Embracing Educational Equity
By Maryam Brotine, J.D.
The word equity is tossed around frequently in our current political climate, at least when it appears in an abbreviated form as “E” alongside its sister words diversity and inclusion within acronyms like DEI. What is this three-syllable word really about? Why does it cause such a stir? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines equity as “fairness or justice in the way people are treated.” That seems straightforward — shouldn’t it be something we can all agree on?
This isn’t a trick question: The answer is yes!
In Illinois we can, to some extent, let all those acronyms vying for national headlines just float away on their blustery political winds. We need not be distracted by them because we know that — regardless of what administration occupies the federal executive branch and regardless of our own personal feelings about acronyms, Illinois public school boards are committed to equity and quality in K-12 education.
We know this because the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) measures Illinois public school districts based on equity. We also know this because your board member oath states “As part of the Board of Education, I shall accept the responsibility for my role in the equitable and quality education of every student in the School District” (105 ILCS 5/10-16.5). As a result, you, valued school board member, are obligated to address equity within your district.
Think about it — your district already has a reason to pursue educational equity and has probably had this reason since its inception. What is it? Look at your district’s vision or mission statement for a starting point. It likely says something like “Preparing our students to learn, grow, and reach their greatest potential” or “Our students will become successful, engaged, lifelong learners.” I guarantee it does not state “Preparing some of our students to learn, grow, and reach their greatest potential” or “Our select few students will become successful, engaged, lifelong learners, and good luck to the rest of you!”
IASB also gives you a reason to pursue educational equity. Since October 2018, IASB has defined educational equity as follows:
Educational equity means that every student has access to the educational resources and rigor they need at the right moment in their education, and students’ needs are not going unmet due to race, ethnicity, dominant language, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion, family background, and/or family income.
Within this definition, the list of factors that appears after the phrase “not going unmet due to” could go on and on. We simply do not have space to list every factor that affects students’ needs. Some people may dispute the factors listed above and argue that others should be listed instead. That discussion is for another time. The key point is that if students’ needs are unmet, it is the responsibility of school boards, working with their broader educational community — administrators, educators, staff, parents, community organizations, etc. — to identify those needs and work to meet them. Or, as simply stated by ISBE Superintendent Dr. Tony Sanders, we need to “mind the gap.”
Illinois has a steady hand in ISBE, which is unequivocally committed to educational equity and has been for years. ISBE’s equity statement prominently appears right after its vision and mission statements, providing that “Illinois has an urgent and collective responsibility to achieve educational equity by ensuring that all policies, programs, and practices affirm the strengths that each and every child brings within their diverse backgrounds and life experiences, and by delivering the comprehensive supports, programs, and educational opportunities they need to succeed.” (ISBE 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, p. 4. )
ISBE’s equity statement is not just fancy words on a website. ISBE has put its statement into action by annually assessing and reporting every public school district’s equity metrics through the Equity Journey Continuum (EJC). ISBE states that the goal of EJC, which has appeared on all districts’ Illinois Report Cards since October 2022, is to encourage action around equity. The EJC does this because it is data-driven, and data points can show your board where the gaps exist. Once you know where the gaps exist, you are empowered to act to reduce them. If you can see the gaps, you can see what needs work and resources.
The EJC snapshot that is public-facing on your district’s Illinois report card gives a broad, 30,000-foot overview of your district’s equity journey. The EJC measures three areas for large, moderate, small, or minimal gaps: 1) student learning, 2) learning conditions, and 3) elevating educators.
Think of these measures as three legs of a table. Your table will be most stable and robust when all three legs have minimal gaps. If your table is wobbly because one leg has a larger gap than the other, then you know you need to bolster that leg to stabilize it. You won’t know how to stabilize your table just by looking at the public-facing EJC. But, as a board member, you have access to the detailed data that underlies the EJC. This is important so that you can dig deeper to see where the gaps come from and ask, “Why do those gaps exist?” Discovering this why (as well as the why behind the why) is the hard part and takes a lot of digging. Your arms will get sore and your fingernails will get dirty as you dig, but you will be driven to keep digging so long as you keep your own why for embracing educational equity in mind. So, what is your why? Take a moment to think about it. For many of us, our why is a who, a group of beloved young people we think of when we want to see the promise of quality education fulfilled. Keep your why close to your heart and your hands will keep going.
To learn more about the EJC, tune into IASB’s webinar “Advancing Equity in Education: The Equity Journey Continuum on the Illinois Report Card.” The live webinar is June 5 and it will be available after for on-demand viewing. Representatives from ISBE, the Illinois Council of School Attorneys (ICSA), and school board members discuss the evolution of the EJC, including how EJC scores are calculated, what you can learn from your EJC data, and how you can use it to tell your district’s story.