An Overview of Equity in Education

What Is Equity in Education?

The process of becoming a teacher can be challenging, but it is well worth the effort. Many regard teaching as an extremely rewarding profession, since it allows educators to provide the next generation of students with the skills they’ll need for their personal and professional lives. It takes dedication to pursue a teaching degree, and teachers need to channel that passion to create positive environments and empowering academic experiences for their students.

Equity in education is often a key part of any effective teacher’s approach, but what exactly is equity in education, and how can teachers promote it in their classrooms?

The phrase “equity in education” is complex and can take on many forms, making it challenging to establish a succinct definition. At its most basic, equity in education—or educational equity—is the pursuit of creating an educational system that serves students of all kinds and develops their educational experience accordingly. This means that no matter a student’s background, language, race, economic profile, gender, learning capability, disability, or family history, each student has the opportunity to receive the support and resources they need to achieve their educational goals.

Equity in the Classroom

Teachers who adapt their teaching style to match a student’s learning capabilities are practicing equity in the classroom. Some students thrive as auditory learners, processing information out loud and asking questions as needed. Others are visual learners who absorb information through the images and colors associated with the texts they read. Tactile learners may take breaks during lessons to act things out or employ models, charts, or diagrams to optimize their learning. When educators teach directly to students' needs and give them adequate support, those educators help to foster equity in the classroom.

Educational equity is exhibited when students of differing races or ethnic groups can identify with people of their race and community in the classroom. For example, history lessons, story problems, and books that are inclusive are just some tools that can help students of diverse backgrounds enjoy feelings of equity.

A truly equitable education provides equal opportunity for all students to develop the valuable knowledge and skills that will help them lead productive and fulfilling lives. To realize this, educators may be tasked with reworking systemic models of learning on both the school and district levels. These new models are built on fairness and inclusion, with interventive safeguards included to ensure that each student has every opportunity to achieve their academic goals.

Equity vs. Equality in Education

While the terms “equity” and “equality” are often used interchangeably, there are notable differences between the two. “Equality” means presenting all students with the same educational opportunities throughout their scholastic career. However, this approach doesn’t consider that with those opportunities, each student may have different needs to succeed.

“Equity,” on the other hand, involves establishing a level playing field across the classroom, taking student opportunities and infusing them with support and resources personalized to each student. This means that disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students experience the same quality of education even though they may experience different learning needs. Equity aims to lift disadvantaged students and ensure that they are presented with the same options as others, making up the differences for these disadvantaged students.

Why Is Equity in Education Important?

There’s a variety of reasons why equity in education is important, including the following:

• It creates opportunity for underprivileged and underserved students so that they can overcome disadvantages and find success.
• It gives each student the chance to learn in the way that best supports their learning style.
• It can help students become more engaged learners by ensuring they see individuals who share their race, gender, or ethnicity in their learning materials and during lessons.
• It can increase students’ access to resources that can bolster their education.
• It can strengthen the connection between a student’s family and their teacher, nurturing a more enriching educational environment at home.
• It can guide students to success in their educational career, work life, and beyond.
• It closes the opportunity and achievement gaps by placing students on equal footing.
• It may improve a school district’s performance in metrics such as standardized testing.
• It impacts the community in positive ways.

How Can I Promote Equity in Schools?

It can prepare students to become valuable contributors to society.

• While lasting change won’t happen overnight, striving for equity is always worthwhile. Teachers can promote educational equity in myriad ways. Some examples include the following:
• Addressing systemic issues. By becoming more aware of problems that impact categories like poverty, ethnicity, and gender, teachers can find ways to circumvent the effects these situations have on a student’s educational journey. Addressing deep-rooted, systemic issues can help teachers remove obstacles to student learning and diminish biases and disparities present in educational systems.
• Understanding the role of leadership and administration. Sometimes, school leaders and administrators may unknowingly help to perpetuate educational inequity. In these cases, teachers should alert leadership and then partner with them to seek positive change. Teachers who know when and how to work with administrators can greatly increase equity in their classrooms, schools, and communities.
• Removing barriers in the school environment. Learning and development gaps often present themselves early in a student’s education. The more adept teachers are at identifying these gaps early on, the more opportunity students have to excel. To remove educational barriers, teachers can educate parents on support systems and resources available to their children. These resources might include parent-teacher conferences, one-on-one tutors, and after-school programs. If finances may present a challenge, teachers can help parents find inexpensive resources that will benefit their children.
• Embracing and enabling technology. Technology often plays a crucial role in a student’s education. But some students may not be able to access tools like the internet to support their studies at home. By providing access to reliable technology in the classroom, teachers can create a valuable avenue of support for their students.
• Assessing student performance regularly. Monitoring student performance is an important part of teaching, as it can highlight both effective and ineffective teaching strategies. Teachers dedicated to educational equity check often on how students are performing and then determine what steps are needed to maintain healthy performance.

Many teachers may also find it useful to participate in forms of professional development such as trainings and conferences or enroll in online courses that teach how to foster equity in the classroom.

Educational equity is critical to helping all students thrive in a classroom setting. While there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution, every teacher can work to identify underserved students and champion equity each day in their classrooms. At WGU, we are committed to advancing equity and striving to be the world’s most inclusive university by creating pathways to opportunity for every one of our students. WGU’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Program is just one way that we’re promoting an equitable higher education experience.