1. Superintendent’s Update Community/Superintendent Council
December 4, 2018

2. Update on Equity Work Closing the Gaps

3. Championing Education Equity
Focus of school boards is on student achievement.
School leaders have the responsibility to know where gaps exist.
Understand the systemic factors that exist which may impact equity.
School systems are designed to serve students with “mainstream” identities.
Jan
The focus of school boards is on student achievement. Pursuing education equity is what is necessary to achieve positive student outcomes. Equity gaps exist in every school and every school district. School leaders have the responsibility to know where gaps exist. We must use our data to understand the systemic factors that exist which may impact equity.
Systems are most effective when they respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions and other diversity factors in a manner that recognizes, affirms and values the worth of individuals, families and communities, and protects and preserves the dignity of each. Public schools and districts are no exception.
We want all students to be welcomed at their schools but students may not feel it. Is our curriculum culturally relevant? Do teachers look like our students? Do we provide social/emotional professional development and support for our students?  

4. Psychological & Emotional Factors Out-of-School Factors
Contributing Factors
Teacher Effectiveness
School Policies
Learning Differences
Student Experience
School Based Factors
Racial Bias
Oppression
Disadvantages of Poverty
Psychological & Emotional Factors
Parents and Families
Health and Well-being
Access to “Boosters”
Out-of-School Factors
The analysis from the Public Impact report identified three factors that seem to impact achievement gaps the most.
School-based factors that contribute to a child’s academic growth and experience as a learner such as:
Teacher Effectiveness
Unequal access to excellent teachers
Teacher bias and low expectations
Cultural mismatch
School Policies
Educational equity ensures that policies are responsive to the needs of all students, ensuring each individual has the skills, knowledge, and proficiencies to be prepared for success in school and life.
Learning Differences
Alternate methodologies to identify aptitude and giftedness for appropriate placement to address learning opportunities.
Providing the supplemental services such as Tier III interventions and tutoring.
Teacher training to provide cultural competent instruction
Student Experience
Peer and teacher discrimination
Psychological & Emotional Factors
Racism and the perpetual disadvantages of poverty have more than academic, economic, and political impact: Decades of research show that people who perceive racial bias against them—whether personal or systemic/structural—are far more likely to suffer significant mental and physical health challenges. Many studies indicate a co-correlation with stress, harmful for any individual but even greater when racial bias is felt in concert with practical stresses of life without enough money to cover practical needs.
Out-of-school factors that contribute to a child’s health, well-being, and academic readiness and success.
Parents and Families
Parental engagement
Exposure to vocabulary and language
Health and Well-being
Physical health
Mental health, including exposure to trauma
Housing
Access to “Boosters”
Enrichment programs, such as tutoring
Identification of developmental delays early and seeking interventions

5. How is Kyrene
working on addressing
these factors?

6. Work in Place
Series of presentations to Governing Board (October 23, November 13 and November 27)
Addressing School Based Factors
Addressing Out of School Factors
Addressing Psychological and Emotional Factors
Request for Proposal (RFP) on Equity

7. Addressing School Based Factors
Talent Management
Data Driven Instruction
Advanced math for grades 4/5 at all elementary schools
RFP for services and curriculum for diversity, equity, inclusion and restorative practice transformation
Response to Learning (RtL)
Differentiated Professional Development Catalog (Cultural Diversity Focus)
Middle School Advanced Courses
Gifted Identification Strategies
Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction Policy Revisions
Equity Institutes
Progressive discipline training
Differentiated Curriculum Guides
Restorative practice and peer mediation training
Culturally Relevant Curriculum Review
School Based Factors
What we have identified to improve teacher effectiveness practices in Kyrene:
Our Talent Management strategies within our strategic plan addresses equal access to excellent teachers and principals through systemic professional development. Distribution of the most effective teachers to the schools with highest needs.
Reduce cultural mismatch through the recruitment of teachers whom represent the underrepresented populations.
RFP addresses
Professional development to reduce teacher bias and low expectations and build understanding of anti-bias, multicultural and culturally responsive pedagogies.
Training for restorative practices to address discipline bias.
Using teaching methods and school practices that work, including screening for and addressing learning differences, personalizing instruction, and responding to trauma.
District wide, aligned, high standards materials to ensure access and learning to grade level expectations.
Curriculum management plan which addresses theory of action for student learning.
School Policies
Access to advanced instruction in all elementary and middle schools.
Remove discipline bias through training in restorative practices and refinement of discipline matrix. Continued district wide use of Positive Behavior and Intervention Support and development of student agency.
Relentless focus on subgroup-level metrics and accountability focused on closing gaps through formal and informal interim assessments to understand and monitor student learning. This analysis will generate teacher created Response to Learning Plans to address next steps in addressing learning gaps through targeted instruction.
Alternative gifted testing methodologies to identify gifted learners within all sub-groups and appropriate placement for gifted services.
Fostering wellness and joy via social emotional learning and other building blocks of academic success and addressing mental health challenges.
Learning Differences
Reduce disproportionate diagnoses and improve outreach to support early learning needs for preschool children through programming to support dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Access to supplemental services such as tutoring, in school interventions, summer programming.
Teacher training and support to differentiate and remediate learning as a component of in-class instruction.
Student Experience
Offering culturally relevant assignments and audit of curriculum for bias.
Professional development to recognize and mitigate peer and teacher discrimination
Climate/Environment
Using School Climate indicators to monitor levels of student engagement, school connectedness, students’ perception of safety, academic and other supports
Meeting basic needs, including meals and reducing school transitions from housing changes.

8. Addressing School Based Factors
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) supports
Early Warning System- EduClimber
University of Virginia Partnership to close achievement gaps and enhance hiring practices to hire staff with student demographic makeup as consideration
Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS)
Counselors/Social workers
Second Step
Revised Behavior Matrix
Non-cognitive assessment
Revised Alternative Program and Policy
Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
Student Agency & Advisory Programs
Interventionists
Curricular Intervention Resources
International Baccalaureate at KMS
Academic and Behavior Specialists
ASU/Kyrene Innovative School-Diversity
School Based Factors
What we have identified to improve teacher effectiveness practices in Kyrene:
Equal access to excellent teachers and principals through systemic professional development to improve effectiveness by ensuring significant growth of ALL students. Distribution of the most effective teachers to the schools with highest needs.
The teaching force in the U.S. is disproportionately white. Reduce cultural mismatch through the recruitment of teachers whom represent the underrepresented populations.
Reduce teacher bias and low expectations through professional development to build understanding of anti-bias, multicultural and culturally responsive pedagogies via consistent, ongoing anti-bias training.
Using teaching methods and school practices that work, including screening for and addressing learning differences, personalizing instruction, and responding to trauma.
District wide, aligned, high standards materials to ensure access and learning to grade level expectations.
Curriculum management plan which addresses theory of action for student learning.
School Policies
Access to advanced instruction in all elementary and middle schools.
Remove discipline bias through training in restorative practices and refinement of discipline matrix. Continued district wide use of Positive Behavior and Intervention Support and development of student agency.
Relentless focus on subgroup-level metrics and accountability focused on closing gaps through formal and informal interim assessments to understand and monitor student learning. This analysis will generate teacher created Response to Learning Plans to address next steps in addressing learning gaps through targeted instruction.
Alternative gifted testing methodologies to identify gifted learners within all sub-groups and appropriate placement for gifted services.
Fostering wellness and joy via social emotional learning and other building blocks of academic success and addressing mental health challenges.
Learning Differences
Reduce disproportionate diagnoses and improve outreach to support early learning needs for preschool children through programming to support dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Access to supplemental services such as tutoring, in school interventions, summer programming.
Teacher training and support to differentiate and remediate learning as a component of in-class instruction.
Student Experience
Offering culturally relevant assignments and audit of curriculum for bias.
Professional development to recognize and mitigate peer and teacher discrimination
Climate/Environment
Using School Climate indicators to monitor levels of student engagement, school connectedness, students’ perception of safety, academic and other supports
Meeting basic needs, including meals and reducing school transitions from housing changes.

9. Addressing Psychological & Emotional Factors
Superintendent Councils
Student
Parent
Teachers
Community
Business
Positive Parenting Series
Requires multiple partnerships from community partners to identify and provide services
Requires a statewide focus and effort
Systemic racism and the perpetual disadvantages of poverty have more than academic, economic, and political impact: The damage is deeply personal and strongly negative. Decades of research show that people who perceive racial bias against them—whether personal or systemic/structural—are far more likely to suffer significant mental and physical health challenges. Many studies indicate a co-correlation with stress, harmful for any individual but even greater when racial bias is felt in concert with practical stresses of life without enough money to cover practical needs.
Our strategic plan fosters community accountability via shared leadership that truly empowers by adding the voice of students, parents, teachers and Kyrene community members. These partnerships such as Tempe’s Care 7, Gurian Institute, and Tempe Community Council have offered sessions in our Positive Parenting series and we continue to seek community support for continued parent development.
We have also engaged with multiple partners through intergovernmental agreements such as Arizona State University, Southwest Behavioral, _______what other IGA’s which address social-emotional, behavorial, mental health and social services.
Our strategic plan calls for additional input/voice from other partners during community forums.
Psychological & Emotional Factors

10. Addressing Out-of-School Factors
Community Education
Support from our Title programs to support homelessness and ensure continuation of school services
Title I Summer and Tutoring
Summer and Out of School time - Tutoring and Enrichment Programs
Dyslexia Preschools
ESS Preschools
Community Partners
Tutors, mentoring, advocacy (Native American)
Preschool Programs
Parent Trainings
Positive Parenting Series
Boys to Men mentoring program
Title I Parenting Classes
Suicide Prevention Program (M.S.)
Out-of-School Factors
Parents and Families
Parental classes on engagement, early childhood needs such as exposure to vocabulary and language, ea
Health and Well-being
School nurses and physical education programs which focus on physical health
School psychologists which focus on mental health needs, assessment for personal threat
Support for homeless families continuation of education services.
Boys to Men Mentoring is a nonprofit organization that is committed to creating communities of dedicated men who are able to guide and support at-risk, often fatherless, boys on their journey to school success.
Access to “Boosters”
Enrichment programs, such as tutoring
Identification of developmental delays early and seeking interventions

11. Request for Proposal--Equity

12. Response to the Community
Requests from Black Mothers’ Forum
Seat on the Community/Superintendent Council
District forum on equity
Survey of African-American families

13. Next Steps for the CSC Reopen recruitment/add representatives to CSC
Monitoring progress of District efforts to address equity
Continued dialogue around topics identified by CSC for discussion:
Consistency among schools and grade levels
Professional development for teachers/staff
Improved supports for students and families
Parental engagement
Improved communication with parents/community
Address cultural differences
Improved data collection/root cause analysis

14. Discussion

15. Kyrene School District
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