Executive Limitation-16 (EL-16)
The School Board adopted EL-16 to ensure an environment and culture that values and respects the diversity of its students and staff, addressing factors affecting student achievement and wellbeing. This document addresses six key areas of equity work that will take place in the Issaquah School District.
See full Executive Limitations Monitoring Report here: Executive Limitations-16 Equity
Environment and Culture
Promote an environment and culture that is committed to every student having the opportunity to reach their full potential through educational equity.
- Recognize the existence of systemic and institutional inequities for students.
- Actively encourage, support and expect high achievement and social-emotional wellbeing for students from all racial groups and other identified subgroups.
- Provide equitable access and academic support throughout our educational system.
- Provide curriculum that prioritizes diverse viewpoints and cultural relevance.
- Promote an environment and culture that supports and encourages effective engagement of all students and fosters cultural competency in students.
- Provide professional development, training, and engagement opportunities to inform and practice cultural competence, and increase awareness of personal and systemic bias and inequities in teaching, counseling, advising, and coaching practices, as well as in discipline, staff – student interactions, and staff – parent interactions.
- Provide equitable access and an inclusive, welcoming, and safe environment to school activities, clubs, and athletics.
Interpretation
- Staff employed at Issaquah School District will be able to acknowledge and identify the history, context and current state of institutional barriers and inequities that students face based on their racial and ethnic backgrounds.
- Each employee can interrogate how this history, context and current state informs expectations for students and how to reflect, identify, restore and interrupt unintentional patterns of marginalization and inequity. This can happen in classrooms, schools and programs, or with other activities that students are involved in (e.g., extracurriculars, clubs and athletics).
- Equip staff at all levels to do this and provide support for students that correct inequities that may exist.
- The District will provide specific training to staff to bolster cultural competence, confidence and responsiveness while providing students with content and pedagogy that validate historical inequities and affirm their identities and experiences.
Data
Collect, disaggregate, analyze, and utilize data in order to:
- Identify inequities.
- Develop and implement strategies and allocate resources towards eliminating those inequities.
- Establish and sustain equity-based accountability systems across the district.
Interpretation
- Issaquah School District will examine and use a range of relevant disaggregated data and evidence in order to build and calibrate capacity for data literacy to unearth inequities, identify root causes, develop a problem or opportunity statement in support of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and access for all students, develop a robust set of evidence-based solutions, prioritize resources and support, and establish accountability for eliminating opportunity gaps in District plans and School Improvement Plans (SIPs).
- There is an ongoing cross-functional system of reviewing data and progress to determine what may be working, what may not be working and the next course of action.
Family and Community Engagement
Promote an environment and culture that supports and encourages effective engagement of all families, including those from diverse backgrounds
Interpretation
- To better serve our families from diverse backgrounds, develop and foster a welcoming environment and promote relevant engagement opportunities for all families through program development, curriculum adoption, communications and school-based efforts to reach out to and engage families.
- That outreach is conducted in a family’s preferred language and multiple modalities are offered to engage families from diverse backgrounds.
Community Partnership
Develop and implement strategies for effective partnerships between home, school, and the district, seeking out diverse perspectives on district initiatives, practices, and school climate.
Interpretation
- Actively develop and implement communication and feedback processes and protocols that support partnership and two-way communication that ensures the District is hearing the voices representative of our diverse community and student population
- Communication to families in their preferred language and through multiple modalities.
- The District will also support the same processes and protocols at the school level with students, partners and families within that school community
Recruitment
Promote hiring practices to attract a highly-skilled and diverse workforce
Interpretation
- Develop hiring processes that reduce bias and barriers to entry for applicants of all identities and backgrounds.
- The District will train hiring managers in anti-bias hiring practices.
- The District will focus recruitment efforts in networks that are known for applicants of color and promote all job postings that speak to and exemplify a commitment to equity and inclusion.
Retention
Promote a workplace environment and culture that supports retaining a highly-skilled and diverse workforce
Interpretation
- The District will ensure that there are supports and space for all staff to both develop and contribute their commitment to equity and inclusion.
- The District will develop an action plan that brings forward both emerging practices and ideas from staff about improving a culture that retains a highly skilled and diverse workforce.
- The District will see retention consistent across staff demographics. Specifically, the District will ensure there are ongoing efforts to provide training and support to all staff to develop their cross-cultural awareness and communication and facilitate or promote opportunities to caucus by identity.