What does equity in education mean?

Equity has a variety of meanings and implications in life and it's an important topic in today’s current climate. Equity in education is a goal that everyone needs to get behind, so we use equity as a lens for everything we do and provide at Collaborative Learning Solutions.

While equality in education means treating every student the same, equity means that each child receives what they need to develop to their full academic and social potential. The practice of educational equity is about persistently minding the margins with the purpose of dismantling the beliefs and structures that perpetuate disparities in student outcomes. When we can predict how a student will do because of identity factors (race, gender, language, etc.), we have not addressed equity.

How to approach this topic.

Educational equity requires educators (administrators, teachers, etc.) to understand the unique challenges and barriers faced by individual students or by populations of students and to provide additional support to help them overcome those barriers.

We help schools identify and eliminate predictable outcomes of demographically diverse students (e.g., race, nationality, gender, socio-economic status, English learners, and students with disabilities) within the educational system that are creating barriers by integrating equitable foundations, partnerships, and assurances in a tiered approach to interrupt biased-based rules, regulations, policies, and practices, to thereby yield social transformation.

Key Benefits

Fosters a safe and healthy school climate and community with greater connections.
Improves attendance and increased instructional time.
Provides restorative practices.
Decreases behavioral concerns amongst students and our youth.
Promotes an inclusive culture that engages and draws on the assets of students, families, staff, and community members.
Provides better representation in AP and Honors classes.
Encourages conversations about equity and social justice.
Looks at self (implicit bias) and then structures and systems.

How We Can Support

It’s top priority for us to help districts provide access and opportunity to every student and to eliminate inequities. Doing so ensures equally high outcomes for all participants.

Our core equity services include:

  • Auditing and Root Cause Analysis - We analyze key data points and identify policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce different outcomes so we understand what’s causing certain inequities.
  • Consultation and development of strategies to build equity standards - We work alongside school districts to identify and understand equity-related issues, set priorities, and raise awareness through intentional communication and feedback loops. School districts will help develop and enact an equity vision to take action, measure progress and adjust other strategies to promote inclusive education.
  • Curriculum, training/coaching, and implementation - We offer equity retreats to help key educational leaders experience equitable practices and explore current realities within their setting.  This helps them better understand how practices impact students and learning and determine a plan for implementing equitable practices within their school system.  
  • Professional learning and development - We help school districts engage in self-reflection and growth to enhance their organizational leadership and structures for equity.
our equity support image

*We customize all of our solutions for each district, school, etc. we work with. Please contact us for more information or assistance.

 

Additional Resources

Check out these startling facts and statistics about K-12 disparity and how it affects our communities: click here for more.

Take these free Implicit Bias Assessments from Harvard to uncover personal behaviors and attitudes that may serve as blind spots:
Test 1: Race Implicit Association Test
Test 2: Project Implicit Social Attitudes

Let CLS be your thought partners as you navigate addressing equity!
 

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