Mindfulness and Compassion in K-12 Urban Educational Reform: Designing a Sustainable Future

The purpose of the series of three meetings we funded with the grant from the Spencer Foundation, and supplemental funds from the Mind and Life Institute and from the PEACE (Promoting Empathy Awareness and Compassion in Education) Program at Penn State University, was to convene interdisciplinary groups of educators, researchers, practitioners and contemplatives to discuss how to create compassionate and equitable K-12 urban school systems; and how mindfulness and compassion principles and practices might be fruitfully integrated into such educational reform efforts. The first meeting occurred in November 2016 in San Diego CA with 41 participants and was entitled Compassion and Equity in Educational Systems. The second meeting occurred in August 2017 in Oakland CA with 20 participants and was entitled Compassion and Equity in Educational Systems II. The third meeting occurred in Scotts Valley CA in May 2018 with 20 participants and was entitledLeading the Change The Role of School Principals. Each meeting progressively explored (a) the issue of how to consider the development of prosocial qualities like compassion alongside mindfulness training in schools; (b) the issue of expanding beyond classrooms to school- and district-wide implementation of programs focused on students, staff and faculty alike; and (c) the issue of how best to consider issues of equity when designing a new generation of compassion-focused efforts in educational systems. A network of practitioners has been formed, programs are being developed and refined, and a conceptual paper on Mindfulness, Compassion and Equity in School Reform will be forthcoming.,