Back to School: It's All About Equity

The following is excerpted from my remarks to the staff at our annual "back to school" meeting held on August 29th.

I’m so proud to work with you in the coming year as we create the conditions needed to engage Needham’s young people.

As you think about the new year ahead, as you prepare for your students, I’ll ask that you frame your thinking and your planning around one critically important concept that, as your superintendent, I expect we will prioritize:  Equity.  It’s time we make a coordinated and thoughtful plan to address equity in the Needham Schools.  It’s time we move the needle on performance for those students who have historically not achieved at levels commensurate with many of their peers.  It’s time to ensure our instruction is engaging and our schools safe for each child and free of bias, bullying, and hurtful acts that demean and diminish.

As you instruct your students throughout the year, work with colleagues, and collaborate with families and caregivers, consider how your efforts, actions, programs, and conversations can be based on a foundation of equity.

Now to avoid any confusion about what I mean by equity in our schools, allow me to share my definition of equity. I considered several sources, including dictionaries, language and educational texts, and civil rights organizations.  I’ve reviewed the Equity Audit we commissioned last year and its implication for our students and families. I’ve listened to teachers, parents, and students, and I’ve arrived at this, admittedly, imperfect definition:

Equity:  Fair and just access, inclusion, and participation; the practice of nurturing a learning environment in which all children are empowered to grow, create, and achieve; freedom from bias and discrimination; an understanding that each child possesses personal gifts and attributes and brings these to the classroom which strengthen learning for all; a process by which we promote justice, engender respect, and inspire hope.

Let’s consider this a working definition, a starting point for our work. I’ll ask that you use this definition as a basis for the development of curriculum and assessments, the design of learning activities, the purchase of books and materials, hiring staff, the facilitation of meetings, and just generally going about the business of school.  Keep this definition in the forefront, take action based on its intent and meaning, and be part of the change that is so urgently needed.

So my charge to you is this:  Take small steps and learn from mistakes to ensure an innovative and high quality educational program for all the children we serve.  Take small steps and learn from mistakes to ensure equity and to assist all children—gay/straight, brown/white, English speakers and English learners, abled and differently abled, Muslim, Jew, Christian, or non-believers—to assist all kids to develop the skills, mindset, imagination, and courage to tackle the challenges and envision the opportunities ahead.

Let’s do this work with honor, humility and a profound sense of hope and joy in all of our young people whose learning we support today and whose leadership we will depend on tomorrow.