But putting students on an equal footing, especially early in their educational careers, is a crucial step in fostering a more equitable and inclusive America. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development OECD —whose mission is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world—developed a policy brief with 10 steps to promote equity in education. The steps are grouped in three categories: design, practices, and resourcing.
To design programs for change and equity in education, the OECD recommends that schools refrain from tracking students at a young age. Programs that allow people to return and complete their education, such as getting a GED, are also a pathway to greater equity. School choice programs can—the OECD brief noted—be a barrier to equity in educational outcomes. Because parents with higher incomes are likely to be able to make better choices and advocate for their children to attend the best schools, families with fewer resources can find their children pushed into less desirable schools, unless the program includes mechanisms to ensure equity.
Otherwise, the students who have the greatest needs can end up sorted into schools with the lowest levels of funding and support. The OECD is just one of many organizations that dedicates their time to promoting change and equality among children and providing tangible strategies to achieve that goal. With this knowledge, educational leaders are empowered and equipped with the tools needed to affect real change and improve the quality of education for all students across the country.
Under otherwise equal circumstances, black students have greater academic achievement when they are taught by black teachers. A collaborative study that looked into the impact of same-race teachers on North Carolina students r evealed that black students who are exposed to one black teacher between the third and fifth grades were 13 percent more likely to enroll in college.
Those who had two black teachers were 32 percent more likely to enroll in college. Practices that increase change and equality in education include robust assistance programs for students who struggle to keep up with their grade level.
Districts also need to create a bridge between home and school to improve outcomes for the most challenged students. While wealthier families can often provide resources in the home that help children succeed, poorer families where parental time is stretched thin may not be able to prioritize home learning. Programs that allow all parents to become allies and champions of their children are key to change and equality in education. A large and sudden influx of migrants in the EU has increased the urgency to determine how to promote change and equity in education among European governments.
For the United States, however, the challenge of creating educational programs that help immigrant children succeed is ongoing because the US has the largest foreign-born population of any country in the world. Census data shows that approximately 14 percent of the US population are immigrants. Pew Research Center predicts that the foreign-born US population will grow to more than 78 million by , an eight-fold growth in just a century.
These data highlight the imperative for education leaders to design culturally sensitive programs for immigrant students. Equity means offering individualized support to students that addresses possible barriers, like poverty or limited transportation. Want to create inclusive and equitable classrooms at your school? Discover the difference between equity and equality, then learn five strategies for resolving common barriers to equity in education. When it comes to equity vs equality in education, the terms are often used interchangeably.
The reason lies in the difference between being fair vs equal. Equality is more commonly associated with social issues, perhaps because more people know what it means. In a nutshell, its definition is as it sounds—the state of being equal. When a group focuses on equality, everyone has the same rights, opportunities, and resources. Even if a school is equal, some students may still struggle.
Equity, on the other hand, provides people with resources that fit their circumstances. Barriers to an inclusive education can affect groups based on race, gender, and many other factors.
The issues are not only who is being targeted but also how we try to resolve them. In terms of equity vs equality in the classroom, most schools focus on horizontal equity. The definition of horizontal equity in education is treating people who are already assumed equal in the same way. Horizontal equity is only useful in homogenous schools, where each person really is given the same opportunities in life.
But in most schools, students will come from a variety of backgrounds—some more privileged than others. For this reason, educators should focus on vertical equity, which assumes that students have different needs and provides individual resources based on said needs. Another challenge facing equity vs equality in education is poverty.
According to the Scholastic Teachers and Principals Report, these are a few additional barriers to equity in American schools:[11]. Recognizing the challenges preventing equity in your classroom is the first step to resolving them. Try to analyze any issues that are keeping your students from succeeding in school. Perhaps you teach in an under-resourced community, or one of your students is an English language learner ELL. Equity in schools is the answer to supporting every student, not just those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
When schools provide their students with resources that fit individual circumstances, the entire classroom environment improves. In equitable communities, everyone has the opportunity to succeed regardless of their original circumstances. The difference between equality in education and equity in education is subtle yet significant.
Where equality aims for equal treatment of all students with access to the similar resources, equity strives for giving each student the resources they need to compete on equal footing. Knowing where each child is in their development and what resources they need to close gaps depends on data, and this is why the third strategy outlined in Principle 1 of the SPREE Framework is so important. Read more The Importance of Embracing Equity as a Core Value Each of the three strategies outlined in Principle 1 provides an actionable guideline for achieving equity and addressing the critical economic, social, and global issues that are invariably connected to equity in early learners.
Equity is vital to improving school readiness and creating a fair start for early learners, and only when all participants in the education experience embrace equity as a core value — and use it to shape policy and practice — will we see meaningful progress toward those goals.
Declared a federal event in , this awareness month is a great reminder to make sure your curriculum. Equity in Early Education: The Principle. February 17, Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on pinterest.
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