Because You Matter: Reclaiming Humanity in the Age of AI and Assessment
Learn how to create inclusive classrooms with Radical Belonging, AI resilience, and strengths-based leadership in education.
What if education was more than grades, outputs, and algorithms?
What if it started with a simple truth: because YOU matter?
This is not just a tagline. It is a belief system. It is the compass that has guided my work across classrooms, faculty development programs, and college-wide change efforts. It is the phrase I return to when students feel invisible, when faculty feel overwhelmed, and when the system itself feels too rigid to shift.
"Because you matter" reminds us that students are more than ID numbers. Faculty are more than content deliverers. Assessment is more than a finish line. And artificial intelligence is not the end of us: it is an opportunity to return to our humanity.
Radical Belonging Is the Blueprint
Radical Belonging is a transformational approach that centers on belonging and purpose. It is a lens that supports designing systems that recognize and inspire the full humanity of those within them.
I define Radical Belonging in terms of four fundamental needs: psychological safety, competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Psychological safety asks, "Am I safe to fail and still be seen?" Competence ensures that every learner and educator feels both capable and encouraged to grow and develop. Relatedness invites community over competition. Autonomy affirms that individuals should have a voice in how they learn, lead, and live.
These principles are rooted in research on self-determination theory and educational neuroscience; more importantly, they are informed by lived experiences that shape the way learning environments feel. When these needs are honored, belonging becomes infrastructure, the next step following intention. It becomes the foundation for thriving educational ecosystems.
‘Real Talk’ Before Rigor
Dr. Paul Hernandez's "Pedagogy of Real Talk" powerfully reframes the educator-student relationship. One of his most enduring lessons: "Students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care", grounds how we build culture across departments and disciplines.
'Real Talk' means we begin our courses with purpose and lived experience. We build time into STEM (and other disciplines) and leadership courses for reflection and emotional check-ins. We model vulnerability as part of our teaching practice, embedding cultural wealth into the fabric ofacademic content. These actions humanize education. They challenge a system built on transactional rigor and replace it with relationship-centered transformation.
Rigor without relationship is not rigor, it is trauma. 'Real Talk' is a counter-narrative to the myth of objectivity in education. It is how we lead with love and structure for success.
Fast Work, Slow Work, and AI Resilience
We are living in a time of rapidly evolving AI capabilities. There is a growing temptation to automate everything, from grading and feedback to instruction itself. But not all work is meant to be fast.
Todd McLees' Human+AI framework helps us navigate this moment with intention. It divides our responsibilities into two essential categories: fast work and slow work. Fast work is the domain of AI: characterized by efficiency, speed, and scale. AI can assist in trend analysis, content translation, and low-stakes student practice. It can help us make informed decisions more quickly and identify students (with privacy and data security in mind) who may require early intervention.
But slow work is uniquely human. It involves care, reflection, discernment, and deep listening. AI cannot sense when a student needs grace instead of a grade. It cannot replicate the trust built in a 'Real Talk' conversation. And it certainly cannot redesign systems around inclusivity, empathy, and joy.
True AI resilience lies not in resisting these tools, but in using them with radical purpose and transparency. We must choose when to automate and, more importantly, when not to. We must ensure that our tools serve human growth, not institutional control.
Assessment That Heals
We are shifting from earning to learning- because growth doesn't always look like a score. This perspective is central to my approach to assessment in higher education. We are moving away from static rubrics and toward systems that honor process over product.
I use growth portfolios to document student development and amplify their voice, even in STEM fields. I want to move toward data that prioritizes support over surveillance. Data is the insight that informs the approach. Our goal is not to catch students making mistakes; it is to understand who needs connection, clarity, or a different instructional approach.
Assessment that heals is more complex and more human. It requires time, humility, and collaboration. However, it creates learning environments where students grow not because they are being measured, but because they are being supported and can explore new, co-created expectations.
Leading with Strengths
As a CliftonStrengths-based leader, I center my work around five dominant strengths: Learner, Arranger, Ideator, Includer, and Achiever. These are not just attributes; they are tools for change.
As a Learner, I remain endlessly curious. I never stop asking questions. As an Arranger, I bring systems into motion, aligning people and ideas to create momentum. As an Ideator, I ask "what if" and imagine alternative pathways that others may not see. As an Includer, I widen every circle I enter, ensuring that no one is left behind. As an Achiever, I carry vision through to execution, ensuring that intentions become action.
These strengths are embedded in every initiative and course I design and facilitate. They shape how I build community, navigate complexity, and hold space for possibility.
A Call to Educational Leaders
If you lead a classroom, a program, a college or university, or a learning community, this is your invitation:
- Begin every initiative with the question: Who does this serve, and how will they feel about it?
- Build dashboards that track support accessed, not just grades earned.
- Use AI to accelerate inclusion and accessibility, not reinforce bias.
- Start faculty meetings and assessments with 'Real Talk' - not compliance.
- Center people before performance, every time.
Students not only need to know the material, but also to understand it. They need to know they matter. And so do you. Because 'YOU Matter" is more than a philosophy, it is a leadership practice, an educational standard, and a collective call to action. Let us reclaim assessment. Let us embrace AI with care. Let us build systems that not only measure but also heal, with US at the center.
Radical Belonging & Educational Psychology
1. Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529
2. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.
3. Brown, B. (2021). Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience. Random House.
Real Talk & Trauma-Informed Teaching
4. Hernandez, P. (2015). The Pedagogy of Real Talk: Engaging, Teaching, and Connecting with Students at Risk. Corwin Press.
5. Carello, J., & Butler, L. D. (2015). Practicing what we teach: Trauma-informed educational practice. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 35(3), 262–278.
6. Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Corwin Press.
AI Resilience, Human+AI, and Fast vs. Slow Work
7. McLees, T. (2023). Human+AI: Reimagining the Future of Work, Learning, and Leadership in the Age of AI. humanplus.ai
8. Newport, C. (2016). Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. Grand Central Publishing.
9. OECD. (2021). AI and the Future of Skills, Volume 1: Capabilities and Assessments. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
10. Knox, J., Williamson, B., & Bayne, S. (2020). Machine behaviourism: Future visions of ‘learnification’ and ‘datafication’ across humans and digital technologies. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(1), 31–45.
Assessment for Learning & Growth
11. Stiggins, R. (2005). From formative assessment to assessment FOR learning: A path to success in standards-based schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(4), 324–328.
12. Andrade, H., & Cizek, G. J. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of Formative Assessment.
13. Routledge.13. Barrett, L. (2024). Shifting from Earning to Learning: Rethinking Assessment to Empower Students to Self-Agency. McGraw-Hill Higher Education Blog.
14. McMillan, J. H. (2010). Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards-Based Instruction. Pearson.
Strengths-Based Leadership & Inclusive Practice
15. Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths-Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. Gallup Press.
16. Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K., & Anderson, S. E. (2010). Learning from Leadership: Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning. University of Minnesota and the Wallace Foundation.
Faculty Development and Institutional Transformation
17. Sorcinelli, M. D., Austin, A. E., Eddy, P. L., & Beach, A. L. (2006). Creating the Future of Faculty Development: Learning from the Past, Understanding the Present. Anker Publishing.
18. Kezar, A. (2018). How Colleges Change: Understanding, Leading, and Enacting Change. Routledge.
19. Barrett, L. (2024). Grow Awareness, Embrace Partnership, Demystify the College Experience. McGraw-Hill Higher Education Blog.
20. Barrett, L. (2023). Embracing Learning Technologies to Foster Belonging, Engagement, and Success. McGraw-Hill Higher Education Blog.
Dr. LaKisha Barrett is an Associate Professor of Biology and a catalyst for inspiration in the next generation of learners. Her teaching is grounded in experiential learning, evidence-based practices, and student-centered pedagogy, all anchored in a deep commitment to accessibility and inclusion. She creates spaces where every student feels seen, valued, and supported, cultivating a culture of care that extends beyond the classroom.
Dr. Barrett empowers students and faculty alike to embrace their personal and cultural strengths as sources of resilience and excellence. Through intentional course design and innovative approaches, she sparks curiosity and ignites a passion for learning that propels students toward their highest potential.
Her influence reaches beyond teaching: she is a leader in faculty development, belonging, and humanizing education. By sharing her expertise in instructional design and inclusive practices, Dr. Barrett helps educators reimagine their classrooms as spaces of belonging, purpose, and transformation. With courage, creativity, and compassion, she champions the belief that education can unlock not only knowledge, but also agency, connection, and possibility.
