Niambi Clay has over 30 years of experience creating thriving educational conditions for all students. She has been a classroom teacher, district administrator, COO of a national nonprofit, senior advisor at a national educational organization, and, most recently, Executive Director of equity at a county office of education. 

You’ve been a classroom teacher, district administrator, and so much more, and now you’re in this role at a policy advocacy organization. What excites you about making the move to work at EdTrust-West?

To be honest, a lot of things excite me about EdTrust-West. In terms of the role itself, I’m excited about the connection between being in education and policy development. I know how it is being a teacher, being an administrator in K-12 schools and districts, I know how it is to be on the ground level and feel like things are happening to you versus with your input and with your experience and knowledge being taken into account. So, stepping into this role is super exciting to me because leading the educator engagement team means directly working with educators, and it also means leading our feedback loop work in terms of our research and advocacy. At times, education can feel like, oh, teachers are doing this over here, but policy is doing this over here. But here, the theory of change at EdTrust-West orients the work in a way where educator input is valued, necessary even, and I’m looking forward to further exploring what we can do to deepen that connection and to support educators on their equity journeys.  Also, it was notable to me that when I was interviewing for this role, asking folks what they liked about the organization, all 8 people had a different answer, but they were all really good answers. Learning how folks who are within the organization already love it was really exciting.

What does “racial equity in education” mean to you when thinking about your work with EdTrust-West?

I think folks talk a lot about equity and talk a lot about students of color, but it seems to be a side conversation or an add-on. EdTrust-West puts it front and center. This is who we’re centering, this is who we’re trying to serve, this is who we’re trying to change the system to serve. What’s also important – and exciting – to me about how EdTrust-West works for equity is that as an organization, we’re being unapologetic about it. Many folks do this work apologetically. Some think that watering down equity work is what we need, given our current dynamics in politics and education policy. But when work is done in that way, what message does that send to others, to students of color, to multilingual learners? It says other people’s comfort is more important than their education, than their hopes and dreams, than their fundamental rights. And so I think we must be unapologetic in this work, while also being strategic, to get the change that we’re seeking.

And to me, equity work involves centering the voices of those that you’re trying to serve and making sure you’re not doing things to people, but doing them in community and with people. So if you’re really living those values, then you need to make sure you have a way of centering and including and working in partnership with those that you’re trying to serve or affect. And you have to make sure that, in addition to having that really embedded in the work, you also continue to reflect, to evaluate, and act on how to strengthen those aspects of the work. 

What’s on the horizon for the EdTrust-West Educator Engagement team?

It’s clear that we’re in an unprecedented and fraught moment for educational equity. Yet, we shouldn’t forget that there have been several wins in education equity in California at the state level in recent years. I’m eager to see the policy steps California leaders will take to continue supporting students in this current moment, and I also know from being in classrooms and being an administrator that it’s one thing to pass a policy, to pass that good idea, but on the ground, the implementation can hit roadblocks. Schools and districts, college campuses, they all need resources, time, knowledge, and capacity to implement new initiatives. And they need time to see what works, make tweaks, and adjust. I’m interested in figuring out more ways to remove those roadblocks so the good ideas at the policy level actually lead to change in a way where timelines, logistics, professional development implementation, etc., are elements that are more considered and addressed. Part of that to me is making sure those feedback loops I mentioned previously continue in the implementation phase, not just the policy development phase.

And there are other things I’m looking forward to exploring. How do we help educators consider student voice more? How can we build schools and campuses full of equity champions, so the work isn’t just dependent on the one superstar teacher or administrator? There are so many possibilities and I’m eager to connect more with folks who want support as they tackle similar questions. 

Want to learn more about the Educator Engagement team and how your school, district, or college can partner with EdTrust-West? Reach out to Niambi and the team at [email protected].