Mageen Caines, school board member, is leading the facilitation of the equity review and has published a second short article reviewing the results from the SANB equity survey. 

Last week, the school board heard the results from our equity survey conducted by the Center for Educational Leadership (CEL).  The report detailed SANB’s alignment with equity-based practices and ways the district could improve.

Purpose of the report

This report is one of several strategies that we are using to understand student experience in our district.  The purpose of undertaking this project is action – to create an action plan and hold ourselves accountable for meeting our goals and then setting new ones. The focus of the equity survey report is on the building-level and includes specific strategies that we can use to address the findings highlighted in these results. This strengths-based report sets us on our path using student, staff, and parent feedback, as well as insights from other members of our school and larger community.  

Student experience

This project begins from the idea that we all want all students to be happy and proud at our schools.  Other words that this project connects with our goals for student experience include students feeling accomplished, belonging, excited, known and seen, respected, encouraged, confident, and relaxed.  

Summary of findings

While there is nuance in the report, as we requested, CEL was able to identify trends and themes in the conversations.  

• When looking at the student experience, strengths included a foundation of student engagement, supportive teachers, positive experiences, academic focus, and a sense of safety and fairness. 

• The data also emphasized the superintendent’s role in setting a vision, developing policies, fostering collaboration, utilizing data, and promoting continuous improvement.  

• The overall strengths of the district lie in the genuine concern of teachers, the district’s proactive approach through structural changes, the value placed on student voice, the recognition of disparities, and recognition of the need for support and professional learning.  

Types of recommendations

The framework we used to organize the feedback we received is focused on equity-centered leadership, or the idea that we can and should build systems to support leaders in doing the work in our schools, recognizing the impact that above-average principals make on building excellence and student excellence.  We looked at specific recommendations across many levels of the district, including district policy and strategy, organizational structure and human resources, and systematic processes. 

Ongoing communication and community engagement

We don’t know all the answers yet and would like to share the information with you more directly.  Please keep an eye out for our opportunities to review the report findings in detail and our ask of you to help us make meaning out of what we are seeing.  

Thank you, as always, for your participation and interest in this work!