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Crompton awarded Christa McAuliffe sabbatical

By Staff | Jun 27, 2020

CONCORD – Misty Crompton, a social studies teacher from West Running Brook Middle School in Derry, has been awarded the 2020 Christa McAuliffe Sabbatical from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The sabbatical, created in 1986 in honor of the Concord High School teacher and astronaut, gives an exemplary New Hampshire teacher a year off with pay and a materials budget to bring a great educational idea to fruition.

Crompton will use the sabbatical to work on a project called “Promoting Just Schools.” The goal: to help New Hampshire students succeed by helping make sure all students have the same opportunities to achieve their academic potential, regardless of their personal or social circumstances. Crompton’s project focuses on educational equity – levelling the playing field for students by recognizing how identity, race and culture of students and teachers play out in the classroom.

“What I dream of for particular students is that they feel their teachers actually embrace diversity, recognize the culture of students they work with and are willing to advocate for them,” she said. “It starts with educators being mindful about their own experience and their own dispositions and how that affects what we do in the classroom.”

During her sabbatical year, Crompton plans to design a blog and website with curriculum resources, support and projects for educators; develop training presentations for teachers and school districts; and promote “opportunity audits” to ensure that school districts have data to support more equity-driven policies.

The sabbatical was awarded earlier this spring, and recent nationwide protests calling for racial justice have added additional urgency to Crompton’s work. Crompton has been making connections with organizations in New Hampshire and nationwide to gather resources and build relationships that will help her incorporate the lessons of the current movement into her project.

“Misty Crompton’s focus on equity, on making sure that all of our children have the opportunity to thrive and reach their potential, is so important and so clearly necessary,” said Charitable Foundation President and CEO Richard Ober. “The Charitable Foundation is honored to administer this sabbatical that carries on the legacy of Christa McAuliffe, and proud to support this project.”

Crompton will work with social studies teachers in Derry and with her school district to help analyze curriculum. She plans to develop training presentations for school districts and culminate her project with a larger training event for New Hampshire educators.

A key component of the project will be offering and encouraging “opportunity audits.” The audit examines many factors, including the physical condition of schools, curriculum, disciplinary procedures, distribution of high-quality programs and staff and how achievement is measured.

“I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to better understand what districts are going to need in terms of support, then be able to comb the country, really looking for anything that I can work with to give educators the tools themselves,” she said.

Crompton was inspired to focus on equity when she attended a conference last summer in San Diego sponsored by an organization called Leaders for Just Schools. She and colleagues from around the country spent four days discussing how education is affected by bias, poverty, privilege, identity, culture and “isms” (such as racism, sexism, classism or ableism — which devalues or discriminates against people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric challenges).

“It was transformative,” she said. “I want to create a situation where I can give that experience to the teachers of New Hampshire.”

She realizes that some of the conversations and the work will not be easy.

Events of recent weeks have prompted a classic “teachable moment.” Crompton feels that her project is coming at a time when New Hampshire educators and school districts are eager to incorporate the curricula and resources that her project will offer.

“We have such an opportunity to do the work and create more equitable systems right now,” she said. “There is going to be opportunity for some true action, and I would hope that my project could also lend assistance to that.”

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation is New Hampshire’s statewide community foundation, founded in 1962 by and for the people of New Hampshire. The Foundation manages a growing collection of 2,000 funds created by generous individuals, families and businesses, and awards $40 million in grants and $6 million in scholarships every year. The Foundation works with generous and visionary citizens to maximize the power of their giving, supports great work happening in our communities and leads and collaborates on high-impact initiatives. Visit www.nhcf.org to learn more.

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