The Equity Toolkit
The Equity Toolkit is both a resource with action items that can be used in support of equity in public education in Kentucky, as well as a presentation that can be used to lead local meetings and inform on issues of equity in Kentucky public schools.
Resources included:
- Definitions of Equity
- Demographic data of equity performance metrics in Kentucky
- Specific strategy recommendations for individuals to utilize to advocate on behalf of equity in education
The Toolkit was created as a PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes. This presentation can be used to inform Kentuckians and encourage engagement in support of equity in education.
Currently, there are resources within the Toolkit formatted for local action around Bill Request 60 and Bill Request 69. The tools, however, can be reformatted to engage a multitude of conversations around equity in education and we encourage users to consider this and adjust the resources in this tool to serve your equity work.
- Kindergarten readiness
- 3rd & 8th grade reading and math proficiency
- Transition readiness to higher education or career following high school
- High school graduation ratesHigher education degree attainment of an associate degree or higher
Ultimately, we want all Kentucky students to be at 100% proficiency in reading and math. However, we are quite far away from that goal. By analyzing assessment performance from the 2018-2019 school year, gaps have been identified in performance between different demographic groups in important metrics like:
Participation in the 2020-2021 Summative Assessment was not what it would normally have been (KDE reports just over 89% of eligible students participating in the assessment at the elementary level, just over 84% at the middle school level, and just under 77% at the high school level in 2020-2021 versus traditionally having over 95% participation on each of the previous two assessments at each level).
There is concern with the rise in the Novice scoring designation, which is the lowest performance score. Specifically, we see increases in the number of Novice students amongst the most marginalized students, historically.
There have been long-standing equity-based programs in Kentucky public education. These include:
- Special Education
- Social-Emotional Learning
- Free and Reduced Lunch
- School Transportation
- SEEK Funding Model