Before beginning the “Rethinking schools to create education equity” panel at the inaugural Crosscut Festival, moderator and Seattle Times staff reporter Claudia Rowe had to make one thing clear: the difference between equity and equality.
“I think that sometimes people use equity and equality interchangeably. I’m going with equity as fairness. So, equality can be fair but equity and equality are not always the same thing,” she said. “To me, equity means meeting each kid, each student, where they’re at and giving each student what they need.”
Rowe then asked the panel — including Kerrye and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies James Banks, Superintendent Chris Reykdal and Lawton Elementary teacher Lyon Terry — about what impediments to equity they face in schools.
This is no small question, but Reykdal was up to the challenge and the first to answer.
"Long systemic and structural elements of racism. And, we got to say that word out loud when we talk about schools,” he said. Reykdal added that money and resources are also key factors.
The conversation then covered the challenges in closing opportunity gaps between students. This dialogue didn’t shy away from issues like schools that remain segregated due to homogenous zip codes, the pressures of testing and what's known as ACES, or Adverse Childhood Experiences.
While Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, originally slated to appear, was unable to attend, her pioneering research was still present in the conversation. Her work found that adverse, but common, childhood experiences like parental divorce, substance abuse or neglect can change students’ neurology and directly affect learning.
Rowe caught a talk by Burke Harris later in the day, and wrote an article about her work. "Given the dire stakes, Burke Harris’s prescription sounds relatively anodyne," Rowe wrote: "sleep, exercise, nutrition, meditation, mental health counseling and healthy relationships. But it, too, is grounded in research. She suggests screening all children for ACEs before they enter school, as with vaccinations, in hopes of catching risk factors before they become medical or behavioral problems."
Whatever challenges students face, from trauma to racism to disability, the conversation always came back to the term that started it all, equity. By understanding both tremendous advantage and tremendous disadvantage, the panel was able to address ideas and tactics that could level the playing field for students.
Listen to the full conversation using the Soundcloud link, above.
