You have a role in creating equity each time you enter the classroom and your students entrust you with providing each of them with the skills they need to succeed. Getting them where they each need to go means educators must examine their own biases and how they show up in our classrooms.
Here are three recommended readings on equity to acclimate yourself to as the new school year begins. As you read, ask yourself, “How can I construct a more equitable environment that ensures all of my students on grade-level?”
- Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty: Strategies for Erasing the Opportunity Gap (Multicultural Education) by Paul C. Gorski
Based on in evidence and analysis of more than 20 years of instructional research, Gorski explains how institutional systems and ineffective traditional practices ultimately keep low-income students from receiving the quality education they deserve and outlines a new framework that redefines educators’ roles in creating equity. - Equity 101- The Equity Framework: Book 1 by Curtis W. Linton
In this first volume of a four-part series, Linton explains why closing the provision gap depends on equity and how to create a viable action plan for building a more equitable school environment.
These resources and more can be found throughout the Bias Toolkit, a three-part dialogue that you can take into your school community to talk more openly about the role bias plays in our work and students’ learning.