Equity Dashboard
Defining Equity
The shared mission of our schools is to end the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities on student success by working together with families and communities to ensure each individual student's success.
Equity Table
One way ACPS monitors equity work is through our equity table. By looking for proportional representation within key metrics associated with student success, the equity table makes it possible to see where some groups are overrepresented or underrepresented. Then, as a division and working with families and communities, we can take steps to remove barriers that prevent proportionality.
ACPS developed our first equity table in 2016-17. At that time, it was evident that Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students were underrepresented in the gifted program, as compared to their overall representation in our student population. Through strategic work in the gifted program, now the talent development program, the 2020-21 Equity Table shows more representation by these students and a closer degree of proportionality.
The equity table also helps monitor larger trends related to division initiatives, such as using the short-term education program (STEP) to decrease the number of out-of-school suspensions (currently at a four-year low). Similarly, our middle schools are working to delevel, or detrack, math classes, a move that has resulted in higher numbers of students enrolling in a high school math course while in middle school.
Note: The 2019-20 Equity Table does not include data points for “Students Passing 3rd Grade Reading SOL” or “Students Passing 3rd Grade Math SOL” because SOL tests were not administered in the 2019-20 school year.