Policy 1080 – Educational Equity

Belonging

Opportunity and Access

Instructional Excellence

Engaged and Inspired Learners

Addressing Concerns and Non-Compliance

The Superintendent/designee will oversee the development of system-wide objectives, activities, and track progress towards measurable targets to achieve educational equity. Superintendent/designee will track and record progress toward measurable targets to achieve educational equity. At least one goal will focus on racial equity.

The Superintendent/designee will obtain student, parent, and community feedback on setting the measurable objectives for achieving educational equity annually.

The Superintendent/designee will provide the Board with data on educational equity through information items, memorandums, and Board reports that include disaggregated data.

The Superintendent/designee will oversee the reporting of equity related goals and data to the public in the aggregate by federally accountable student groups, gender, disability, grade, and school in a searchable and analyzable format.

The Superintendent/designee will oversee the development of a Strategic Plan. The plan includes a needs assessment that identifies areas of focus, provides the equity performance accountability measures, and further outlines implementation strategies that address educational equity.

The Superintendent/designee will propose an annual budget that allocates resources in a manner that promotes the principles of educational equity. The equity information will be part of each program budget where applicable and include an analysis of resources that address disparities in education outcomes.

The Department of Information Technology will collaborate with HCPSS offices to maintain a longitudinal data system that contains disaggregated student data across academics, discipline, and school climate for district, program, and school analysis of educational equity.

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction will develop a culturally responsive curriculum that is inclusive and reflective of perspectives which have been excluded or minimized historically and currently. Professional learning will be provided to educators to build the capacity to understand and deliver culturally proficient instruction.

The Office of Human Resources will include in their annual report recruitment, promotion, employment, and retention procedures consistent with the Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Plan.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) will provide training and development aligned to its educational equity goals through district-level and school-based level professional learning opportunities.

HCPSS principals value stakeholder input to support a positive school climate and culture towards the academic success of all students. To ensure student, family, and community perspectives, decision-making groups, such as School Improvement Teams will include diverse members of the school community, families, and students.

All educational equity-focused professional learning will include self-reflection for HCPSS employees to engage in examination of practices at the individual, team, and/or school levels in order to attain HCPSS educational equity goals.

The Superintendent’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Group will provide the Superintendent/designee with a review of the educational equity goals and an assessment of educational equity in HCPSS annually.

The Superintendent/designee will review this policy at least every three years and recommend it for revision as necessary.

HCPSS will implement communication practices that prioritize equity of access to information.

Anti-Bias – Recognizing and addressing stereotypes, understanding and surfacing implicit and explicit bias, and challenging discrimination.

Anti-Racism – Actively educating oneself on the history of race, racism, and the current institutional and structural impact on communities of color. This also includes actively working to end racist practices, policies, and attitudes to ensure equity.

Belonging – Feeling socially connected, supported, and valued and experiencing appreciation, validation, and affirmation.

Communities of Color – Any person who is not considered White in the United States.

Cultural Proficiency – The ongoing process of becoming knowledgeable of one’s assumptions, biases, values, beliefs, own cultural identities, as well as the cultures of others in order to foster an appreciation, understanding, and respect for varying cultural expressions that exist in the actions and interactions of an organization. Culturally proficient practices are guided by the tools of cultural proficiency.

Culturally Proficient Instruction – An inside out approach to teaching and learning in which educators surface their assumptions, biases, beliefs, and behaviors, in order to better instruct their students. Culturally proficient practices are guided by the tools of cultural proficiency.

Cultural Responsiveness – Pedagogy that values the strengths of students' and educators’ cultural backgrounds and recognizes the importance of including culture in all aspects of learning through equitable and inclusive practices. Cultural responsiveness is grounded in relationships and plays an essential role in how individuals communicate and receive information.

Disability – A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities as defined in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act or the receipt of special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).

Disability Acceptance – To actively embrace the individual strengths and needs of a person with a disability by conveying not only knowledge (awareness) of their unique characteristics or differences, but demonstrating an understanding and appreciation for them as valued members of the human community.

Diversity – Recognizing, accepting and respecting that individuals come from many different life experiences with various frames of reference and perspectives. While diversity values unique perspectives and individual differences, it also values the commonalities we all share. Diversity includes, but is not limited to, race/ethnicity, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, language, culture, religion/beliefs, mental and physical ability, disability, age, and national origin.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Liaison (DEIL) – A leadership role within a school that facilitates school efforts to support diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. The liaison is selected by the principal, receives training and support from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) and participates in a district-wide network of DEILs.

Educational Equity – Every student has access and support to the opportunities, resources, and educational rigor they need throughout their educational career to maximize academic success and social/emotional well-being and to view each student’s individual characteristics as valuable.

Equity Lens – The impact on traditionally marginalized or underrepresented student groups is addressed when considering any program, practice, decision, or action, with a strategic focus on identifying and eliminating potential barriers.

Explicit Bias – Attitudes, beliefs, values, and actions that are on a conscious level and enacted with negative intent.

Federally Accountable Student Group – Categories of students that are recognized in school, district, and State performance reporting.

Gender – The attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex assigned at birth.

Gender Identity – A person’s deep internal sense of being female, male, or another identity.

HCPSS Employee – Any individual who is a permanent or temporary employee of the HCPSS whose compensation is paid in whole or part by the Board, including but not limited to, school-based administrators, teachers, substitute teachers, paraeducators, and other school-based and Central Office support staff.

Implicit Bias – The attitudes, beliefs, values, and stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, may be activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control.

Inclusion – Individuals see their unique identities reflected in all facets of education including staffing, curriculum, instruction, and activities. All students, families, and HCPSS employees feel valued, respected, appreciated, and involved.

Institutional Barriers – The policies, procedures, practices, or behaviors that deny access to educational opportunities or systematically disadvantage students and families based on social identifiers.

Longitudinal Data System – Database of student information that is capable of maintaining records over multiple years in multiple schools.

Marginalized Groups – Groups and communities that experience discrimination and exclusion (social, political, and economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, religious, and social dimensions.

Parent – Any one of the following recognized as the adult(s) legally responsible for the student:

Racial Equity – Ensuring a person’s race or ethnicity are no longer predictors of advantage or disadvantage due to implicit or explicit bias and socially-constructed racial hierarchies. Examining and ending unintended (and intended) consequences and actions that have negative or disparate effects on communities of color.

Racism – The belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racial separatism is the belief, most of the time based on racism, that different races should remain segregated and apart from one another. This includes systemic racism which is the systematic distribution of resources, power, and opportunity in our society to the benefit of people who are White and the exclusion of communities of color.

Restorative Culture – Creating a positive school culture and climate that supports equitable learning, community, belonging, inclusion, and emphasis on both building and nurturing healthy relationships amongst all stakeholder groups.

Restorative Justice – An indigenous philosophy that emphasizes building relationships. This philosophy is used as a school climate and culture shift that includes intentional community building with students, HCPSS employees, and families; examining and transforming pedagogical practices; and engaging in conversations about racism and the way it impacts our education system. Because the climate and culture of a school building is shaped by adults, this work must begin with them.

Restorative Justice in Education – The belief that all people are worthy and interconnected. We nurture these relationships through the values of respect, dignity, and mutual concern for each other as integrated into all aspects of education.

Sexual Orientation – The emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction a person has to another person.

Social Identifiers – The characteristics of each individual which include but are not limited to: ability (cognitive, social/emotional, and physical), ethnicity, family structure, gender identity and expression, language, national origin, nationality, race, religion, sexual orientation, skin color, and socio-economic status.

Student Voice – A belief and a process to listen, learn, and lead with students, in order to increase student agency in their educational experience, school climate, culture, and well-being.