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K12 SWP

Equity Framework

Equity Framework Components

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• Equity Defined, Causes and a Theory of Change
• Who we are serving and in what context
• Using research and data to design an equity centered CTE pathway or program
• Training the Selection Committee - Reading & Scoring for Equity
• Strategies for Increasing Equity
• Evaluating Program and Outcomes for Equity

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Defining Equity

Causes of Inequity

Theory of Change

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Defining Equity

Equity is “a conception of educational justice, in which the causes of inequity are addressed and systemic barriers are removed, rather than simply ameliorated.” Dr Tameka McGlawn

• Equity: Every learner receives what they need to develop to their full potential. (SFUSD)
• Working Towards Equity: The work of eliminating oppression, ending biases, and ensuring equally high outcomes for all participants through the creation of multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic, multiracial practices and conditions; removing the predictability of success or failure that currently correlates with any social or cultural factor
• Social justice is the equal access to wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.
• Being an Anti- Racist Anti-Racist Equity deck (SFUSD)

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Causes of Inequity

Reasons Equity is not fully realized in CTE

• Access gaps to High Quality CTE
• Structural factors that serve to advantage some students over others. As CTE becomes more popular, it could potentially reinforce existing inequities by creating a bifurcated system.
• Implicit bias - the unconscious negative beliefs and attitudes about members of certain groups held by those in positions of power and decision-making.
• Residual Bias - the lingering impact of historic bias which causes communities traditionally tracked into vocational education from seeing the value of a more rigorous and equitable CTE (DDR, 2021)
• Common challenges: (1) the information available to students (and parents) and adult participants; (2) eligibility or screening criteria that limit access; and (3) structural issues and policies, such as geographically based access to employer partners, or the necessity of meeting funder requirements.
• Unintended consequences of the systemic equity strategies
• Unforeseen consequences of a-g for all.
• Special populations discouraged from entering CTE courses.

An Equity Theory of Change

• Aspen Institute - Racial Equity Theory of Change (RETOC)
• Chronic racial gaps in education are strongly associated with Structural Racism (SR)
• SR = systemic factors that work to produce and maintain racial inequalities in the US. Aspects of society that allow the privileges associated with “whiteness” and the disadvantages associated with “color” to endure and adapt within the political economy.
• Impact of SR: Public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations and unintended consequences are all shaped by SR to reproduce outcomes that are racially inequities.
• Racial Equity offers a counter to SR by creating a context in which race is not consistently and predictably associated with disadvantage.

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An Equity Theory of Change

• Aspen Institute Summary of Racial Equity Theory of Change Steps
• The want - Define your Racial Equity Outcome
• The need - Minimum necessary requirements for moving toward the desired change
• The barriers - policies, institutional practices, cultural representations
• What you must know - The politics of change. Local power dynamics
• What you must do - Gearing up for action towards you goals
• Conduct a capacity assessment
• Identify and recruit stakeholders and champions for strategic coalition building
• Use research to help practitioners address equity
• Leverage policymakers to support equitable delivery, outcomes and detracking

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Who we are Serving

The Landscape

Who we are trying to serve?

Special populations: Students from unique demographic groups that may require additional services or supports to succeed in an educational program.

In Perkins V, nine groups are defined as special populations:

• Individuals with disabilities
• Individuals from economically disadvantaged families, including low-income youth and adults
• Individuals preparing for fields that are not traditional fields for their gender
• Single parents, including single pregnant women
• Out-of-workforce individuals
• English Language Learners (EL or ELL)
• Youth who are in, or have aged out of, the foster care system
• Youth with parents on active duty in the armed forces
• Homeless individuals

Others to consider include:

• Justice involved youth, multiple learning styles, 1st Gen, New Comers, Non-College bound youth

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Higher Ed = Higher Earnings

Bay Area Median Livable Wage 1 adult

$862/week

Bay Area Median Livable Wage

2 adults

1 preschool

1 school-age

$2,400/week

SF Bay Area

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SF Bay Area

90% of Whites 89% of Whites

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SF Bay Area

63% of Whites 53% of Whites

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SF Bay Area

52% of Whites 48% of Whites

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College Going Rates High School Completers

2017-18 (CDE)

Of all Bay Area High School Completers who entered Postsecondary

51% attended UC, CSU, Public and Private 2- & 4-year colleges

49% attended California Community Colleges

UC, CSU, Private & Public 2- & 4-year Colleges

Of all Bay Area High School Completers:

36% attended UC, CSU, Public and Private 2- & 4-year colleges

34% attended California Community Colleges

30% didn’t show up in postsecondary anywhere

UC, CSU, Private & Public 2- & 4-year Colleges

Using

Research

&

Data

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Research and Data

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Designing an Equity Centered CTE pathway or program

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• Pathway Design: Sustainability, enhancement, expansion, and innovation - an equity lens
• Using Research
• CTE Network Using Research
• Facilitator's Guide (2.2 MB)
• Presentation slide deck (3.9 MB)
• Activity Handouts (285 KB)

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• Using Data
• LMI Training #1 - Equity Data
• Leveraging College and Career Indicator (CCI) Equity Data to Inform CTE Goal Setting and Grant Writing

Pathway Design

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Sustainability, enhancement, expansion, and innovation via an Equity Lens.

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Sustaining traditional pathways that are in decline or flat vs innovative industries - an Equity Issue

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Transferable skills - an Equity Strategy

Using Research to Design Pathways & Programs

CTE Network Using Research

With research as a guide, you can design CTE programs that promote equity and help close the opportunity gap at your site. This CTE Network module examines the student groups identified in the federal Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, better known as Perkins V; explains how to use data to ensure these students are served, and presents lessons learned and best practices for promoting equity in CTE and closing the opportunity gap. The module is designed to support school district and college CTE program administrators in using research to develop equitable CTE programs. (Photo by Allison Shelley for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action.)

• Facilitator's Guide
• Presentation slide deck
• Activity Handouts

Using Data to Design Pathways & Programs

The Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research (COE) aspire to be the leading source of regional workforce information and insight for California Community Colleges. The San Francisco Bay COE is located at City College of San Francisco and serves the 28 community colleges in the 12 county Bay Region with labor market information and workforce research. The COE and BACCC work jointly to prioritize data projects that benefit the community colleges in the region.

• LMI Training #1 - Equity Data (Video)
• Leveraging College and Career Indicator (CCI) Equity Data to Inform CTE Goal Setting and Grant Writing
• CCCCO SWP Data Dashboard (now updated with 2019-2020 data)
• Bay Area K12 CTE Inventory (this the tool we showed during SWP subregional meetings)

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Selection Committee Training

Reading and Scoring for Equity

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Reading for Equity

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• Understanding the why
• Why is equity important to K12 SWP?
• Why is serving these demographics, or equity in general, important to the pathway, district, regional priorities? BACCC and CCCCO priorities
• Understanding the who
• Who are the targeted populations?
• Understanding the what
• What equity gap/problem is being presented? (Problem Statement)
• What are the objectives of the LEA related to the Problem Statement? (Project Objectives)
• Is there clear and obvious Pathway and Design purpose alignment with the objectives?
• Create a New Pathway(s); Expand and/or Scale an Existing Pathway(s); Implement Cross-Sector Work
• How are the strategies utilized supporting effective outcomes for the targeted population?
• Curriculum and Instruction; College and Career Exploration; Postsecondary Transition and Completion; Work-Based Learning
• Does the budget reflect and clearly support equity alignment throughout the proposal?

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Common Strategies for Serving Special Populations

NAPE - National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity

• Explore how systems, policies, power, language, social capital, remote learning and internet/ technology access reproduce inequalities in your school/college.
• Learn and use culturally responsive teaching and leadership skills, such as connecting students’ cultural background to instruction and valuing cultural diversity as an asset in the learning environment.
• Implement professional development that builds educator capacity to understand how gender, race, class, language, ethnicity, and ability differences are perceived and treated in the institution and influenced by implicit bias and micromessaging.
• Use wise feedback and other strategies to help special populations develop self-determination, self-efficacy and a growth mindset.
• Use role models/mentoring to reinforce student identity and self-efficacy.
• Partner with community-based organizations that support each special population group. Give community-based organization and support agencies the opportunity to conduct outreach and provide services on campus so that they are easily accessible and friendly.
• Involve caregivers in outreach, decision making, and support for special populations. Remove barriers to students and their care-givers participation such as transportation, child care, translation, location, and scheduling.
• Implement a case management approach with students who are special populations to ensure that services are coordinated and no one falls through the cracks.

Scoring the Problem Statement

As you read the K12 SWP proposals - Look for data that supports the equity metrics

Scoring the Problem Statement for Equity - (20 pts)

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Problem Statement - Metric #4

Uses data to identify equity gaps of how student subgroups access, experience opportunities, and complete high school coursework that are aligned to STEM and high potential CTE programs at disproportionate rates.

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• (Strong - 5 points) - Statement provides clear and documented data-based evidence from demographic, enrollment, and completion data that substantiates the targeted student population to be served.
• (Moderate - 3 Points) - Statement somewhat provides data-based evidence but the targeted student population to be served is unclear
• Weak - 1 point) - Statement does not provide data-based evidence and the targeted student population to be served is unclear.

Meet

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Identifying the targeted group

• Problem Statement sets the tone and demonstrates the LEAs knowledge of the issue.
• Rubric specifies what you as the reader need to know:
• Demographic, enrollment and completion data for the target student population
• Data that identifies equity gaps in access and opportunities
• Data that illustrates completion of HS courses aligned to high-potential CTE programs (like STEM) at disproportionate rates

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Identifying the Plan

• What are they going to do? Create a new Pathway? Advance an existing programs?
• How have they selected a sector/industry?
• How will they increase their subgroup participation and success?
• Understanding the Regional Plan will help you identify how they determined the high-growth, high-wage fields to target.

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Sample Statement - Written to the Rubric

The Bay Area CCC Regional Plan identifies a local need for Cybersecurity professionals. (Regional Plan)

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Growth in Cybersecurity is high, DOL anticipates an 18% annual growth rate for the next decade. (LMI Data)

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In the Bay Region, there were more than 100 job openings with an average annual salary of $85K. (LMI Data)

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Currently, only 5% of local tech employees are Latinx, and for Latinas the rate is 2%. (Equity Gap Analysis)

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Local employers need highly trained new employees that help them diversify the workplace. (Employer Alignment)

Given this need, we will establish a new Cybersecurity Pathway as part of our ICT sector. (Project Objective)

Our community college partner offers stacked certification in Cybersecurity and we will work closely to provide a pipeline to this program. (Partner Engagement)

Scoring Project Objectives for Equity - (20 pts)

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Project Objectives - Describe efforts to close equity gaps by improving access to and completion of high-skill/high wage CTE opportunities for disproportionately impacted students.

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• (Strong - 5 points) - Project objectives clearly describe efforts to close equity gaps and include activities designed to improve outreach and increase targeted academic supports.
• (Moderate - 3 Points) - Project objectives somewhat describe efforts to close equity gaps and include activities designed to improve outreach and increase targeted academic supports.
• (Weak - 1 point) - Project objectives do not describe efforts to close equity gaps and does not include activities designed to improve outreach and increase targeted academic supports.

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Project Objectives

• Once they have identified the subgroup and the Pathway
• You have to understand their Objectives and how they are connected
• Look for alignment – every choice leads to the next choice.
• An example would be an objective that closes the equity gap.

Objectives support the success of the plan

This is the program goal

• Establish a new two-year Cybersecurity Pathway at General High School that will seamlessly transition to the General Community College certification program.
• This new Pathway will focus on recruiting and successfully transitioning Latinx students.

What activities will have to take place to make this successful?

• High School – hire CTE Cybersecurity teacher, purchase curriculum, purchase equipment, get school/admin support, identify strategies to support Latinx students, how to recruit? Address math computational skills.
• Community College – find ways to connect students with community college, set up visits, mentors? Projects?
• Industry – get industry support regarding partnerships, internships – this will be a challenge.

For each need – there should be a corresponding objective.

Connect the Dots

• Look for the connections. For example: We will provide tutoring.
• Connect it
• Our community college partners identified successful completion of Algebra II as a factor in post-secondary Pathway success.
• To increase completion of Algebra II, we will fund a Latinx tutor to work with students in small groups on a weekly basis, for up to 80 hours annually.
• We will establish a Latinx Cybersecurity Group and will purchase t-shirts for them.
• We will meet monthly and provide pizza for the students.
• Comprehensive Statement: We will establish a Latinx Cybersecurity Club. This group will function as cohort, to support program persistence and to create a sense of belonging. Using outside funds, we will purchase group t-shirts, designed by the students. We provide food during a monthly lunch meeting, and learn how to work as a study group, examining class readings. This affinity group will support student transition to the community college Pathway.

Scoring for Work Plan Equity - (35 pts)

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Work Plan - Describe activities designed to improve access to and completion of high skill/high-wage CTE opportunities for disproportionately impacted students.

• (Strong - 5 points) - The description includes activities that are designed to intentionally improve outreach and increase targeted academic supports, such as tutoring, mentoring by professionals, and work-based learning.
• (Moderate - 3 Points) - The description includes activities but unclear if and/or how outreach and academic supports will target disproportionately impacted students.
• (Weak - 1 point) No description of activities to support disproportionately impacted students.

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Know The What - Work Plan

Describe activities designed to improve access to and completion of high skill/ high-wage CTE opportunities for disproportionately impacted students

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Example from template

Positive Considerations (up to 20 pts)

• Double check if they have identified the subgroup dropout rate and indicate if it is higher than the average dropout rate.
• Indicate if they are serving English learners, Youth in the foster system and those who qualify for free/reduced meals (unduplicated)
• Are they serving Special Populations per Perkins V?
• Are they proposing a NEW CTE Pathway?
• Are they a NEW applicant?

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Final Assessment of Application

Reviewing Anchor Proposals for Norming and Calibration

Strategies for Increasing Equity

Common Strategies for Serving Spec Pops

• Explore how systems, policies, power, language, social capital, remote learning and internet/ technology access reproduce inequalities in your school/college.
• Learn and use culturally responsive teaching and leadership skills, such as connecting students’ cultural background to instruction and valuing cultural diversity as an asset in the learning environment.
• Implement professional development that builds educator capacity to understand how gender, race, class, language, ethnicity, and ability differences are perceived and treated in the institution and influenced by implicit bias and micromessaging.
• Use wise feedback and other strategies to help special populations develop self-determination, self-efficacy and a growth mindset.
• Use role models/mentoring to reinforce student identity and self-efficacy.
• Partner with community-based organizations that support each special population group. Give community-based organization and support agencies the opportunity to conduct outreach and provide services on campus so that they are easily accessible and friendly.
• Involve caregivers in outreach, decision making, and support for special populations. Remove barriers to students and their care-givers participation such as transportation, child care, translation, location, and scheduling.
• Implement a case management approach with students who are special populations to ensure that services are coordinated and no one falls through the cracks.

Work Plan Strategies for Equity

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• Early College Credit
• Work-based Learning
• Vertical alignment of student supports across K12 and postsecondary education
• Partnership Engagement
• Pathway Innovation

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Early College Credit

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• Dual Enrollment
• Equity and Dual Enrollment (dualenrollment.baccc.net)
• Engage students at the CCC while in HS to build awareness, relationships and trust for marticulation (sustainabilty metric)
• Bridge dual enrollment with guided pathways—a high-value practice for low-income students.
• If you are integrating DE in your grant what do the student supports look like, recruitment, etc.? What other supports are being wrapped around DE to support success?

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• Articulation
• Securing a-g Honors Credit for Articulated courses

Work-based Learning

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• Integration of WBL and employer engagement in education systems:
• Including alignment of industry standards with course content, such as skills transferable to future labor force needs; systems for scaling WBL such as graduate profiles, coordination of employer engagement between schools/districts, use of labor market data in pathway development, and recognition of WBL in state accountability systems; and professional development, such as involving industry in teacher preparation, CTE/dual teacher credentialing, and externships. (CCASN)
• Youth Apprenticeship
• Pre-Apprenticeship
• Apprenticeship

Vertical Alignment

• Student supports across K12 and postsecondary education.
• What are the full wrap around support students need to be able to show up and participate?
• Cultural factors facilitating successful equitable implementation of those practices
• Vertical alignment of pathways across K12 and postsecondary education including curriculum content and related structures, processes, and supports; dual enrollment; developmental Program of Study planning; data sharing; and professional development (CCASN)
• CTE K12 Pathways & postsecondary programs of study
• Program Finder/Program Mapping
• Guided Pathways - Vision for Success
• Student Workplace readiness
• It is crucial to validate and measure career readiness, foundational, and technical skills, through an equity theory of change, to make sure students are ready to go out to workplaces.

Partnership Engagement

• Community Colleges
• Student organizations
• Teacher and Counselor Preparation
• Non-Profit and Community based organizations
• Industry Partners and Chambers of Commerce
• Foundations and Corporate Philanthropy
• DEI Entities - Non-profit organizations and Corporate Leadership
• Policy Makers

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Non-Profits & CBO’s

• Integration and alignment of community social justice organizations and non-profits with college and career pathways' embedded pathway student support structures, for example, restorative justice, community health, mental health counseling and trauma-informed approaches. (CCASN)
• CBOs were not created to align and collaborate, but rather to create advocacy and to disrupt.
• Asking them to partner is challenging and requires trust to be built before collaboration and ultimately alignment can take place.
• How to use data to achieve a common understanding of standards between education and CBOs.
• Create opportunities for co-design, co-implementation, and co-validation of interventions.
• The college and career readiness goals that we espouse imply a cultural and political change.

Pathway Innovation

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• Instructional practices
• Pathway design and implementation - Sustainability, Enhancement, Expansion, and innovation
• Industry Sector focus
• Use of labor market data in pathway development
• Implications for teacher preparation:
• A math teacher’s thoughts of improvement often focus on content or delivery. But CBOs want teachers to think of themselves as success coaches, as youth development professionals: people who help others connect with math and how to feel successful with math.
• New programs of study and curriculum
• Green Economy; Artificial Intelligence, etc

Green Economy

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Green Career Awareness and Exploration Modules and Elective Courses

• The "Green Career Awareness" middle school elective course was designed by the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), and funded by a 2021-2023 California K12 Strong Workforce Program grant. The objectives of this course are to pique students’ interest in STEM-related content areas and high school Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways, and to promote careers, jobs, and trades that support a green economy. This course is composed of five introductory lessons and six modules: Agriscience, Computer Science, Energy and Power, Engineering and Architecture, Industrial Biotechnology, and Product Innovation and Design. Each module is constructed using SMCOE’s Solutionary Project-Based Learning Framework for its organizational structure, and composed of fifteen, forty-five minute lessons. The modules provide thematic context through the lens of a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, include numerous real-world, hands-on activities, offer students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and creativity via a design challenge, and support the integration of environmentally-sustainable and socially-responsible practices and behaviors into students' daily lives, and, ultimately, into the workforce.

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Artificial Intelligence

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Students must have a working understanding about AI in order to thrive in the new digital economy.

• The problem:
• Today, the vast majority of high schools in the US do not teach anything about AI, especially those in poor communities.
• Existing online content and programs at well-funded schools are failing to reach non-curious and underserved students.
• A solution:
• Give teachers project-based lesson plans that turn classrooms into forums for exploring real-world applications of AI.

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Delivering on Equity

• NAPE: Develop Equity Strategies for Special Populations Success
• National Equity Project
• Influence Systems and Developing Leaders
• Executive Director LaShawn Routé Chatmon describes the National Equity Project's theory of change
• CTE Network - Using Research to Design your program for Equity
• Evaluating Grant proposals for Equity
• BACCC Grant Writing Series - Webinar #2 - Addressing Equity in Grant Writing
• CSU Northridge Diversity & Equity Innovation Grant Rubric (2020-2021)

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• Education NorthWest - Leadership for Equity Assessment & Development
• Project Equity - Industry specific model

Program and Outcomes Evaluation

• Can we develop a Pathway Equity Audit?
• Building for Equity School Self-Assessment Tool
• Use proposal tagging data to see what's being said.
• How is what’s said being measured?
• How do we create a measurement of success?
• Increasing Access, Equity and Diversity: Program Improvement Process for Equity (napequity.org)
• Should we integrate evaluations into future K12 SWP cycles for Selection Committee evaluation?
• Can the Soft check-ins be used for this purpose?
• Are we aligned to the CCCCO Vision for Success goals?
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Integration Plan (PDF)

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Sources & Planning Tools

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Working group planning tools

BACCC Equity Framework

• Addressing Equity in Grant Writing
• Leveraging College and Career Indicator (CCI) Equity Data to Inform CTE Goal Setting and Grant Writing
• Training #1 - Equity Data
• K12 SWP Equity Metrics
• BACCC Regional Priority: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging