Equity
Phase 1 

"Look-Fors" During Observation
Remember: The most helpful part of the observation is not checking off items, but the conversations and reflections that happen after the visit.  

Beginning/ Developing

• Teacher mispronounces names of students
• Students are singled out in class because of their backgrounds
• Lines of difference (cultural, racial, social class, sexual orientation, and gender identities) are not represented or discussed and/or are used as a way to label or divide students
• Teacher assumes students who behave or are categorized in a certain way do so because of their character rather than in response to environmental circumstances 

Practicing/ Achieving

• ​Teacher insists on classroom language and behaviors that value differences
• Age appropriate evidence that students see their lines of difference (cultural, racial, social class, sexual orientation, and gender identities) acknowledged, affirmed, and reflected in the learning space

Questions to Guide Observation 

• How does the teacher track and understand their interactions with students in order to help them increase the quality of those interactions?
• How do teachers calibrate proficiency levels for student work in order to identify patterns of bias?
• How do students learn appropriate language for asking questions about others’ cultures and sharing details of their own?
• What artifacts or evidence do you see of lines of difference being acknowledged, affirmed, and reflected in the learning environment?
• What do you hear in the language used in the classroom that reflects valuing differences or using differences to label or divide?

Resources

• Using Board Games to Help Fight and Understand Bias: from KQED’s MindShift, by Maanvi Singh, explores how gaming can be used to push people to think beyond bias and prejudice.  
• I Don’t Think I’m Biased: from Learning For Justice, by Pat Clark, is a case study on how educators confronted their attitudes on race and privilege. 
• Four Ways Teachers Can Reduce Implicit Bias from Greater Good Magazine, by Jill Suttie, includes tips to help teachers treat all their students with dignity and care.
• How do I know if my biases affect my teaching? from The National Association for Multicultural Education helps reframe thoughts around students.
  
• Equity Perspectives: Creating Space for Making Meaning on Equity Issues is a protocol from the School Reform Initiative to build dialogue around thoughts and assumptions not usually discussed.

Self-Awareness, Coaching Tool
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Self-Awareness, Coaching Tool
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