Equity in Public School Administration

I’m sending a response to an EdWeek article from November 17 with comments linking to my previous post discussing Granite Bay High School. This topic is important for literacy educators. W.E.B. DuBois is looking down on us.

What would it look like at a district level to hire someone as a symbolic investment in equity? Could it mean bringing in an authentic equity specialist in a mid-level management position and then reprimanding her when people start complaining? Or silencing her use of the word equity?

Decoteau J. Irby and colleagues in 2017 conducted a peer reviewed study to see how these then-new equity positions were panning out. They found no studies to date; the researchers interviewed equity specialists on the job and discovered optimism and excitement:

Bringing in a cabinet level administrator to focus full time, district wide, on equity would provide the structural stature, time, and access to resources such work requires.

It might not be a good idea to search for a high school principal with day to day responsibilities for hundreds of young adults to see the district with “fresh eyes” as an equity worker. It could be problematic to try to fold equity work under the umbrella of a Wellness Center focused on mental health—suicide, LGBTQ, healthcare, and more.

Decoteau J. Irby notes an expanding demand in the workplace for qualified educators to take on the role of organizing and leading equity work. In light of the breadth of the work—bringing equity to access to the Wellness Center, to anti-racist social and emotional learning, to literacy development, to STEM, to assessment, to hiring, to sports and music, and more—serious districts may be seeing the writing on the wall a minute or two too late:

Do you have ideas and experiences here that can point the way forward for equity work? Decoteau J. Irby is an example of an equity worker who knows how to write for a policy audience. Might be a great choice for a Superintendent looking for a book for her administration book club. Here’s a reference to his book: