Rise Up Conference

Akilah Lyons-Moore
Akilah Lyons-Moore
MAT, Ed.D.
USC Rossier School of Education
Akilah Lyons-Moore
Akilah Lyons-Moore is an associate professor of clinical education at USC Rossier School of Education with over 17 years of professional experience in public school education as a former charter high school administrator and district high school history-social science teacher. Blending her professional and academic experiences since joining Rossier in 2018, Dr. Lyons-Moore is passionate about how theories of learning, cultural knowledges, and critical pedagogies equip teachers with the skills and attitudes to serve historically underserved students and students of color. Dr. Lyons-Moore is also especially interested in the experiences of Black teachers and the retention of teachers of color. Dr. Lyons-Moore teaches in the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program as well as the Leading Instructional Change concentration of Doctor of Education in Leadership (Ed.D.) program. She also leads several courses in the MAT program and has served on different school and university level committees. Prior to entering the education field, Dr. Lyons-Moore worked in the non-profit sector as a director of a community organization in Pacoima and grassroots organizer in South Los Angeles. Dr. Lyons-Moore grew up in Pacoima, CA, and received both her Ed.D. (2014) and MAT (2010) from USC Rossier School of Education, her BA in Public Policy from Occidental College as a James Irvine Scholar and was educated in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

SESSION OVERVIEW

Embracing Intersectionality and Confronting Internalized Racism to Advance Racial Justice as Social Workers, School Counselors, and Mental Health Professionals
As the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in K-12 schools continues to proliferate the nation and California communities, many school social workers, counselors, and mental health professionals have questioned how to advance racial equity efforts in K-12 schools and other educational contexts. This session will engage participants in a series of learning experiences that advance how they think and talk about the concepts of intersectionality and internalized racism to unearth the ways our commitments to racial justice might be undermined by hidden biases we have internalized due to socialization in schools and universities that perpetuate campus climates, curricula, and policies that promulgate white superiority. In order to unearth how those socializing forces have impacted educators, this session will include meaningful reflective exercises for participants to story their own intersectionality and evaluate case-scenarios in which biases overshadowed educators’ best intentions to serve racially and culturally diverse K-12 students’ needs. Credible and current research will inform this engagement, which will introduce content and strategies that offer participants multiple and varied opportunities to learn and practice building racial literacy knowledge and skills. Drs. Pascarella and Lyons-Moore will present contemporary cases of racial problems in K-12 schools, concrete examples of racial literacy-in-action, and practical strategies that educators can immediately use with colleagues, staff, faculty, and students.