The directives coming out of our nation’s capital these days have many educators questioning what they may do in their schools and classrooms and what should they avoid?  Do we include Black history as a part of American history?  Do we provide mental health support to students traumatized by their life circumstance? Do we provide language support for students learning English while also learning complex subject matter content? 

Seems like it is crazy to even entertain these questions.  Equity in schools is taking action to ensure all students have the support they need to master at a minimum their state’s rigorous curriculum standards. This is what schools are  expected to accomplish. Failing to meet these standards puts students at risk of being dependent on social services as they reach adulthood. All students must achieve at high levels for a healthy and vibrant society. Why wouldn’t we continue to provide equity in our schools?  

Ensuring that students see themselves in what they are learning is one way of providing equity. Providing students with the support they need to attend to learning while coping with trauma in their lives is another way of providing equity.  Excellent instruction that provides all students with what they need to master standards is providing equity. Equity is not pitting one group of students against another, but rather ensuring each student has what they need to succeed.  It is doing what is needed to ensure our students become productive citizens that continue the success of the United States of America.

In these confusing times, if you are an educator seeking guidance or feeling all alone as you practice your craft with equity, take heart. There are thousands of educators across our great country working, just as you are, to educate every student by providing whatever they need to learn to a high level regardless of socio-economic status, race and/or skin color, first language, physical and/or mental health impediments, ….  These educators act with moral and ethical assurance that the only way they can serve students is to provide each student with equity.  They are compelled to provide whatever students need to achieve at high levels. 

Know that you are not alone in this struggle to ensure that all students achieve at high levels, even in these uncertain times.  Read these recent stories listed below. See how other educators in our country are taking action and continuing to ensure equity for all students. Take courage knowing you are not alone. You are one of our country’s greatest heroes: the teachers, principals, school counselors, psychologists, social workers, and nurses and the mighty support staff backing them up; all working to ensure every student learns to the highest levels.

• All Students, Regardless of Immigration Status, Belong in School: How the Plyler v. Doe U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Protects Students

• Eliminating DEI programs in Schools and Universities is an Economic and Educational Disaster in the Making

• The Department of Education’s Efforts to Ban DEI is a Perversion of the Civil Rights Act

• Consistent with Applicable Law”: Critical Statutory Constraints on President Trump’s Executive Order about K-12 Curricula.

• Championing DEI is Worth the Personal Cost  

• Judge Largely Blocks Trump’s Executive Orders Ending Federal Support for DEI Programs

• Educator coalition sues to block Trump anti-diversity orders: ‘A grave attack’

• Michigan’s superintendent says Trump’s ‘equity ideology’ executive order won’t change state policy.

This blog is written by Dr. GwenCarol Holmes, a long-time educator and passionate advocate for all students mastering rigorous standards