Educational Equity Emancipation
“We have to do better”… That’s Dr. Almitra Berry’s heart-felt answer when asked about educating children from diverse cultural and language backgrounds.
Dr. Berry has a strong message for educators and school system leaders who don’t understand that cultural differences can profoundly affect the quality of education these children experience…
“You have children with failing test scores. You have teachers who want to teach but aren’t given the freedom or allowed to use the tools and strategies they need. You have teachers leaving the profession in droves.
And you have tax-paying parents who are very dissatisfied with their children’s education but don’t know how to effect change.”
In other words, our education system has a crisis on its hands. And this crisis affects all of us, not just teachers and those in the educational establishment.
It’s a crisis we must address if we’re going to have an exceptional nation with school systems free of systemic oppression.
We need to take it to heart. We need to act on Dr. Berry’s message. It’s a message she’s deeply passionate about.
As an educator, speaker, and author, she focuses on the education of the most historically marginalized: culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
She has worked diligently for over 30 years to help marginalized learners, learners of color, of linguistic and cultural diversity in low-wealth urban school districts, experience higher academic achievements.
Dr. Berry is on a mission. A mission bigger than herself. A mission to change the conversation happening around the topics of education, equity, and intellectual emancipation for culturally and linguistically diverse learners.
But she can’t do it alone. So she’s looking for leaders to join her. Is that you?
If you’re nodding your head and saying “Yes!” as you read this, we invite you to subscribe and listen to The Educational Equity, Emancipation Podcast.
Educational Equity Emancipation
Episode 115: Transforming Public Education Through Servant Leadership
In this episode, Dr. Almitra Berry interviews Kevin Johnson, the founder and CEO of the Johnson Leadership Group. They discuss Kevin's background, his passion for writing and promoting literacy, and his insights on leadership and accountability in public education. Kevin emphasizes the importance of leading by example and modeling desired behaviors for students and educators. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced by marginalized learners and the need for stable, supportive environments in schools. Overall, the episode explores strategies for transforming public education through effective, servant-minded leadership and a focus on serving the needs of all students.
About Kevin Johnson
Johnson is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of The Johnson Leadership Group, LLC, and an Independent certified coach, mentor, trainer and speaker with the nationally recognized John Maxwell Team, where he leads learning experiences that are tailored to meet the specific needs of the audience to help maximize efficiency, growth, awareness and effectiveness. A native of Richmond, VA, Kevin is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Business and he earned a Master's Certification in Government Contracting from The George Washington University, Washington, DC. He completed a 34-year career with the federal government in 2017, has been married for 30 years and raised three sons. Since 2001, Kevin has written 20 books, as a principle or contributing author, on such diverse topics as Faith, Book Marketing, Blended Families, Finance, and Leadership. His current book series - Leadership with a Servant's Heart - have earned 15 literary awards and is a 2-time new release best-seller on Amaxon.com. Recently, Kevin was honored with the Leadership Award from Men Impact Change (2020) and Outstanding Leadership Award from Education 2.0 Conference (2023). His life's mission is to create a generation of next level leaders around the globe.
https://www.facebook.com/kevinwaynejohnsonpage
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8QdXWDOB889u5XKqazk6Hg
https://www.twitter.com/writing4thelord
https://www.instagram.com/writingforthelord
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwaynejohnson
http://www.thejohnsonleadershipgroup.com/
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If you're a parent, teacher or school leader and you're sick and tired of the frustration, anger and unfair treatment of children at high risk in our public schools, then perhaps it's time for all of us to do something about it. In this podcast, Dr amitra Berry brings you tips, tools, strategies and tactics to build successful solutions while touching, moving and inspiring all of us to transform our schools so that every child thrives. Here's your host. Dr Berry,
Dr Almitra Berry:you welcome back equity warriors. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. I have a guest with me. His name is Kevin Wayne Johnson. He is the founder and chief executive officer of the Johnson Leadership Group LLC, and an independent certified coach, mentor, trainer and speaker with the nationally recognized John Maxwell team, he has taken up the task of developing individual and organizational operation operating excellence as his life's mission. He coaches in order to coax audiences to live out their gifts and awaken their potential. There's a link down in the notes to his LinkedIn profile, and I encourage you to check him out. Kevin, thanks so much for joining me and welcome to the podcast. Well,
Unknown:thank you so much for your wonderful invitation. It's a joy to be here.
Dr Almitra Berry:You know, I don't know about you, but I hate having my bio read, so I do an abbreviated version, as I did of yours, taking a little poetic license. So I'd like for, you know, I always, I listen to it red, and it's like, I not sure who that person is, but I think it's supposed to be me. It always just makes us sound so good. And I really like for, you know, here in this setting, to to be a little more down to earth. So I'm going to let you tell us, in your words a little bit about Kevin Wayne Johnson, all right.
Unknown:Well, I'm a native of Richmond, Virginia, going all the way back to great grandparents on both sides, maternal and paternal, and the majority of my family is actually still there in Richmond. A couple of us got away, but most are still there in Richmond, and we get together on a regular basis for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Juneteenth, etc. And I went through the Richmond public school system, and then I matriculated over to Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business. And right after that is when I left my hometown, right after college, ended up in the Washington, DC, Baltimore area, where I
Dr Almitra Berry:wouldn't go too far, didn't go too far, too far, didn't
Unknown:go too far. I ended up working with the federal government. That was my mom's recommendation. And I stayed 34 years, 34 years with the federal government, Department of Defense and Department of Treasury. And I actually retired seven years ago. So I've been retired for seven years, and after that lucrative career, my last position was a chief of staff. I've really loved it. I was encouraged to do it earlier in my career, but quite frankly, I was afraid because of all the responsibility that goes with it. But I'm glad I did it. And three months after I retired, I took some time off, I exhaled, and I said, How can I make the world a better place? And one of the ways that I can do that is help to develop, train, coach, mentor, and equip our next generation of leaders. I believe that better leaders help to make the world a much better place. Understanding how to interact with people, how to lead them, how to treat them, how to help develop them, makes a big difference long term. And so I stood up to Johnson leadership group and have a team of 10, and we're having a blast. That's why I smile all the time. Along the journey, I met a young lady, uh, we fell in love, got married, and that was 31 years ago, and from our union, we have three sons, and we have one god daughter, and she has two daughters, so we have two God granddaughters. So that's a little bit more about my personal life and my professional life.
Dr Almitra Berry:All right, you know, it's, you know, funny you said great grandparents in Virginia. I do happen. I have hap I have had the opportunity to trace my roots back to the motherland, and it is my fourth great grandfather who was brought over enslaved and landed in Virginia, but was sold into slavery into South Carolina. So, yeah, we have, I'm sure if you trace a little bit further back,
Unknown:yeah, you know, I need to do the same thing. Dr Barry, I have great relationships with people in row. Rhonda and Kenya. I've been to Kenya five times. I was there fairly recently, and there's been this urge in my heart to kind of be connected and stay connected. Started out as a faith journey, and now I have hundreds and hundreds of brothers and sisters and little ones that I work with and I collaborate with on a regular basis, but you just encourage me, I'm going to go ahead and take that step and find out where, where the where the roots really are, the roots, yeah, in Africa, because I know they're there somewhere, but I've always had this sort of urge to go, and I'm glad I have those relationships there. Yeah,
Dr Almitra Berry:it's a fascinating journey, just, you know, really, for us to find out who we are and where we come from. One of the things you said made me smile. A few things I thought, I think we had the same parents. I'm finding this to be more and more common about what our parents said. Even though I was born and raised in California, you were in Virginia, my mother said to me, after college, get a good government job, but I'm hard headed. I didn't listen right? So, you know, I did. I did do the teaching thing for a while. And you know, that whole journey my listeners already know about. I don't want to talk about that, but it's just interesting that it seems like across states and time, that we have these same parents. So there's, there's a route in there somewhere about the things that we're supposed to do, but like you as well, you know, it's like, I'm kind of retired, but not really retired, and I just can't stop there's too much work that has to be done. But when I looked at your work, I saw one of the things that jumped out at me was you have contributed to 20 books? Yes,
Unknown:yes, I love I love writing. I love promoting literacy, and I love sharing knowledge. I'm, I'm a non fiction book writer, primarily because I write to heighten my readers level of knowledge on a particular topic and educate. But I tell I tell people all the time, Dr berry that being an author is not just you writing a book, but it's you being part of a published book. So I'm in a season of my life where when I get invitations to be a part of a collaboration, of a book, I usually say, Yeah, because I can find time to write one chapter, to contribute my story. So that's part of how I do it. That's part of my journey. The other part of the journey is, from time to time I do sit down and actually write the full book. So I've written books on topics of faith, finance, blended families, men, leadership, global book marketing, how to write in terms of improving your craft. And it's all with the intent of educating my audience. And you know, here lately, I've been a part of five different books. When I say lately, post pandemic, five different books where I just contributed my story to the betterment of that book. And that's how others can become published authors as well. But the intent is always to promote literacy, to help all of us to understand how important it is to read what it does to your mind keeps you active, always seeking information and knowledge on different topics, and so that that's sort of the journey. I started that journey 23 years ago. Yeah.
Dr Almitra Berry:Well, we are definitely aligned there. I have absolutely zero talent for writing nonfiction, zero talent for writing nonfiction, and you know like you as well, my books are for professional development to help for my lane teachers to become better teachers to serve children of color and marginalized learners more effectively, because every single child in this country not only has a right, but deserves the highest possible education that they can get, and it's something that we have. I don't want to, I never want to offend my teacher. Audience, my educator. Audience, but we have failed miserably from time to time in that regard, especially for our more marginalized learners, but your last book, or your last solo book, I'm going to guess, is leadership with a servant's heart, leading through personal relationships. And I read just the snippets that I could get online, and it it made me think so much about one of the challenges we have with our school system is one of leadership. Once upon a time in high school, this goes way back. I was mayor for a day. I don't know how I got selected for that honor in our city. And I sat down with our city's mayor, and one of the things that he said to me that I remember 40 something years later is the. Fish stinks from the head down. Old school, Italian guy, real cool, and he just kept saying, the fish thinks from the head down. It's always an issue of leadership when there is a challenge or a problem. I hate to say problem, cancer's a problem. Anything else is a challenge, because we know we can fix it with our public school systems and education. So you work with school districts, school district leaders Exactly. What is the one thing, if you know this podcast were to go to every single school district leader in the country, what is the one thing that you would want them to hear, to take in and to do something about, well, it would
Unknown:be the same message, quite frankly, for the general audience. But specifically, as it relates to public education, we have to remember that what's key to human behavior is what we see. So leading by example, more so than what we actually say, more times than not, can be the differentiator in terms of leading people, having them to understand the message that you're trying to send. Being an effective communicator. It's what we do that people are really watching, and that's this court of human behaviors, part of how we're created. We're watching and people are learning. People are gaining insight on what to do, what not to do, based on what they see. So from the principal to the assistant principal, to the actual teacher, and I even have conversations with the administrators and even how we go about managing the lunchrooms. The students are always watching. I share this with the institutions of higher learning as well, when, when, when I'm in the graduate classes and in the undergraduate classes, I'm always reminding the students. I'm always reminding the professors, the deans, the assistant deans, and everybody else in between, that it's not always just what we say, but more times than not, it's what we do. And that can be carried over into our personal lives as well as our professional lives, and it gives people something to think about. It really does, if you want to see a particular behavior modeled then then demonstrate that particular behavior. If you want to see or try to project a certain mannerism or certain attitude or a mindset, whatever it might be, have the students, see you do that first, and it makes a big difference, because we tend to thank many of us, not all, but many of us tend to think that I've told you once, how many times I have to tell you. And it's not always about what we tell people, we have to model it as well, and if what we model is now consistent with eventually what we say, we still have to repeat it over and over again. And eventually students will, will, will start to get it. But that would be the that would be the main message, Dr Barry, because we tend to believe that, because we said something, that people are going to move out on it, and it's just not the case. We have to model really the outcome. I'll give you another quick example, and I want to stay on target. But this conversation around educational equity and the great work that you're doing on your podcast is equally important in terms of what we do at home as it is what we do outside of the home. If I raise three sons, and and all three of my sons are on different levels academically. My oldest son was adopted into our family when he was three months old. He was born premature. He was two pounds, four ounces. When he was born, we did not want him to go through the foster care system, so he we brought him into our lives. I named him after me, but his neurologist told us that he might have some complications neurologically because of this premature birth, and we had to keep our eye on it. And sure enough, academically, he was average at best. My middle son, he's an academic guy. He went to Hampton University, graduated with honors, went to the University of South Carolina to get his master's degree in social work, graduated with honors. And when he was a young guy, we never had to tell him to put his backpack down, stop what you're doing and do your homework. He just always came home and did his homework. That's just who he is. But. And then my baby boy, at two years of age, was diagnosed with autism. So that's a whole another area that I had to navigate with the public school system in terms of negotiating on his behalf, advocating for him, serving Him, loving Him, etcetera. And so I dealt with that in the home. And all three of these guys had to be dealt with differently, but the differentiator, at least in my humble opinion, was what I did more so than what I said, and I would just be the example of what a good student looks like. A good student looks like your dad going to work to earn money to take care of you. Your dad taking you to your different events to support you. Your dad demonstrating without actually saying I love you, but demonstrating through my service and my care and my honor and value for you, that I love you and that resonated over time and what I was doing as I was preparing them for one day to be good husbands and good fathers, regardless of where you are. Academically, I believe that when it comes to public education, if we can get more leaders to sort of emulate and model that above and beyond what we say, it can make a difference. Will it turn everybody around? Maybe not, but it'll make a big difference, because that's part of human behavior. It
Dr Almitra Berry:makes a huge difference in terms of the culture of an organization, a school, a classroom. You know, we've all heard do as I say, not as I do. You know, we've all been, those of us who've been parents have always, at some point in time, or 200 points in time, said to our children, what did I tell you to do? But they're always watching, and they may not say it, but in their heads, at some point in time, they have thought to themselves, but knew enough not to voice it, but that's not how you did. Least I knew as a child, if I opened my mouth and said what I was thinking right now, I might not live to see five minutes from now. So you
Unknown:still, you still be getting up from the ground,
Dr Almitra Berry:yeah, if I lived that, right? So it, you know, it's so true that what, what is good for behavior in terms of those who lead classrooms, whether you are a classroom educator, a principal, a district administrator, is about leadership. You know, we talk a lot about classroom management we do in the education space. But, and I don't know if you know my doctor, it's in educational leadership. So that that difference between servant leaders and and and charismatic leaders and the difference between leadership and management, you know you can manage by walking around, but you can also lead by walking around, showing people that you're out there, that you're care, that you're involved, that you're willing and ready to listen. Similar experiences I had leading my own classroom. My kids knew I was I was tough. I was like everybody thought I was the meanest teacher in the school, unless they were my student, in which case they knew I was tough, but I was tough because I cared. And for many kids, that classroom, that school, is the most stable environment they have in their lives. So if we're not doing it for them there, we cannot blame the parents, the caregivers, because that's a generation that we have already failed once before. Least that's absolutely my humble opinion. Yep,
Unknown:no, I agree. I'm my head is going north and south. I'm nodding north and south the entire time you're talking I agree everything rises and falls on leadership, and a lot of people just don't know that. So part of our job is to educate again, using the word again, heighten the level of awareness and getting us to have a different perspective and viewpoint on some strategies and principles that actually work. And that's really what your podcast is all about, this whole public education piece. We've got to do better, but at the same time, we've got to help people to understand how to do better. And so it's a partnership, and it's a collaboration, and that's why I do the work that I do. So that's an interesting story. So I have the same story as you do. Dr Barry, if I had, if I had spoken up and given my thoughts on what's really happening in the home as a child, I would not be your guest today.
Dr Almitra Berry:I wouldn't have a show if I had said it. I can tell you that much my mother believed in spare the rod, spoil the child. And none of us were spoiled. That is right, absolutely for sure. And three out of four of us turned out okay.
Unknown:Right, that's right. We survived it. We survived it. We
Dr Almitra Berry:did we tell,
Unknown:I tell, I tell this generation, you know, there's a such thing as chores, yeah,
Dr Almitra Berry:yeah, for them, yeah, if you don't get paid for them, right? You know, my kids would when I was raising my my baby is now 32 My oldest is 37 have a bonus child in there in the middle, and every once in a while they would say, you know, can we get allowance? And I said, allowance is social welfare, and that's not happening in this house. You're going to learn how to work. And, you know, if you do above and beyond, maybe we'll talk about compensating you a little extra, but right now your allowance is food, clothing, shelter, your extracurricular activities that I pay for or drive you to and from, and that kind of, you know, kind of ended that. And it's funny now to hear my daughter, my oldest, the only one that has a child. We have 116 year old grandson. Yeah, he's 16, rising junior. Just started his junior year in high school. To hear her say the same things to him that I said to her, that she used to roll her eyes at and say, when I'm a parent, I'm never going to say those things. Right, right, right. So there's you know that a lot of that sort of wraps around the topic of accountability, which I know is something else that you focus on. And for me, when I'm looking at school systems, accountability goes beyond the accountability to the state for test scores, for graduation rates. How do you address accountability? What are the things that you would talk to leaders about in terms of accountability,
Unknown:I help, I help all of us to understand and then I unpack it that accountability goes both ways. So in the public education space, we do have some teachers, we have some faculty, some assistant principals, principals and in the higher education, professors, assistant professors, deans, assistant deans, who are doing phenomenal work. Accountability has everything to do with helping them not feel like they're being taken for granted. So an occasional Thank you. Well done. We appreciate you. Your value.
