Equity in Our Schools

Supporting equity in our schools so that all students master rigorous content.

A diverse group of students carrying school books and smiling as they greet each other.
This blog is a place for reflection on our practice as educators, in a public K to 12 education system, as we learn to use equity in our classrooms, our schools, and our districts in order to achieve equality in outcomes with all our students graduating high school college and/or career ready.

Other Helpful Resources for Establishing Equity

The resources listed below have been helpful to Dr. GwenCarol Holmes in her own quest for equity in our schools. They might be helpful to you as well. Enjoy.

Books:

Leveled Reading Leveled Lives: How Students’ Reading Achievement Has Been Held Back and What We Can Do About It. (2025). Timothy Shanahan. Harvard Education

Antiracist School Leadership: Toward Equity in Education for America’s Students, (2013). Edited by Jeffrey S. Brooks and Noelle Witherspoon Arnold. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

The Call to Courage: Standing Up and Speaking Out Against the Assualt on Democracy, Educators, and Students in America’s Schools. (2024). Sheldon Berman and Luvelle Brown. Rowman and Littlefield.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, (2020) Isabel Wilkerson. New York, NY: Random House

Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm (2021). Robin DiAngelo. Boston, MA: Beacon Press

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, (2021). Heather McGhee. New York: NY: Random House

This is Disciplinary Literacy: Reading, Writing, Thinking and Doing…Content Area by Content Area, (2016). Releah Cossett Lent.

Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines, (2011). Doug Buehl. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. (Now the International Literacy Association)..

Focus: Elevating the Essential to Radically Improve Student Learning, Second Edition, (2018). Mike Schmoker. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Catalyzing Change in High School Mathematics: Initiating Critical Conversations, (2018). National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teacher of Mathematiics.

Learning by Heart, (2001). Roland S. Barth. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Creating the Opportunity to Learn, (2011). A. Wade Boykin and Pedro Noguera. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Excellence Through Equity, (2015). Alan M. Blankstein and Pedro Noguera. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Shaping School Culture (3rd ed.), (2016). Terrance E. Deal and Kent D. Peterson. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Co-Teaching for English Learners: A Guide to Collaborative Planning, Instruction, Assessment, and Reflection, (2018). Maria G. Dove and Andrea Honingsfeld. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Cooperative Learning: Integrating Theory and Practice, (2007). Robyn M. Gillies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Getting into Good Trouble at School: A Guide to Building an Antiracist School System, (2022). Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. and Douglas S. Reed: Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, (2021). Robert E. Slavin. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.

Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice, (1994). Robert E. Slavin. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson

Educational Research in the Age of Accountability, (2007). Robert E. Slavin. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson.

Websites:

Best Evidence Encyclopedia: https://bestevidence.org/

Evidence for ESSA: https://www.evidenceforessa.org/

What Works Clearinghouse: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/FWW

Success for All Foundation: https://www.successforall.org/

WIDA: https://wida.wisc.edu/

Blueprints for Violence Prevention: https://cspv.colorado.edu/what-we-do/#blueprints

Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development: https://www.blueprintsprograms.org

Campbell Collaboration: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/better-evidence.html

Social Programs that Work: https://evidencebasedprograms.org/policy_area/k-12-education