What is Educational Equity?
Educational equity should be defined as creating and/or eliminating policies, systems, and practices in schools that impact the experiences, outcomes, and access to resources for students from previously excluded groups. Allow me to expound. Educational equity is more than an image. It is more than being able to watch a baseball game while standing on boxes. Framing it as such, oversimplifies the complexities associated with educational equity. By taking a closer look at the equity image, you will see that equity is simply being presented as giving to those in need, often described as the less fortunate. While philanthropy is certainly admirable, if one does not reflect on their own personal bias, they could be making some assumptions about the people they want to help. This simply reinforces contributing factors as to why the inequity exists. In the case of the equity image, the less fortunate title has been assigned to students of color. By providing these students with something they need such as a box, you are in theory; providing an opportunity for kids to see the game who otherwise would not have the ability to watch it. One of the many problems with this illustration is that it reinforces deficit model thinking. It suggests there is something we must address related to the kids, not the ecosystem they are attempting to function in. Clearly a barrier, the fence is obstructing the students' vision. Even after a box or two has been provided as a corrective measure, the barrier remains untouched. In one of the more recent iterations of the equity image, the fence has been removed. In my opinion, while this signifies progress; it still does not show equity taking place. The students are still observers, not participants, and they are no closer to the game than they were before the fence was removed.
In education, we tend "not" to eliminate existing barriers within our ecosystem such as policies, systems, structures, and practices that have a documented adverse effect on students. Too often we begin our problem-solving by examining the individual students and not the system that prohibits their progression.
The final aspect of the equity image that I will draw your attention to is the actual game. What if I told you that the students who are shown in the equity image hated they had to watch the game from the outside and stand on boxes, but had to because they were denied admission to the stadium due to their socioeconomic status, ability level, and race? Still wanting to watch the game, they found boxes to stand on and tried their best to move on and not remember how they were excluded and discriminated against. Would your position regarding this image change? Well, here is the curveball, the fact of the matter is that all of us, regardless of our role in the education system, have influence as gatekeepers deciding who enters the stadium. Watching students who are not in the stadium adjust and create their own conditions to experience the game should not be viewed as anything other than a systemic failure on our part, and perseverance and problem-solving on the part of our students. The equity image, like many vivid images in education, is a snapshot in motion that lacks context to properly understand what is hidden in plain sight. As educators, parents, policymakers, and community members, we must act because currently, the ones with their view obscured is us, not our students.
