Education, Equity, and Empathy with Ashley McCall

Ashley McCall

“Students perform better academically when their needs are met.”

Ashley McCall is an activist and educator with a mission. Her work as an educator in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago has earned her the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2021. As an educator, Ms. McCall is aware of the many barriers to education equity which include disproportionate poverty and trauma and lack of access to high quality early childhood education according to the Educational Equity Institute.

Addressing educational inequities takes cultural, social, and empathetic approaches. As a bilingual educator who serves Mexican American, bilingual, and immigrant students, Ms. McCall integrates these approaches by centering students as people with needs, wants, feelings, and desires that deserve to be attended to. Ms. McCall believes that school life and home life cannot be separated. She acknowledges that children face challenges outside of school; therefore, she gives students space in the classroom to address these outside challenges. She states, “students perform better academically when their needs are met.”

In addition, Ms. McCall has accepted the political nature of education and sees teachers as natural organizers and policymakers. The education system is always changing; however, some education policymakers make policies without ever being in the classroom or having not been in a classroom in years. This is one reason Ms. McCall chooses to continue being an educator and activist from the classroom because she can impact policy in a unique way from her perspective as a teacher. 

Overall, many things have changed in schools because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Ms. McCall is dedicated to serving her community, navigating these changes and reimagining what is possible for schools post COVID.