Building Equitable Learning Experiences through the Formative Assessment and Feedback Process Angela Di Michele Lalor
Have you ever passed the same construction site and noticed its progress? For months, I ran past an empty lot and then, one day, it was busy with activity. Week by week, I watched as a structure slowly took shape. I noticed the Angela Di Michele Lalor is a national educational consultant who has facilitated schoolwide professional development initiatives for over 20 years. She is the author of Making Curriculum Matter: How to Build SEL, Equity and Other Valued Priorities into Daily Instruction and Ensuring High Quality Curriculum: How to Design, Revise or Adopt Curriculum Aligned to Student Success. You can learn more about Angela here.
variety of trucks parked in the driveway as different workers completed their specific tasks. While their work seemed separate, together, they created a house. Eventually, plantings appeared, then paving stones and other signage, reflecting the family that now lives there. As a homeowner myself, I know that workers will return to make changes and repairs to strengthen the structure and address the owner’s new needs as they arise. When they do, the contractors may use new materials and techniques or use existing ones in new ways. It is all part of the building process. A process educators need to keep in mind as they work towards building equity for their students. Equity is addressing individualized attributes of students so they can engage in learning and eliminating those practices that prevent them from reaching their full potential (Lalor, 2021). Accomplishing this requires a multidimensional approach. On the construction site, workers with different areas of expertise came together to create a structure to serve the owner and the intended use of the building. In a school that attends to equity, educators, parents, community and board members come together to ensure that 8
