Education Is a Civil Right: The ROOTED Advocacy Toolkit for NAACP Branches
Education Is a Civil Right was more than a workshop title at the 2026 NAACP AOWSAC State Convention. It was a call to action. Led by Roz’lyn Grady Wyche, Education Chair for Alaska, the session brought together voices from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington to talk honestly about what students, families, and educators are facing, and how NAACP branches can respond.
Education Is a Civil Right: The ROOTED Framework
The heart of the workshop is a five-step framework any branch can use when an education concern comes through its door:
IDENTIFY → INVESTIGATE → LISTEN → ADVOCATE → FOLLOW THROUGH
As Wyche put it, a branch does not have to know the answer right away. It needs to know what questions to ask, whose voices need to be heard, and who holds the power to make change.
The challenges in our three states are not identical, but the responsibility is shared: ask hard questions, center the people most impacted, use data responsibly, and organize around solutions.
Tools for Branches in Alaska, Oregon and Washington
Workshop participants received a set of practical resources to take home:
- ROOTED Education Advocacy Toolkit, the five-step framework for moving a concern from conversation to organized advocacy
- Your Branch Gets the Call, a scenario activity for practicing how to identify the issue, who is impacted, the data, the decision-maker, and the right advocacy action
- 30-Day ROOTED Action Plan, a tool for turning conference learning into one concrete action in your community
- Workshop Presentation, including the regional Alaska, Oregon, and Washington advocacy strategy
The toolkit tells branches how. The branch challenge lets them practice. The 30-day plan calls them to act. The goal, in Wyche’s words, is that six months from now someone in our region can say something changed in their community because of what was learned in that room.
Putting Education Is a Civil Right Into Practice
Imagine a parent calls your branch because their child keeps getting suspended for behavior other students are not disciplined for. Using the ROOTED framework, the branch first identifies the core issue, whether that is discipline disparity, a single school policy, or something larger. Next it investigates, gathering discipline data by race, which school districts in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington publish, and learning the policy and who wrote it.
Then the branch listens to students, families, and teachers who are closest to the problem before deciding on a response. Only then does it advocate, whether through a meeting with the principal, public comment at a school board meeting, a records request, or a coalition with other community groups. Finally, it follows through, tracking commitments and reporting back to the family and the community. Education Is a Civil Right is not a slogan in this model. It is a process that turns concern into accountability.
Branches that do not yet have an active education committee can use the toolkit as a starting point to build one. The 30-Day Action Plan is intentionally small so that a single volunteer can complete it and show results quickly.
If your branch or community is dealing with an education issue, has a strategy others could learn from, or wants to keep this conversation going, reach out to Roz’lyn Grady Wyche at [email protected]. Read our full 2026 State Convention recap for more from the weekend.
Education Is a Civil Right FAQ
1. What is the ROOTED framework? A five-step advocacy model: Identify, Investigate, Listen, Advocate, and Follow Through.
2. Who led the workshop? Roz’lyn Grady Wyche, Education Chair for Alaska with NAACP AOWSAC.
3. Who can use the toolkit? Any NAACP branch, education committee, family, educator, or community partner in Alaska, Oregon, or Washington.
4. What is the 30-Day Action Plan? A worksheet for choosing and completing one concrete education advocacy action in your community within 30 days.
5. How do I get the materials? Contact [email protected] or your local branch education committee.
