Measuring Equitable Access

One way to assess equity is to look at differences in the spread of educators among schools within a district.  This can be done in a number of ways:

1. Compare the percentages of course sections that have highly qualified or effective teachers.  For example, High School A may have 104 total course sections, 96 of which are staffed by teachers who were rated effective or higer.  In High School B, which is less affluent with more students of color, there are 128 course sections, 114 of which are staffed by such teachers.  The ratios are roughly equal (92 percent in High School A versus 89 percent in High School B) indicating minor disparities. 
    
2. Divide the number of highly qualified or effective or novice teachers in a school by the total number of students enrolled in that school.  This can paint a rough picture of equity among schools.
    
3. Compare educator retention rates among schools.  Some turnover is normal, but schools with a revolving door of staff can indicate serious equity challenges.  These rates should be looked at over time.
    
4. Examine difference in student growth data among schools.  Such differences can be due to a lot of factors, but disparities among schools with similar demographics can indicate that equity in access to effective educators may be a factor, and decision makers should consider educator talent development strategies. 
    
5. Compare the teaching and learning conditions among schools.  If certain schools have deplorable conditions,  students in those schools are less likely to have access to excellent educators.

Using these approaches, states and districts can get a sense of whether disparities in access exist between schools with higher or lower concentrations of students from low-income families or students of color and help monitor improvements. Although not definitive, these approaches will yield data that help decision makers ask the right questions and focus their attention where it is needed the most.

Calculating equitable access among schools may obscure inequities within schools. For example, in High School A (from the previous example), if the 8 percent of course sections that do not have an effective teacher are serving students of color, students who are disadvantaged, or students with special needs, then equitable access to great teachers and leaders has not been achieved within the school. Also, consider the types of courses that have effective teachers versus the courses without effective teachers. There may be disparities between tracks (i.e., remedial classes versus advanced placement) or between content areas.

Taking this step further,  equitable access ideally should be assessed at the student level, not just the classroom level. For example, it may be possible to compare the number of students of color versus the number of White students who are assigned a novice teacher. Such data can then be aggregated up to the district and state levels as a way to monitor progress.

It also is important to know whether particular students are repeatedly assigned to less qualified, less effective, or less experienced teachers.  Thus, school systems should be working toward assessing equitable access at the student level. 

Do inequities exist mainly at the school or district level, or are there disparities among districts? Are there particular regional challenges due to local labor market conditions?  Does your state need to prioritize districtwide or regional strategies to remedy between-district inequities? Answering these questions will require you to measure the extent of equitable access across districts within a state.

To do this, data collected at the student, classroom, or school level (as described in the previous two sections) need to be aggregated up to the district and state levels.  To visually represent regional disparities, highly informative maps can be drawn using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data.

No matter what the level of analysis is when measuring the extent of equitable access, multiple measures of educator effectiveness should be used in each of these approaches.