Episode 23: A Mindset of Courage: How To Stop Doubting Ourselves with Dr. Montessa Muñoz

In this beautiful conversation, Alcine and Shane embrace storientation to hear Dr. Montessa Muñoz’s journey from a young Latina mother to a school and district administrator, and what it has meant for her to be a role model for students who “look just like me.” We unpack the problem with making decisions for and about students based on satellite data alone and explore the “hack” of “students-as-consultants”... What happens when a bunch of school administrators are asked to sit in the back of the room and simply listen as 8-10 students talk about district-wide data on attendance and “achievement”? According to Montessa, the experience was “amazing… there were administrators in the back who were crying.” They also discuss the powerful, agentic experience of students serving on a Kiva Panel and Montessa’s radical dreams for assessment: to center student voice into a truly balanced assessment system.

 

For Further Learning:

• Assessment Leadership: Leading a Balanced, Comprehensive Assessment System to Improve Teaching and Learning by Jessica Arnold and Robert Sheffield, with Chelsea Talakoub