Your Role in Equity in Education Starts Here
Creating a positive school environment is essential for student engagement and achievement. With the population of K-12 students growing more racially diverse than in previous years, it is more crucial than ever to ensure that schools are functioning in a way that promotes equity and inclusion for students of every background. As school leaders, principals serve as the spearhead of their campus’s equitable policies. While every student has their own unique needs, creating systems that are designed to support them is key to promoting equity in education. From curriculum to discipline and the importance of family engagement, here are a few core features of ensuring an inclusive school climate.
Empower Diverse Learning
To implement a culturally responsive pedagogy, principals must encourage their teachers to embrace the diverse backgrounds of their students and adapt them to their teaching methods and materials. In doing so, education leaders can promote enhanced student engagement and academic success by creating a learning environment that the students can identify with.
A few examples of how these lesson plans can function are explained in the Literature Review portion of “Does Culturally Relevant Teaching Work? An Examination From Student Perspectives.” In this review, one included example is of Latino students analyzing data from traffic stops to examine racial profiling within their community as a way to better understand and connect with their math lessons.
Culturally responsive teaching doesn’t just improve student engagement with academics, it also helps school climate by fostering a culture that embraces “a positive ethnic-racial identity and positive attitudes toward others.” The same review references an after-school program focused on cultural relevancy and how the end result was that African American girls were more positive toward ethnic-racial identity, more cognizant of racism, and more likely to partake in activism—all of which are productive skills for students to carry both in their classrooms and future careers to promote a positive environment where all can feel welcome and thrive alongside each other.
Break Bias in Discipline
When discussing equity in education, we can’t ignore the presence of implicit bias in discipline. One study found that African American students are almost four times as likely as white students to receive out-of-school suspensions. Another survey of 22 schools found that race accounted for differences in discipline about 25% of the time. It also examined the differences when deciding the severity of subjective and objective disciplinary actions. For subjective discipline decisions, implicit bias was a factor influencing the administrator. In a similar vein, some variations in objective discipline decisions were influenced by the student’s race.
To promote a culture that recognizes and dismantles implicit bias, principals can work on implementing restorative justice practices that work to resolve misbehavior by emphasizing healing, reconciliation, and repairing harm. Some examples can include one-on-one discussions with the student to help them understand how their actions affect others or mediating a guided discussion between the student and the other party who feels wronged to resolve conflict.
Take Accountability
Principals can also provide mandatory bias-awareness training for teachers and staff members. Offer research on inequities within disciplinary measures with strategies to identify when implicit bias is influencing decision-making. By attending this training, teachers and staff will learn best practices for managing their own biases and promoting a safe and equitable culture for their students.
To ensure that implicit bias is being addressed properly, track disciplinary data. Identify the metrics that would implicate the presence of implicit bias, and further examine if there are certain groups of students disciplined more than others.
Addressing implicit bias in school discipline requires a proactive and well-rounded approach that combines restorative practices, training, and data analysis to create a more inclusive environment for all students.
Build Bridges with Families
It’s a well-known fact that parental involvement encourages and enhances student success, and that goes for students of underrepresented backgrounds as well. Engaging the family in the education process and decision-making helps the parents feel more included and acknowledges how the student’s home influences how they learn.
Principals can encourage families to engage with the school in a way that caters to them. Schools can hold community events tailored to different cultures and traditions, allowing members of the school and community to share and celebrate their heritage with others. School principals can also consider forming councils with parents or other members of the community for those looking to be more involved with the educational process.
There is also a growing population of English learners enrolling in K-12 schools, with almost 5 million students being classified as such by 2021. With the rise in English learners, schools can further support their students and parents by implementing bilingual communication strategies. These can include translating school announcements or providing a translator for school meetings.
By fostering meaningful family and community engagement, schools can create a more inclusive environment that values diverse backgrounds and strengthens the support network for all students.
The Path Forward
By implementing culturally responsive pedagogy, addressing implicit bias in discipline, and actively engaging families and communities, principals can ensure that their schools are inclusive spaces where every student can thrive. Prioritizing equity in education not only enhances student engagement and success but also builds a foundation for a more just and supportive educational system.
