CRITCAL CONDITIONS | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

Our nation's public schools are under more pressure than ever to produce "successful" graduates, while income, racial, and geographic disparities continue to grow, and the incoming Administration seems focused more on privatization than dealing with those pressing challenges. A new book from the Harvard Education Press offers timely insights for educators, school leaders, and state and local policymakers on strategies to counter those inequities by supporting students, their families, and their broader communities.

In Critical Conditions, Elaine Weiss, Bruce Levine, and Kimberly Sterin outline successful strategies for whole child and whole community support that can help school systems meet broader student needs in times of disruption. They take a deep look at Integrated Student Supports (ISS), an approach to education policy and practice aligned with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, in which schools focus on attending to students’ basic physical, social, and emotional needs before learning occurs. Providing indispensable insight, Weiss, Levine, and Sterin demonstrate how the ISS approach is especially effective in educational contexts rocked by trauma and crisis.

Authors Elaine Weiss, Bruce Levine, and Kimberly Sterin are joining us on the Busboys stage alongside Kwesi Rollins, Chief Program Officer at the Institute for Educational Leadership, to share more about “how Integrated Student Supports, alongside community engagement and crisis management, can tackle challenges like climate change, economic instability, and racial injustice” (Allen Grant, dean, SUNY Potsdam). Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Weiss, Levine, and Sterin will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 5:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of CRITICAL CONDITIONS will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed. 

We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books

Elaine Weiss has researched, analyzed, and written about education policy for over twenty years. She is the former National Coordinator of the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education at the Economic Policy Institute and co-author, with Paul Reville, of Broader, Bolder Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty (Harvard Education Press, 2019). Having spent her career researching and advocating for a broad range of anti-poverty policies, from early childhood to Social Security and disability programs, she focuses on the myriad interconnections among programs, policies, and communities. A lifelong resident of Montgomery County, Maryland and the mother of two graduates of the district's public schools, she also sees firsthand the benefits of living, learning, and investing in a diverse, welcoming community.

Bruce Levine, a resident of the DMV for over 30 years and current DC resident and ANC Commissioner, is a Clinical Professor of Education at Drexel University and Director of the School’s Education Policy program and the Master of Science in Education Improvement and Transformation degree program.  His previous professional experience in law, strategy consulting, economic and workforce development, and management inform his teaching and research.  In addition to the study of community school and integrated student support strategies, his current research interests include civic education and civic literacy and K-12 schools as civic infrastructure and anchors of community resilience. With colleagues at the international architecture firm Perkins Eastman, he co-led a team that won the 2019 Latrobe Prize from The American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows and did a study of the impacts of school modernization in the Baltimore City and DC school districts. 

Kimberly Sterin, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Director of Research Operations for the Justice-Oriented Youth (JoY) Education Lab in the School of Education at Drexel University. She coordinates an intergenerational collective of university-community researchers driven by joy to advance justice through community-driven programs and critical participatory action research in West Philadelphia. Informed by her previous seven years of teaching experience as a public school English teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland, Dr. Sterin’s research examines pathways to educational justice for historically marginalized groups through leadership, policies, and practices across the K-12 school finance landscape. Her work highlights school communities using integrated student supports and amplifies leadership dispositions working towards a more just school resource ecosystem.

Kwesi Rollins, Chief Program Officer, Institute for Educational Leadership

A member of IEL's Senior Leadership Team, Kwesi Rollins guides IEL’s portfolio of programs designed to develop and support leaders with a particular emphasis on Family and Community Engagement, Community Schools, Principal Leadership, and Community-based Leadership Development. Kwesi has over 30 years of experience working with local communities and state agencies to improve cross-sector collaboration and service delivery systems supporting children, youth and families. Mr. Rollins provided technical assistance and training to a range of state and county agencies, school districts, local schools and community-based organizations in projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Working with young people is also a personal passion for Kwesi who has special expertise in resiliency and youth development.  He has been recognized as the Big Brother of the Year in the District of Columbia and is an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the National Capitol Area.  He holds an MSW degree from the University of Maryland School of Social Work where he was a Maternal and Child Health Leadership Training Fellow. Follow Kwesi on Twitter: @kwesibaby58

Host or Publisher Busboys and Poets