District Equity Audits

To enhance our support of districts, or as a stand-alone process, NCUST conducts district-level audits to identify opportunity and resulting achievement and attainment gaps different groups of students may experience. Teachers, administrators, school board members, and community members are often aware of inequities in various aspects of their schools, but they rarely have systematically examined these areas and then devised ways to eliminate the inequities. Our audits are intended to bring these issues to light so educators have a clear, accurate and useful understanding of the degree of inequity present in their own schools and school districts. In general, our audits identify the similarities and differences between the systems and practices employed by a particular school or district and those in place in the highly effective schools and districts we have studied. In short, we look for evidence of the three critical characteristics found in urban schools where all groups of students achieve at high levels: access for all to challenging curricula, effective instruction that leads to engagement and mastery, and a positive transformational school culture. Further, we attempt to link the gaps we identify to the assumptions, beliefs, practices, procedures, and policies of schools and districts themselves Each equity audit generates a report with findings and recommendations that address root causes and systemic issues.