Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools

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.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Judith Richardson Acknowledgments About the Authors Part I. Background and Context for Equity Audits 1. Introduction 2. The Case for Systemic Equity 3. History and Overview of Equity Audits Part II. The Equity Audit Process for Schools and Districts 4. Teacher Quality Equity 5. Programmatic Equity 6. Achievement Equity 7. Equity Audits at the School District Level Part III. Equity Audit Follow-Up Actions and Strategies 8. Becoming an Equity-Oriented Change Agent 9. Increasing Equity Consciousness 10. Developing High-Quality Teaching Skills 11. Avoiding Equity Traps and Developing Equity Skills 12. Conclusion References Index

About the Author :
Linda Skrla is Professor of Educational Administration at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1997, Linda worked as a middle school and high school teacher and as a campus and district administrator in public schools. Her research focuses on educational equity issues in school leadership, including accountability policy, high success school districts, and women superintendents. Linda is Vice President of Division A of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and Editor of Educational Administration Quarterly. She has published extensively in academic journals and has co-authored and co-edited five other books, the most recent of which is Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools (Corwin Press, 2009). Kathryn Bell McKenzie is professor emerita of Advanced Studies in Education at California State University, Stanislaus and associate professor emerita of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University. At California State, Kathryn was director of the EdD program in Educational Leadership and at Texas A&M, she was coordinator for the PhD in K–12 Educational Leadership.Prior to becoming a professor,Kathryn was a public school educator serving as a teacher, curriculum specialist, assistant principal,and principal for nearly twenty-five years. She was also the deputy director of the Austin Independent School District Leadership Academy. She has an international reputation with both P–12 and university educators who have used her work on equity traps and equity audits to improve educational practices that advance equity and excellence. She has numerous journal publications and books and is an educational consultant,writer, and speaker. James Joseph Scheurich is an associate professor in educational administration and the director of the Public School Executive Leadership Programs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of two books, Anti-Racist Scholarship and Research Method in the Postmodern, and coauthor with Bob Donmoyer and Michael Imber of another, The Knowledge Base in Educational Administration. In addition, he and a coauthor have another book under contract and nearly completed, Equity and Accountability. He is the coeditor with Angela Valenzuela of the journal, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. He is the author or coauthor of numerous articles in academic journals, including in Educational Researcher, Journal of Education Policy, Urban Education, Educational Administration Quarterly, Education and Urban Society, and the International Journal of Leadership in Education, among others. He also writes newspaper editorials and for education journals, such as Phi Delta Kappan. His doctorate was earned at The Ohio State University.

Review :
"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."