Assessment for Equity

Carolyn Roberts uses her voice to support Indigenous resurgence through education. She is a St’at’imc and Sto:lo woman belonging to the Thevarge family from N'quatqua Nation and the Kelly Family from the Tzeachten Nation and under the Indian act a member of the Squamish Nation. Carolyn is a Speaker, Author, Indigenous academic, and Assistant Professor working in the Teacher Education. She has been an educator and administrator for over 20 years in the K-12 system. Carolyn’s work is grounded in educating about Indigenous people and the decolonization of the education system. She works with pre-service teachers to help build their understandings in Indigenous history, education, and ancestral ways of knowing, to create a brighter future for all Indigenous people and the seven generations yet to come.

Jo Chrona is a speaker, education consultant, Indigenous education advocate, and author of Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education (2022). Jo is Ganhada of Waap K’oom and is a member of the Kitsumkalum First Nation, a Ts'msyen community in British Columbia, and also has European ancestry. She currently lives on Salt Spring Island, traditional territories of the W̱SÁNEĆ (Tsawout) and Quw’utsun.

Jo’s professional experience includes over 25 years teaching in both the K-12 and post-secondary systems in BC, working as a Policy Analyst and Curriculum Manager for the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), an Advisor to the BC Ministry of Education, and a Faculty Associate in SFU’s Teacher Education Program.

Jo has also been involved in curriculum development and resource writing, professional learning through inquiry networks, and Indigenous education. She participated in various aspects of educational transformation in BC’s K-12 system and development of Indigenous education policies, as well as managed and contributed to the development of authentic Indigenous teacher resource guides. She is currently exploring the connections between Indigenous-informed pedagogies and authentic assessment.

Jo has a Bachelor of Arts from SFU, a Diploma of Education from UBC, and Master’s Degree in Educational Technology from UBC.

Jo is passionate about helping create systemic change in K- 12 education systems to help create truly inclusive, high-quality, strength-based education experiences for all learners. She currently consults and provides professional learning sessions that focus on the intersections of Indigenous education and anti-racism.

Details coming.

Rosalind Poon has been a lead learner with the Richmond School District for the past 24 years.  She is currently a school leader at a secondary school.  Through her work as a teacher, consultant and school-based educational leader, she has developed a strong interest in examining how assessment practices are equitable and can be used to build students up so that they can be more confident, resilient and reflective about their own learning.  Rosalind looks forward to learning alongside the Assessment for Equity Community. 

Gurpreet Kaur Bains is an award-winning educator, keynote speaker, educational consultant and a cultural facilitator with 24 years of teaching experience. She is the Modern languages Lead Learner at LA Matheson Secondary School with Surrey School District. Her teaching areas include Punjabi language, Science and Special Education. Gurpreet embodies her beliefs in nurturing students' sense of identity and amplifying their voices and agency around culture, all through Punjabi Language instruction. She has closely worked with the Ministry of Education on curriculum development and helped mentor new Science/Language teachers as a School Associate. She has facilitated and served as an educational consultant with "Being -Punjabi: Unfolding the Surrey Story" feature exhibition with the Museum of Surrey. She is the facilitator and co-curriculum writer for the District's Next Hundred Year Mentorship Program which focuses on mentorship through identity. This program helps students to explore subjects such as inclusion, racism, identity, resilience, belonging, and prejudice. Gurpreet is also the co-founder and facilitator of Dhahan Youth Punjabi Literature Award in creative writing for BC Punjabi language students. Gurpreet strongly believes that cultural collaborations between educators and community stakeholders helps strengthen the sense of identity. This is highlighted with her partnerships with a diverse group of community partners which has helped in fostering multigenerational engagement and robust communities.

Mohammed Rustom is Professor of Islamic Thought and Global Philosophy at Carleton University and Director of the Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam. He has been the recipient of a number of academic distinctions and prizes such as the Ibn ‘Arabi Society Latina’s Tarjuman Prize, a Templeton Foundation Global Philosophy of Religion grant, The Institute of Ismaili Studies’ Annemarie Schimmel Fellowship, Iran’s World Prize for the Book of the Year, and Senior Fellowships courtesy of the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute’s Library of Arabic Literature and Humanities Research Fellowship programs.

An internationally recognized scholar whose works have been translated into over ten languages, Professor Rustom’s research focuses on Islamic philosophy, Arabic and Persian Sufi literature, Quranic exegesis, translation theory, and cross-cultural philosophy. He is author of The Triumph of Mercy: Philosophy and Scripture in Mulla Sadra (SUNY Press, 2012), co-editor of The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary (HarperOne, 2015), and translator of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, The Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration (Islamic Texts Society, 2018).

Dr. Rustom’s more recent books include Inrushes of the Heart: The Sufi Philosophy of ‘Ayn al-Qudat (SUNY Press, 2023), The Essence of Reality: A Defense of Philosophical Sufism (NYU Press, 2022), and A Sourcebook in Global Philosophy (Equinox, in press)

Professor Rustom is also Editor of Equinox Publishing’s Global Philosophy series and Editorial Board member of the Library of Arabic Literature (NYU Press).

Jade Caines Lee, PhD, is an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Kansas’ Achievement and Assessment Institute. She leads the Equity and Assessment area within the Center for Learner Agency Research and Action. She is also founder and CEO of JCRG LLC, an educational consulting firm which assists clients with educational research, measurement, and evaluation needs, as well as educational program development and professional development, for over a decade. She has been a career educator, teaching P-12, undergraduate, graduate students and life-long learners for over 20 years. She has presented and published in the areas of validity, classroom assessment, evaluation research, and fairness issues in the educational measurement field, and in the areas of evaluation and intervention research that aims to improve teaching and learning for marginalized people.

A UBC alum, Nikitha teaches and works towards truth and reconciliation on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish People. Recently, she completed her Master of Social Justice and Equity education through the University of Western Ontario. This learning venture reinforced her focus on criticality and joy as necessary components to anti-racist and inclusive education. During her career, Nikitha has successfully piloted district learning programs focused on Black Canadian History, supported the first UBC Black Futures program, and contributed to a Black Peoples’ History of Canada, among other local and national projects. She has equally been engaged in supporting pre- and in-service teachers in the areas of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and inclusive classroom practice. However, she is most proud of her efforts to diversify representation in her French Immersion classroom and the creation of two school based clubs – FemmInAction and X.Block. FemmInAction is a leadership club for Femme students focussed on community building and shifting school culture and X.Block is a mentorship program for Black youth. Both in and out of the classroom, Nikitha is focussed on empowering students and teachers to be joyful, critical, and engaged.