CLEE’s Collaborative Equity Audit is an inquiry-based collaborative experience for school, district, and community stakeholders to identify district strengths, uncover inequities and their root causes, and pinpoint high-priority areas for improvement. The voices and perspectives of each stakeholder, as well as input from the larger community, bring this process to life. Students, families and guardians, educators, and community members join together in this work to build equitable opportunities for all students.
Centering student voices is an important part of the Collaborative Equity Audit. Student voices help to frame perspectives for adults in the room, helping them think more deeply about assumptions they may hold.
In Milford, MA, students played a prominent role in the Collaborative Equity Audit. District leadership prioritized student involvement, and students showed up! Students participated in both in-person sessions, where relationships and trust were formed, and virtual focus group sessions, where they joined with a group of their peers to share their experiences in Milford Public Schools. Student voices kept everyone engaged in the process and grounded in their ultimate purpose: how can we strengthen a sense of belonging where all students feel respected and heard? This allows for all stakeholders to feel respected and heard.
Looking at data is often a new practice for many participants, including students. It is a practice and skill that we build with students, alongside adults, for everyone to uncover inequities and their root causes. This builds capacity and confidence to dig deeper. The audit provides concrete data to say this is what we know versus what we think or assume to be true, and empowers leaders to take on the uncovered inequities more directly to better serve students.
Janet Lyons, CLEE Continuous Improvement Facilitator and Coach
Students in the room provide context for what we find in that data and keep the audit centered on why it is important. They represent the unlimited potential of the students in their community which drives the work of all stakeholders to stay engaged in the process, and committed to follow through with the improvements they co-create. Our students have so much to say, and through the Collaborative Equity Audit process, they are heard loud and clear. We have much to learn from them.
