District 214 is engaged in the work to elevate the success of all our students and staff and take a systemic and strategic approach in preparing our students for a multicultural democracy. While imperfect, our efforts are aimed at eliminating the racial predictability as represented in our success rates, discipline data and staff surveys.

Our Board and Education Association are in alignment with these important efforts. For more information regarding our collective efficacy, see our anti-racist Board Resolution and Education Association Resolution here. 

We have chosen five pillars to uphold our equity work: Systemic; Employment and Retention; Professional Learning for Student Success; Student Voice, Climate, and Culture; and Family and Community Engagement. Under each pillar, we have goals and action steps connected to those goals.

Systemic

Increase awareness of how educational institutions can perpetuate oppression

• Equip staff to have  Courageous Conversations regarding inequities
• Engage in national conferences with staff leaders
• Offer Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) to interested staff

Engage in deliberate conversations about race and equity

• Utilize regular trainings for all administrators to increase institutional capacity to do this work
• Leverage Institute Days for staff updates and trainings that contain follow up

Develop measurable practices to disrupt the achievement debt

• Authorize the District Equity Advisory Council (DEAC) to draft a measurable equity plan built on institutional documents and audits

Elevate historically excluded voices to inform our practices

• Train staff members to lead affinity spaces
• Include historically marginalized voices in our Principal Advisory Groups

Develop an equitable and fiscally sustainable spending plan

• Involve the Director of Business Services in each DEAC meeting 

Employment & Retention

Prioritize the hiring of staff who reflect our student population

• Employ select Educational Support Personnel (ESP) during student teaching when possible
• Build measurable goals into a comprehensive equity plan
• Engage the Director of Employee Relations in DEAC

Create welcoming staff environments

• Support affinity spaces
• Install images of historically marginalized populations in our schools
• Offer Equity Mini Grants for staff members to request funds to support equity work
• Learn about the Intercultural Development Inventory

Design incentives for BIPOC students to consider educational careers

• Have teachers encourage BIPOC students to join the Ed Pathway

Elevate reporting pipelines for responding to hateful and discriminatory acts

• Streamline a procedure to communicate discriminatory incidents

Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment & Professional Development (PD)

Integrate multiple perspectives of the American reality in our curriculum

• Use Equity Spark Sessions to share best practices from classrooms with colleagues
• Engage in Anti-Racist Communities of Practice training with leadership teams

Grade and assess students with means that empower learners

• Offer Grading for Equity book groups
• Offer Culturally Relevant Teaching and the Brain book groups

Enhance instruction that fosters success for each student

• Utilize an expanded equity rubric when making purchases for curriculum
• Acknowledge departmental opportunity gaps and select curriculum to minimize gaps

Establish programming that eliminates obstacles to success and racial predictability

• Discuss connectedness data by race related to program offerings
• Analyze growth mindset data by race

Develop PD that is purposeful, systemic, and ongoing in order to increase capacity

• Include the Equity Teaching Academy as part of  the 3-year evaluation cycle
• Scaffold anti-racist PD for non-tenured staff

Student Voice, Climate, & Culture

Ensure discipline is restorative with student voice contributing to the process

• Train cohorts in restorative practices
• Offer trauma informed practices that includes understandings of systems of oppression

Make decisions with the input of minoritized student groups

• Design mentoring programs for students in racial groups who are the least connected

Foster “mirrors and windows” and relationship building

• Offer workshops for school media leaders

Family & Community Engagement

Create opportunities to listen to historically excluded families

• Train staff to lead affinity spaces
• Offer translation services in multiple languages for the website and live events
• Provide opportunities for learning connection in financially disadvantaged areas

Partner with community to support families holistically

• Engage with community organizations to offer community events

Encourage opportunities that reflect the community we serve

• Amplify Heritage Months that elevate historically marginalized communities