8 Comments
User's avatar
Matt Renwick's avatar

Thanks Terry for calling attention to this topic. 100% agree that this position would need to exist beyond the day-to-day demands of a principal. And how the district would support this person as they unearth some not-so-positive outcomes is critical.

I look forward to reading your response! -Matt

Expand full comment
Terry underwood's avatar

Do you have any experience with administrative equity workers, Matt? I’m wondering what a job description would look like. That could make a good writing assignment—announce a position for a senior administrator equity worker. Does anybody have one or has anyone seen one?

Expand full comment
Terry underwood's avatar

So I did a google search for equity workers. I found a job opening for a mathematics curriculum company hiring an equity specialist to look at aligning their materials with standards and also be responsible for building materials that are made to support marginalized learners. Very cool, but not a visioning position. I found one for an equity investigator in a district to resolve complaints as per Title V and IX,

Expand full comment
Matt Renwick's avatar

I don't see a lot of positions like this, in Wisconsin at least except for larger districts. I think those duties fall within a director of instruction or assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. But to what degree of priority is hard to say.

Expand full comment
Terry underwood's avatar

I’ll have Irby’s book in hand tomorrow. I have to think that he’s onto something. A policy professor at the University of Illinois. Do you know of any researchers in policy at the University of Madison looking into administrative equity positions? My bet is something is happening there.

Expand full comment
Matt Renwick's avatar

The one professor I know at UW-Madison, Richard Halverson, was just named the Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education: https://education.wisc.edu/news/halverson-named-kellner-family-distinguished-chair-in-urban-education/

Looks like he will be expanding on his previous work "to assess and support equity-centered leadership (CALL-ECL)."

Expand full comment
Terry underwood's avatar

Beautiful. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Terry underwood's avatar

I located a peer reviewed article (2020) by Halverson discussing “relational trust” as an evidence-based construct necessary for formal improvement structures to function. This trust must be strategically built during startup. There is a line of research in the reference list I’ll follow up on. Thanks again. UW Madison has a significant tradition as a leader in policy research. It’s still strong.

Expand full comment