Participate and share: Poster 
The key purpose of this session is to examine how schools can leverage data to better measure, evaluate, and advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in increasingly diverse school environments. Participants will reflect on how DEI is operationalized and measured in their own school, and they will become familiar with the Beloved Community Equity Audit and key reflections from a nationwide study on Diverse by Design schools.
Based on a mixed methods research study on Diverse by Design charter schools, this session highlights the importance of the equity audit in assessing/operationalizing DEI in schools. Currently, there is no one universally cited definition for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Many schools have little or no knowledge of how to measure these concepts in their school. In this session, attendees will learn how leveraging technology such as the Equity Audit can reorient school leaders to data as it pertains to DEI.
Beloved’s Equity Audit is a free tool which allows individuals to explore hundreds of indicators on how diversity, equity, and inclusion manifest within their school. So far, we have data from around 210 schools who have completed the Equity Audit.
We rely mostly on a PowerPoint slide presentation, with moments of interaction between attendees. Attendees will also have the opportunity to see a demonstration of the Equity Audit.
At the end of the session, participants will understand what an Equity Audit is and why measuring DEI with rigorous data practices is so important. Attendees will also learn some of the obstacles to schools completing and using equity audit data effectively, and how to overcome those challenges.
Section 1: Warm Welcome (7 Minutes Total)
(5 minutes) Pair & Share: A grounding question to welcome participants into the session
We will provide a question to participants. Participants will “Pair and Share”, turning to a partner sitting beside them to discuss their reflections on the prompt. This is an ice breaker style activity. Participants will have 5 minutes to reflect. This is a peer-to-peer interaction.
(2 minutes) Land acknowledgment & Black Lives Matter statement
Beloved Community begins every facilitation with a recognition of indigenous lives and Black lives. Participants will be able to hear and read statements and we will hold a moment of silent reflection.
Section 2: Introductions (8 minutes total)
(3 minutes) Introducing Beloved Community: A DEI non profit leveraging tech to advance equity in education, housing, workforce development, and hospitality
We will share background on Beloved Community as an organization.
(5 minutes) Introducing the Situation: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion in schools
Despite the 1954 landmark Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, US schools are actually less desegregated now than they were in the 1970s. Diverse by Design schools aim to challenge that trend by creating increasingly diverse school environments. As schools seek to center diversity and meet the needs of diverse classrooms, there are limitations as to how schools currently measure diversity, equity, and inclusion and the tools they have for doing so. Schools do not yet have a universal definition of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, much less tools to effectively evaluate how students and teachers experience DEI in the school environment. In addition to measuring DEI in the school environment, many school leaders are not yet equipped to rigorously engage with and analyze data that does exist around DEI in their school.
This session aims to tackle both of these issues with the Beloved Community Equity Audit.
Section 3: Seeking Solutions & Sharing Findings (10 minutes total)
(5 mins) Interrogating the Research: 3 year mixed methods study on Diverse by Design Charter Schools
Beloved Community launched the Equity in Schools research project, a multi year mixed methods study to interrogate diversity, equity, and inclusion in Diverse by Design charter schools.
At this point in the session, we will take a raise-hand poll to gauge how many participants are familiar with the term diverse by design, and how many are familiar with/have taken an equity audit in their own school. We will then share the definitions with participants.
So far, we have studied quantitative Equity Audit data from 210 schools nationwide and paired those insights with case studies at 3 schools. One of the major challenges in the study was finding schools who were willing to participate in the study and then, of those who did participate, getting enough data to validate the Equity Audit as a tool.
One of the challenges here has been the missing data in the Equity Audit. This represents a bigger issue in US schools: school leaders do not yet have the training and infrastructure to equip school leaders with strong data management and analysis skills. We recognize the value of technology in orienting schools to data. We also recognize the value of strong data practices in order to strengthen a school’s commitments to and evaluation of DEI.
(5 mins) Introducing the Intervention: the Beloved Equity Audit
The Beloved Community Equity Audit is a free tool that allows school leaders to explore hundreds of indicators on how diversity, equity, and inclusion manifest within their school. In this part of the session, participants will see a demonstration of the Equity Audit.
Section 4: Next Steps (5 minutes)
(4 minutes) Using the Equity Audit effectively
One of the major pitfalls in the effective use of equity audits in schools is the lack of user friendly interface and manageable data. We explain why this is detrimental, especially in school settings. This past year, Beloved Community has been working on establishing Awa, an interface that allows schools as well as non profits, for profits, individuals and other organizations to take the Equity Audit. We will share some of the obstacles it addresses.
(1 minute) Thank You!
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Skrla, L., Scheurich, J. J., Garcia, J., & Nolly, G. (2004). Equity audits: A practical leadership tool for developing equitable and excellent schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(1), 133-161. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013161X03259148
Noyce, P., Perda, D., & Traver, R. (2000). Creating Data-Driven Schools. Educational Leadership, 57(5), 52-56. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ609608
Weiss, H. B., Bouffard, S. M., Bridglall, B. L., & Gordon, E. W. (2009). Reframing Family Involvement in Education: Supporting Families to Support Educational Equity. Equity Matters. Research Review No. 5. Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED523994
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