachua through her Black Girl Futures Girl Talk! Program. Black Girl Futures (BGF) is designed to provide teaching, learning, and mentoring experiences in the areas of leadership, critical thinking, professional development, self-care, and self-love for girls, ages 13 to 18. As an innovative approach to youth and community development, BGF Girl Talk! supports youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects with BGF scholars to leverage the opportunity for centering student voice and agency. As a cyclical process of learning and action – BGF scholars develop research literacies that inform how youth reflect on capacity-building; the utilization of findings in advocating for change in community; and the co-construction of intellectual communities to illuminate issues and solutions important to them.