Making It Matter: A Systems Approach to Advancing Equity and Excellence for Students. Policy and Practice Brief

The stakes are incredibly high in California to provide access to a high-quality education in a safe environment for all students. As districts across the state resumed full-time instruction and began the task of pandemic recovery, members of the California Collaborative on District Reform convened three times in 2021-22 to continue and deepen their ongoing exploration of local strategies for meeting students' academic, social and emotional, and mental health needs. Of particular concern in these gatherings was the need to address systemic contributors to the persistent inequities in both educational opportunities and outcomes that the pandemic had accentuated. This brief summarizes key takeaways from discussions among meeting participants exploring ways in which school systems center equity in their work. Importantly, the districts sharing their work and strategies in these meetings vary significantly in the human capital and other resources available to them, and each is at a different place in its equity journey. Nevertheless, the core takeaway was clear: centering equity begins with an explicit and visible commitment on the part of district leaders. But words alone are not enough. Participants in these meetings stressed that this commitment must become systemic action and must be integrated into all aspects of a district's work. This was both the message and the goal of the district leaders participating in these Collaborative convenings. This report presents four recurring themes that emerged from these discussions: (1) System Leaders' Explicit and Visible Commitment to Equity Is Essential; (2) Efforts to Center Equity Must Focus on the Whole Child; (3) Efforts to Enhance Equity Must Reach the Instructional Core; and (4) Advancing Equity Districtwide Requires Systemic Coherence.