Using Equity Audits to Assess and Address Opportunity Gaps Across Education
by Paula N. Johnson, Ph.D.
Educators and their communities can use equity audits to examine their school's culture, trends, practices and policies. This can help mitigate inequities, including those exacerbated by crises like the COVID-19 school closures. Identifying opportunity gaps is a vital first step in addressing them.
Equity audits use data to identify institutional practices that produce discriminatory trends impacting students in three key areas: programmatic equity, teaching quality equity and achievement equity. Data collection requires feedback from key stakeholders across the school system and helps provide answers about the types of supports students may need and how to correct major issues that impact their education.
IDRA's EAC-
South has extensive resources for schools conducting equity audits and can provide the guidance and assistance necessary to target these issues.
In the wake of the COVID-19 public health crisis, schools across the nation are turning to online learning as technology presents a welcome opportunity for students to continue their schooling. However, online education also brings a host of equity and access concerns. These include misperceptions about student technology abilities and access, and the unique challenges faced by special education and English learner students.
This resource offers ideas for educators on how technology can best serve student learning during these difficult times. The recommendations rely on best practices, logical conclusions drawn from equity audits, classroom observations, research on technology access, and our collective empathy toward students and their families.
Bricio Vasquez, Ph.D., is IDRA's education demographer and data scientist. He has worked in education and applied data analysis for over 10 years.
Bricio is a passionate educator and previously taught sociology, statistics and demography courses at two universities. Educational equity has been his life mission and he aspires to continue this work for decades to come.
Bricio serves on the Texas Counts Census Campaign as the co-chair of the education subcommittee. The Texas Commissioner of Education recently appointed him to serve on the statewide compensatory education advisory committee that will review school funding changes adopted in 2019 and advise the state agency on rules for implementation.
In his free time, he enjoys backpacking Big Bend National Park, saltwater fishing in the lower Laguna Madre with his father and brother, and dancing cumbia, salsa and two-step.
A Win for Equity - Texas Board Adopts Curriculum Standards for African American Studies Course in Historic Vote
The Texas State Board of Education recently approved the proposed curriculum standards for a state-approved African American studies course. With the unanimous vote, the board has moved in the right direction toward equitable schools where all students may learn about the rich contributions that African Americans have made in all disciplines.
IDRA and its allies in the Texas Legislative Equity Coalition continue to call on the SBOE to prioritize multiculturalism and cultural relevance when developing the core curriculum to ensure a more representative public education system. IDRA provides services for educators in offering African American Studies.
The Intercultural Development Research Association is an independent private non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring educational opportunity for every child. IDRA strengthens and transforms public education by providing dynamic training; useful research, evaluation, and frameworks for action; timely policy analyses; and innovative materials and programs.
IDRA works hand-in-hand with hundreds of thousands of educators and families each year in communities and classrooms around the country. All our work rests on an unwavering commitment to creating self-renewing schools that value and promote the success of students of all backgrounds.
