Equity part of the Education Reform Network

General Equity Providers and Resources

• Equity and Diversity
  Resources for educators to learn about equity. Includes assessment instrument, case stories, journal articles and additional resources.
• Back-to-School/Stay-in-School
  The Back-to-School/Stay-in-School Program was created in response to alarming high school dropout rates. Understanding the correlation between education and life-long earnings and the need to maximize the human potential.
• Center for Family Involvement in Schools
  The Center for Family Involvement in Schools provides equity-focused professional development programs and resources that strengthen family-school-community partnerships and encourage and support the academic, intellectual and social development of all children.
• Children's Grief Education Association
  The CGEA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of grieving children and families and to providing education and support to those who serve them.
• Creating an Anti-Bias Learning Environment
  The downloadable checklists linked to this page include some criteria for creating positive, anti-bias environments where respect for diversity is taught, modeled, and experienced firsthand.
• Directory of Educational Equity Organizations
  WEEA, listed above as a gender equity resource, in housed in the Educational Development Center and has the most comprehensive listing of all Federal, Regional, and State equity-related agencies that we could find, so we will not duplicate the information here. The Directory of Educational Equity Organizations listing includes full contact information for 1) State Equity contacts, 2) the federal and regional offices of the Office of Civil Rights, 3) the ten Equity Assistance Centers (formerly known as Desegregation Assistance Centers), 4) the Comprehensive Centers, funded to provide assistance for Limited English Proficient students, high-poverty or Title I students, immigrant/migrant students, Special Education, and education for homeless youth and Native-Americans, 5) the R-TECs funded to provide training for technology integration, including equity issues in technology, 6) the Eisenhower Regional Clearinghouse and regional alliances and consortiums for math, science, and technology education, 7) OBEMLA (see listing under National Origin here in the Equity Portal), and, 8) the ten Regional Education Laboratories.The Federal government funds the ten equity assistance centers listed in the EDC site above to help schools stay in compliance with Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
• Educational Justice
  The Justice Matters Institute sponsors Educational Justice, a fantastic site of extensive research and annotated links on the gamut of educational equity issues, including how equity plays out in whole school reform efforts. Research-based strategies and online discussion forums.
• Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
  As mentioned above, the taxonomy of the Equity Portal was based on the excellent work done by the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse. Their site deserves another mention here, and particularly this page of a fantastic collection of self-assessment on equity.
• Engaging People in Cyberinfrastructure
  The goal of Engaging People In Cyberinfrastructure (EPIC) is to build human capacity by creating awareness of the opportunities afforded through cyberinfrastruture(CI) and by educating and training a diverse group of people in all stages of life from K-12 to professional practice to fully participate in the CI community as developers, users, and leaders.
• EQUALS and FAMILY MATH
  Besides GESA (from Graymill), EQUALS and FAMILY MATH are the grandmothers of equity-related programming for schools. Research-based strategies from the Lawrence Hall of Science at Berkeley, EQUALS provides workshops for educators and parents to increase equity and interest in mathematics, especially in underserved populations.
• FairTest
  FairTest, otherwise known as the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, is the only national watchdog group as alarmed as the rest of us with the overuse and misuse of standardized testing. The site has research on how standardized tests are biases on the basis of gender, race, class, and cultural difference.
• Girls FIRST
  This web site provides resources for hosting a science club for girls.
• Kids at Risk - Kids and Learning
  On-line resources to assist educators with at-risk children.
• Learning Activities about Discrimination
  Classroom activities designed to facilitate learning about discrimination.
• Margaret D. Weeks
  Provides research-based strategies to enhance education for all learners with emphasis on previously underserved group members. Designs and conducts unique needs-based training for educators and the public in all aspects of equity.
• Media Education Foundation
  A collection of videotapes related to media, gender and diversity.
• Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  MALDEFs National Education Policy Forums engages parents, educators, policy makers, community and business leaders, in the discussion and advocacy of current educational issues. Their National Parent/School Partnership Program teaches parent their rights and responsibilities under the law, about the structure and function of schools, about effective relationships with teachers, and provides valuable leadership training to parents.
• Mid-Atlantic Equity Center
  The Equity Assistance Centers with the greatest amount of useful information is probably the Mid-Atlantic Equity Center http://www.maec.org Although funded to provide equity-related services to states in the mid-Atlantic region (DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, and WV) their "Education and Equity News" has many articles on national issues. To subscribe send a message to [email protected] stating on the subject line: subscribe ed-news and your e-mail address (e.g., subscribe ed-news [email protected].).
• National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity
  The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) is a consortium of state agencies responsible for career and technical education whose mission includes promoting key equity issues, particularly gender equity, in education and workforce development.
• National Dropout Prevention Center
  The National Dropout Prevention Center, housed at Clemson University, has effective strategies and model programs on its website. The Statistics page highlighted here shows that Hispanics have almost twice the dropout rate than Whites do, with Blacks in the middle between the White and Hispanic rates.
• North Dakota State Board for Vocational and Technical Education
  The North Dakota State Board for Vocational and Technical Education has developed a comprehensive list of Educational Equity Standards that cover preservice and inservice education, climate, curriculum, instruction, assessment, administration and leadership, and the workplace. These are copywrited so ask permission before using or adapting.
• Partners Against Hate
  Provides background information on bias-motivated behavior and youth-initiated hate crimes. It also provides tools and strategies to help adults engage in meaningful discussion and activities so that they can learn about the causes and effects of prejudice and bias-motivated behavior.
• Rethinking Schools
  The Rethinking Schools magazine is one of the best resources that provides intellectual and emotional sustenance for those of us doing the hard work of educational equity. Their website provides electronic copies of back issues for free, and their database of back issues is searchable.
• SEED Project
  The SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) Project in Inclusive Curriculum provides resources to set up powerful roundtable, book study groups of teachers who wish to transform the (still) largely White Male curriculum. Peggy McIntosh developed the SEED project through the Wellesley Center for Research on Women (www.wellesley.edu) and is the author of "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack._ Short, powerful, and easily readable, her 1989 article has centered our thinking about race (and other variables) on the notion of "privilege_ like nothing else.
• Teaching For Change
  Probably the best catalog for overall equity and social justice issues in education is put out by Teaching for Change. Beyond Heroes and Holidays in a "must-have_ for both inservice and preservice work on gender-fair and multicultural education that moves beyond celebrating the "Three F's_: Food, Fun, and Festival, and focuses on undoing racism and oppression.
• Teaching Tolerance
  Teaching Tolerance serves as a clearinghouse of information about anti-bias programs and activities being implemented in schools across the country.
• Teaching Tolerance/Southern Poverty Law Center
  Teaching Tolerance is a national education project of the Southern Poverty Law Center dedicated to helping students foster equity, respect, and understanding in the classroom and beyond. The Teaching Tolerance magazine is free and excellent with many useful articles and information for the classroom teacher as well as equity researcher.
• Techbridge: Encouraging Girls in Technology web site
  This web site describes a technology program for girls that is hosted by Chabot Space & Science Center and funded by the National Science Foundation. The site offers resources and strategies to encourage girls in technology.
• The Big Myth
  This fascinating site has many implications for equity and diversity work, especially on encouraging tolerance and understanding for religious and cultural diversity. The available CD-ROM uses Complex Instruction (an equity-based cooperative learning strategy) to explore cross-cultural creation myths.
• What's At Stake? Why Computers Matter to Your Child
  Information about how computers are being used and why learning about computers is important. Includes things that parents can do to help their children to experience computer-based learning.