Equity Audits.

EJP partners with school districts to conduct equity audits. An equity audit is a learning journey to identify the root cause(s) of student opportunity gaps and understand how those opportunity gaps contribute to student performance gaps. Identifying potential root causes allow schools and communities to design realistic and sustainable strategies to address opportunity gaps. The EJP equity audit methodology includes:

• a comprehensive review of policies, practices, artifacts, reports, and data;

• in-depth analysis of district and community perspectives and culture through targeted focus groups, interviews and surveys; and

• an inclusive community dialogue to interpret findings and design recommendations.

Audits bring to mind serious-minded, external professionals swooping into an organization and inspecting every nook and cranny to produce a 10lbs final report that lays bare every minute error in the internal workings of the organization. EJP takes a different approach. An equity audit is not a gotcha moment, but it is a learning journey. Yes, there will professionals on-site and there will be an audit report. But the process is one of introspection, reflection, collaboration and dialogue and the report is not final but a living document that provides frameworks and guidance for improvement, including realistic prioritized recommendations. Participating in a EJP equity audit increases internal capacity to understand, own, and resolve issues of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.

EJP’s approach reflects the reality that inequitable systems do not require deliberate discrimination. In most school districts, inequities in student opportunities and performance result despite the best intentions of the school district community. The daily interaction of:

• societal structural inequalities in social (who has the connections), political (who has the authority) and economic (who has the buying power) capital, and

• unconscious biases and cultural ideologies of educators and staff

with school district policies and practices can subvert those good intentions*. When this happens, the intended outcomes of policies and practices (even those targeted to support historically marginalized populations) differ significantly from actual outcomes. This subversion results in persistent opportunity gaps and, ultimately, achievement gaps for historically marginalized student populations. The short video below (14 minutes) illustrates this dynamic with common district example.

EJP Equity Audits examine the linkages between and among the following district functions:

• Curriculum

• Assessment and Accountability

• School Design and Student Programs

• Human Capital

• Student Supports and Interventions

• Governance and Leadership

• Enrollment and Assignment

• Budget and Finance

• Family and Community Engagement

*References:

Lewis, Amanda E., and Diamond, John B., Despite the Best Intentions: How Racial Inequality Thrives in Good Schools, Oxford University Press, 2015