Year after year, the data in education tells a familiar, troubling story. It is so consistent that we can predict, based on race, who will graduate high school on time and who will not. If these outcomes are predictable, they should be preventable. Yet, those striving to close these disparities often need more resources and support to see their efforts through. Instead of focusing on long-term consistency, we often chase after the next big idea instead when really we need to slow down, be consistent over time, gather feedback, and make adjustments. This not only leads to costly investments in "equity" initiatives that fail to produce new results, but it also causes educators to get burnt out and disappointed, ultimately resulting in pushback on the very patterns that educators are working to interrupt. 

We need to shift the conversation. What does it truly mean to be equitable in education?

Equity vs. Equality: A Crucial Distinction

Equity and equality are not interchangeable. Providing equal inputs will never yield equal outputs in an inherently unequal system. In the United States, we live in a system that is not equal. We must understand that we don’t all start in the same place and are not given the same access based on our race. For example, educators know that students learn differently, yet the expectation to differentiate learning often overlooks race's profound role in shaping educational experiences. To truly differentiate and meet diverse needs, educators must understand that not only does race matter within the context of a classroom or building, but also, without a racialized focus, educational data will never be fully understood and, therefore, will hinder the ability to truly work on closing predictable patterns of disparities through differentiated instruction.

Culturally Responsive Teaching: The Racial Lens

While many educators are familiar with Culturally Responsive Teaching, fewer know that Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, the foremother of Culturally Responsive Teaching and/or Learning, comes from the scholarship of educational theorist Gloria Ladson-Billings, a Black woman, who developed this pedagogical approach for predominantly non-Black educators who served Black children. Coming out of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that prompted the desegregation of schools, Black educators all over the country were fired because white parents did not want their children being taught by Black educators. The impact of this ruling has contributed to an overrepresentation of white educators today (79% nationally, 87% in Oregon). Landson-Billings understood that if Black children were going to have a fighting chance in public education, then white and non-Black teachers were going to have to do things differently because cultural frameworks generally vary based on race. That being said, there is no way that we can talk about being “culturally responsive” as an equity-based framework without prioritizing race. 

Policy and Practice: Moving Beyond Equality

Policies rooted in "equal amounts for all" reinforce existing disparities, continuing to benefit the majority. To disrupt these patterns, educators need access to transformative racial equity training, allowing them to recognize and address the racial impacts of both intended and unintended policies. Policies will never drive the change we seek in education without this lens. We cannot move what we do not see. If those who create the policies and those who are responsible for enacting them are unable to see race as the driving factor, then we will continue to uphold the same predictable impacts for our students and families even while holding positive intentions. 

Hope and Action: The Path Forward

Countless educators want to serve students and families equitably but don’t know how. This includes educators who want to be culturally responsive and just don't know how; educators who wish to dismantle the culture that continues to push out these predictable patterns year after year, decade after decade, and just don't know how. There is also hope. With time, resources, and a commitment to centering racial equity, change is not only possible—it is inevitable. As activist and author DeRay McKesson says, “hope is work”, and for change to happen, to create the kind of world our kids deserve to live in, we gotta get to work.

The Center works with school districts and other educational systems to develop clear, actionable steps to cultivating an equitable and inclusive work and learning culture for staff and students. Check out our DEI Training for Educators and start your learning journey today!