Practice 9: Equity Concerns

EQUITY refers to seeking fair and just practices both within the school and outside the school. Equity results in asking and acting upon questions such as: What makes this a best practice? Does it work for all students, or for only some students? Does it serve to keep students under control, or does it enhance intellectual growth? Is there a difference?

Democratic school communities have a positive effect on the success of all students (O’Hair, Retizug & McLaughlin, 2000). Not only is overall student achievement significantly higher in democratic school communities, but achievement gains are also distributed more equitably. That is, the achievement gap between students of lower socioeconomic status, and students of higher SES is narrower in democratic school communities (Lee & Smith, 1994).

An example by a principal in a partner school describes how they plan to use technology in the process of addressing equity concerns: "Technology enables us to organize and view graphically a large amount of data. Through inquiry and discourse, these data can inform our practice and help us to gain new insights. The Internet has many resources that include research-based solutions that we can employ to address inequities in the educational system."