Students with effective teachers—teachers who are content experts, culturally responsive, and deliver highly engaging, rigorous academic content—are more likely to learn more and improve their career opportunities. But what about those who don’t, like students who experience a higher percentage of instruction by ineffective, out-of-field, and inexperienced teachers?

Helping to improve educator quality and equity for every student is the goal of Westat’s educator equity team. To eliminate education inequity, we are at the forefront of developing and providing tools, resources, and customized trainings for local school districts, state education departments, and national education advocacy groups.

Other equity indicators

Inequity in education doesn’t start and end with educator quality. Notes Wesley Williams, a Westat Project Director: “For us to answer the question whether every child is well, we must deeply understand the ways that students are smart and the multiple ways that they learn. We must create opportunities that support all stages of student academic progress.”

At the core of achieving this goal, that every child is well academically, emotionally, physically, and socially, are the following factors:

• Family and community engagement
• Equitable student access
• Student-centered learning
• Cultural responsiveness
• A safe, welcoming, harmonious, and inclusive school climate
• Diverse staff of excellent educators
• Fiscal equity
• Educator quality

Equity technical assistance, resource, tools, and customized trainings to get the job done

Achieving equity in education requires ongoing professional development and careful planning. Like any big project, it also requires having great tools. That’s why Westat developed these integral tools:

• Cultural Competency Resources Toolkit/Guide. This toolkit reviews literature, tools, handbooks, and other resources for training educators and others in cultural competency.
• The Educator Equity Resource Tool: A Guide for America’s Schools. This dynamic, interactive guide assists districts develop, implement, and refine comprehensive equity plans.

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