A description of the equity audit process including, but not limited to, a discussion regarding the equity audit project with the candidate’s principal or designated school leader

Please upload the final equity audit and a pdf of the signed/scored rubrics to this Discussion Board.
 
Candidates will form an equity team (i.e., children/students, families, teachers, support staff, community members, school leaders) and lead the process of an equity audit – a system-wide analysis of data that is used to evaluate the effectiveness of a school in relationship to its ability to offer all students full and equal access to educational opportunities in order to improve the schooling experiences of all children, especially those from marginalized groups.
 
Candidates will complete the following 12 sections for the Equity Audit Inquiry-Based Project:
 
Section 1
A description of the process of discussing the equity audit project with your building principal
 

A description of the equity audit process including, but not limited to, a discussion regarding the equity audit project with the candidate’s principal or designated school leader (i.e. assistant superintendent, central office administrator, etc.).

What is equity?
What is systemic equity?
To what extent did you learn about this in your training for your administrative license? If yes, what resources/references were offered to you?  What learning activities did you engage in to better understand equity in schools? Who did you read?
As a school leader, what does it mean to speak truth to people about the reality of children’s lives?
To what extent do we as a school community equip people to resist oppression? If yes, how so? Be specific. If not, why not? What would you suggest?
To what extent do we as a school community encourage people to action? If yes, how so? Be specific. If not, why not? What would you suggest?
To what extent do committees represent the perspectives of those who are less powerful? If yes, how so? Be specific. If not, why not? What would you suggest?
To what extent do we as a school community build the capacity for all school community members to take action? If yes, how so? Who is empowered? If not, why not?  What would you suggest?
To what extent are these decisions made to engage in the attention of equity aligned with theory? Research? Evaluating practices? Evaluating policies? If yes, how so? If not, why not? What would you suggest?
To what extent do we as a school community engage in the following (see syllabus for diagram)

Section 2
A list of your equity audit team members, their role on the team, and the reason each of them was chosen to serve on the team.
 

Describe the process of discussing the equity audit project with your building principal.
What information did you present to the principal?
How did the principal understand what was meant by an equity audit? To what extent, if any, did you both predict what might surface (e.g., strengths, challenges)?
To what extent, if any, are there marginalized populations in your school?
To what extent, if any, do the marginalized populations you read/learned about are documented in your school? Why or why not?

Identify your equity audit team members. Be specific (e.g., Why were these specific people chosen? To what extent, if any does the selection process align with the ‘ideal team’ members noted in the text? Why or why not?)
 
Section 3
HOW DO PEOPLE ON YOUR CAMPUS UNDERSTAND SYSTEMIC EQUITY:

Investigation and description of how the school community understands equity and systemic equity.
What is equity?
What is systemic equity?
How do people understand what it means to be marginalized?
To what extent, if any, do people believe there are marginalized students/families in your school?
What resources/interventions are afforded to those who live on the margins?
To what extent, if any, are these resources/interventions “successful”?
How do know this?
What does it mean to speak truth to people about the reality of children’s lives?
To what extent do we as a school community equip people to resist oppression? If yes, how so? Be specific. If not, why not? What would you suggest?
To what extent do we as a school community encourage people to action? If yes, how so? Be specific. If not, why not? What would you suggest?
To what extent do committees represent the perspectives of those who are less powerful? If yes, how so? Be specific. If not, why not? What would you suggest?
To what extent do we as a school community build the capacity for all school community members to take action? If yes, how so? Who is empowered? If not, why not?  What would you suggest?
To what extent are these decisions made to engage in the attention of equity aligned with theory? Research? Evaluating practices? Evaluating policies? If yes, how so? If not, why not? What would you suggest?
Share the findings from these conversations/interviews/focus groups.

 
Section 4
Description of the school and the community population served.

Description of school and the community populations served (i.e., race, gender, ability, family dynamics, socioeconomic status, immigration/refugees, native language, religion/beliefs, sexual identity)

 
Section 5
Equity data collected:

Teacher Quality Equity

Education
Experience
Mobility
Teacher Certification
Prior Knowledge/Professional Learning Regarding Equity in Schools
Understanding What is Meant by Equity (Specific quotes and common themes)
Understanding of what is meant by systemic equity (Specific quotes and common themes)
Teacher Evaluations

 
Section 6
Equity data collected:

Programmatic Equity

Special Education
Gifted and Talented
Bilingual/English Language Learners/Immigrants/Refugees
Discipline (i.e., number of students, reasons for referrals, gender, race, free/reduced lunch, date of referral, grade level, age, how long between time of referral and meeting with school leader, time of day for referral, subject/content area, person who wrote referral, LGBTQ, special education services/gifted, family dynamics, number of minutes missed due to referral, consequences proposed before referral, consequences due to referral, family contact by school leader)

 
Section 7

Achievement Equity

State Achievement Tests
School-wide Assessments/District-wide Assessments
Dropout Rates
Transiency (Number of students who leave the district. Number of Students who enter the district. How long do students remain in the district?)
Graduation Tracking (Elementary, Middle, High School)
Retention (i.e., Number of students who take remedial courses; Who enrolls in remedial courses? Number of students who enroll in summer school? Who enrolls in summer school?)
Ability Grouping (i.e., Are students tracked? If yes, how so? Be specific. Who is grouped in which ability groups? How are they grouped? Patterns? How often do students move from one group to the next? What is the movement?)
SAT/ACT/AP/IB Performance
Standards, benchmarks and grade level indicators

 
Standards, benchmarks and grade level indicators
Standards:
Ohio school districts and teachers must meet many standards of quality. Ohio has standards for accreditation, for programs, for teaching, and for student performance. To what extent are students acquiring the knowledge and skills identified by the state in classrooms? Content standards are broad statements that identify the knowledge and skills that students should acquire and remain constant throughout K-12.
Benchmarks:
Ohio has statewide mandated core content standards. While these standards are broad definitions, benchmarks provide detail in identifying the knowledge and skills that students should acquire in the classroom. To what extent are the benchmarks aligned with the core standards? What benchmarks are being met? What benchmarks are more challenging for students to meet? Who is meeting the benchmarks? Who is more challenged by these benchmarks?
Performance Indicators:
Performance indicators provide even more detail regarding a student’s performance. Are there performance indicators for each subject/content area? What are the performance areas noted in the school/district? What does the data indicate?
 
Below is an example of a performance indicator for 3rd grade literacy:
EXAMPLE: Performance Standards for Literacy
High Performance Level:
Understands factual information and new words in context, is able to make inferences, can interpret non-literal language and information in new contexts, and usually can determine a selection’s main ideas and analyze its style and structure.
Distinguished:
Understands factual information and new words in context. Can make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Can determine a selection’s main ideas and analyze its style and structure.
Accomplished:
Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Usually can make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Usually can determine a selection’s main ideas and analyze its style and structure.
Intermediate Performance Level:
Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Often is able to make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Sometimes can determine a selection’s main ideas or analyze its style and structure.
Skilled:
Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Often can make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Usually can determine a selection’s main ideas and analyze its style and structure.
Moderate:
Usually understands factual information and new words in context. Often is able to make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Sometimes can determine a selection’s main ideas and analyze its style and structure.
Low Performance Level:
Seldom understands factual information or new words in context. Rarely is able to make inferences and interpret either non-literal language or information in new contexts. Seldom can determine a selection’s main ideas or analyze its…