6 Strategies for Advancing Educational Equity

Earlier this week, I shared 2 things you could do to lay the foundation for equity work. I also emphasized the need for specific language—calling out the form(s) of inequity you see. I painted a very quick picture of the problems and shared that this is hard but worthy work. Here’s a link to that post if you want to go back and read it before continuing with this post.  
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Let’s get down to it. You know that structurally, educational practice reproduces inequity by race, class, ability, language, and gender. Now, what? Here are several strategies, resources, and ideas to get you started. 

• Listen to recommendations from the experts. In this episode of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast, Jennifer Gonzalez interviews Pedro Nogeura. It is excellent. I am a huge Pedro Noguera fan. Side note: he was one of the keynote speakers for the annual iNACOL conference I attended last week, and he was brilliant as usual. (I’ll share a video of that talk as soon as iNACOL posts it to their YouTube channel.) Anyways, in the podcast episode, Noguera shares 10 ways educators can take action in pursuit of equity. Listen or read the highlights on the associated blog post. Another podcast episode I recommend is this one from the Truth for Teachers podcast in which Angela Watson interviews Cornelius Minor about his new book, We Got This. He talks about inequitable systems, but also how “you can disrupt the status quo in your class.” 

 

• Inventory your equitable practices. The Montgomery County Public Schools created a list of equity practices. I turned these into a Google Form so you can make a copy, edit as desired, and distribute it to your colleagues. (I’ll share a link below.) At my former school, we aggregated the data for our grade teams and chose 1-2 practices to focus on improving for a semester. 

Get your free Equitable Practices Invetory!

 

• Take a critical look at your curriculum. When reviewing existing curriculum or planning new curriculum, ask yourself if your students have both windows and mirrors in the curriculum. In other words, do they have opportunities to learn about people who have had life experiences different from their own and also see stories that are similar to their own in the curriculum. It’s important to note: traditional curriculum has included a LOT of mirrors for white, heterosexual, cisgendered, able-bodied men. I imagine most students have read lots of books and texts that feature characters and historical figures with that identity. So, leaning more heavily, or even exclusively, on windows (for students who do fit this overrepresented identity) or mirrors (for students who do not), is not unfair. In fact, I would argue it tips the scales more closely towards justice and equity. To drive the point home, I’ll share this quote from Adrienne Rich: When someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked into a mirror and saw nothing. 

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• Make space for students to share their own stories. Ask students to write a “What I Wish My Teacher Knew” letter to you (or you could frame the activity as “What I Wish My Class Knew” and have students share with the class). As the teacher, you share too! Inviting members of the class community to share about themselves fosters trust, relationship-building, and a sense of belonging, which are helpful for student achievement! This can start to counteract the inequitable systems that inhibit growth for many students.   

 

• Partner with families. Creating and Implementing a Family Partnership Plan is a strategy authored by BetterLesson’s Senior Manager of Inclusive and Responsive Educational Practices, Afrika Afeni Mills. She walks teachers through the steps of how to do this and links several resources to support this work. Often, traditional systems of family communication make families feel unwelcome or otherwise marginalized from being partners in their kids’ educational journeys. “Parent Conference Night” may exclude family members whose work schedules prevent them from being able to attend at particular times, and non-parent guardians may feel marginalized by the “parents”-only language. Several schools have switched to “Family Night” or “Open House Night” to be more inclusive of diverse family structures.  

 

• Listen to weekly discussions of racial equity in the classroom. The podcast, Teaching While White, is excellent. Hosted by white female educators, they discuss real classroom situations involving race and racial equity and interview amazing educators like Robin DiAngelo and my friend and colleague, Afrika Afeni Mills. 

That should keep you busy for a while! Keep an eye out for more equity strategies on the Time for Teachership blog, in weekly emails to the community, and on my Pinterest boards, where I’m working to build up collections of resources for teachers ready to dive in deep.  
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I’d love to hear about all of the great work you’re doing to advance equity in your educational communities. Share with me in the comments or in our private Facebook group. Finally, involve others in this work. You can start by simply sharing this post with a friend or colleague! 

Again this work is tough, but so incredibly powerful. 
It absolutely requires each of us to think big, act brave, and be our best selves. 
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