Lori Staples

EDL 285

Education Equity Data Project

The data I chose to look at for my district was black/ African American boy’s academic

achievement. As a district this is our wildly important goal (WIG) for this school year. The

other instructional coach at King and I have decided as coaches we are using a lens of equity as

we guide teachers with instructional planning. Part of this lens is to ensure that all students have

access and are responding to the instruction that is given to students.

The district has an equity profile that is published each year. This profile contains

academic, behavior, and attendance information for all groups of students represented in our

district. He indicators used are spring MAP scores; college and career readiness and individual

student growth and spring FAST scores. I pulled the following information from the last

published information which was the 2017-18 school year for kindergarten through fifth grade

students.

Indicator All Students K-5 African American Males K-5

Math MAP College and Career 32.89% 18.28%
Readiness
Math MAP Student Growth Goal 48.04% 45.3%
Reading MAP College and Career 32.47% 16.91%
Readiness
Reading MAP Student Growth 48.24% 44.13%
Goal
Spring FAST 60.05% 49.39%

All Students 6-8 African American Males 6-8

Math MAP College and Career 19.71% 7.79%
Readiness
Math MAP Student Growth Goal 55.74% 54.77%
 Reading MAP College and Career 34.53% 20.66%
Readiness
Reading MAP Student Growth 53.95% 51.88%
Goal

All Students 9-12 African- American Males

Math MAP College and Career 19.93% 7.04%
Readiness
Math MAP Student Growth Goal 53.82% 55.28%
Reading MAP College and Career 37.6% 21.28%
Readiness
Reading MAP Student Growth 50.04% 50%
Goal

This data is upsetting to me. As you can tell our students are not college and career

ready, however African American males are substantially lower than all students in this area. In

fact, the percent is almost half for African American males than all students. As we dig into our

class reading it is obvious that people of color are not given the same opportunities as their white

peers. Part of these opportunities are access to instruction. Schools were designed for students

to fit a mold. When students do not fit this mold than teachers don’t always know what to do

with these students. We find ways to deflect why they are not making the same progress as their

peers, usually behavior. As a system we need to work to dig into why students respond to some

types of instruction but not others.

In my building I am working with teachers on digging into student data based on their

race. I want to ensure that the instruction we are giving our students in equitable. Is there

something we can do in our instruction, so all students can make growth and achievement? I am

working with the kindergarten team on tracking sight word growth. We have created a

spreadsheet for each class with each student named and their race. Each week as students are

being progressed monitored on sight words we are recording students scores into the spreadsheet.
This spreadsheet is allowing us to look at the data to see if certain groups are benefiting from the

instruction they are receiving more than others. If they are then we are investigating to see why

this is the case and what we need to do to make the instruction equitable for all students.

This plan is something I am working with a team on and the other instructional coach is

working with a team on. Our plan is to focus our lens on equity and then expand this practice to

all the grade levels in our building. As a school who serves a diverse population we must ensure

all students are given access to the instruction they need to grow and be proficient.