Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect >>>>> Chapter Thirty-Seven (Part One, Facts) >>>>> Educational Equity Framework

A summary of Acceleration 2020/  Educational Equity:  Developing a Framework for Student Achievement for All as presented by Kim Matier and Lanise Block to the Minneapolis Public Schools  Board of Education in 2015 is given below:

 

Educational equity results from three sources: 

 

1)  excellent education;

 

2)  excellent teachers;

 

3)  warm relationships with students and their families.

 

The “Draft for Educational Equity” was presented in triangular visualization with “Collective Accountability” at the center, with “instructional transformation,” “personal transformation,” and “structural transformation” each located pictorially at one of the three angles.  Then outside the triangle, on each of the three sides were given the values, “evidence-based research”;  “families  and communities”;  and  “integrated systems”;  with “pedagogy of equity” topping the visual at the triangle’s apex.

 

These values then gained a bit of additional comment on another page with the heading, “Desired Outcomes for Systemic Change.“  Additional comment highlighted the following:

 

>>>>>  “evidence-based policy, program, and practice,” so as to “integrate racial/ cultural competency in the development and implementation of systems to rapidly improve outcomes “;

 

>>>>>   “pedagogy of equity,“ so as to “ensure targeted groups access learning with the cultural and linguistic assets of students in mind “;

 

>>>>>  “integrated systems,” so as to “build and manage interdependent relationships that create and sustain adaptive systems to meet diverse needs” ;

 

>>>>>  “families and communities as education partners,” so as to “normalize the inclusion of  the perspectives of our families of color and American Indian communities to interrupt marginalization.”

 

The next steps in the process are given according to the following timetable:

 

Phase One          >>>>>  April 2015-October 2015

                                >>>>>   Identify Desired Outcomes

                                >>>>>  Develop Draft Framework and Recommend Changes to EDIA

 

 

Phase Two          >>>>>  November 2015-June 2016

                                >>>>>   Stakeholder Groups formed

                                >>>>>  Action Plans Developed for Desired Outcomes

                                >>>>>  EDIA Piloted, Feedback Collected, and Final Adjustments Made

 

Phase Three       >>>>>  January 2016-June 2016

                                >>>>>   Board Update on Equity Framework and EDIA (January and June)

                                >>>>>  Board Training

                                >>>>>  Equity Audit

 

The document and presentation ends with a citation of work that will continue, according to certain existing offices and programs:  Racial Equity Institute/ Professional Development, Coaching for Equity, B.L.A.C.K. (not listed in the power-point, Block explained helpfully that his acronym stands for “Black Lives Acquiring Cultural Knowledge”), Ethnic Studies Courses, Social Justice Fellows, Vendor Diversity work, and EDIA.