Dr. Ruthie Payno-Simmons talks about how are systems are not designed for everyone and why we need to focus on effort on equity and a sense of rightful presence for all students.
Resources and Support:
Equity Assistance Centers (EACs) are funded by the United States Department of Education through the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) to provide equity-focused professional development resources and technical assistance to state and local education agencies regarding race, sex, national origin, and religion. EACs specifically work with public school districts and other responsible governmental agencies on civil rights, equity, and school reform. Four EACs support the states in their region. I work for the Midwest and Plains EAC, serving the following 13 states: IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, OK, SD, and WI. I also included the other three EACs at the end of this resource list.
Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center (Region III): Provides support and resources for promoting equity in education across the Midwest and Plains regions, including training, technical assistance, and research. The Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center's approach to resource and service delivery is grounded in a multi-tiered framework of technical assistance. Our goal is to engage in well-defined, content-rich technical assistance such that knowledge and expertise are shared in a way that results in transformative systemic change, as well as personal reflection and growth.
- TIER ONE: EDUCATIONAL EQUITY RESEARCH & RESOURCES - We offer a variety of tools, publications, and resources to a broad public audience.
- TIER TWO: EQUITY LEARNING NETWORKS - We bring together role-alike stakeholders across district and state boundaries, engage in short-term targeted partnerships, support peer-to-peer mentoring, and offer opportunities to share information quickly across individuals focused on similar problems of practice.
- TIER THREE: SYSTEMIC EQUITY PARTNERSHIPS - We engage in sustained partnerships of transformative professional learning and improvement grounded in examining local data and historical contexts and action-research case studies that bring practitioners and researchers together in inquiry. These partnerships are entered into through the development of a formalized agreement with agency leadership and include the development of a memorandum of understanding detailing the proposed project scope, timeline, and responsibilities of the requesting agency and the Great Lakes Equity Center.
- What Partners Have to Say About the Center - TA Partners in Practice - TA Partners in Action is a series that highlights successful partnerships at the local and state levels. This series examines the nature and breadth of the MAP Center's technical assistance to these partners. The series aims to provide an example of how potential partners can work with the MAP Center to define and pursue the equity goals of their organization.
- Request for Assistance: Please click here to request assistance related to your equity journey, whether you are new to the work or seeking support for your equity efforts.
- Virtual Equity Library We have a rich and broad range of resources based on research and practice. Please feel free to access and leverage our newsletters, briefs, podcasts, presentations, equity tool, virtual roundtable, vodcast, webinars, equity digest, interactive tools, virtual coffeehouses, and online courses.
- The Fundamentals of Educational Equity
- Within the March issue of the Equity Dispatch, the MAP Center re-issued the first Equity Dispatch debuted in January 2012. This Equity Digest provides a place to begin for education stakeholders as we review the fundamentals of educational equity and why it is so important in ensuring the success of all students. In addition, we explore the history of this regional Equity Assistance Center (EAC) and provide a few of our resources to assist you in beginning your equity journey.
- Welcome to the EquityScan Systems Survey (ES³)! The EquityScan Systems Survey (ES³) is your comprehensive solution for assessing equitable practices within various systemic domains. Designed specifically for educators, this tool enables survey-level assessments to gather valuable insights into the equity landscape of your agency. With the EquityScan Systems Survey (ES³), you can efficiently identify strengths, pinpoint areas for improvement, and inform targeted strategies to promote equity in your setting.
- Foundations of Equity-Centered MTSS
- Amanda L. Sullivan, Thuy Nguyen, & Elizabeth Shaver
- This Equity by Design brief will summarize the key features and considerations for planning, implementing, and evaluating multitier systems of support (MTSS) to advance educational equity.
- EDUCATIONAL EQUITY: Where Am I?
- Equity Institute
- A graphic to self-select where you are in the learning about educational equity.
- Centering Equity in Safe and Inclusive Schooling Environments Open to educators and education stakeholders in the center’s thirteen-state region at no cost, this asynchronous, online course consists of 4 content-rich, multi-media, interactive modules that participants can engage in at their own pace and in the comfort of their own setting. Through these modules, participants enhance their own understanding of the importance of educational equity as foundational for safe and inclusive school cultures and climate, free from bullying and harassment. Participants receive a certificate of completion for 5 professional development hours from the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center at Indiana University School of Education -Indianapolis for successfully completing all 4 modules. To enroll in the course, click on or copy and paste the URL in your browser https://bit.ly/3nm9l6O. Please direct your questions about the course to glec@iupui.edu
- Commit to (Re)commit: Making Equity Work Personal
- Tammera S. Moore, Erin K. Sanborn, Robin G. Jackson, Seena M. Skelton, & Kathleen King Thorius
- Re-committing to equity work means that equity-oriented educators must reflect on the impact of historical and systemic inequities on minoritized students, accepting that transformative change towards equity takes time and unrelenting and continuous hard work, and it means being willing to pursue educational equity even in the face of fierce opposition.
- Ensuring Embedded Equity at the SEA Level
- Robin G. Jackson, Erin K. Sanborn, Seena M. Skelton, & Kathleen King Thorius
- This edition of Equity Dispatch poses the question: what is the responsibility of state education agencies (SEAs) to support local education agencies (LEAs) in centering educational equity? Here, we focus on the impact of SEAs, aiming to illuminate the ethical necessity of concurrent, coordinated, equity-focused efforts within and across a state’s educational authority and influence.
Four Federally Funded EACS
- Center for Education Equity at MAEC (Region I) serves CT, DE, KY, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, PR, RI, VT, VI, WV. Website: https://cee-maec.org/
- National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (Region II) serves AL, AR, DC, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA. Website: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/
- Midwest and Plains EAC serves the following 13 states: IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, OK, SD, and WI. Website: https://greatlakesequity.org/map-eac
- Western Educational Equity Assistance Center (Region IV) serves AK, AS, AZ, CA, CO, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, GU, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY. Website:https://weeac.wested.org/
