1. I’m still developing my concept of just exactly what is meant by the term “equity” in our class. To me, talk of equity is a discussion that educators are beginning to have, but it’s where politicians should have started when they started expressing concern about “underperforming schools.”  News of the Flint, Michigan water poisoning tragedy reminded me that schools should not be the first line of defense against underachievement.  People with the least resources have even bigger problems than education, as we are all seeing in Flint.  Will schools be blamed when the poisoned children of Flint have behavior and learning problems as a result of this disaster?  It’s the same when other poor children with various social or health problems, which are no fault of their own, have difficulty learning in an environment in which we’d all struggle.  Below is a blog post by Michael Moore on the subject of the most recent Flint tragedy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/10-things-about-flint-water-tragedy_b_9132150.html

  1. Last year I attended the Teaching and Learning 2015 Conference in Washington, DC. The conference is annually sponsored by The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.  Speaker David Johns, who is Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, made the case that inner city kids at struggling schools need inner city teachers who understand their culture and are committed to the community.  According to Johns, well-meaning organizations that promote sending in young, lightly trained, outsiders, who are not, and will not be, long-term members of the community is not an equitable solution.  Native Americans at the conference agreed that what they really needed in their communities were Native American teachers that are connected to the community.  Attached is a link to an article about gifted black students that makes a related case.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/01/20/56952/to-be-young-gifted-and-black-it-helps-to-have-a-bl/

  1. It takes special people to teach and administer in poor, inner city neighborhoods. Finding the people to do it is one thing, but once they’re there, what factors will help insure success?

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/16/02/it-takes-whole-school

  1. “If equalitymeans giving everyone the same resources, equity means giving each student access to the resources they need to learn and thrive.”  I absolutely love this article by Shane Safir found on edutopia.org.  It’s helping me start to better understand the idea of equity.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/equity-vs-equality-shane-safir?utm_content=buffer2b97d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

  1. I’m going to try to make at least one of my connections each week something to do with educational policy. I found this Policy Brief from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development fascinating as it relates to an international definition of equity.  The OECD is an international organization designed “to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.”  They create and administer the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) test which rates the educational systems of member countries.  When the media talk about the rank of the United States, in terms of education, they are quoting the results of the PISA.  org is a fascinating website with tons of interesting information.  Below, you will find the Policy Brief on equity.

http://www.oecd.org/education/school/39989494.pdf