Action Areas

Racial inequity in education outcomes is well-established. Differences in white and black/brown student test scores, discipline outcomes, advanced course enrollment, graduation rates, and college enrollment rates, among other indicators, reveal continued bias and systemic racism in U.S. education opportunities and practices. Teachers’ own biases are a contributing factor to persistent inequity and have been shown to impact teachers’ expectations, management, and instructional quality for black and brown students. By digging into the roots of the inequities in our region’s education system and listening to a broad coalition of educators, students and families, we have defined four key levers that The Education Equity Center of St. Louis is uniquely positioned to tackle: 

  • Build the Anti-Racist Teaching Capacity of Educators

  • Elevate Youth Voice & Power to Co-Create Equitable Education

  • Activate Educators and Students Toward Systems Level Leadership and Change

  • Act as a Regional Partner Supporting Accountability to Education Data

Build the Anti-Racist Education Capacity of Educators in STL

We envision a transformed education system that is fully equitable. Research shows that educators are the single most important in-school factor in improving student outcomes. Pairing this data with the histories of systemic racism that are deep and pervasive in the practices and policies of education, we need to understand and address the mental models we are operating from in order to move towards this vision. To this end, we build the anti-racist teaching capacity of educators in the region.

Elevate Youth Voice & Power to Create Equitable Education

We cannot create a new paradigm of education while continuing to relegate students to the passenger seat. To move toward a fully equitable education system, we partner with students, districts, schools, and education focused organizations to build systemic strategy that leads to purposeful partnership, power sharing and co-creation through the Youth Voice and Power Program.

Activate Educators and Students Toward Systems Level Leadership and Change

No one person will have the energy, expertise or influence to lead the complex changes needed to shift the paradigm of education inequity. We must do it together - with a community coalition who have increased analysis, built capacity and deeper understanding of the historical design of education, activated toward systems level leadership and change.

Act as Regional Partner Supporting Accountability to Education Data

We can’t tackle problems we don’t explicitly name and engage with. Therefore, we work alongside partners to curate critical data and research about the state of student learning and experience while creating space for accountable stakeholders to dig into these meaningful insights. This allows for a holistic approach to analyzing, unpacking and ultimately taking action towards implementing equitable education systems change.

Our Work in Action

 

ARE Saturday School

Given the histories of systemic racism that are deep and pervasive in education, we will need to understand and address the mental models we are operating from in order to move towards this vision. To this end, we build the anti-racist capacity of educators in the St. Louis region through our Saturday School workshops.

 

Alumni Coalition

EEC's Alumni Coalition is a group of educators, administrators, and nonprofit leaders who have participated in our program offerings such as the DEI Cohorts, Saturday School workshops and Fellowships. Since April ‘21, we have met together quarterly to connect in our common work to support and uplift equality in St. Louis.

 

Educator Professional Development

We support schools and education focused organizations who are invested in long-term systemic change at the personal, interpersonal, institutional and structural levels through anti-racist education leadership, capacity building, and coaching.

 

EEC Consulting & Assessment

EEC consulting and educational assessments provide school districts and school community stakeholders guidance on how to identify inequitable practices that negatively impact students and tools to shift those harmful conditions. Our assessments gather data and insights on ways to ensure equitable outcomes for all students.

Education Equity Leader Cohorts

We host cohorts of educators and administrators championing DEI practices in their schools. Participants experience six weeks of evening workshops, focusing on anti-racist education capacity, group support and collaboration, and building collective frameworks for a regional approach to equitable education.

 

Youth Voice & Power

We build school partnerships and host student ARE (anti-racist education) workshops. We convene youth in critical, yet joyful and healing practices to co-create equitable change in education.

 

State of Education Equity in STL

We are grounded in the work we do because of the state of education as we know it. The history, data and research Illustrate the systemic design of education inequity, painting a grim reality of what our black and brown children are facing in schools. We work to analyze data in the region and use it to support collective action towards racial equity.

 

Racial Affinity Groups (RAGs)

RAG’s are intentional spaces with people of the same race, where we can be safe enough, vulnerable, challenged, and unedited; to examine the stories we have been told and the stories we tell ourselves; to lean toward what is unfamiliar and away from what is habitual; and to understand what is difficult to acknowledge, feel, and attend to within us and among us as a racial group.

ARE Fellowship

The ARE (Anti-Racist Educator’s) for Systems Change Fellowship is a 9 month experience that supports educators in expanding their knowledge, building anti-racist systems change skills, and strengthening leadership practice to propel radical change within the education system.

 

Data Roundtable

We are launching a regional Data Roundtable Coalition made up of data catalysts from local education non-profits and universities. The hope of this coalition is to foster a space of collaborative support to the regional work addressing intersectional issues of inequality.

 

EEC Coaching

EEC Coaching is a relationship-focused form of guidance to help educators process their learning and deepen their anti-racist education leadership for systems change capacity.

 

Educator Engagement

Beyond participating in Saturday Schools, DEI Cohorts, and the fellowship, we encourage anti-racist educators to strengthen community and deepen their knowledge by making place and space to come together in coalition, to celebrate their efforts, and take their ABAR work to the next level.