EQUITY refers to seeking fair and just practices both within the
school and outside the school. Equity results in asking and acting upon
questions such as: What makes this a best practice? Does it work for
all students, or for only some students? Does it serve to keep students
under control, or does it enhance intellectual growth? Is there a
difference?
Democratic school communities have a positive effect
on the success of all students (O’Hair, Retizug & McLaughlin,
2000). Not only is overall student achievement significantly higher in
democratic school communities, but achievement gains are also
distributed more equitably. That is, the achievement gap between
students of lower socioeconomic status, and students of higher SES is
narrower in democratic school communities (Lee & Smith, 1994).
An
example by a principal in a partner school describes how they plan to
use technology in the process of addressing equity concerns:
"Technology enables us to organize and view graphically a large amount
of data. Through inquiry and discourse, these data can inform our
practice and help us to gain new insights. The Internet has many
resources that include research-based solutions that we can employ to
address inequities in the educational system."