Nearly 70 years after one of the most important U.S. Supreme Court rulings was handed down in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) declaring segregated schools unconstitutional, the promise of desegregation has remained unfulfilled. However, there are still actions that can be taken to address the extant disparities in schools that exist in large…

The purpose of this "Equity by Design" brief is to aid administrators in protecting sexual and gender minority students from discrimination and harassment. Specifically, this Brief presents Title IX's conceptualizations of sex and harassment to identify who is protected, and from what. Further, it discusses how to navigate backlash…

This brief discusses how teaching and learning can be understood as two interconnected "cultural" endeavors that support learning, particularly for Students of Color. Although culture can be a powerful idea to bring to teaching and learning, it can also be confusing. Teaching and learning are undoubtedly connected activities, yet they…

This brief presents Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as a transformative exploratory tool for critical and curious educators. YPAR has been defined as a collaborative method of youth, with the support of caring adults, participating in research to explore social issues that impact them, with the end goal of taking action to improve the…

Psychiatrist and professor Dr. Chester Pierce coined the term microaggression in the early 1960s to describe modern-day racism in the U.S. Pierce stated that most racial offenses are "subtle and stunning" and that the "enormity of the complications they cause can be appreciated only when one considers that the subtle blows are…

The use of evidence-based practice (EBP) is considered key to supporting favorable academic, social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes in education and related fields. Although specific research-based practices are progressively more frequently practiced by teachers and other school-based professionals, scholars and practitioners--particularly…

School districts must not only be knowledgeable about the historical context of school desegregation, but also what current efforts are occurring across the U.S. to combat school segregation as they may help guide them in leveraging policy in their own school communities' school integration endeavors. Thus, the purpose of this "Equity by…

This "Equity Tool" provides facts and frequently asked questions about magnet schools and their integration efforts. It is meant to be shared with various education stakeholders, including those directly involved in designing and implementing magnet school policies at the local level as well as those at state and federal levels who are…

Dual language education refers to schooling in which content is delivered in two languages; many dual language programs propose to be vehicles of social justice and transformation because they allow emergent bilingual learners to access at least 50% of the content in a language they understand well. The purpose of this "Equity Tool" is…

This "Equity Tool" is designed for teachers that want opportunities to think about culture and what it has to do with teaching and learning. In this tool we briefly theorize what culture is, and what it has to do with teaching and learning. Next, we introduce a useful framework for thinking about cultural practices in schools. Finally,…

This Equity Tool is for educators who want to offer comprehensive and inclusive age-appropriate sex education to students, and are wondering how. This tool delineates what must be included (and excluded) in curricula and appropriate pedagogies at various grade levels; discusses how to navigate conservative backlash teachers might encounter; and…

This "Equity Tool" is meant to help teachers to critically think about their own beliefs, thoughts, feelings, language, and ideas regarding Latinx students with Learning Dis/abilities (LDs), and their students' social and emotional well-being and sense of self.

The DAPP (Difference & Dissonance, Assumptions, Power, and Patterns) Tool is intended to help educators, leaders, teams, schools, districts, education agencies, and other organizations to engage in the type of critical reflection necessary to build critical consciousness, and undertake more equitable and just actions, toward learning,…

This "Equity by Design" brief summarizes the key features and considerations for planning, implementing, and evaluating social, emotional or behavioral screening within multitier systems of support (MTSS), to advance educational equity.

In this "Equity by Design" brief, we outline the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on student learning and wellness. Next, we critique common narratives and responses to student educational difficulties following the start of the pandemic. Finally, we conclude with key considerations for educational decision-making, prevention,…