The steps below provide information on how schools can operationalize the School Equity Audit Tool (SEAT):
STEP ONE
Create a committee of relevant stakeholders
Initial assessment: considerations to build capacity
Review the Equity Audit tool
Document the baseline data
STEP TWO
Identify goals
Establish a strategy
Co-create a professional learning plan
STEP THREE
Monitor change over time
STEP FOUR
Submit the final report
Equity Audit Actions:
Develop stakeholder teams to engage the process: the Equity Audit team
a. The audit tool is designed to enable a process of identifying the underlying institutional practices that are implicated in the baseline data from the Equity Accountability Report Card. The purpose of the equity audit is to focus attention on those aspects of educator practice, system policies and guidelines that structure barriers to the wellbeing and success of Black, African and African-Caribbean students; and establish anti-racist, anti-oppressive and anti-colonial pedagogy.
b. Engage the School Improvement & Equity Plan (SIEP) school team or create a multi-disciplinary team along with the equity and leadership teams and/or facilitators to lead the Equity Audit process
Accountability is maintained through regular reporting of the ways that practices have changed to favor the wellbeing and success of Black, African and African-Caribbean students.
The SIEP school team members’ support accountability throughout the SIEP process by
examining data
documenting the within the tool as work is completed
developing learning plans
developing action plans
developing data collection plans that intentionally monitor implementation and impact
Implementing a monitoring plan; and looping back as needed...
c. Inviting representative voices and perspectives from the start ensures the review process is championed and sustained.
d. It is important to note that the Equity Audit tool supports the Data Collection and Analysis phase of the School Improvement
and Equity Planning process. It is intended that the data collected via the Equity Audit will be used in the school team’s
decisions for goal setting and professional learning.
Getting ready to engage the Equity Audit process: initial considerations to build capacity
a. Building staff capacity in the area of equity, anti-racism and anti-oppression requires opportunities to learn from multiple
entry points. It is important for school leaders, equity leadership facilitators and/or teams to be responsive to staff learning
needs and a shared understanding of equity concepts.
b. Use the following questions to challenge the assumptions of what is known about Black, African and African Caribbean students, their families (and Black, African and African Caribbean staff); the responsiveness of the instructional approaches utilized; and the learning environments and cultures created for their success.
c. Provide a worksheet for the Equity Audit teams to note their responses.
Review the Equity Audit Tool: explore the sections (What to address, Expected Practices, Evidence, Success Criteria, Action Plan)
a. The ‘Expected practice’ column provides actions school improvement teams, grade groups and department teams can take
to fulfill the goal
b. The ‘ Success Criteria’ column provides examples of what might be illustrated or a signal that the steps taken (Expected
practice) are obvious.
i. The ‘Success Criteria’ column is not comprehensive. School improvement teams, grade groups and department teams
may wish to co-construct their own through discussion and consensus.
c. Ensure there is a shared understanding among team members of the goals (What to address) before moving to step 2.
Complete the audit: document baseline data
a. Use evidence you have previously collected to inform the completion of the initial audit.
b. Use the data gathered from a variety of sources in these data categories (i.e., program/process, perception, demographic,
achievement).
c. Use street level data (if it is available) to establish an understanding of why or how something is working or not working
d. Check off L Success Criteria for which you can provide supporting evidence.
e. Begin with the Critical Frameworks section following the SIEP school team’s initial assessment
f. Provide a detailed summary of the data in the Evidence column. You may provide links to the source data to support this
summary.
g. There may be no evidence to support a self-assessment in a particular area. As part of creating goals and action plans,
include a plan to generate a better understanding of this area within your school community.
h. Ensure consensus throughout this process. If there is disagreement, consider your own positionality as you remain open to
other interpretations.
i. To support your use of data, please review the School Improvement & Equity Plan – Module 1
School teams will conduct the Equity Audit by reviewing the expected practices that are checked versus those that are not.
Data collected will serve as map data (slides 29, 30) contributing to what comprises the baseline of instructional practice at the school.
j. Determine how this information will be shared among stakeholders. Identify structures at which discussions regarding the
prioritizing of the revised actions that need to be taken will occur. Be sure to include the professional learning to support
shared understading of the implementation of those actions.
Identify the goals that lead to improved outcomes for Black students in the school improvement and equity journey.
a. Do a gap analysis: based on the Success Criteria that are not checked off, identify Sections that need work.
b. Sections that are lacking in data will need an immediate plan to collect evidence based on the articulated Success Criteria.
c. Sections that have few Success Criteria checked as the existing evidence does not support - should be prioritized to develop a
goal.
d. At this point, develop a goal statement that describes student outcomes (achievement, wellbeing, etc.). Be specific about which students and in what ways they will benefit.
Taking steps: establish a strategy
a. Review the actions outlined in the Expected practice column which specifically support the goal above it.
b. Situate yourself as a school team to determine your entry point.
i. Schools will relate to and take action based on one of the following scenarios:
(i) getting started schools
(ii) pilot schools
(iii) schools with audits
c. Determine implementation teams
i. All schools will utilize their School Improvement and Equity Teams to implement the Equity Audit - school learning environments. Schools may also consider the additional approaches for enhancing how the Equity Audit is operationalized:
7. Create a professional learning plan (as needed)
a. Additional knowledge-building may be needed before the action steps are taken. Resources from central departments (e.g.,
Equity, Curriculum, Research & Innovation, etc.), Family of Schools Equity Audit teams will be available to support this
planning process.
b. School teams will determine the resources needed to support the learning to further the audit implementation.
8. Monitor change over time
a. The Monitoring plan is crucial to success. Careful planning will eliminate guesswork and workload. Monitoring both the
implementation and the impact are equally important. The more explicit the plan, the easier it will be to implement.
b. Use the Success Criteria that you did not check off to focus your data collection plan. You may want to develop additional
Success Criteria specific to the changes in staff beliefs and actions you expect to see as a result of the professional learning
plan and the strategies you are implementing. This will be critical if you want to be able to connect change in staff behaviour to change student outcomes.
c. For each Success Criteria, determine what type of data will be needed (e.g., if you are counting frequencies, keep a tally; if you
want to understand in what ways something is or isn’t working, collect observations and conversations). Consider this
process assessment ‘as’ or assessment ‘for’ learning. You want data that you can collect on a day-to-day basis. A survey will
not meet this need effectively.
d. Determine who is/are in the best position to collect these data. Also consider location, time and modes of documenting in this plan.
e. As you implement your learning plan and your planned strategies, begin the Monitoring Loop of Gather, Analyze, Interpret
and Respond.
f. Determine how frequently datasets can be reviewed and by whom. For example, data collection may be for self-assessment
on a daily basis and shared at a group level (school teams/grade groups/department teams) to compare patterns/themes
across classrooms on a weekly or bi-weekly time frame. It is best if those who can respond to the data are participants in
these Monitoring Loop discussions.
g. Review the data in relation to the actions that have been taken; pay particular attention to the impact of actions for Black,
African and African-Caribbean students
h. Summarize the findings in the Evidence column
i. Change or make minor changes to the classroom practice/strategy based on the new evidence
j. Revisit the data collection plan to adjust if necessary; you’ll want to shine a light on the change in strategy to determine
whether it creates the desired outcome.
k. Review School Improvement & Equity Plan - Module 2, slides 27 - 30 for an overview of developing and using a Monitoring
plan.
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