What Does it Mean to Achieve Equity in Education?
All too often, we rely on band-aid approaches in which another new literacy or math intervention is introduced to decrease the achievement gap. Also, it shouldn’t be surprising that these strategies have done little to eradicate the inequities in educational achievement and suspension/expulsion rates for children of color. It’s time to push through these “quick fixes” and move into intentional systems change work.
Second Generation Equity
This second generation equity work means diving into the real issues associated with inequities. Specifically with systemic racism (not just within education, but within all systems), implicit bias, reliance on White European educational practices, unfair disciplinary practices, and lack of training within our pre- and in-service professional development programs.
It’s going to require re-education of all sort. We ALL need to begin to understand that current issues have their roots in the foundation of this country. Our ancestors founded this nation on the dehumanization of an entire group of people. These attitudes and beliefs did not simply disappear with the 13th Amendment, Brown vs. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act, or the Voting Rights Act. Instead, they took on different forms that morphed into the current policies and practices within the education system. In other words, these policies continue to perpetuate barriers to equity.
Undoing Barriers
The hard work of equity in education demands we push ourselves into second generation work. Here we begin to unravel the barriers by changing systems. However, this requires that White people step out of the role of expert and savior and listen to community members. We need to let the community guide the process of healing our educational settings.
Second generation equity work involves tough conversations about race, racism, implicit bias, and the hard truths about our country. It requires we change policies and practices within our educational system so all children have access to high-quality education.
Also, second generation work demands that systems work together to eradicate the barriers in housing, criminal justice, and the workforce. All these systems need to work together to create obstacles and perpetuate the cycle of inequity within our nation.
In Conclusion
We, all of us, must create a shared understanding that equity is a priority. It is a moral obligation, and the work will be hard. But, there is no magic bullet or quick fix. The road to equity is going to be a long one, but I think we are up to the task.