Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools

Edited by:

Linda Skrla - Texas A&M University, USA
Kathryn Bell McKenzie - Texas A&M University, College Station & California State University, Stanislaus - Professor Emerita
James Joseph Scheurich - Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis, USA

Foreword by Judith Richardson, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Urban Initiatives, NASSP

Other Titles in:
Diversity | Principalship | School Change, Reform, & Restructuring

September 2012 | 152 pages | Corwin

Practical information for school leaders on how to close the achievement gap is in short supply. This book contains practical tools and strategies that make intuitive sense to educators and are easy to apply in reducing inequities in schools. The authors offer a manageable set of indicators to highlight inequities and that can be used in flexible ways for approaching the unique circumstances of any school. Full of charts, graphs, tools, and support materials, readers will move from an understanding of why equity audits are imperative to an understanding of how to do them and how to narrow the teacher quality, programmatic, and achievement gaps in their schools.

Foreword by Judith Richardson

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Part I. Background and Context for Equity Audits

1. Introduction

2. The Case for Systemic Equity

3. History and Overview of Equity Audits

Part II. The Equity Audit Process for Schools and Districts

4. Teacher Quality Equity

5. Programmatic Equity

6. Achievement Equity

7. Equity Audits at the School District Level

Part III. Equity Audit Follow-Up Actions and Strategies

8. Becoming an Equity-Oriented Change Agent

9. Increasing Equity Consciousness

10. Developing High-Quality Teaching Skills

11. Avoiding Equity Traps and Developing Equity Skills

12. Conclusion

References

Index

"A good first step for school leaders looking to address inequalities in their schools. I particularly like the authors’ recognition that to conduct an equity audit is not enough—one needs to become an equity-oriented change agent."

Tonya Gau Bartell, Assistant Professor

University of Delaware

"Achieving equity in our schools is not something we have to do for NCLB; it is something we must do for our kids! This book frames this task, tells us who can make it happen, and shows us how to do it."

Nic Cooper, Director of Secondary Student Services

Union School, Saline, MI

"A myriad of ideas and suggestions that can be used on a small scale in a small school or department, or on a large scale throughout a district. The book is unique in my experience and makes a definite contribution. The chapter on developing teacher skills is the best and most useful account I’ve encountered in recent memory, and the entire premise of the book has the potential to raise the level of discourse on issues of equity in our schools, as well as what we can do to make schools better."

Mary Johnstone, Principal

Rabbit Creek Elementary School, Anchorage, AK

"The book offers many wonderful strategies and suggestions. It allows leaders to institute analysis and change in a very effective manner."

Lawrence Kohn, Associate Professor

Sam Houston State University

"Concise, coherent, thought provoking, inspiring, and a true call to action. The authors have set before us rich food for thought, dialogue, and action in very few pages of text!"

Judith A. Rogers, Professional Learning Specialist

Tucson Unified School District, AZ

"An excellent book for training those seeking administrative certification. The material is well-documented, useful for improving teacher quality, and a good guidebook for providing insights to reducing bias and prejudice in all aspects of academia. Succinct, useful, adaptable, and practical."

Sara E. Spruce, Professor of Education

Olivet Nazarene University

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Sample Materials & Chapters

Introduction

Linda E. Skrla

Linda Skrla is Professor of Educational Administration at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1997, Linda worked as a middle school and high school teacher and as a campus and district administrator in public schools. Her research focuses on educational equity issues in school leadership, including accountability policy, high success school districts, and women superintendents. Linda is Vice President of Division A of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and Editor of Educational Administration Quarterly. She has published extensively in academic journals and has co-authored and co-edited... More About Author

Kathryn Bell McKenzie

Kathryn Bell McKenzie is professor emerita of Advanced Studies in Education at California State University, Stanislaus and associate professor emerita of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University. At California State, Kathryn was director of the EdD program in Educational Leadership and at Texas A&M, she was coordinator for the PhD in K–12 Educational Leadership.Prior to becoming a professor,Kathryn was a public school educator serving as a teacher, curriculum specialist, assistant principal,and principal for nearly twenty-five years. She was also the deputy director of the Austin Independent... More About Author

James Joseph Scheurich

James Joseph Scheurich is an associate professor in educational administration and the director of the Public School Executive Leadership Programs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of two books, Anti-Racist Scholarship and Research Method in the Postmodern, and coauthor with Bob Donmoyer and Michael Imber of another, The Knowledge Base in Educational Administration. In addition, he and a coauthor have another book under contract and nearly completed, Equity and Accountability. He is the coeditor with Angela Valenzuela of the journal, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. He is the author or... More About Author

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