Using Equity Audits in the Classroom to Reach and Teach All Students

Raise your equity awareness quotient

In this time of changing demographics and increased diversity, many teachers find that existing strategies to promote equity are only successful with some of the students in their classes. This book provides teachers with new strategies and tools that will work for all children, including those with diverse needs. The authors outline a wide range of methods to help teachers:

• Assess their competency in teaching all students
• Embrace self-reflection and be open to change
• Evaluate and assess student achievement
• Develop high-quality teaching skills and an equity consciousness that leads to success with all students

Every chapter of this easy-to-read and content-rich text contains a wealth of assessment tools and discussion tools that guide educators to greater equity and excellence. Teachers will find practical strategies for raising student achievement and closing the achievement gap.

Kathryn Bell McKenzie is professor emerita of Advanced Studies in Education at California State University, Stanislaus and associate professor emerita of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas A&M University. At California State, Kathryn was director of the EdD program in Educational Leadership and at Texas A&M, she was coordinator for the PhD in K–12 Educational Leadership.Prior to becoming a professor,Kathryn was a public school educator serving as a teacher, curriculum specialist, assistant principal,and principal for nearly twenty-five years. She was also the deputy director of the Austin Independent School District Leadership Academy. She has an international reputation with both P–12 and university educators who have used her work on equity traps and equity audits to improve educational practices that advance equity and excellence. She has numerous journal publications and books and is an educational consultant,writer, and speaker.

Linda Skrla is Professor of Educational Administration at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1997, Linda worked as a middle school and high school teacher and as a campus and district administrator in public schools. Her research focuses on educational equity issues in school leadership, including accountability policy, high success school districts, and women superintendents. Linda is Vice President of Division A of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and Editor of Educational Administration Quarterly. She has published extensively in academic journals and has co-authored and co-edited five other books, the most recent of which is Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools (Corwin Press, 2009).