Building Equitable Ecosystems

Since 2012, Digital Promise has convened Education Innovation Clusters (EdClusters), local communities of practice that bring together educators, entrepreneurs, funders, researchers, and other community stakeholders (e.g., families, local government, nonprofits) to support innovative teaching and learning in their region. At the 2016 Education Innovation Clusters (EdClusters) Convening in Providence, Rhode Island, participants began and committed to an ongoing critical discussion on equity in their networks. Two key takeaways emerged:

• If an improvement isn’t equitable, it isn’t innovative; equity is critical for true innovation
• For equity to remain a central focus, it must be measured

With renewed commitment toward defining and expanding inclusive innovation, an Equity Working Group was launched with EdCluster members from across the country, and over the course of 2017 and 2018 resources were curated to support improving equity within these networks. The group also developed and workshopped an equity assessment to further inform the work within their communities and organizations. This resource, a compilation of that work, includes both links to resources and worksheets.

Equity is centered within the broader framework of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) DEI work requires self-reflection, group-reflection, participation in difficult conversations, willingness to listen and prioritize the perspectives and feelings of others, investment of time and energy into community partnerships, and ongoing assessment of progress and policies. This resource includes starting points and guidance for beginning conversations and presents strategies for providing more equitable community based learning experiences with the goal of improving academic outcomes for all students.

This resource can help:

• Define local educational inequities
• Assess an organization’s current practices and policies around DEI, and
• Strategize specific improvements regarding operations and policies.

(Note: For this work to be authentic and intentional, organizations must design a comprehensive approach for examining implicit biases and organizational culture, which is a critical body of work that is not addressed here.)

“Educational equity means each child receives what he or she needs to develop to his or her full academic and social potential.” (National Equity Project)

Students enter school having had different levels of access to early learning opportunities. This opportunity gap directly affects achievement. To support each and every student to high achievement, schools, and education organizations need to provide equitable–not equal–resources to students.

What is educational equity?

Providing equitable resources includes increased support for historically underserved populations, including students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQIA+, immigrant and undocumented families, students from lower-income families, and any marginalized students and families. It also means increased representation of these students and their families in environments where educational decisions are being made.

Why approach it from a local level?

Educational inequities differ between regions. Historical context and regional demographics determine who has access to resources and who leads decision-making in education systems. Once communities identify local educational inequities, they can map out clear strategies to improve access and representation, resulting in better outcomes for students.

How are these resources organized?

The resources have been organized in three steps: 1) develop shared understanding and definitions that will guide the work; 2) collect and analyze demographics; 3) conduct an audit of practices, policies, and strategies currently in place.

People approach DEI from different backgrounds and levels of familiarity, and individual beliefs and perceptions on these topics vary widely. The resources in this section can help you initiate critical conversations about your organization and its goals related to DEI. A starting point is confirming alignment across your organization regarding the definition of DEI and the value of DEI in your organization’s work.

Baseline Definitions

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are nuanced topics with different emphases specific to regions, education systems, and workplaces. For that reason, it’s important to develop an organization-wide understanding of equity and DEI values before making meaningful internal improvements. The following definitions offer a baseline overview of each concept. (Also see the tools in Section IV)

• Diversity: “…all the ways in which people differ, encompassing the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another. While diversity is often used in reference to race, ethnicity, and gender, we embrace a broader definition of diversity that also includes age, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, and physical appearance. Our definition also includes diversity of thought: ideas, perspectives, and values. We also recognize that individuals affiliate with multiple identities.” (Independent Sector)
• Equity: “…the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. Improving equity involves increasing justice and fairness within the procedures and processes of institutions or systems, as well as in their distribution of resources. Tackling equity issues requires an understanding of the root causes of outcome disparities within our society.” (Independent Sector)
• Inclusion: “…the act of creating environments in which any individual or group can be and feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued to fully participate. An inclusive and welcoming climate embraces differences and offers respect in words and actions for all people. It’s important to note that while an inclusive group is by definition diverse, a diverse group isn’t always inclusive. Increasingly, recognition of unconscious or ‘implicit bias’ helps organizations to be deliberate about addressing issues of inclusivity” (Independent Sector)

Consider: Where does your organization currently stand on equity? Where do you want to be?

DEI issues affect every aspect of an organization, from goal setting to staff and clients to communications, operations and finance. The Organizational Equity Spectrum outlined below may be a helpful way to start to engage in an equity discussion. The spectrum offers three approaches organizations can take when designing equity strategies.

• Equity as a Strand: Organizations who have a deep focus on equity in a specific area. For example, a STEM organization who has a specific program for K-6 high-poverty students within the context of their broader work.
• Equity as a Lens: Organizations who utilize an equity lens across all of their work. For example, a philanthropic organization who requires their grantees to meet equity-focused criteria and outcomes in all of their grants.
• Equity as Core: Organizations whose core mission is equity-driven and whose work focuses 100% on supporting underserved populations. For example, a non-profit who provides mentoring to underserved students of color.

*Note that no point on the spectrum is necessarily better or worse than the others; they simply represent different points of organizational focus and provide a framework for discussion.*

Organizations can host internal discussions to gauge their placement and set goals for modifications in many ways, including surveys and organization-wide conversations designed to illuminate blind spots and promote collective understandings.

There are many ways to invite stakeholders and staff to share feedback on current approaches to DEI, including attitudinal surveys, conversation cafés, and facilitated DEI trainings. Examples of these tools and resources are listed below as a starting point. Because people come into this conversation from different backgrounds, experiences, familiarity and comfort, approaching these topics with care and consideration can help create a safe, inclusive space where all feel respected and heard.

Article or Report

• Changing the Discourse in Schools (Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism Policy and Practice): Chapter from Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism Policy and Practice advocating for educational leaders to change the dialogue around education reform and improvement

• How Diversity Makes Us Smarter (Scientific American): A summary of research that shows organizations who promote cultures of DEI have improved performance and innovation

• The Nature of Discourse in Education: Notes on “Changing the Discourse in Schools” (School Reform Initiative): A breakdown of topics covered in the chapter shared above

• Unrealized Impact: The Case for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (The Foundation Working Group): Report sharing the impact of educational equity on student outcomes

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• Getting Buy-In; Part 4 of A Step-by-Step Guide to Cultivating Diversity and Inclusion: Practical considerations for improving internal buy-in when opening dialogue about DEI, from a corporate perspective.

Organization or Program

• City Bridge: Nonprofit that incubates and launches new schools and transforms existing ones within Washington, DC with an equity-focus.

• DEI Expert Hub (Catalyst Education): Platform to submit specific DEI projects/challenges, and receive proposals from a curated collection of expert consultants in the DEI education space

• National Equity Project: Nonprofit focused on improving educational outcomes for underserved communities

• The Equity Lab: Nonprofit offering long- and short-term trainings on race, equity, diversity, and inclusion for individuals and organizations

Tool or Toolkit

• America Healing Racial Equity Resource Guide (Kellogg Foundation): Toolkit for building racial equity in communities

• Conversation Café: A method for engaging in difficult conversations through rounds of dialogue, instead of open debate

• Equity Toolkit (NGLC): Tools for developing an equity lens in professional learning, organizational growth, school culture, and next gen learning design

• Informing the Plan (Racial Equity Tools): Various tools for assessing racial equity on community and organizational levels

• Liberating Structures: Various tools for opening dialogue to all individuals on a team

• New Schools Venture Fund DEI Resources (New Schools Venture Fund): Extensive list of tools and resources regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion in education

• Racial Equity Impact Assessment Toolkit (Race Forward): Toolkit for minimizing negative outcomes of policies, programs, and practices, through a racial equity lens

• Racial Equity Toolkit (Government Alliance on Race and Equity): A toolkit addressing equity specifically in a racial context, including a sample tool used by the city of Seattle

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• Guidelines for Inclusive Language (Australian Department for Education): An overview of inclusive language, including many examples and suggestions on what to avoid

• HTML 508 Checklist (Department of Health and Human Services): Guidelines to ensure your website is 508 compliant/accessible

• People First: Communicating with and about People with Disabilities (New York Department of Health): Guidelines and considerations for respectful communication with individuals with disabilities

Article or Report

• Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (Zaretta Hammond): Framework for optimizing student engagement through culturally responsive instruction

• Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters! (Equity Alliance): Background information on the importance of culturally responsive teaching and how to implement it in the classroom

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• Culturally Relevant Teaching Strategies (Georgia Department of Education): List of preconditions, characteristics, and strategies that are key to culturally relevant teaching

• Envisioning a Culturally Relevant Maker Learning Program (Digital Promise): Guiding questions for pursuing equity in maker-learning spaces

• Guidelines for Inclusive Language (Australian Department for Education): An overview of inclusive language, including many examples and suggestions on what to avoid

Article or Report

• 2014 Equity Report for Atlanta Public Schools (Atlanta Public Schools): This report includes a history of equity audits in education. The audit used a framework from “Equity Audits: A Practical Leadership Tool for Developing Equitable and Excellent Schools.” It relied on APS administrative and financial data, geospatial data, and Census data.

• Equity Audits: A Practical Leadership Tool for Developing Equitable and Excellent Schools (See also: this summarizing article) (Educational Administration Quarterly): A framework for educational equity audits. Broad topics include teacher quality equity, programmatic equity, and achievement equity.

• Transfer Access Survey for Two Year Colleges (Center for Urban Education Policy, The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, and University of Massachusetts at Boston): This resource is specific to community colleges, but is helpful to guide equity assessments in any educational organization. Topics include: services, financial aid, staff, communications/marketing, policy, practice, standards, and mission.

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• Equity Audit Statement (Nebraska Department of Education): List of statements to guide an organization in forming an equity audit

• Getting Buy-In; Part 4 of A Step-by-Step Guide to Cultivating Diversity and Inclusion (Lever): Practical considerations for improving internal buy-in when opening dialogue about DEI, from a corporate perspective

Organization or Program

• DEI Expert Hub (Catalyst Education): Platform to submit specific projects/challenges, and receive proposals from a curated collection of expert consultants in the DEI education space

Tool or Toolkit

• Achieving the Vision of an Inclusive Peel Region: A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Organizational Self-Assessment Tool (Diversity and Inclusion Charter of Peel): Equity self-assessment created by a diversity and inclusion initiative in the Canadian Peel Region

• Conversation Café: A method for engaging in difficult conversations through rounds of dialogue, instead of open debate

• Cultural Competence Self-Assessment Questionnaire (PsycTESTS): Perception-based self-assessment of personal and organizational cultural competency

• Discussion Protocols (NGLC): Tools for opening dialogue about DEI

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Spectrum Tool (Meyer Memorial Trust): A tool to help organization’s self-assess their DEI performance and projected path

• Equity Toolkit (Texas Education Agency): A five-step process to increasing equitable access to excellent teachers in Texas schools

• Equity and Diversity Audit Tool (Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada): A tool for assessing and addressing equity from an organizational lens

• Liberating Structures: Various tools for opening dialogue to all individuals on a team

• Professional Learning Sequences (NGLC): Tools for level-setting around issues of DEI

Article or Report

• Democratizing Design Thinking (Contested Cities): Academic article with a framework for addressing social problems with design thinking through a social justice lens

• Making Through the Lens of Culture and Power: Toward Transformative Visions for Educational Equity (Harvard Educational Review): Academic essay critiquing cultural normativity in maker-spaces and presenting a framework to advance equity

• Perspectives from Practice and Research (Participatory Design and Learning): Handbook on participatory design methods and processes

• Racism and inequity are products of design. They can be redesigned. (equityXdesign): Article on the confluence of racial equity work and design thinking

Organization or Program

• Creative Reaction Lab: A nonprofit organization focused on collaborative youth engagement and equity-centered community design

Tool or Toolkit

• Liberatory Design Cards (Stanford d.school): A toolkit for recognizing, reflecting on, and addressing historical inequities in the design process

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• 4 Steps to Implementing Diversity at Events (Event Manager Blog): Considerations for planning events from a DEI lens

• Accessible Meeting and Event Checklist (Cornell University): Guidelines and considerations for planning an inclusive event

• Event Planning the Ensures Equity and Access (Johns Hopkins University): Guidelines and considerations for planning a fully accessible event

• Food Restrictions and Allergies (Harvard University Event Management): Outline of common food allergies and dietary restrictions

• Illuminating Pathways Toward Event Planning that Ensure Equity and Access (AHEAD): PowerPoint presentation detailing best practices for coordinating events that are accessible and inclusive

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• Examples of Mission Statements with Commitments to Diversity/Inclusiveness (The Denver Foundation): Sample organizational mission statements with a focus on DEI

Article or Report

• Social Network Analysis Connections Metrics (Wikipedia): Brief overview of ways to define and examine connections using social network analysis

Article or Report

• Equity Audits: A Practical Leadership Tool for Developing Equitable and Excellent Schools (Educational Administration Quarterly): Article on equity audits featuring a section on programmatic equity (for mostly in-school programs)

• Toward Equitable Education (Grantmakers for Education): Report on the importance of equitable programming–especially in early childhood education and among English learners–from a philanthropic perspective

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• Creating Accessible Programming (UT Austin): Building accessibility into the planning stages of programming for students with disabilities

Tool or Toolkit

• NGLC Equity Toolkit (NGLC): Tools for developing an equity lens in schools and school-based settings, including professional learning, organizational growth, school culture, and next gen learning design

Article or Report

• Berkeley Staff Diversity Initiatives (UC Berkeley): Documentation of UC Berkeley’s campus-wide initiative to foster diversity and inclusivity among employees

• Diversity Efforts Fall Short Unless Employees Feel That They Belong (Harvard Business Review): Insights on creating a genuinely inclusive culture, from the Chief Talent Officer at LinkedIn

• Five Ways to Build Diverse, Inclusive Leadership Teams (Stanford Social Innovation Review): Best practices to promote diversity at a leadership level, from the lens of education nonprofits

• From Intention to Action: Building Diverse, Inclusive Teams in Education to Deepen Impact (Education Pioneers and Koya Leadership Partners): Suggestions of concrete steps to take to improve internal diversity, including an organizational audit checklist

• Great Leaders Who Make the Mix Work (Harvard Business Review): Insights from 24 international CEOs on the value of diversity in the workplace and strategies to improve it

• Managing Unconscious Bias (Paradigm): Strategies to manage bias and build more diverse, inclusive organizations

• There’s Room: Six Ways to Support a Diverse Work Culture (Recode): Strategies for promoting inclusivity in an organizational setting

• What do leaders need to understand about diversity? (Yale Insights): Five experts from the field of management discuss how leaders can promote diversity in their organizations.

Guidelines, Check List, or Best Practices

• Leading for Equity (The Aspen Institute): Guidelines and considerations for promoting equity in education, from the perspective of state education chiefs

• So You Want to Collect Demographic Data: Getting Started (D5): An overview on best practices for nonprofits collecting internal demographic data, from a philanthropic perspective

Tool or Toolkit

• Dialogic Interviews (Deeper Learning): Guiding questions for opening dialogue about equity and diversity

• Enhancing Cultural Competence (University of Kansas): Toolkit for building a culturally competent organization

• Inclusion Survey (Culture Amp and Paradigm): An internal survey focused on DEI in hiring and recruiting, as well as in organizational culture

Article or Report

• Connectivity (Office of Educational Technology): Background information on national efforts to close the Digital Learning Gap

• Digital Equity for Learning (Cooney Center and Rutgers University): Research report on the Digital Learning Gap and its effect on low-income families

• Rethinking Educational Equity in a Digital Era (Consortium for School Networking and the National Title I Association): Case studies on improving educational equity from a technology lens

• The Broadband Imperative II: Equitable Access for Learning (SETDA): Recommendations for increasing student access to the internet to improve students’ academic and career opportunities

• The Numbers Behind the Broadband ‘Homework Gap’ (Pew Research Center): Short article covering research on the Digital Learning Gap and student access to internet

Organization or Program

• AT&T Access: Low-cost internet access for qualifying households

• Comcast Internet Essentials: Low-cost internet access for qualifying households

• Everyone On: A national nonprofit with a tool that connects individuals with low-cost internet resources in their area

• Hotspot Program (Digital Wish): A nonprofit that provides free hotspots to eligible public and nonprofit private schools

• Tech Goes Home: A Boston-based nonprofit organization focused on increasing technology access and use among students, parents, and schools

Additional links, ideas, and feedback can be sent to clusters@digitalpromise.org and we will continue to update this resource.