Education leaders can’t work to resolve issues within their school system without first identifying obstacles. The key to this process starts by identifying data as an invaluable tool to ensure that every student has equal access to the same opportunities and outcomes. In fact, by becoming more equitable, you can ensure that your school will surpass all your current goals.
Understanding the concept of equity is key to fostering success at all levels of your organization. Equity doesn’t simply refer to offering each individual the same opportunities. In fact, these same “equal” opportunities may not be equitable at all. A diverse community of learners comes to the classroom carrying both advantages towards and barriers against their success. Due to existing inequalities in our communities, students do not start on a level playing field.
Committing to promoting equity in your school system means exploring how these factors will affect student outcomes, then implementing processes that will empower all administrators, educators, and students towards collective success.
Data aggregation and strategic implementation is a key tool to strive for equity in school systems – helping educational leaders to pinpoint previously-missed opportunities to foster innovation that allows for diverse communities to pursue success fairly. Data tools like Inno™️ aim to unlock educational leaders’ potential to drive equity in the classroom. Read on to learn how implementing new and innovative technology tools can serve to benefit outcomes throughout your organization.
Building Equity in the Classroom
In order to ensure that your students are all standing on equal footing, it’s pivotal to use data to pinpoint every problem impeding equity. Using data dashboards to aggregate data provides important context – rather than what you might interpret while merely looking at individual data points. With the proper context provided by multiple data points, you can discover key areas of improvement to ensure equitable access to opportunities for all populations in your student body.
This process is where implementing technology becomes key to your success. Opting to utilize an educational platform will allow educational leaders to organize all existing data from siloed systems into one practical dashboard. From there, it becomes much easier to observe instances in which all students may not have access to the same opportunities – and to begin to take action to prioritize equity.
Integrating Equity into Your Data Lifecycle
Just as data platforms make it easier than ever to aggregate important data, so too do they give way to informed decisions at every level of your education team. As such, it is easy to see what makes them such a strong tool for equity. Data platforms will do the work for you by identifying patterns in your school system so you can direct resources where they would be most valuable to drive school improvements. By integrating an equitable approach to improvement for all students, improved outcomes will follow.
Creating Data Visualizations with Empathy & Equity in Mind
It is important to consider a wide breadth of populations when visualizing data – not just one. Your student body encompasses an incredible variety of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. Dashboard visualizations can reflect the diversity of the student population by aggregating data from disparate systems, which makes it easier for education leaders to account for the many different perspectives present in their school and create data visualizations accordingly. Taking this empathetic approach to education will build equity by engaging your diverse population of students equally.
By aggregating key data points from your school system, data platforms not only funnel essential information into one location – they also empower your team to build a culture of equal opportunity and representation. With all this in mind, it’s easy to see how technology can be harnessed to create an equitable environment in your school system – and Innovare makes it our mission to help you use data as a tool for equity and as an engine for change.
