Education Equity

EDUCATION EQUITY COMMITMENT

The District will attain true excellence only when all students are exceeding universally high goals. The District is committed to the success of every student in our schools. In alignment with the District’s aspirations of Inclusion, Innovation, and Inspiration, it is our belief that all students deserve to be academically challenged in a safe and supportive learning environment in which they feel a sense of belonging. This environment should be free of bullying, harassment and discrimination. All MCPASD students deserve to be held to high expectations while being given the resources and support they need to exceed those expectations.

Historical and continuing structural inequities create disparate outcomes for marginalized student populations. We also recognize that as individuals, despite the very best intentions, our actions can contribute to disparate outcomes for our students. As a District committed to equity, we seek to disrupt societal and historical inequities and eliminate disparities based on student and family characteristics such as, but not limited to, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, ancestry, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), economic status, disability status, and age, so that all students thrive. We commit to a thorough examination of institutional policies and procedures through the lenses of social and racial justice so that any policies and procedures that have a disproportionate impact on historically marginalized students and families can be addressed.

We also recognize that as individuals, despite the very best intentions, our actions can contribute to disparate outcomes for our students. We, therefore, commit to ongoing professional learning for all of our staff as it relates to identity development, its connection to issues of racial and social justice, and our roles as agents of positive change within our system.

Educational equity is based on the principles of fairness and justice in allocating resources, opportunity, treatment and creating success for each student. Achieving equity means students’ identities will not predetermine or predict school success. We believe that expanding opportunities for students who have been historically marginalized will enrich the overall development of all students. The District’s vision for all students to achieve and exceed at high levels requires the District to see each student as an individual with unique strengths and needs. In order to help all students succeed, we must meet each student where the student is academically, emotionally, mentally, physically and socially.

As such, the Board of Education approved an Equity Policy that serves as a north star for our equity work:

Every student is unique and deserves a respectful, inclusive learning environment in which to thrive. Every student's experience is shaped by many factors, and our schools must provide equitable educational opportunities that align with a student's needs including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, native language, religion, gender, ability/disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, income and preference for rural or urban lifestyle. We will appropriately prioritize educational equity in all our schools including the intentional allocation of resources, professional development, instruction, and opportunities to meet the specific needs of all our students.

Equity benefits the District as a whole. All students must participate in appropriately rigorous, challenging and diverse educational experiences designed to create a skill set needed to graduate and become career and community ready by being provided targeted support based on individual needs. Expanding opportunities and increasing support for students, especially those who have been historically marginalized and without action, may continue to be marginalized, will ultimately increase the overall educational experience, general well-being and academic achievement of all District students. We must tirelessly work to repay the education debt owed to our students and families of color.

STRATEGY MAP 2

EDUCATION EQUITY COMMITMENT CONTINUED

Therefore, we are centering our efforts in the area of literacy achievement, with a particular focus on our black and brown students. We believe each and every student can read at or above their respective grade level and we are wholeheartedly committed to doing whatever we can to make sure our students attain this benchmark.

Equity does not mean equal. Achieving educational equity will mean that schools and students may receive different resources based on specific needs. Some resources may be distributed in a universal manner; however, other resources may be targeted to a particular building, location or group of students or staff. The District should provide every student with equitable access to high-quality curriculum, support, facilities and other educational resources, even when the process appears to be differentiated in the allocation of resources.

We believe the following:

Our educational system is inherently racist and we must purposefully choose antiracist and unbiased actions in order to address the structural inequities that exist.

We each individually contribute to the success of our system and, therefore, we are committed to the lifelong pursuit of understanding our identity and how we can each have a positive impact on our system’s success.

We know that to truly engage in antiracist work, that individuals will make mistakes. We must respond to those mistakes in a way that is humanizing and holds people accountable to change.

In order for us to achieve our goals, every individual learning community member is responsible to hold others accountable to our anti-racist commitment.

We must continuously seek ways to give people of color agency and voice so that our decision-making is authentically informed by the needs and opinions of those historically marginalized in our community.

STRATEGY MAP 3

EQUITY NON-NEGOTIABLES

As we work to bring this commitment to equity to life in all of our schools, we believe the following are imperative to actualizing our vision for student success:

Self Identity Work

Because changing our system to eliminate inequities requires a deep understanding of our own identities, all staff members will engage in life-long self-identity learning and reflection.

Responsibility

The responsibility for learner success (and failure) lies with every adult in our system.

Representation

We find proportional representation of all learners in every environment.

Teaming

We align all educational staff in teams to maximize our collective efficacy to serve every learner within our “classrooms.”

Co-Plan to Co-Serve & Co-Learn

Within the co-plan to co-serve to co-learn teams, educational staff share and gain knowledge and expertise from each other to collectively strengthen staff efficacy to educate every learner.

Learning Design

We proactively design identity-relevant, engaging curriculum and instruction for and with all learners.

Relationships

We build relationships to validate, empower, and engage every learner in rigorous, identity-relevant learning experiences.

Personal Learning Plans

All educational staff ensure the support and empowerment of every learner to develop an identity-relevant, personal learning plan which drives their educational experience.

Alignment

We align all District policies, procedures, and resource allocations to eliminate inequities.

STRATEGY MAP 4