E293

Why Your Anti-Racist PD Isn't Actually Changing Anything with Dr Abby C. Emerson

From Better Leaders Better Schools · Hosted by Daniel Bauer

2026-08-23·00:47:33

Episode summary

In this episode of Better Leaders Better Schools: She studies why anti-racist professional development in schools so often fails to change how teachers actually treat students — and what works instead. Dr Abby C. Emerson is an assistant professor of Childhood Education at Hunter College, CUNY, where her research spans anti-racist and abolitionist teacher education, restorative justice, and the critique of whiteness in educational spaces.

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Original publisher description

She studies why anti-racist professional development in schools so often fails to change how teachers actually treat students — and what works instead. Dr Abby C. Emerson is an assistant professor of Childhood Education at Hunter College, CUNY, where her research spans anti-racist and abolitionist teacher education, restorative justice, and the critique of whiteness in educational spaces. She's been named National Association for Multicultural Education's Critical Teacher of the Year, and this fall she releases her book, From Anti-Racism to Professional Learning for Liberating Schools , with Harvard Education Press. Most schools running anti-racist professional development hit the same wall: teachers learn the theory, reflect on their own bias, update a unit — and the discipline data doesn't move. Dr. Abby C. Emerson studied schools across New York City to find out why, and she found the fix isn't another workshop. It's handing the mic to students. 📚 What You'll Learn Why the three most common anti-racist PD strategies rarely change discipline outcomes How one high school's student-led equity committee exposed teacher bias that surveys never could Why "call-out culture" undermines...