|
Welcome to the #EdEquityVA Monthly Newsletter |
|
In collaboration with the Board of Education, local school divisions, and Virginia’s varied education stakeholders, we aim to provide resources and support to advance our equity mission via the #EdEquityVA newsletter. This monthly publication will serve as a repository of resources, which will highlight best practices and keep you informed about our #EdEquityVA initiatives, highlight best practice in the field, and serve as a cache for professional learning opportunities.
Each monthly newsletter will feature an area of practice impacting equity outcomes for Virginia’s students. In this month’s issue we focus on Disproportionality in School Discipline outcomes.
Don't ever miss a newsletter, join our mailing list here.
|
|
A Note from the Director of Equity and Community Engagement at the VDOE
Dear Colleague-
The Commonwealth is committed to ensuring that its public education system is positioned to achieve equitable academic outcomes for all students. As such, #EdEquityVA is defined as our commitment to eliminating the predictability of student outcomes based on race, gender, zip code, ability, socio-economic status or languages spoken at home. This vision of equity requires that ALL students have access to high quality learning programs that enable them to maximize their potential.
Imagine a Virginia where test scores in third grade no longer predict future academic or life successes. Picture a Commonwealth where the language your family speaks at home, the amount of money you are born into, or the color of your skin does not correlate to graduation rates, college attainment, employment status or wages. Envision a state where an individual's beginnings in life does not dictate his or her future opportunities, a state where every family can access the resources and supports necessary to maximize each child’s potential. That is the goal of #EdEquityVA.
The Office of Equity and Community Engagement leads these efforts and is strategically focused on the following priorities:
- Increasing the Cultural Competency of Virginia’s Educator Workforce
- Eliminating Disproportionality In Student Outcome Data
- Closing Opportunity Gaps Among Marginalized Student Groups
Together with our partners, our #EdEquityVA vision will become a reality. Our work is strategic and intentionally focused on establishing equity targets, measuring equity outcomes, providing tailored assistance to schools and school leaders and implementing systemic policy and regulatory changes. American Education scholar Earnest Boyer once said, “To push for excellence today without continuing to push for access for less privileged students is to undermine the crucial but incomplete gains that have been made. Equity and excellence cannot be divided.”
Thank you for joining us in our pursuit of #EdEquityVA excellence.
Yours in Service,
Leah D. Walker, MPA
|
|
A Look at the Virginia Department of Education's Quarterly Research Bulletin |
|
The inaugural Quarterly Research Bulletin focuses on the Virginia Department of Education's interest in sustainable strategies to reduce out-of-school time due to exclusionary discipline. It explores the question, is diversifying Virginia’s teacher workforce a possible solution and examines the school-level relationship between teachers’ race and rates of exclusionary discipline, particularly among Black students.
Read the full Research Brief here.
|
|
Announcing the 2020 #EdEquityVA Webinar Series |
|
As a follow-up to the 2019 Virginia is for ALL Learners Education Equity Summer Institute, the Virginia Department of Education began hosting a monthly series of webinars in partnership with IDRA-EAC. These monthly webinars are designed to offer professional learning opportunities aimed at advancing education equity in Virginia schools. |
|
|
|
|
Topics for 2020 will include:
- Multicultural Curriculum
- Equity Audits
- Culturally Courageous Leadership
- Reframing School Discipline – Strategies to Decrease Disproportionality
- Culturally Inclusive Practices – PD Resources
Visit the Virginia is for Learners website for the full schedule and to register.
|
|
February & March #EdEquityVA Webinars
Black History Year Round: Strategies to Incorporate Black History into Teaching and
Learning Throughout the Entire Year
- Presented by Drs. Casssandra Newby-Alexander of NSU and Derrick Alridge of UVA, Co-chairs of the Governor’s African-American History Education Commission (AAHEC)
- February 25, 2020 from 3:00-4:30 PM
Sign up for the February 25th webinar here.
Reframing School Discipline Part 1: A Virginia Profile of School Discipline Disproportionality and Variables Making an Impact
- Presented by Dr. Jennifer Piver-Renna, Director of Research, Virginia Department of Education
- March 5, 2020 from 3:00-4:30 PM
Sign up for the March 5th webinar here.
View webinars from 2019 on our website: http://www.virginiaisforlearners.virginia.gov/edequityva-webinar-series/
|
|
#EdEquityVA Celebrates Black History Month |
|
Relevant Research and Best Practice Highlights
Our #EdEquityVA work is informed by literature, best practice, and research. Below are the resources currently occupying space on our desks:
|
|
Tools, Guides, and Recommendations to Support Equitable Approaches to School Discipline
Virginia’s newly approved Model Guidance for Model Guidance for Positive, Preventive Code of Student Conduct Policy and Alternatives to Suspension, is a blueprint for school boards on policies, systems, and practices related to student conduct and school climate. The Model Guidance focuses on equity and establishing prevention and interventions through a tiered system of supports. For further information, contact the Office of Student Services.
An educator’s action planning guide for Addressing the root causes of disparities in school discipline.
Guiding principles, recommendations,and resources about school resource officers to create a safe and supportive schools. School Resource Officers (SROs) and Law Enforcement in Schools
K-12 Resources and Curriculum for School-Law Enforcement Partnership, including the school and law enforcement partnership training curriculum. Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services
An Educator's Guide to Fostering Positive School Climate and Culture Restorative Practices
In order to better understand the issues of efficacy and fairness in the use of out-of-school suspension, we first must answer two questions: How frequently is suspension being used in our schools? Are there significant differences in the frequency of suspension when we look at subgroups of children by race/ethnicity and gender? This report is designed to help answer these questions Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis
Organizations to follow:
National Center for Restructuring of Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST)
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Center for Children’s Law and Policy
Fix School Discipline
Just Children
Teaching Tolerance
The W. Haywood Burns Institute for Justice Fairness and Equity
|
|
|
|
|