Education Equity Is Now Up to the States
For this special collection of essays, Education Week Commentary partnered with the Aspen Institute鈥檚 Education & Society Program to follow up on the institute鈥檚 February 2017 report 鈥淟eading for Equity.鈥� Produced with the Council of Chief State School Officers, the report is the result of interviews with a diverse group of education leaders as the Every Student Succeeds Act is about to go into full effect. The many contributors to that report created as the federal role in schooling recedes. With this shift in federal policy, Aspen鈥檚 Ross Wiener and Danielle Gonzales write in their overview essay, a new generation of state education leaders 鈥渨ill redefine state education policy,鈥� with 鈥減rofound implications for equity.鈥� The insights of some of those participants in the 鈥淟eading for Equity鈥� report are represented in this special collection. These leaders offer a broad range of perspectives on equity and the many challenges they face in their states and districts. From the head of a state teachers鈥� union who is working to diversify her teaching force in her formerly mostly white state, to a state superintendent whose governor is bucking 鈥減arty orthodoxy鈥� to pay for K-12 initiatives, to a Catholic educator of teachers who sees faith-based education as 鈥渁n invaluable civic purpose,鈥� no one educator offers a single road to upending inequity. And as Wiener and Gonzales write, 鈥淓quity is about giving every student what they need, not giving every student the same.鈥�
