Biden admin's education mission advocates for equality of outcomes for students

In a presentation of November's Project Directors Meeting revealed on Monday, the Department of Education is seen advocating for equity among students, which "sometimes requires operational unevenness."

The Project Directors Meeting took place last month on Nov. 9 to Nov. 11, with a presentation, titled "The Equity Mission Achieving SLCP Goals through Equity Awareness and Action," being revealed on Twitter.

The presentation advocates for equity amongst students in status, rights, and opportunity. It states that equity "sometimes requires operational unevenness," and strives "to produce equal outcomes, which requires universally high expectations."

"True equity means doing whatever it takes to help students get where they need to go—and accepting that some students will need more support than others to get there," the presentation states.

The presentation lays out six goals of educational equity, developed Bradley Scott, PhD, director of the Equity Assistance Center at the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA).

Goal one is "Comparably high academic achievement and other student outcomes."

"As data on academic achievement and other student outcomes are disaggregated and analyzed, one sees high comparable performance for all identifiable groups of learners, and achievement and performance gaps are virtually nonexistent," a description of the goal states.

Goal two advocates for equitable access and inclusion. It states, "The unobstructed entrance into, involvement of and full participation of learners in schools, programs and activities within those schools."

Goal three is equitable treatment, allowing students to "feel challenged to become invested in the pursuits of learning and excellence without fear of threat, humiliation, danger or disregard."

Goal four advocates for the equitable opportunity to learn, where students are challenged to reach high standards regardless of identified needs or characteristics.

Goal five advocates for equitable resources at schools, defined as "the existence of equitably assigned qualified staff, appropriate facilities, other environmental learning spaces, instructional hardware and software, instructional materials and equipment, and all other instructional supports."

The final goal calls for accountability, stating that all educational "stakeholders" have a responsibility to hold themselves and each other responsible for implementing equity int heir schools.

The presentation then asks those in attendance to ranks their school's achievement of these goals, then outline four next steps that should be taken, and discuss with a nearby colleague.