2.) Approval of Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) Equity Policy Statement

Background: In creating systems for Pathways to Equity & Excellence, the Board of Education needs to explicitly define equity. The draft policy presented at the August 27th BOE meeting was:

Equity Policy Statement (August 27th version)

We believe that equity is a set of actions that produce results that are not determined by differences of race, sex or economic status.

Equity is not the same as equality. Whereas, equality provides the same resources throughout the system on a per capita basis, equity demands allocation of resources based on need and support for each student's success.

Therefore, in order to achieve equity, AUSD will factor in student needs when making decisions regarding resource allocations.

After listening to Board members comments, staff made the following changes to policy:

Equity Policy Statement (September 11th version)

We believe that equity is a set of actions that results in educational excellence not determined by differences of race, sex or economic status.

Equity is not the same as equality. Whereas, equality provides the same resources throughout the system on a per capita basis, equity demands allocation of resources based on need and support for each student's success.

Therefore, in order to achieve equity in serving our students, AUSD will factor in student needs when making decisions regarding resource allocations.

Board Member McMahon paraphase comments on excellence and equity citing Harvard Education Professor Willie as the source:

Education has a dual function of enhancing individuals and strengthening communities. An important function of the community is to support and sustain people. We cannot advance the development and learning of knowledge by dealing with the individual only. We must also pay attention to collectivities such as school communities and to their organizational effects on individuals.

The student is a person and the school is a group. All individuals depend on groups and other collectivities for their survival. There is no evidence that individuals can grow and prosper without help from groups. And there is no evidence that groups can exist and function without the presence of individuals. Thus, the individual and the group are connected. One without the other is incomplete.

In other words, instead of sorting out and segregating individuals by race, gender, socioeconomic status, and other cultural characteristics, we, in education, should be discovering creative ways of putting together different people with different talents, intelligences, and experiences so that one can do for another what the other cannot do for his- or herself.

Education, therefore, should focus neither on cultivating excellence at the expense of equity nor on cultivating equity at the expense of excellence. In a well-ordered society, the goal of education is to seek both excellence and equity because they are connected. One without the other is incomplete.

The Board approved the policy.

Superintendent Goal: Goal 1.) Close the achievement gap, Goal 2.) Spending plan alignment 3.) Safe Educational Environments and Goal 4.) Recruit and retain highly qualified staff

3.) New Teacher and Beginning Teacher Support Report

Background: Participation in Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) is required for teachers with a preliminary credential in order for them to receive a Clear credential. AUSD works in coordination with the Easy Bay BTSA Induction Consortium to provide new teachers with a state-compliant 2 year program.