John Lenssen and Associates (JLA) is a left-of-center education consultancy founded and operated by John Lenssen, an adjunct professor at several Oregon universities and former employee of the states of Oregon and Washington.

JLA offers guidance on the development of strategies to advance critical race theory-aligned “diversity, equity and inclusion” for school districts, associations, and other organizations that seek direction in the development of a strategy and its implementation. ¹

Founding and Structure

John Lenssen and Associates is a left-of-center consultancy firm founded and operated by John Lenssen that provides advice and implementation services to education organizations, schools, and universities about equity, culture, organizational change, and change leadership. JLA operates from an Albany, Oregon, base with activities primarily focused geographically on the Northwest of the United States. ²

JLA conducts workshops for educators and educational organizations to audiences recruited through a variety of associations and organizations. It provides consultancy to multiple school districts in Oregon for which it is paid from public funds. ³

School districts that have worked with JLA include Portland Public Schools, Gresham-Barlow School District, Greater Albany Public Schools, Lake Oswego School District, Tigard-Tualatin School District, and West Linn-Wilsonville School District. ⁴

Activities

John Lenssen and Associates produces a variety of workshops presented at events sponsored by educational groups promoting equal outcomes for all along with training programs in the methods required to initiate and sustain the change required to advance them.

Equal Outcomes

John Lenssen; Roberta Hunte, an assistant professor at Portland State University and facilitator of trainings on diversity, equity, and inclusion; Hector Roche, the former senior equity manager for Portland, Oregon Public Schools; and Teri Piersen, a consultant for firms claiming they are impacted by systemic racism, presented a workshop designed to provide the tools required to advance racial and social equal outcomes. The workshop was conducted at an event sponsored by Resolutions Northwest (RNW), an advocacy group that seeks a reduction of disciplinary referrals for minority school students. In the workshop JLA made a presentation on how to engage with partners in work to produce equal outcomes particularly involving institutional racism. ^{5 6 7 8}

Equity Teams

JLA has been hired to establish an equity and inclusion committee and work with the equity lens subcommittee to develop an “equity lens framework” for the League of Oregon Cities that is intended to provide a framework for education and implementation of strategies to advance critical race theory-aligned equity and inclusion for member cities in Oregon. ⁹

In December 2012, John Lenssen helped develop the Equity Leadership Team Protocol at the OLN Leadership Institute conducted by the Oregon Leadership Network (OLN), an organization that provided consulting services to schools seeking equal outcomes according to race and ethnicity. The protocol calls for teams to be formed in all schools and school districts to promote equal outcomes via the use of four agreements and six conditions to deepen the interracial dialogue. ¹⁰

Resource Guide

JLA produced an Equity Resource Guide for Oregon charter schools in which it describes the difference between advancing equality and equity as follows: “In seeking equality rather than equity, the processes, structures, and ideologies that justify inequity are not addressed and dismantled.” ¹¹

School Discipline

JLA served as an early consultant in the development of a Regional Education Laboratory Northwest (RELNW) program funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designed to reduce disproportionate discipline in schools. RELNW encompasses Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska. The program argues for enforcement of an Oregon law that limits the expulsion of students for anything but conduct that poses a threat to health or safety to keep students in class as much as possible. ^{12 13 14 15}

Black History

JLA provided early consultancy on equity for Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs: The Black History of Portland, Oregon, a curriculum, including lesson plans designed for schools on the subjects of equity, diversity, and inclusion. ¹⁶

Lesson plan 2 for 6^th graders directs teachers to ask students to identify and describe the impact of places of origin on human identities including their gender, economic, and social roles, then pinpoint its impact on diversity, color, and sexual orientation in the countries of the Western world. The program offers added resources including Understanding Activism and Reparations in Portland developed with resources from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources and the Cottonwood School of civics and science. ^{17 18}

Leadership

John Lenssen founded John Lenssen and Associates 16 years ago and continues to lead it. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Oregon, Portland State University and Lewis and Clark College. Prior to forming JLA he was team leader for the access and equity team at the Oregon Department of Education and state coordinator for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program. Lensson was an administrator with the Educational Opportunities Program at Oregon State University and the Office of Minority Affairs at the University of Washington. He is an associate with Stir Fry Seminars in California, a provider of seminars on diversity, equity and inclusion; Consulting and Workplace Solutions in New York, a human resource management support organization; and Education and Training Consultants in Oregon. ¹⁹

1. “John Lenssen’s Schedule for Multi City Equity Summit 2019.” John Lenssen. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://multicityequitysummit2019.sched.com/speaker/john_lennsen.203fk3z1.
2. “John Lenssen’s Schedule for Multi City Equity Summit 2019.” John Lenssen. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://multicityequitysummit2019.sched.com/speaker/john_lennsen.203fk3z1.
3. “John Lenssen – Director – John Lenssen and … – Linkedin.” Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lenssen-3613564.
4. “John Lenssen and Associates.” Parents Defending Education, November 1, 2021. http://www.defendinged.org/report/john-lenssen-and-associates/.
5. “Intermediate Mindful Facilitation: Tools for Equity Leadership.” Resolutions NW, June 11, 2018. https://resolutionsnorthwest.org/event/mindful-facilitation/.
6. “Scholars & Members.” Scholars & Members | Portland State University. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.pdx.edu/social-determinants-health/sdhimembers.
7. “Teri Pierson – Founder and Principal Consultant – Teri …” Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-pierson-6702b1203.
8. “Hector R. Roche – Portland, Oregon, United … – Linkedin.com.” Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hectorroche.
9. ^[1] “Equity Lens Framework-First Iteration.” League of Oregon Cities. Parakata Consulting, November 2021. https://www.orcities.org/application/files/4916/2991/9714/Equity_Lens_Framework.pdf.
10. “Equity Leadership Team Protocol.” Great Lakes Equity. Oregon Leadership Network, October 2013. https://greatlakesequity.org/sites/default/files/201501011124_brief.pdf.
11. ^[1] “Equity Resource Guide – Oregon.” Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.oregon.gov/ode/learning-options/schooltypes/charter/Documents/2016-equity-resource-guide.pdf.
12. Leadership Matters in Reducing Disproportionate Discipline Cosa Principals.” SlideToDoc.com. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://slidetodoc.com/leadership-matters-in-reducing-disproportionate-discipline-cosa-principals/.
13. “Rel Northwest.” REL Northwest | The Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/northwest/.
14. “Health Equity and Inclusion Technical Assistance Coach Highlights.” Oregon Health Agency Office of Equity & Inclusion. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/HPA/DSI/QHOCMeetingDocuments/3-14-2016%20Equity%20and%20Inclusion%20Coaches.pdf.
15. “Multi City Equity Summit 2019.” Engaging in Ally Behavior. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://multicityequitysummit2019.sched.com/event/VhGz/engaging-in-ally-behavior.
16. “Introduction to Curriculum.” Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://sites.google.com/view/pdxblackhistory/welcome/introduction-to-curriculum.
17. “2. Exploring Identity.” Civil Rights and Civil Wrongs. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://sites.google.com/view/pdxblackhistory/lesson-plans/2-exploring-identity.
18. “Understanding Activism.” Google Docs. Google. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d-z5M13k4LrGD4yoG2bLhxrinN7MmlovuaEkoBHcSG8/edit.
19. “John Lenssen’s Schedule for Multi City Equity Summit 2019.” John Lenssen. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://multicityequitysummit2019.sched.com/speaker/john_lennsen.203fk3z1.