Street Data

Book Reviews:

“Street Data calls upon readers to ‘flip the dashboard’ from a focus on big data to a focus on the voices at the margins – those learners and their families who have been most affected by deep-rooted systemic inequities. When we listen closely to these voices with curiosity, courage, and humility, we gain a greater understanding of the meaning and root causes of these inequities, as well as how they can be addressed in ways that transform and heal. Policymakers and educators at every level of the system need this book to forge a path to genuine equity.”
—Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and President of the Learning Policy Institute

“For far too long, education leaders have implemented reform strategies without engaging and centering those most impacted – the students. Shane Safir provides an energizing, anti-racist, actionable framework that centers the voices of the most marginalized students as the experts and co-conspirators that we need to create an education system worthy of their brilliance. Read this, share it, and be a part of ushering in this ‘new normal’ of street-level data to unlock racial justice in our schools.”
—Taryn Ishida, Youth Organizer and Executive Director, Californians for Justice

“With Street Data, Shane and Jamila have built a conversation more than a framework, wherein students, their communities, teachers, leaders and systems are interconnected parts of a family unit. As a Professor and Psychologist, I found myself drawn to the work’s human and family centered focus. Throughout the work, these are linked to an emphasis on building approaches to the art of teaching grounded in listening, making and holding room for all members of the learning family, and setting goals and evolving approaches that begin with the student as their core. Shane and Jamila are engaging us all in a critically important conversation, where the data we gather and share around learning spaces is shaped and centered on the voices and beings of students. It is family systems centered teaching and learning. It is holistic, and it is necessary.”
—Napoleon Wells, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Social Sciences, Claflin University, SC

“Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan have given us a vivid and immensely readable account of what public education could and should be. Rather than quick fixes, the book is rich with real-life examples and immediately actionable equity practices that educators and leaders can use to tackle root causes. The authors have also issued an unspoken but clear challenge to all of us who care about children’s learning and development: ‘What if policy decisions were anchored in the lived experiences of students, their families, and their educators?’ Their call to action is clear and urgent: we must reverse-engineer and radically reimagine our resources, policies, and practices to support the broad conditions in which students can authentically thrive, and most particularly students who are the most marginalized by the current system. The vision of educational justice laid out in the book will not be more widely practiced if we simply rely on individual teachers and principals to push forward alone into the headwinds. It must be supported at systems and state levels, so that it becomes the rule and not the exception.”
—Sophie Fanelli, President, Stuart Foundation

“Street Data issues an urgent, timely provocation to listen to, honor, and be informed by the experiences, wisdom, fears, and aspirations of children and families who have been forced to the margins by our schools and institutions. Rich with stories that affirm our shared humanity and connectedness, Safir and Dugan offer a humanistic approach and practical guidance for embedding love, equity, curiosity, and courage in our efforts to manifest learning spaces where every young person learns, develops, and thrives.

“Safir and Dugan call on us to free ourselves from old constructs about data for improvement that are rooted in Whiteness as normative and, instead, model ways to integrate concepts of wholeness, justice, deep culture, personal mastery, and agency into our school transformation efforts. This book is an important contribution to all of us who are working to create a world that works for all of us.”
—LaShawn Routé Chatmon, Executive Director, National Equity Project

“In this absolutely path-breaking book, Shane Safir uses the concept of ‘street data’ as an entry point to a fundamentally different paradigm for schooling. Foregrounding listening, understanding, and loving over counting, measuring, and classifying, Street Data illustrates what it would truly mean to develop a humanizing and liberating approach to school transformation. Startlingly fresh in its prose, clear in its convictions, and moving effortlessly between theory and practice, we can only hope Street Data will mark the beginning of a new and different era for American education. A spectacular book!”
—Jal Mehta, Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“Old systems are crumbling before our eyes as new ones are being built. Street Data offers key insights about how to transform data and explore indigenous knowledge creation for a new world. Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan give us new ways to analyze, diagnosis, and assess everything from student learning to district improvement to policy. This book is a must read for researchers and practitioners searching for a fresh and deeply authentic model for school transformation.”
—Shawn Ginwright, Professor of Education & Africana Studies, San Francisco State University and Chief Executive Officer, Flourish Agenda, Oakland. CA

“Street Data gives us a vibrant picture of what it means to do school when we authentically center our students. Shane and Jamila provide inspiration and clear examples of how we can humanize our classrooms and create a more just education system. Critically for change agents, we also find practical advice for supporting adults across the system as they begin to shift their approach to a new normal that builds with and for students. There is no doubt that we need a new way forward and Street Data is a trusted map for charting a course for maximum impact.”
—Shanna Peeples, Teacher of the Year (2015) and Author of “Think Like Socrates”