Promoting Educational Equity in Schools

Each had its own strategies.

A teacher who uses these strategies builds equity in their classroom and influences the school around them. The strategies are practical. None requires special permission, extra budget, or formal authority.

1. Observe carefully

The first strategy is observation. A teacher who does not see the diversity in their classroom cannot respond to it.

Observation is more than a quick glance at students. It is sustained attention to:

1. Who participates and who does not.
2. Who gets called on and who is overlooked.
3. Who needs more print, more time, more individual conversation.
4. Who is being interrupted by peers.
5. Who carries which physical, sensory, or learning needs.

’s earlier guidance for language diversity (talk to students individually) builds observation directly. Each individual conversation reveals more about the student.

A useful habit is keeping brief notes on each student over the term. Patterns become visible. The teacher sees which students need which kind of support.

2. Be a role model for equity

The second strategy is to model the behavior you want students to develop. Equity is no exception.

A teacher who treats every student with the same respect models equity. A teacher who calls on girls and boys equally models equity. A teacher who values multiple languages and learning styles models equity.

A teacher who plays favorites, tracks down on certain students, or laughs at stereotypes models the opposite. Students see the inequity and absorb it.

The role model effect compounds. A class that watches their teacher practice equity for a year ends the year with stronger equity habits than they started with. A class that watches the opposite ends the year with weaker habits.

3. Involve others in inclusive practice

The third strategy is to involve other people in the equity work. A teacher cannot build equity alone.

Other people to involve:

1. Other teachers. Share what works. Mention which accommodations a particular student needs. Other teachers will encounter the same student and can carry forward.
2. Teaching assistants and support staff. Make sure they understand each student’s needs. A student who needs larger print should get larger print whether the main teacher or a substitute is delivering the lesson.
3. Students themselves. Tell students why an accommodation exists. A student getting larger print should know that this is normal and helpful, not a special concession. Other students should know too, so they do not see accommodations as unfair.

Making large photocopies for a student with low vision. This works only when the photocopying staff know to do it, when other teachers know to use the large print, and when classmates understand that the larger print is no different from any other adjustment.

4. Promote student autonomy

The fourth strategy is to make students more independent over time. Equity is not about doing everything for the student. It is about giving them what they need so they can do for themselves.

A practical example: assigning math problems and asking students to solve them on their own. With 30 students, the answers will not all be identical. Some get the right answer with a clean process. Some get the right answer with a confused process. Some get the wrong answer because they made a small slip. Some get the wrong answer because they have a deeper confusion.

The teacher’s job after the work is done is one-on-one feedback. Tell each student where they did well and what to fix. The student gains confidence in their own thinking. They learn that the teacher trusts them with the problem.

The opposite approach, where the teacher writes the answer on the board and tells students to copy, produces dependent students. They never learn whether their own thinking would have worked. Their autonomy does not develop.

Flashcard

Why does promoting autonomy support educational equity?

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Answer

Equity gives the student what they need to learn to do for themselves

A teacher who does everything for the student keeps them dependent.

A teacher who provides what the student needs and then steps back lets every student develop their own thinking.

Confidence and skill grow only when the student does the work.

5. Organize support groups for difficult cases

The fifth strategy is for cases where one teacher cannot decide alone. A student with severe impairment, a student with strong dyslexia, a student in a complex family situation. A teacher trying to handle these alone may make mistakes.

A support group brings together the relevant people: other teachers, the head, sometimes parents, sometimes specialists. The group considers the case and makes decisions together.

This connects to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which holds that every child has a right to education and that no child should face discrimination. Both rights must be balanced. Sometimes a school’s first impulse is to expel a student with a severe issue. The right to education says no. The support group’s job is to find a way to include the student appropriately.

Support groups make the equity work shared, not solo. They also build a collegial culture: when teachers work together on real cases, the school’s professional standards rise.

6. Celebrate learning and diversity

The sixth strategy is celebration. A school that celebrates only one kind of student (the high-achiever in standard subjects) implicitly punishes every other kind. A school that celebrates many kinds of students builds equity.

Example: when a child does well, a teacher can say “wonderful, your idea is brilliant” or “look at the way they solved this, that is excellent”. When a child does something different, the teacher can say “that is a creative approach, tell us how you got there” instead of “why did you not do it the standard way?”.

Celebration also extends to diversity itself. The mosaic image from the start of the chapter showed children of different abilities producing different patterns on the same A4 sheet. Each pattern was unique. The whole was beautiful because of the differences.

Schools often try to enforce uniformity beyond what is needed. Uniform clothes are practical. Uniform thinking is impossible and unwanted. The teacher’s job is to celebrate that students think and produce differently.

7. Take pride in workmanship to reach excellence

The seventh strategy is to push every student toward excellence in their own area, not toward a single school-defined excellence.

’s word for this is workmanship. Each student’s own work, done well, is worth celebrating. A student who is brilliant at sports, with weaker academic results, can still be a student who does excellent work. A student who is brilliant in poetry, with weaker math results, can still be a student who does excellent work.

Excellence in a teacher’s eyes should not be one-dimensional. The mosaic of student strengths is what produces a complete school.

This connects equity back to ambition. Equity is not lowering the bar. Equity is letting every student reach their highest possible bar. The bars look different for different students. The reach for excellence is the same.

All seven together

The seven strategies form a complete approach. None of them alone is enough. Together, they produce a teacher who builds equity in every dimension of diversity:

1. Observe carefully (what is happening?)
2. Be a role model (what am I showing?)
3. Involve others (who else should be in this?)
4. Promote autonomy (am I making students dependent or independent?)
5. Organize support groups (where do I need help on hard cases?)
6. Celebrate learning and diversity (what am I rewarding?)
7. Take pride in workmanship (am I letting every student reach their own excellence?)

A teacher who works through this list weekly builds the habits over time. The students benefit. The school benefits. Society slowly benefits as students who experienced equity carry it into their adult lives.

Flashcard

What is the connection between equity and ambition?

Tap to reveal

Answer

Equity is not lowering the bar; it is letting every student reach their own highest bar

A school that confuses equity with low expectations does damage.

True equity recognizes that students have different strengths and lets each one push toward their own excellence in their own area.