How would you interpret this as a new school employee?

[Anonymous]

Equity is discussed in nearly every PD we have. It is overkill because it’s the trendy topic. A few years ago it was restorative practices. PDs need to be about actual teaching practices and not the flavor of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses. I’m trying to dig deeper on what equitable outcomes means since it’s part of what I will be evaluated on, it sounds like. If it doesn’t mean equal outcomes, then what does it mean in terms of learning outcomes, scores, grades, etc. ?

None of this was covered in your Ed classes?

I find that really odd. I did alt cert and recall a seminar on Teaching for Equitable Outcomes. Basically, if you are teaching in a way that I can predict girls being more successful on your tests than boys or some other group consistently unde performing, we need to look at how you can teach differently. It is not about everyone having the same scores. But you do need to differentiate in instruction and sometimes in process and product in order to reach every kid. Every student should show growth. Even kids who are ELLs or have special needs. Otherwise what are they getting out of your class? Sometimes all I need to do is to offer readings at two levels and make sure to offer both levels so that kids can stretch themselves. Or chunking a project so that at least 75% of it gets done in school rather than 0% at home where no parent is available.

Yeah, I am like...nearly every single class I took for my M.Ed covered equity in the context of that class's topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Equity is discussed in nearly every PD we have. It is overkill because it’s the trendy topic. A few years ago it was restorative practices. PDs need to be about actual teaching practices and not the flavor of the year.

The old birds like this who don't care about equity will hopefully retire soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did you become a teacher without any discussion or awareness of equity issues and their impact on how children learn? Genuinely curious.

I mean yes, of course it was covered in my classes, but what I am asking about is what it means to be accountable for “equitable outcomes.” It’s not a phrase that I’ve been able to define yet. I hear that equal and equitable are not the same, but how can an outcome be equitable? Test scores and grades are either the same between demographic groups or they’re not. And if I’m to be accountable for making them the same I need to know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses. I’m trying to dig deeper on what equitable outcomes means since it’s part of what I will be evaluated on, it sounds like. If it doesn’t mean equal outcomes, then what does it mean in terms of learning outcomes, scores, grades, etc. ?

None of this was covered in your Ed classes?

I find that really odd. I did alt cert and recall a seminar on Teaching for Equitable Outcomes. Basically, if you are teaching in a way that I can predict girls being more successful on your tests than boys or some other group consistently unde performing, we need to look at how you can teach differently. It is not about everyone having the same scores. But you do need to differentiate in instruction and sometimes in process and product in order to reach every kid. Every student should show growth. Even kids who are ELLs or have special needs. Otherwise what are they getting out of your class? Sometimes all I need to do is to offer readings at two levels and make sure to offer both levels so that kids can stretch themselves. Or chunking a project so that at least 75% of it gets done in school rather than 0% at home where no parent is available.

OP again. So yes clearly it’s not the first time I’ve learned about equity issues, but I was struck by the instruction that staff are accountable for equitable outcomes. For instance, all over my county one racial group is consistently underperforming compared to others. Are teachers being held accountable for this? How?

[Anonymous]

They aren’t but it sure sounds good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you become a teacher without any discussion or awareness of equity issues and their impact on how children learn? Genuinely curious.

I mean yes, of course it was covered in my classes, but what I am asking about is what it means to be accountable for “equitable outcomes.” It’s not a phrase that I’ve been able to define yet. I hear that equal and equitable are not the same, but how can an outcome be equitable? Test scores and grades are either the same between demographic groups or they’re not. And if I’m to be accountable for making them the same I need to know that.

One way this gets operationalized is if you have policies that systematically make it so grades are lower for one group over another due to some arbitrary policy not connected meaningfully to the measured learning (like the above "require a pencil" example, or giving points for returning something that requires a parent signature, or assigning a high grade project where the project involves high speed internet connections at home or significant parental involvement). You might apply that policy in an equal way (i.e., every child has the same requirements) but the outcomes aren't equitable (i.e., there are systematic differences due to family composition, wealth, parent language related to your policy). They might ask you to reflect on your teaching practices if they find consistently over time in your particular classes there are notable differences where kids of a particular race, ethnicity or socio-economic background are systematically performing worse in your class than they are on average in the county on standardized assessments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you become a teacher without any discussion or awareness of equity issues and their impact on how children learn? Genuinely curious.

I mean yes, of course it was covered in my classes, but what I am asking about is what it means to be accountable for “equitable outcomes.” It’s not a phrase that I’ve been able to define yet. I hear that equal and equitable are not the same, but how can an outcome be equitable? Test scores and grades are either the same between demographic groups or they’re not. And if I’m to be accountable for making them the same I need to know that.

You know exactly what it means OP. It's just that no one, including you, can say it out loud or they'll be met with woke shrieks of racism.

[Anonymous]

Op, there are bullet points, and then there is reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity is discussed in nearly every PD we have. It is overkill because it’s the trendy topic. A few years ago it was restorative practices. PDs need to be about actual teaching practices and not the flavor of the year.

The old birds like this who don't care about equity will hopefully retire soon.

I am a "young" bird and I agree with the first poster. It is every other word right now. Next year it will be something different, thank goodness. I'm over "equity."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity is discussed in nearly every PD we have. It is overkill because it’s the trendy topic. A few years ago it was restorative practices. PDs need to be about actual teaching practices and not the flavor of the year.

The old birds like this who don't care about equity will hopefully retire soon.

We care but by the 6th PD in a row on the same topic, we need to move on.

[Anonymous]

OP< you should really be speaking to your administrators to clarify this point and what it means to your evaluation.

[Anonymous]

Fake.

Literally everyone who has taken any teaching education coursework understands the issues associated with identifying and responding to socio-economic differences among students in their classroom. If this person does not understand that then they slept through there undergrad course work and should be fired before they start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity is discussed in nearly every PD we have. It is overkill because it’s the trendy topic. A few years ago it was restorative practices. PDs need to be about actual teaching practices and not the flavor of the year.

The old birds like this who don't care about equity will hopefully retire soon.

I am a "young" bird and I agree with the first poster. It is every other word right now. Next year it will be something different, thank goodness. I'm over "equity."

You'll wash out soon enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equity is discussed in nearly every PD we have. It is overkill because it’s the trendy topic. A few years ago it was restorative practices. PDs need to be about actual teaching practices and not the flavor of the year.

The old birds like this who don't care about equity will hopefully retire soon.

I am a "young" bird and I agree with the first poster. It is every other word right now. Next year it will be something different, thank goodness. I'm over "equity."

You'll wash out soon enough.

LOL. You'll see. In a year it will be something else. You woke kids need to pull your heads out of your rectums and get a clue.