Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools
- Linda Skrla - Texas A&M University, USA
- Kathryn Bell McKenzie - Texas A&M University, College Station & California State University, Stanislaus - Professor Emerita
- James Joseph Scheurich - Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis, USA
Foreword by Judith Richardson, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Urban Initiatives, NASSP
Principalship
Use the power of equity audits to help eliminate achievement gaps and educational bias!
If you've heard about equity audits but aren't really sure how to use them in your school, you are not alone. This resource, written by well-known authors and experts in the areas of equity and achievement, expands school leaders' understanding of how to interpret data in order to make equity audits work and provides practical, easy-to-implement strategies for using this school assessment approach to help ensure a high-quality education for all students, regardless of socio-economic class.
Grounded solidly in theory, this book demonstrates how audits can help not only in developing fair programs that provide all students with the opportunity to reach their potential but also for hiring, training, and retaining good teachers. Readers will discover how to remedy inequalities in student achievement by using:
- A set of "inequity indicators" for evaluating schools, generating essential data, and identifying problem areas
- The NCLB Act in a positive way to create equity
- Nine skill sets for improved equity-oriented teaching
- Charts, graphs, and support materials that can be customized for specific settings
Ideal for helping principals develop school-based equity audits with confidence, Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools can also be used by superintendents to increase equity awareness at the district level.
"A good first step for school leaders looking to address inequalities in their schools. I particularly like the authors’ recognition that to conduct an equity audit is not enough—one needs to become an equity-oriented change agent."
"Achieving equity in our schools is not something we have to do for NCLB; it is something we must do for our kids! This book frames this task, tells us who can make it happen, and shows us how to do it."
"A myriad of ideas and suggestions that can be used on a small scale in a small school or department, or on a large scale throughout a district. The book is unique in my experience and makes a definite contribution. The chapter on developing teacher skills is the best and most useful account I’ve encountered in recent memory, and the entire premise of the book has the potential to raise the level of discourse on issues of equity in our schools, as well as what we can do to make schools better."
"The book offers many wonderful strategies and suggestions. It allows leaders to institute analysis and change in a very effective manner."
"Concise, coherent, thought provoking, inspiring, and a true call to action. The authors have set before us rich food for thought, dialogue, and action in very few pages of text!"
"An excellent book for training those seeking administrative certification. The material is well-documented, useful for improving teacher quality, and a good guidebook for providing insights to reducing bias and prejudice in all aspects of academia. Succinct, useful, adaptable, and practical."