The School Committee and SPS Administration have been collaborating this fall on updated goals for the district. The foundation of this work is the 2017 Long Range Planning and efforts to create an SPS Equity Policy, and as such the goals are strategic and focused on systemic changes. The SC draft Equity Policy highlights the difference betwen equality and equity. With equality all receive the same (“equal”) where equity necessitates providing for individual needs to insure equal access to opportunities. Decoupling the link between educational outcomes and any personal characteristic, including socioeconomic status or race, is the root of achieving equity. 

The four strategic areas of systemic change addressed in the draft goals are: Human Capital, Enrollment and Programing, District Resources and Milestones of Learning. The 10/18 Draft of the 2019-2020 goals can be viewed here. 

The Human Capital goal includes diversifying the educator workforce, which research shows benefits all students, with a specific target for increasing the percentage of educators of color. Creating a system that attracts, retains and provides opportunity for advancement for educators will be the focus of this work. Enrollment and Programming goals will include creating an informed prediction, based on data, of what future enrollment may look like through the city, with the district can use to plan for future facilities and equity in access to programming for all students. The District resources goal will specifically pilot a new model of student based budgeting which will distribute resources based on student need, which may result in differentiated resource allocation. Lastly, the Milestone of Learning goal will design a robust system of aligned developmental academic and social-emotional benchmarks at different points in a student’s career. All these goals target systemic changes to improve equity and opportunity access to benefit all students.