MNPS

EQUITY ROADMAP
MAY 2022
 MNPS
EQUITY ROADMAP
MAY 2022

Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Guiding Principles for Our Equity Roadmap 8
Indentifying Our Challenges 10
Equity Lens 15
How to Achieve Educational Equity: 19
Equity Framing
MNPS Roadmap Domain Commitments 25
Towards Equity Shifts
Common Language to Foster Common Understanding 29
References 31
Resources for Educators 33

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 3

Introduction
For far too many of our students, the
predictability of success or failure in public
education has correlated with race, class, and
ethnicity. Systemic inequities have led to the lack
of opportunities to maximize a student’s
full academic potential.

The MNPS Equity Roadmap is a response to the urgent need to reverse the longstanding inequities within our school system.
This roadmap acknowledges that MNPS operates within the larger societal norms that consistently create racially and socially
predictable and persistent inequitable outcomes. To change these inequities, the MNPS Equity Roadmap challenges us all to shift
our ideological commitment to become equity leaders by centering the needs of historically marginalized students and their families
first at the forefront.
To achieve equity within our district, we must take a targeted approach to eliminating the racialized outcomes caused by structural
racism and classism. The roadmap aligns a three- to five-year plan to address the inequities which occur as a result of societal
and institutional racism and classism. We will boldly emphasize the needs, experiences and outcomes for students who identify as:

Black or African descent, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous or American Indian.

We will also evaluate the experiences of students at intersections of race who identify with the following labels or identities:
I mmigrant, Refugee, English Language Learner, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and/or Queer,
Economically Disadvantaged, Special Education, Physical or Mental Disability, Homeless or Highly
Mobile.
The primary objective of the MNPS Equity Roadmap is to better assist and support schools, district leaders, and central office
personnel in taking an intentional approach to achieve equity—equity that is, by definition, systemic. Working towards equity
requires ongoing action and continuous improvement, hence the MNPS definition of equity centers “ways,” or practices, to
operationalize theory into day-to-day department practice and classroom action.
Over the next three to five years, we will simultaneously refine and activate elements of the roadmap so it provides a common
vision, language, and an approach for driving change at every level of our organization. We will work to heavily incorporate data to
make quality decisions based on real-time information that humanizes our student population beyond the numbers.
To achieve equity, educators and administrators must know the students they teach, understand which pedagogies and resources
each student needs to thrive, and remain attuned to how quantitative and qualitative data reflect outcomes. Our work of adapting
teaching and learning must adhere to a “do now and build towards” equity mindset shift. Our “do now” activities are the practical
in the near-term actions designed to lay the foundation for bold and transformative work to follow- the “build toward.” This sets the
North Star vision which chronicles how students, families, and educators will experience school post COVID-19.
We will investigate the current systems and student outcomes. Our focus is to establish new systems and structures to ensure

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 1

each child receives the resources they need to reach their full academic potential. We will fundamentally ask ourselves daily,
“What are we doing to create the conditions for every student to develop and grow?”
Naturally, implementing the steps outlined within the roadmap will require an intentional approach. Our
Theory of Change to shift the district from one that maintains inequity to one that creates opportunity will
require us to:
• Develop district leaders and departments, through professional development (PD) supports, to strengthen individual
and professional mindfulness of racial equity in pedagogy, in curriculum, and in social and emotional learning (SEL)
integration with the ability to transfer this into the classroom;
• Influence systems by eliminating inequitable practices and unaligned procedures that lead to negative and chronic
disproportionality;
• Understand the equity challenges for historically marginalized students;
• Communicate our equity narrative to build momentum and to influence discourse with clarity, transparency, and
frequency as to our why, our what, and our how;
• Create the conditions that establish a more cohesive and equitable educational ecosystem in which every child feels
valued, has a sense of belonging, and has tools and resources available to reach their social and academic potential
regardless of race or other social factors.

We embrace equity as both a process and an outcome. How we engage in the process is as important as the
changes we decide to make. The roadmap aims to establish the conditions that lead to positive sustainable
student outcomes and to ensure every student is known. We will create equitable learning environments so
every student will experience:
• An engaging, intellectually rigorous learning environment
• Physical, emotional, and psychological safety
• Meaningful and relevant work and classroom discourse
• Their cultural, spiritual, and/or ethnic values and practices acknowledged, honored, and respected
• Feeling seen, respected, and cared for by adults and peers
• Opportunities to set and meet goals and to learn and recover from failure

When we create equitable learning environments, the following outcomes are possible:
• Intellectual curiosity and strong academic skills
• A sense of agency and optimism for the future
• Self-love, self-acceptance, and pride in one’s multiple identities
• Understanding of one’s own and others’ cultural histories and contributions
• Empathy for and meaningful connections with others

The MNPS Equity Roadmap will be grounded at its core by these essential questions:

1. What are we doing to create the conditions for children to develop and grow?
2. How can we increase transparency and engagement, resulting in better, sustainable outcomes and productive
relationships?
3. What do you understand about the history and people in our school community?
4. What is happening here now? What are the inequities in our system we seek to address?
5. Who is situated farthest from opportunity, and what do we understand about their experience and context? What are the
structural barriers that exist?
6. What have young people and families shared about their experiences in our system, and how are the data informing our
actions?
7. Where in our current system is there an opening, momentum, or demand for action that will have a meaningful impact
on student experience and learning?
8. Which domain commitments and core practices are within your sphere of influence, and where do you have capacity
and expertise? What do we need to learn?

Our MNPS Equity Roadmap is the product of:

1. Extensive and ongoing dialogue with educators, students, parents, caregivers, and community members; numerous school visits; and
active participation across institutional departments and staff listening sessions
2. Reviewing current national research on educational equity and root causes of inequity across various school districts, cities, and levels
of government.
3. Collaboration with key partners in the fields of educational equity, SEL, and culturally responsive pedagogy. [Racial Equity Institute,
(Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning) CASEL, BELE Network, Initiative for Race Research and Justice at
Vanderbilt Peabody, National Equity Project, etc.]

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 2

How to utilize this roadmap guidance

This roadmap is a flexible tool designed as a guide to support school, district, and community leaders who can apply the
necessary expertise in achieving the academic success of all students. This roadmap and concurrent framing associated with it
do not aim to dictate a singular particular strategy or approach. Rather, it acknowledges and connects the various strategies and
programs in which the school can engage in.
Our Educational Equity Roadmap seeks to guide the district as we establish organizational priorities, adopt policies and
procedures, engage in day-to-day decision-making, implement best outcome programming, develop staff competencies,
evaluate our processes and procedures, select curriculum, and communicate with internal and external members of our
education community

The MNPS Educational Equity Roadmap can be used:

By district leadership to clarify and align decision-making with our district’s equity values and shared beliefs
 y school leaders to assess and plan for creation and expansion of educational equity at individual school locations
B
(ex: create equity teams, plan professional development, plan family/school partnerships, assess resource allocation
decisions)
By school staff to engage with students and families around the district’s equity values, goals and core tenets
By teachers for curriculum reflection or to create personal professional development plans
By families to share with schools, administration, and staff their needs, hopes, and dreams for their students

The MNPS Educational Equity Roadmap charges us to:

 perationalize educational equity by increasing the amount and the delivery models of culturally responsive teaching via
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consistent and ongoing professional development
Assess for and require culturally responsive curriculum and instruction
Assess the diversity, equity, and inclusive impact of decisions
Enhance our community partnerships in an authentic manner
Create respectful and collaborative relationships with students and families

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 3

 Our Shared Purpose

OUR WHY OUR WHAT OUR HOW

It is our shared responsibility to ensure The Roadmap is the foundation for The Roadmap provides shared language,
every student in every Nashville achieving equity within our district, and tools, a comprehensive equity lens, and an
neighborhood and community has access guides our commitment to equity at the implementation guide for an equity framing
to a high-quality educational institution. organizational and personal level. The which aligns transformation strategies
Roadmap is the guiding star for us to within five core domains of change to
ensure we provide every young person ensure every student is known and has a
with a personalized learning experience personalized learning experience based
based on their school context. on their school context.

MISSION VISION
To support the district in consistent and equitable resource To provide a high-quality education for all children,
allocation, evaluation, development, and implementation regardless of their race, zip code, ability, or country
of the necessary tools, policies, and practices to achieve of origin where every child is championed for their
racial and social equity for students, teachers, staff, and individual cultures, identities, abilities, languages, and
the community, regardless of race, ability, socioeconomic interests.
status, language, religion, sexual orientation, sex, national
origin, or gender identity.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 4

 Equity within Metro Nashville
Public Schools

EQUALITY EQUITY

The overarching goal of The Metro Nashville Public Schools Equity Roadmap is to achieve racial equity within the school district.
In order for us to achieve this goal, we must be clear about the goal toward which we are working. The following key definitions
outline equity within MNPS.

Educational Equity:
(Both process and outcome)
Every student receives what they need, when they need it, to develop to their full academic and social potential regardless of their
race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, language, religion, family background, or family income.

WORKING TOWARDS EDUCATIONAL EQUITY MEANS THAT WE ENGAGE IN THE

FOLLOWING PRACTICES AND BEHAVIORS:1
 romoting fair inclusion and creating the conditions in which each person participates, prospers, and reaches
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their full potential;
Interrupting inequitable practices, examining biases, and creating inclusive school environments for each student
and their family;
 aking accountability for historic inequities and advancing solutions to address root causes of those issues through an
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equity-based continuous improvement approach; and
Discovering and cultivating the unique gifts, talents, and interests which every student possesses.
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Educational Equity Definition — National Equity Project

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 5

 Racial Equity:
A combination of processes, initiatives and outcomes that eliminate all forms of racial oppression and co-
create conditions that enable those most impacted by structural inequity to reach their full potential.

Guiding examples
• Final ABCs of Equity ([Link])
• Racial Equity & Inclusion Framework - The Annie E. Casey Foundation ([Link])
• Race & Education: Supporting Leadership Diversity and Anti-Racism in Education Change -
The Leadership Academy

Intersectionality

INDIVIDUAL SYSTEMIC

INTERPERSONAL

INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTIONAL
The interactions
A person’s beliefs & actions Policeis and practices at the
between people —
that servce to perpetuate organization (or “sector”) level
both within and across
oppression that perpetuate oppression
difference
• conscious and unconscious
• externalized and internalized
STRUCTURAL
How these effects interact and
accumulate across insitutaions —
and across history

Intersectionality identifies how the nature of social categories such as a race, class, gender, as well other individual characteristics
intersect with each other and overlap to create systems of discrimination and disadvantage some.
As we continue to expand districtwide awareness of our equity challenges and our continuous improvement process to equitize
schools, it is important we continue to reiterate the intersectionality of the components to system wide change. Each of these
individual elements factor.
The purpose of looking through this lens is to improve the predictability of our actions in relation to a desired outcome. Viewing
equity shifts from this lens allows educators and administrators to increase the likelihood of successfully reaching a given set of
objectives as we identify what is happening and what action we need to take from multiple perspectives.

2
Lens of Systemic Oppression — National Equity Project

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 6

What is a Leader for Equity? 3
A leader for equity works to eliminate opportunity and achievement gaps and ensure success for all students by identifying and
addressing personal and institutional bias and barriers, as well as providing strategies to ensure all students have equitable
access to:
Effective, culturally responsive educators
Rigorous instruction and engaging learning opportunities
Social, academic, and community supports
Resources to ensure success

The Hallmarks of Equitable Leaders

Equitable leaders are culturally responsible leaders who provide rigorous instruction and engaging learning opportunities for all
students. Within MNPS, we will work to build equitable leaders who understand equity, systemic disparities, intersectionality, and
embody the following characteristics:
 Culturally Responsive Leader displays individual values and behaviors that enable them to engage in effective
A
interactions/relationships among students, educators, and the diverse communities they serve (Lindsey, Robins, Terrell,
2009).
 Culturally Responsive Leader discusses the challenges in their buildings and/or departments and finds solutions to
A
address them. They tackle the challenges of race, culture, Special Education (SPED), struggling and vulnerable learners,
lack of access, funding, disproportionality, etc.
C
 ulturally Responsive leadership involves confronting negative stereotypes about students of color and/or difference and
about socioeconomic status, ability and creating specific conditions and practices to address the needs of diverse students
(Smith, 2012).

Guiding Examples
• Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Reflection Guide ([Link])
• Culturally Responsive Leadership: A Framework for School & School System Leaders - The
Leadership Academy
• Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework ([Link])

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Tennessee Leaders for Equity Playbook ([Link])

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 7

 Guiding Principles for Our
Equity Roadmap 4

(Adopted from McGraw-Hill 10 Equity Guiding Principles)

As we implement the roadmap, we will embrace the following guiding principles as the North Star to our approach.

Part One: Adopt an Equity Mindset

Here we focus on how school and district leaders can set a foundation for a commitment to equity, align stakeholders on a shared
vision for equity, and level-set expectations for how we operationalize equity work.
Commit: Understand equity is a journey that requires collaborative commitments.
Collaborate: Value and prioritize inclusive communication.
Frame: Foster a culture that encourages self-reflection and new perspectives.

Part Two: Drive Your Equity Plan

Once our internal and external stakeholders are aligned to the district’s vision for equity and the expectations for equity work, our
next step is to identify key areas for action and implementation.
Nurture: Provide social and emotional supports to all students and staff.
Empathize: Implement culturally responsive teaching practices.
Build: Replace institutional inequities with innovative supports.
Challenge: Ensure all students are held to high expectations.

Part Three: Expand Your Equity Vision

These principles underscore the vital importance of continuing our equity initiative beyond initial launch. These principles build
upon research findings regarding the maintenance, refinement, and expansion of district and school based educational equity
plans.
Support: Deliver ongoing professional learning opportunities.
Listen: Continually solicit feedback.
Persist: Drive positive change through perseverance.
4
[Link]

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 8

 Systems Improvement Map 5

Through our Theory of Change and using our Guiding Principles as a North Star, we will focus
our efforts on shifting the system at the classroom, school, and institutional levels. To move the
work of educational equity forward it is beneficial to think about this task in the construct of
an interconnected system. To help us think about the interconnectedness required to achieve
educational equity, we will use the Systems Improvement
Map as a guide.

Systemic Thinking
Classroom: We start in the classroom, since at the heart of a diverse and equitable school are classes that are academically
challenging, culturally connected for all children, and places where equity can take place. The first kind of systemic thinking we
apply is to look at the three factors that matter at the instructional core — what teachers do, what the content (curriculum) is, and
what the expectations and experiences are for students. It is important to understand how these factors are linked, as shifting one
may have a tremendous impact on the others, or it may be necessary to shift each of them to achieve lasting results.
School: The second kind of systemic thinking evaluates the way factors outside classrooms affect what goes on inside them. For
example, systems and structures like tracking, or discipline approaches that disproportionately affect students of color, are bigger
than any one classroom, yet affect all of them.

Systemic understanding of racism and oppression:

The third systemic thinking we use is specifically about race – helping people move beyond seeing issues around race in schools
as individual phenomena, rather than as systemic or institutional.

In order to fully understand oppression as institutional, it is

important to assess how oppression appears within the district. As
such, below are the four layers of systemic oppression and how
they show up in our public education system:

1. Individual
Identity and difference. Individual advantages and
disadvantages. Explicit bias. Implicit bias. Stereotype threat.
Internalized oppression.

2. Interpersonal
Positive or negative discourse. Microaggressions. Racialized
interactions. Transferred oppression.

3. Institutional
Biased policies and practices (e.g., in hiring, teaching,
discipline, parent-family engagement). Disproportional (e.g.,
racialized) outcomes and experiences.

4. Structural
Systems of advantage and disadvantage. Opportunity
structures. Societal history of oppressive practices and
policies

5
Reimagining Integration - Diverse and Equitable Schools ([Link])

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 9

 Identifying Our Challenges 6

Indicators of Educational Equity

Our district is currently working to address inequities and our progress will reside along a
continuum of time and growth. It is important to examine existing student data, but also to look
closely at our current policies, practices, norms, and structures.

This approach will allow us to make

connections across these equity Achievement Social-emotional
indicators and take a systemic view of
educational equity. At the foundational Status Supports
level, our indicators are interrelated
across four consistent areas of focus:

Educational Climate and

Opportunities Culture
To evaluate our current status, it is important to analyze the disparities, barriers, and opportunities at each educational level:
Pre-K, K-12, and post secondary. Listed below are snapshots of our equity challenges as well as what to measure to determine
disparities:

Education Level: Pre-K Education

Indicators Of Disparities
1. Access to and participation in high-quality pre-K programs (opportunity)
2. Academic Readiness (outcome)

What To Measure
1. Group differences in availability of and participation in licensed pre-K programs
2. Group differences in reading, literacy, numeracy, and math skills

Education Level: K-12 Education

Indicators Of Disparities
1. Access to effective teaching (opportunity)
2. Access to rigorous coursework (opportunity)
3. Curricular breadth (opportunity)
4. Access to high-quality academic supports (opportunity)
5. Students’ exposure to racial, ethnic, and economic segregation (opportunity)
6. School climate (opportunity)
7. Non-exclusionary discipline practices (opportunity)
8. Non-academic supports for student success (opportunity)
9. Engagement in schooling (outcome)
10. Performance in coursework (outcome)
11. Performance on assessments (outcome)
6
Building Educational Equity Indicator Systems: A Guidebook for States and School Districts | The National Academies Press ([Link])

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 10

What To Measure
1. Group differences in exposure to novice or experienced teachers
2. Racial and ethnic diversity of the teaching force
3. Group differences in availability of and enrollment in advanced, rigorous coursework: Advanced Placement, Cambridge
International Baccalaureate, dual enrollment honors, and other gifted and talented programs
4. Group differences in availability of and enrollment in coursework in the arts, social sciences, sciences, technology, and
world languages
5. Group differences in access to and participation in formalized systems of tutoring or other types of academic supports,
including special education services and services for English learners
6. Group differences in exposure to concentrated poverty in schools
7. Extent of racial segregation within and across schools
8. Group differences in access to strong climates, as measured by perceptions of safety, academic support, academically
focused culture, and teacher-student trust
9. Group differences in out-of-school suspensions and expulsions
10. Group differences in supports for emotional, behavioral, mental, and physical health
11. Group differences in school attendance, absenteeism, and academic engagement
12. Group difference in success in classes, accumulating credits, grades, and grade-point averages (GPAs)
13. Group differences in achievement levels and learning growth in reading, math, and science

Education Level: Educational Attainment

Indicators Of Disparities
1. On-time graduation (outcome)
2. Postsecondary Readiness (outcome)

Indicators Of Disparities
1. Group differences in on-time graduationPostsecondary Readiness (outcome)
2. Group differences in enrollment in college, entry into workforce, or enlistment in the military
3. Group differences in applications to, four-year colleges and scholarship awards.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 11

 Immediate Problems of
Practice to Create MNPS Equity
Shifts
Within our current structure, we have identified several systemic policies, practices, and
programs that create barriers to our shared goal to create educational equity.
These barriers are listed below.

Student Assignments
• Homogenous Groupings

Classroom Assignments
• Disproportionality in Academic Placement and all enrichment Courses

• Disproportionality in Special Education

Cultural Awareness, Proficiency Of Staff And/Or Students Is Limited

• Lack of proficiency of staff w/ various student subgroups

• Lack of proficiency of students’ cultural awareness

• Lack of proficiency of community’s cultural awareness

Staff Does Not Mirror Diversity Of Student Population

Discipline/Suspension Practices
• Disproportionality by student subgroups

Student Disengagement And Marginalization In Various Subgroups

• Marginalization of student voice leadership, advocacy, self-agency

• Lack of pathways of engagement for families in student academic success and decision-making

Data Analysis At The School Level

• Non-uniformity in utilizing data for decision-making

• Data use is underutilized or misguided - reinforcing misperceptions vs. challenging perceptions

Leadership – Struggles To Define And Respond To Equity Challenges

• Proficiency of leaders to lead for equity through an equity lens

Data Sources And Methods

• District data systems • Student focus groups • Key stakeholder interviews

• District surveys • Surveys • Classroom observations

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 12

 Equity Lens for District-Wide
and School-Based
Decision-Making
An equity lens is a metaphor to communicate the idea of looking at an event, experience,
and/or a set of data through a keen and intentional perspective. The purpose of our equity
lens is to clearly articulate and align the shared goals and values we have for our District; the
intentional policies, investments, and systemic continuum of change we are committing to in
order to reach our goals of an equitable educational system; and to create clear, aligned and
transparent accountability structures to ensure we are actively making progress and course
correcting where there is not progress.

The elements of our equity lens provide a descriptive, conceptual understanding of what equity work requires of individuals
and groups and of how we can think and act in service of our students, especially those most impacted by inequity and historic
marginalization.
An equity lens is a valuable tool that helps create conditions that enable students to develop and grow as they advance toward
our district-wide goals. By utilizing an equity lens in our planning and decision-making processes and procedures, MNPS seeks
to operationalize a common vocabulary and protocol for resource allocation, partnerships, engagement, and strategic initiatives
to support students and communities.
Through the analysis of yourself personally, professionally, and institutionally through the use of an equity lens, as leaders
in education we will be able to better understand where we, our schools and departments need to go in efforts to create an
equitable school experience for every student.

EXAMPLE 1

For any policy, program, practice, decision, or action, consider the following questions:

Who are the underrepresented groups affected by this policy, program, practice, decision, or action? What
1 are the potential impacts on these groups?

Does the decision being made ignore or worsen existing disparities or produce other unintended
2 consequences? What is the impact on eliminating the opportunity gap?

How have you intentionally involved stakeholders who are also members of the communities affected by
3 this policy, program, practice, decision, or action? Can you validate your assessment in question No. 1
having considered these stakeholder reactions included in question No. 2?

What are the barriers to more equitable outcomes (e.g., mandated, political, emotional, financial,
4 programmatic, or managerial)?

5 How will you mitigate the negative impacts and address the barriers identified above?

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 13

An equity lens can be organized to address different decisions. The standard elements, however, ask for decision makers to
consider equity dimensions of involvement, process, values, assumptions and outcomes from a perspective that highlights how
practices hold potential to shift power toward equity and inclusion.

EXAMPLE 2

What are typical questions in an Equity Lens?

What decision is being made?

1 • What beliefs, values, and assumptions (some of which will be cultural) guide how the topic is being
considered
Who is at the table?
• Who or what informs their thinking on the issue?
2 • Who is most affected by these decisions and thus should be at the table?
• How can stakeholders be included?
How is the decision made?
3 • What participatory structures can be added or hear more voices, to equalize participation, and ensure
elements of consensus are used?

What assumptions are at the foundation of the issue? Be explicit in naming these and the values
4 and cultural bases for them.

What is the impact?

• Does the policy, program, or decision improve, worsen, or make no change to existing disparities?
Does it result in a systemic change that addresses institutional equity?
5 • Does the policy, program, or decision produce any intentional benefits or unintended consequences
for affected groups?
• What is the real impact likely to be for different groups who are important to the organization?

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 14

 Elements of an Equity Lens 7

Liberatory Thinking
Definition
Liberatory thinking is the reimagining of one’s assumptions and beliefs about others and their capabilities by interrupting internal
beliefs that undermine productive relationships and actions.
 iberatory thinking goes beyond simply changing mindsets to creating concrete opportunities for others to experience
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liberation. The opportunities provide cover for and center underrepresented and marginalized people. It pushes people to
interrogate their own multiple identities in relation to others and to think about the consequences of our actions, especially
for students of critical need. It explores how mindsets can impede or ignite progress in the classroom, school, and district.
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 iberatory thinking lifts up and institutionalizes culturally relevant and sustaining opportunities that celebrate
students’ identities and offer positive developmental experiences.
 iberatory thinking pushes us to think about what we want for students as a result of equity - beyond only working to stop
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the negative consequences of inequity.
Liberatory thinking requires working toward a common vision for equity and racial justice.
 iberatory thinking appreciates and honors the differences among people, which include but are not limited to race,
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ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, language, learning path, accessibility needs, family background, family
income, citizenship, or tribal status.

In-Practice
Those who use liberatory thinking:
Broaden how they interpret data to be inclusive of student experiences instead of creating exclusionary practices.
Engage in deep reflective work to understand their biases, multiple intersecting identities, and personal stories.
E
 xamine how they have been impacted by structural racism or systematic oppression while considering how they
might be unintentionally perpetuating these conditions.
Disrupt historical ways of using data on assessment outcomes to compare students to dominant groups.
Develop individual and systemic equity purpose statements to guide decision-making.
Build relationships in affinity and across difference to lead change toward greater equity.
Advocate for fair treatment and opportunities for others.
E
 ngage in courageous conversations on racial equity, internal biases, systemic inequities, and system redesign,
including rethinking how they use data and how data impact student experiences.
Manage privilege and bias by acknowledging and mitigating personal unconscious bias.
S
 et conditions for safe/brave spaces where both healing and interruption can occur. Push to include diverse affirming
(positive) traditions, cultural lived experiences, and culturally relevant curriculum in school life.
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Equity Lens - CPS Equity Toolkit

Inclusive Partnerships
Definition
Inclusive partnerships value and prioritize the diverse voices of students, families, caregivers, and communities when making
decisions that affect their lived experiences. This relationship requires the people and institutions who hold power to account for
past inequities and to create conditions for healing and co-design an equitable future.
In the process of creating inclusive partnerships, an equity leader will always acknowledge and recognize communities and
cultures and will leverage their solutions and ideas for shared benefit. The outcome of the engagement process will be both
authentic engagement and diversity, as well as more equitable decisions.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 15

We prioritize three key stakeholder groups:
People with institutional or historical memory,
People most impacted by inequity, and
People responsible for implementing and driving change.
Prioritizing the voices of those with the most critical needs by providing accessible, authentic and collaborative experiences in
schools, communities, online, and beyond furthers transparency and power sharing.
Inclusive partnerships bring together a diverse array of stakeholders to engage in authentic, collaborative experiences and co-
design community-centered solutions to complex and challenging issues caused and upheld by systemic oppression.
Internal partners include students, caregivers, school, district staff, and volunteers. External partners include community
organizations, research organizations, and funders, among others. All partners must remain committed to sharing power and
responsibility as they move toward greater equity.
This requires inviting and allowing students, families, caregivers, and underrepresented employee groups to speak about their
needs to inform improvement efforts.

In-Practice
Those who catalyze inclusive partnerships:
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 rioritize the perspectives and voices of stakeholders with institutional and/or historical memory, those most impacted
by inequitable decisions, and those responsible for implementing and driving change.
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 hift from competition to cooperation mindset to productively address conflict, promote healing, and rebuild trust, using
tools like meeting norms and the Equity CURVE, with much greater transparency in service of students.
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 isten to diverse stakeholders to understand how culture, differences, and lived experiences can be leveraged as
assets.
E
 ngage in ongoing, inclusive partnerships with those most affected by structural inequity to design and implement a
more equitable education system that empowers underrepresented students and adults.
E
 levate student voice data and opportunities for student input across the district and city to understand students’ lived
experiences on order to make decisions that are made with students for students.
E
 mbrace families across Nashville community areas as allies who engage and inform student learning opportunities,
including continuous dialogue about allyship and anti-bias and how to leverage the community’s strengths and assets
inside and outside of school.
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 et high, clear expectations for all parties to promote trust and transparency. Find ways to include voices and ideas that
may have been previously ignored.

Resource Equity
Definition
The goal of resource equity is to create equitable student experiences in learning ready environments.
 esource equity means consistently prioritizing and allocating people, time, and money to align with levels of need and
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opportunity.
 esource equity recognizes that providing the same amount of resources to students and schools with different lived
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experiences, assets, and challenges will maintain the status quo of unequal opportunity and achievement. The resources
people need vary based on their quality of life and circumstances.
 esource equity creates opportunities to share resources within a school or institution or across schools to meet the
R
diverse needs of all students.

Advocating for resource equity involves tracking the level of opportunity in relation to performance or impact and creating
progressive spending patterns. The levers that impact student experiences occur at all levels of the district, including classrooms,
schools, and district departments and offices.
District leaders, school administrators, teachers, and support staff engage in continuous learning to identify ways to disrupt and
design their own policies and practices to promote responsive, timely resource equity for students across the district.
Resource equity balances immediate solutions with sustainable, long-term distribution of resources to close opportunity gaps for
students.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 16

In-Practice
Those who direct resource equity:
M
 ake allocation decisions across schools and within schools based on data that presents the needs and assets of each
community, school, and/or student group—and where they are currently situated within outcomes—to support achieving
universal goals.
U
 se a broad range of data, including qualitative and multi-sector data, to assess the current and future impact of resource
distribution in relation to the distribution of opportunity and how each resource corresponds with outcomes.
 dvocate for equitable resource allocation in their context or role. Engage in an extensive, sensitive dialogue with an array
A
of stakeholders, building moral, economic, and political will to provide the resources and support to co-construct opportunity and
give all students access to the resources, opportunities, and educational rigor they need to succeed.
R
 e-organize themselves to allocate the time and resources within their control to focus on students and schools in areas of
concentrated disadvantage.
F
 acilitate opportunities for schools and networks to share resources within and between schools, including human capital,
materials, and promising practices to address common problems.
S
 ee themselves as resources with agency and prioritize students with the most risk factors in their efforts and actions to
support schools and communities.

Fair Policies and Systems

Definition
Fair policies and systems promote equitable opportunities to reach equal positive academic and socioemotional outcomes for all
student and stakeholder groups, with an emphasis on those who are most impacted by structural inequality and inequity.
Fair policies and systems happen after examining the impact of key policies, practices, and budgets on students and communities
followed by recommending and implementing actions for change.
All policies require systems within which to operate; not all systems require policies. A system can function equitably with or without
policies, and policies can be used to positively impact systems to function equitably for students. To examine policies and systems, we
must ask who is burdened by past and present policies and practices and who benefits, in order to chart a future plan to address the
impact of inequity and promote access and opportunity.
The impact of inequity can include, and is not limited to, racial predictability of student success, community, and displacement. Because
policies and systems exist at the classroom, school, district, and city levels, examining connections between policies and systems is
critical for transformation. Continuously improve all policies and systems, with equity and social justice at the center.

In-Practice
Those who direct resource equity:
 xamine the impact within their control and explore possible equity-based solutions. Create conditions that foster mutual trust
E
and understanding and help stakeholders at all levels to be accountable for equity.
 heck to see if their efforts marginalize a group of people or cause an undue burden. Ensure inclusion and equal treatment of
C
greatest needs groups in their school context. Find root causes and generate a plan to redesign a policy or system.
Center policy decisions within students’ lived experiences.
Inform those who currently hold the power and responsibility to impact the inequity that is uncovered.
 edesign policies and systems to address the pressing need for racial equity and to meet the needs of those most impacted by
R
inequity. Ask a set of agreed upon questions when assessing any policy or system to reduce bias.
Monitor the impact of policies and systems to ensure success for all student groups.
 tilize the strengths of Nashville’s diversity to incorporate the social and cultural capital of its communities in all decision-
U
making.
Strengthen the links between school, classroom, and home to increase access and opportunity for parents.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 17

Equity Assessment Tools
To operationalize equity, it will be important to have the following in place:
1. Consistent systems-wide utilization of shifts toward equity decision-making and learning tools
2. Decision-making that is data-informed, both qualitative and quantitative, at every leadership level within MNPS
3. Transparency
4. Authentic collaborative family and community engagement

With the correct assessment support put into action, MNPS can reimagine how we
support district staff to:
• Enhance existing and create new best outcome- based policies, practices, and procedures to increase academic opportunities and
outcomes for MNPS students by eliminating factors that lead to student group predictability and systems that perpetuate long standing
opportunity and achievement gaps.
• Create a continuum of change and knowledge capacity- building assessments that will serve to guide and build the equity knowledge of
all staff through the stages of continuous improvement cycle so that equity is a part of every task and project.

Guiding examples for assessment:

• Workbook: ICSD Equity Report Card ([Link])
• School System Equity Self-Assessment - The Leadership Academy
• [Link]
• RIDES Progress Assessment 11.2.18 (3).pdf

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 18

 How to Achieve Educational
Equity 8

Personal. Professional. Institutional.

For our schools to create new norms and to directly address constant inequities by eliminating
student achievement and opportunity disparities, we need to cultivate a framing of equity that
ties together various strategies and focuses them on common goals.

For our schools to create new norms and to directly address constant inequities by eliminating student achievement and
opportunity disparities, we need to cultivate a framing of equity that ties together various strategies and focuses them on common
goals.
The below framing serves to ensure that individual strategies and initiatives beyond their own purpose be inclusive of
other elements and strategies taking place. By applying this framing to equity, our schools can address their context, build
understanding of the students, and create transformative learning cultures that guide the effective implementation of best outcome
strategies.
For our district to achieve this effort, we will need to address equity across three levels: Personal, Professional, and Institutional.
To be successful at operationalizing equity from day to day, success will depend on the educator’s personal connection to the
work, the institution’s embrace of systemic change and progress, and the professional practices teachers and administrators
implement every day.
Success will depend on the school and/or the system’s ability to embrace this framing that aims to guide all decisions, practices,
and policies according to equity. As this happens, educators will begin to observe how a particular leadership effort correlates to
the culture and climate of the school and supports developing teacher practice.

Personal Equity guides the process of centering oneself in equity and uncovering one’s own biases, stereotypes, and
advantages.

I nstitutional Equity explores how a school and a school system can overcome institutionalized factors that limit
student achievement, especially for students of color and those from diverse backgrounds.

P
 rofessional Equity focuses on how efforts to successfully implement equitable practices can ensure individualized
support for all students.

Within equitable schools, research and data have observed four common
characteristics of equity. These four characteristics are essential to ongoing and
successful efforts of any equity-centered school.

E
 xpectations set the bar for high achievement

Rigor provides the skills and learning students need to succeed.

R
 elevancy connects the learner with the instruction and curriculum.

Relationships help the student believe in the teacher’s high

expectations, engage with rigorous curriculum, and respond to the
relevancy of the learning.

These equity characteristics encapsulate equity, to symbolize that without these

four present in the work for all students, other school improvement efforts might
struggle to succeed.

8
Linton, Curtis. 2011. “Equity 101: The Equity Framework”.Corwin. A Sage Company.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 19

 Leadership Strategy.
Culture Strategy.
Practice Strategy. 9

As we begin to analyze what educational equity looks like, here is our path to framing equity:

1. Leadership: In the framing of equity, leadership strategies address district, principal, and teacher leadership needs.
Equitable leadership organizes strategies that build vision and direction, drive accountability, sustain innovation, and support
systematic equity.

2. Culture: In the framing of equity, the strategies that build an inclusive culture focus on both the learning culture of
the schools as well as the cultural competency of their educators. Equitable cultural strategies incorporate elements of
professional attitudes, racial awareness, a deliberate focus on students, an inclusive environment and collaboration among
staff, students and the broader community.

3. Practice: In the framing of equity, the practice strategies focus on what teachers do every day in the classroom and how
these actions impact student achievement. Effective teaching practice occurs when good pedagogy happens in a context of
strong culture and effective leadership. Practice strategies seek to organize effective classroom strategies inherent in quality
teaching, including curriculum, teaching skills, assessment, and interventions.

9
Linton, Curtis. 2011.”Equity 101: The Equity Framework”. Corwin, A SAGE Company.

PERSONAL
Example of framing equity questions via PERSONAL strategies for educators
and administrators:

Culture

List personal strategies you already use to build

your own cultural competency and positive
learning culture:

List personal strategies you could use to build

your own cultural competency and positive
learning culture:

Practice

List personal strategies you already use to deliver

equitable instruction for students:

List personal strategies you could use to deliver

equitable instruction for students:

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 20

Personal
Example of framing equity questions via PERSONAL strategies for educators
and administrators:

Leadership

List personal strategies you already use to be an

effective leader for equity:

List personal strategies you could use to be an

effective leader of equity:

Institutional
Example of framing equity questions via INSTITUTIONAL Strategies for educators and
administrators:

Culture

List institutional strategies your institution already

uses to build your own cultural competency and
positive learning culture:

List institutional strategies your institution could

use to build cultural competency and a positive
learning culture:

Practice

List institutional strategies your institution already

uses to deliver equitable instruction for students:

List institutional strategies your institution could

use to deliver equitable instruction for students:

Leadership

List institutional strategies your institution already

uses to develop effective leaders for equity:

List institutional strategies your institution could

use to develop effective leaders for equity:

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 21

Professional
Example of framing equity questions via PROFESSIONAL Strategies for educators and
administrators:

Culture

List professional strategies you and/or your school

currently use to create a safe and supportive
learning environment:

List professional strategies you and/or your school

could use to create a safe and supportive learning
environment:

Practice

List professional strategies you and/or your school

currently use to help you implement effective
instructional practices:

List institutional strategies your institution could

use to deliver equitable instruction for students:

Leadership

List professional strategies you and/or your school

currently use to empower you as a professional
educator:

List professional strategies you and/or your school

could use to empower you as a professional
educator:

EXAMPLE #1 — FRANKFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Example of a case study of Frankford Elementary School utilizing the above framing to
operationalize equity:

Culture

• Change culture toward high expectations for all.

Personal Strategies • Courageously evaluate and share educators’ weaknesses.

• Incorporate PLC’s for all teachers to build collaboration.

Institutional Strategies • Outreach to the community resulting in over 100 mentors.

• Create individual education plans for every student, whether a high, low,
Professional Strategies or average performer.
• Empower teachers to understand individual student learning needs.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 22

EXAMPLE #1 — FRANKFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Example of a case study of Frankford Elementary School utilizing the above framing to
operationalize equity:

Practice

• Expect teachers to master instructional strategies.

Personal Strategies • Fine-tune daily practice and problem solving in instruction.

• Provide professional development that models strategies across the

Institutional Strategies school.
• Implement rigorous standards-based instruction.

• Implement individual student learning plans with fidelity.

Professional Strategies • Share effective pedagogical practices in teams and across grade levels.

Leadership

• Challenge teachers to change their level of expectations for students.

Personal Strategies • Facilitate procedure for teachers to no longer be isolated in their practice.

• Clearly communicate learning goals to faculty, students, and the

Institutional Strategies community.
• Disseminate knowledge of school improvement strategies among staff.

• Provide professional development that disseminates best practices of

Professional Strategies teachers within the school.
• Provide support to all teachers in improving their practice.

EXAMPLE #2 — SANGER UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

Example of a case study of Sanger Unified School District using the above framing to
operationalize equity:

Culture

• Examine what failure meant for the students.

Personal Strategies • Strongly support personal capacity building of teachers.

• Implement PLC’s at every school and every team.

Institutional Strategies • Implement culturally responsive programs such as those for ELL’s.

• Schedule and support teacher collaboration.

Professional Strategies • Empower teachers to understand individual student learning needs.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 23

EXAMPLE #2 — SANGER UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Example of a case study of Sanger Unified School District using the above framing to
operationalize equity:

Practice

• Support teachers in effectively instructing all students daily.

Personal Strategies • Expect teachers to master instructional strategies.

• Implement RTI with Tier 3 instruction in every school.

Institutional Strategies • Implement rigorous standards-based instruction.

• Intensely and regularly analyze student data based on team-developed

assessment.
Professional Strategies • Share effective pedagogical practices in teams, across grade levels, and
between schools.

Leadership
• Take personal responsibility for achievement - for administrators and
teachers alike.
Personal Strategies • Support administrators and teachers if they engage in change effort and
hold accountable if resistant.

• Establish interschool collaboration and competition.

Institutional Strategies • Establish districtwide goals and focus.

• Focus professional development on formative assessment to allow

Professional Strategies educators to effectively use data.
• Institutionalize systematic programs like PLC’s and RTI in every school.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 24

 MNPS Roadmap
Domain Commitments Towards
Equity Shifts: 10

Within our roadmap approach, educators and administrators must know the students they
teach, understand which pedagogies and resources each student needs to thrive, and remain
attuned to how quantitative and qualitative data reflect this. Our work of adapting teaching
and learning must adhere to a “do now and build towards” equity mindset shift. Our “do now”
actions are the practical, in the near-term actions designed to lay the foundation for bold and
transformative work to follow - what we call the “build toward” outcomes. This sets the North
Star vision which chronicles how students, families, and educators will experience school post
COVID-19. Each of the domains within our roadmap approach are listed below:

Culturally Responsive Teaching And Learning

Schoolwide Systems And Institutionalized Structures
Family, Caregiver And Community Partnerships
District Policy, Practices And Procedures
Support Hub Commitment To Racial Educational Equity
Below, each domain of focus has suggested MNPS commitments that align with our core tenets. Each core commitment also
includes actionable core practices or policy actions.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning

Commitments:
1. Ensure each school has systems in place to support students in becoming transition-ready.
2. Facilitate community building, routines, and rituals that reduce stress, address trauma, promote healing and belonging, and prepare the
brain for learning.
3. Ensure each school is inclusive of culturally relevant curriculum and embracing the pedagogy of equity in the classroom.
4. Nurture student agency, self-directed learning, and critical consciousness.
5. Represent, affirm, and support students to explore their personal, cultural, racial, and academic identities and proactively dispel
stereotypes.
6. Provide frequent, formative, growth-oriented feedback that affirms high academic expectations and supports for all students.
7. Ensure every student has access to college- and career-oriented instruction.
8. Ensure every student has access to academic supports they need to learn and excel academically.

10
Dimensions | Alliance for Resource Equity ([Link])

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 25

Core Practices and Policies:
• Utilize opening and closing routines to begin and end class lessons to demonstrate care and interest for students.
• Provide guided breathing and movement breaks.
• Build culturally sustaining and responsive learning environments.
• Engage in healing-centered practices, also known as trauma-informed practices.
• Engage students in value affirmation activities.
• Provide classroom opportunities for student leadership and student-taught lessons.
• Provide rich opportunities for civic education and engagement.
• Provide student choice in what students learn, how they engage in learning, and/or how they demonstrate their learning.
• Incorporate examples from students’ communities and cultural groups in every curriculum unit.
• Use short surveys to regularly solicit student feedback on classroom learning conditions.
• Set high standards for all students and then give actionable critical feedback along with reassurance.
• Share models of high-quality work to communicate expectations for excellence.
• Provide opportunities for high-quality project-based learning.

Schoolwide Systems and Institutionalized Structures

Commitments:
1. All school efforts, structures, resources, and people align around a clear, schoolwide vision of equitable learning and development and a
shared understanding of why and how this drives everyone’s work.
2. School and classroom spaces are inviting, are physically and emotionally safe, and support learning and engagement of all
stakeholders.
3. Professional processes, structures, and cultures build the individual and collective efficacy of educators and staff while supporting their
personal well-being and providing opportunities for ongoing inquiry and critical reflection.
4. The goals of discipline policies and practices are to support student learning and development and to repair and/or restore their
community, rather than to punish or exclude students.
5. Time and learning opportunities are flexibly designed and organized to prioritize student experience and learning goals, including
cultivating supportive relationships and authentic learning.
6. School structures and practices promote student leadership and agency.
7. Provide training for staff to positively impact disproportionality (e.g., implicit bias, cultural competence, trauma-informed, social-
emotional, restorative practices, etc.).
8. Provide differentiated supports for schools to better serve students of color and other marginalized groups.
9. Engage students, families, and the community in conversations to improve the culture and climate in schools and district offices,
particularly for students and families of color.

Core Practices and Policies:

• Engage in a structured process to interrogate and align school personnel, systems, and budgets around a shared set of values and
principles, e.g., Summit Public School’s Aligned School Model framework.
• Invest in growth-oriented professional development based on adult learning principles that is sustained, supportive, job-embedded,
team-based, and student-centered.
• Recruit, hire, and retain a diverse faculty and staff that is representative of and culturally and emotionally attuned to the students in the
building.
• Structure time in the school day for frequent teacher collaboration and professional learning, e.g., by grade level, content area, and/or
student cohort.
• Establish mentoring and leadership development opportunities for interested teachers, administrators, and other staff members.
• Use tools to support educators’ mindful reflection and self-assessment for bias (e.g., the Mindful Reflection Protocol for Checking
Unconscious Bias).
• Provide educators with models, protocols, and opportunities for practice for any new endeavor.
• Structure opportunities for teacher and staff teams to meet regularly to review individual student data and develop individualized
responses and supports.
• Regularly collect, review, and act upon student experience, parent satisfaction, and school community climate data to inform and
contextualize traditional academic data.
• Hold regular events for families and other community stakeholders to collect and make sense of data together.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 26

 • Include student representatives on leadership teams and school boards. Hold quarterly student-led conferences.
• Set up and empower Student Voice Committees.
• Create opportunities and structures to support student-led civic engagement projects.
• Establish a meaningful system of student government to share decision-making power.
• Develop expanded/personalized student learning opportunities beyond the classroom, e.g., internships, online learning, dual enrollment,
flipped classrooms, field experiences.
• Find opportunities to employ a range of restorative practices throughout the school, from the use of effective language to formal
conferences (see the Restorative Practices Continuum).
• Create a visibly multilingual and multicultural school environment by displaying signs, banners, and other materials that acknowledge and
celebrate the identities of students and families.
• Include students as co-designers of school and classroom spaces and/or virtual learning spaces.
• Display student work, awards, and celebrations of achievement, as well as products designed by community members that reflect
relevant cultural and historical context.

Family, Caregiver and Community Partnerships

Commitments:
1. Families and school staff work in authentic partnerships to develop and advance a shared definition of student success.
2. Families and school staff build meaningful relationships that foster mutual trust, understanding, and appreciation across cultures and
other differences.
3. Share information and resources and collaborate across schools, families, and community partners in support of student learning and
development.
4. Families and community members co-design schools so policies and practices are equitable and support students.
5. Engage parents and business partners to provide proactive social supports that meet student needs.
6. Review budgets to ensure equity through an equity lens tool.
7. Identify and place more students of color in all areas of advanced coursework.

Core Practices and Policies:

• Create regular/predictable opportunities for families and other community stakeholders to actively contribute to the school’s vision,
priorities, and practices.
• Implement student-led conferences to build partnerships and affirm shared notions of student success.
• Provide space for teachers and staff to process and determine how to engage with students and families after social and political events
that impact the wider community.
• Support intentional paraprofessional or volunteer programs to increase school community partnerships to support student learning.
• Co-design and organize proactive community-building activities that promote positive relationships across roles and lines of difference
(families, partners, local business owners, neighbors, artists, healers, and others).
• Co-design formal and informal structures and processes for educators and families to share relevant information.
• Hold regular community and family discussion groups and workshops.
• Include families and community representatives on all standing school council/leadership teams.
• Build and support formal structures for family and community leadership.

District Policy, Practices, and Procedures

Commitments:
1. Attract and retain a diverse and high-quality staff through creative and innovative partnerships.
2. Provide opportunities for career exploration and advancement starting in middle school and continuing throughout.
3. Support schools’ efforts to impact staff diversity through training and technical assistance.
4. System goals and aligned accountability policies focus on equitable whole student learning development.
5. Policies and resource allocation promote the development of school environments that support student safety, belonging, agency, and
effective learning environments.
6. Structures and requirements are in place to ensure authentic engagement of students, families, and communities in directing state and
district policy and practice.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 27

 7. Policies and resources support the hiring and development of staff who have the mindsets and skills to build equitable and effective
learning environments.
8. Resources are adequate and equitably distributed.

Core Practices and Policies:

• Adopt policies to support integrated social, emotional, and academic development (e.g., Aspen Institute policy recommendations).
• Review data to understand where different student groups and communities are relative to the universal goals.
• Require and provide culturally responsive, identity-affirming, and rigorous curriculum and pedagogy.
• Advance structures, schedules, and staffing that allow for the establishment of positive relationships and provide personalized instruction
and engagement.
• Adopt discipline policies that are restorative, empathic, and student-centered.
• Provide adequate resources and staff training to implement a rigorous ethnic studies curriculum
• Provide and resource student support services, including physical and mental health services - Community Schools model.
• Hire, retain, and develop state, district, and school leaders and staff who are committed to equity and whole student learning and
development.
• Allocate resources to districts and schools commensurate with each student’s needs.
• Review site-based expenditure reporting to ensure equitable distribution of funding.
• Require and enable schools to provide high-quality educational experiences for all students.
• Implement school-based budgeting that aligns funds with student needs.
• Provide sufficient flexibility at the school level to allow schools to be responsive to community priorities consistent with the goals of
equitable learning environments and whole student development.
• Prioritize wraparound services in schools in high-poverty neighborhoods.

Support Hub Commitment to Racial Educational Equity

Commitments:
1. Support schools by providing training on the equity scorecard and helping principals design school-level equity plans.
2. Enhance current policy and procedures that address elements of diversity, yet not equity or inclusion.
3. State and district data and accountability systems support site-level equity-focused continuous improvement processes and procedures.
4. School leaders are held accountable for advancing these commitments while being given the autonomy and ownership to find the site-
appropriate path to fulfill these commitments.

Core Practices and Policies:

• Conduct an equity audit to understand the policies and structures limiting access to opportunity and causing harm.
• Conduct Race and Equity Impact Assessment for all policies and decision making.
• Develop policies that consider the ways different groups of students and communities have differential access to opportunity and
implement policies that dismantle and/or mitigate structural barriers to opportunity.
• Periodically audit policies and practices to identify and eliminate structural barriers to opportunity and those that harm the experiences,
opportunities, or outcomes of students, staff, and families of color.
• Increase hiring and retention of educators of color through improved incentives and conditions for teachers of color; focus on robust local
pipeline development.
• Fund ongoing job-embedded coaching to support educators in developing the technical and relational skills needed to be effective,
culturally responsive, and affirming.
• Establish regular collection and analysis of student outcome, student experience, and school climate data that are disaggregated by
race, ethnicity, socioeconomic level, gender identity, sexual orientation, English learner status, immigration status, and different ability
status.
• Allocate systems, time, and expertise to develop and implement action plans in response to data analysis.

Guiding examples
• Home – BELE ([Link])
• Dimensions | Alliance for Resource Equity ([Link])

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 28

 Equity On-Ramps Evaluation
As we begin our collective equity journey, we must be certain to do
the following:11
The goal of resource equity is to create equitable student experiences in learning ready environments.
 repare our system to engage in work that can be complex, often emotional, and challenges our most basic assumptions.
P
L
 eadership at all levels must communicate the importance, enthusiasm, and the challenges associated with this work
toward equity shifts to staff: personal work and institutional work.
G
 ather and explore relevant disaggregated data, both internal and public; especially investigating disproportionality through
an intersectional data analysis of the focal student groups: African American students, students with disabilities, English
learners, and economically disadvantaged students.
Read through the MNPS Equity Roadmap, identifying areas of focus. The below on-ramps should be used to help identify where a
team/school is on their journey, their objectives, and how to potentially proceed. Utilize this tool as a self-assessment and inventory
of actions, as each component can be essential to designing and operationalizing the work of educational equity.

Starting Point Picking Up Momentum Merging into Equity Shifts

Learn about equity in our Dive into planning for Share plans and begin
system equity your equity cycles

Leadership • Establish a core leadership • Establish a broader, • Ensure that representative

Development team that will identify and representative equity stakeholders are participants at all
develop a broader site- leadership team across levels of process
based equity leadership stakeholder groups
• Continue equity literature book
team
• Leadership team engages in circles/equity discussions with all
• Identify trainings/education an equity assessment staff
for leadership team on
• Develop smaller leadership
systemic racism & implicit
teams for specific areas of
bias
work (ongoing)
• Take implicit bias
• Identify an equity team
assessment
facilitator who is available,
• Explore equity literature for consistent, and experienced
future book circles
• Initiate equity literature book
• Establish community circles/equity discussions with
agreements/norms all staff

Teacher/Staff • Take implicit bias • Reflect on results of implicit • Continued, focused trainings/
Development assessment bias assessment; consider education for teachers on
• Participate in training/ next steps for individuals and addressing systemic racism &
education on systemic collective action based on implicit bias through effective
racism & implicit bias results pedagogy
• Explore equity literature • Further focus training/ • Continue equity literature book
for future book circles (see education for teachers on circles/equity discussions with all
resources) systemic racism & implicit bias staff
• Initiate equity literature book
circles/equity discussions with
all staff

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 29

Data and Research • Needs assessment: • Continue to collect relevant • Continue to collect and share
Investigate Dashboard data quantitative and qualitative relevant quantitative and qualitative
of districts/schools using data at the local and state data
data exploration protocol levels • Continue to conduct intersectional
• Identify focal student groups • Conduct intersectional data data analysis for disproportionality,
• Needs assessment: analysis for disproportionality with attention to African American
Survey teachers, staff, • Conduct root cause analysis students, SWD and ELs
parents, students and other • Plan cycles of research and
stakeholders measurement for improvement.
• Explore equity audits/
assessments to use in your
context

Planning • Identify and broadly define • Develop shared definition of • Narrow focus to one equity
equity challenges equity challenge, drawing on stakeholder
• Begin to draft equity goals • Define and prioritize your input
that explicitly address equity goals • Finalize equity plan
inequities found in needs • Choose set of tools to address • Initiate and continue use of equity
assessment the challenge based on tools and strategies
• Develop a timeline starting defined equity goals • Check for integrity of the equity
with these on-ramps and • Begin drafting an equity plan
cycles of continuous plan (made up of report of
improvement findings, tools, strategies,
communication plan, plan to
monitor progress)

Communication • Identify stakeholders • Continue to develop • Finalize communication plan

• Begin development of communication plan • Communicate the equity plan to
communication plan • Share equity data with stakeholders
community of stakeholders • Continue to share data findings
and open conversations with
stakeholders

Climate and • Calibrate potential equity • Align equity objectives to • Check for and build student and
Culture goals to mission and vision mission and vision community representation in
• Begin process of ongoing • Continue ongoing personal decision-making and work
personal reflection reflection
• Include students and
community representation in
decision-making and work

Progress • Check in with teachers and • Continue monitoring equity • Monitor progress:
Monitoring staff about their response to and representativeness of • Schedule regular meetings (every
the equity focus leadership team 2-4 weeks)
• Monitor leadership capacity-building

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 30

 Common Language to Foster
Common Understanding
This common language was adapted alongside the PASSAGE Anti-Racist Curriculum and
Advanced Academics Working Group, the New Skills Ready Equity Working Group and
other internal stakeholders. We drew from The Oregon Equity Lens and the Aspen Institute’s
Glossary for Promoting Racial Equity as a foundational guide. Some definitions we adopted
without change. We revised other definitions collaboratively

Structural Racism: A system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in
various, often reinforcing, ways to perpetuate racial group inequity. It identifies dimensions of our history and culture that have
allowed privileges associated with “whiteness” and disadvantages associated with “color” to endure and adapt over time. Structural
racism is not something that a few people or institutions choose to practice. Instead it has been a feature of the social, economic
and political systems in which we all exist.

Systemic Racism: In many ways “systemic racism” and “structural racism” are synonymous. If there is a difference between the
terms, it can be said to exist in the fact that a structural racism analysis pays more attention to the historical, cultural and social
psychological aspects of our currently racialized society.

Institutional Racism: Institutional racism refers to the historical and current policies and practices within and across institutions
that, intentionally or not, produce outcomes that chronically favor, or put a racial group at a disadvantage. Poignant examples of
institutional racism can be found in school disciplinary policies in which students of color are punished at much higher rates than
their white counterparts, in the criminal justice system, and within many employment sectors in which day-to-day operations, as
well as hiring and firing practices can significantly disadvantage Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color.

Individual Racism: Individual racism includes face-to-face or covert actions toward a person that intentionally express prejudice,
hate or bias based on race.

Racial Equity: Racial equity refers to what a genuinely anti-racist society would look like. In racially equitable societies, the
distribution of society’s benefits and burdens would not be skewed by race. Racial equity would be a reality in which a person is
no more or less likely to experience society’s benefits or burdens because of the color of their skin. Racial equity holds society to a
higher standard. It demands that we pay attention not just to individual-level discrimination, but to overall social outcomes

Educational Equity: In education, equity is the notion that every learner receives the necessary resources to thrive. A child’s
race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, their first language or whether he or she is differently
abled would not determine access to educational success.

White Privilege: White privilege, or “historically accumulated white privilege” refers to whites’ historical and contemporary
advantages in access to quality education, decent jobs, livable wages, homeownership, retirement benefits, wealth, and other
advantages to the detriment of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color. “As a white person I had been taught about
racism that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts
me at an advantage... “White privilege is an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in every day, but
about which I was meant to remain oblivious.” (McIntosh, 1988)

Embedded Racial Inequality: Embedded racial inequalities are easily produced and reproduced―usually without the intention
of doing so and without even a reference to race. These can be policies and practices that intentionally and unintentionally enable
white privilege to be reinforced.

Historically Marginalized Students: Students whom systems have historically denied opportunities because the systems have
operationalized deficit-based thinking. Deficit thinking is the practice of having lower expectations for certain groups of people
based on demographics or characteristics that they share. In doing so, an “at-risk” narrative is formed, in which students navigating
poverty, culturally and linguistically diverse students, and/or historically marginalized groups, and their families are pathologized

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 31

and marginalized. This includes students who are treated differently because of their gender, race, sexual orientation, gender
identity, dis/ability, and geographic location. Many students are not served well in our education system because of the conscious
and unconscious bias, stereotyping, and racism that is embedded within our current inequitable education system.

Accountability: Accountability is primarily instructive and not punitive. Accountability begins with clear expectations provided to all
participants in a system. Expectations are aligned with clearly stated and well-developed policies and practices. When expectations
are not met, we examine what occurred. Next, constructive feedback is given. Then, coaching and support are provided to assist
individuals in meeting expectations. If improvements do not occur after the steps above, corrective measures may be utilized.

Race: Race is a social ―not biological― construct. We understand the term “race” to mean a racial or ethnic group that is
generally recognized in society and often by government. When referring to those groups, we use the terminology of “Black,
Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)” (or refer to a specific racial and/or ethnic group) and “white.” We also understand
that racial and ethnic categories differ internationally, and that many local communities are international communities. In some
societies, ethnic, religious and caste groups are oppressed and racialized. These dynamics can occur even when the oppressed
group is numerically in the majority.

Ethnicity: Ethnicity refers to the social characteristics that people may have in common, such as language, religion, regional
background, culture, foods, etc. Ethnicity is revealed by the traditions one follows, a person’s native language, and so on. Race,
on the other hand, describes categories assigned to demographic groups based mostly on observable physical characteristics, like
skin color, hair texture and eye shape.

Diversity: Diversity has come to refer to the various backgrounds and races that comprise a community, nation or other grouping.
Difference. Can include life experiences, education, work style, personality, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and class, gender
identity, sexual orientation, country of origin, ability, traditions, heritage, perspectives, as well as cultural, political, religious, and
other affiliations.

Cultural Representations: Cultural representations refer to popular stereotypes, images, frames and narratives that
are socialized and reinforced by media, language and other forms of mass communication and “common sense.” Cultural
representations can be positive or negative, but from the perspective of the dismantling structural racism analysis, too often cultural
representations depict BIPOC in ways that are dehumanizing, perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes, and have the overall effect of
allowing unfair treatment within the society to seem fair or “natural.”

Disproportionality: Over-representation of students of color in areas that impact their access to educational attainment. This
term is a statistical concept that actualizes the disparities across student groups. Progress & Retrenchment: This term refers to
the pattern in which progress is made through the passage of legislation, court rulings and other formal mechanisms that aim
to promote racial equality. Brown v. Board of Education and the Fair Housing Act are two prime examples of such progress. But
retrenchment refers to the ways in which this progress is often challenged, neutralized or undermined. In many cases, after a
measure is enacted that can be counted as progress, significant backlashes —retrenchment— develop in key public policy areas.

Opportunity Gap: The lack of opportunity that many social groups face in our common quest for educational attainment and the
shift of attention from the current overwhelming emphasis on schools in discussions of the opportunity gap to more fundamental
questions about social and educational opportunity. We intentionally use the term “opportunity gap” rather than “achievement gap.”
“Achievement gap” incorrectly places the responsibility for wthe gap on students rather than systems.

Culturally Responsive School Communities: Culturally responsive schools recognize and honor the diverse cultural
characteristics of all stakeholders (teachers, staff, students, families, leadership) in the community as assets. Culturally responsive
communities empower all stakeholders intellectually, socially, emotionally and politically by using culturally relevant and meaningful
referents to embed knowledge and support diverse skills and attitudes. In culturally responsive schools, differences are honored to
foster inclusivity and drive the formation of a participatory culture and a sense of civic responsibility for our community at large.

Root Cause: The deepest underlying cause or causes of positive or negative symptoms within any process that, if dissolved,
would result in elimination or substantial reduction of the symptom.

Inclusion: The intentional act to include difference. Creating environments in which any individual or group is welcomed,
respected, supported, and valued, and has an opportunity to fully participate.

Implicit Bias: Also known as unconscious or hidden bias, implicit biases are negative associations people unknowingly hold.
They are expressed automatically, without conscious awareness. Many studies have indicated implicit biases affect individuals’
attitudes and actions, thus creating real-world implications, even though individuals might not even be aware those biases exist
within themselves.

Equity Shifts: Shifts in the mindset and practice that set the foundation for providing and sustaining equitable outcomes for all
students. These shifts require acknowledging current, deep-seated mindsets about race and culture.

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 32

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MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 33

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MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 34

 Resources for Educators
Learning for Justice – Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and
other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use their materials to supplement
the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, val-
ued and welcome participants.
The Nonprofit Association of Oregon Equity and Inclusion Guide – This comprehensive handbook helps staff and man-
agement of municipalities view their planning and program development and delivery activities to ensure they are inclusive of the
full diversity of residents.
K-12 Equity Directors: Configuring the Role for Impact – This brief draws from qualitative interviews we conducted with
13 practicing equity directors from districts across the United States. Since 2016, we have been studying equity directors - who
they are, what they do and how- the districts that employ them, and the constraints and affordances of their roles. This series of
research briefs informs community and district-based stakeholders about this emerging district leadership role.
¡Colorín Colorado! – The premier national website serving educators and families of English language learners (ELLs) in
Grades PreK-12. Colorín Colorado has been providing free research-based information, activities, and advice to parents,
schools, and communities around the country for more than a decade.
Seizing the Moment: A District Guide to Advance Equity Through ESSA - The Aspen Institute – This tool was developed
to offer district/system teams with guidance around ensuring equity is advanced through ESSA. Eight major issues are ad-
dressed: (1) leveraging school improvement to advance equity (2) ensuring equitable funding (3) increasing access to advanced
coursework (4) addressing disproportionate discipline practices (5) increasing access to effective teachers and leaders (6) inte-
grating social, emotional and academic development (7) supporting English learners & (8) improving access to high-quality instructional
materials.

Equity Literacy for Educators 12

(Adopted from the Equity Leadership Institute “Literacy for Equity” Guide)

1. THE DIRECT CONFRONTATION PRINCIPLE: The path to equity requires direct confrontations with inequity — with interpersonal,
institutional, cultural, and structural racism and other forms of oppression. “Equity” approaches that fail to directly identify and confront
inequity play a significant role in sustaining inequity.
2. THE EQUITY IDEOLOGY PRINCIPLE: Equity is more than a list of practical strategies. It is a lens and an ideological commitment.
There are no practical strategies that will help us develop equitable institutions if we are unwilling to deepen our understandings of
equity and inequity and reject ideologies that are not compatible with equity.
3. THE PRIORITIZATION PRINCIPLE: In order to achieve equity, we must prioritize the interests of the students and families whose
interests historically have not been prioritized. Every policy, practice, and program decision should be considered through the question,
“What impact is this going to have on the most marginalized students and families? How are we prioritizing their interests?”
4. THE REDISTRIBUTION PRINCIPLE: Equity requires the redistribution of material, cultural, and social access, and opportunity. We
do this by changing inequitable policies, eliminating oppressive aspects of institutional culture, and examining how practices and pro-
grams might advantage some students over others. If we cannot explain how our equity initiatives redistribute access and opportunity,
we should reconsider them.
5. THE “FIX INJUSTICE, NOT KIDS” PRINCIPLE: Educational outcome disparities are not the result of deficiencies in marginalized
communities’ cultures, mindsets, or grittiness, but rather of inequities. Equity initiatives focus not on “fixing” students and families who
are marginalized but on transforming the conditions that marginalize students and families.
6. THE ONE SIZE FITS FEW PRINCIPLE: No individual identity group shares a single mindset, value system, learning style, or
communication style. Identity-specific equity frameworks (like group-level “learning styles”) almost always are based on simplicity and
stereotypes, not equity.
7. THE EVIDENCE-INFORMED EQUITY PRINCIPLE: Equity approaches should be based on evidence for what works rather than
trendiness. “Evidence” can mean quantitative research, but it can also mean the stories and experiences of people who are marginal-
ized in your institution.

12
[Link]

MNPS Equity Roadmap Overview 35

 MNPS
EQUITY ROADMAP
MAY 2022