The African American Equity Task Force is working to create equitable access for African American students, meaningful partnerships with African American community leaders and parents, and workable policies and documents to build equity in schools.

Working together

Comprised of internal DPS employees, leaders, external community members, parents and students, The AAETF will be led by a Steering Committee and six subsequent Working Groups. These working groups will be assigned a focus relating to the levers of impact identified in the Dr. Bailey report.

The six levers of impact include:

• Instructional Practice: Examine the factors that generate an increase of culturally competent teachers
• Discipline: Examine factors impacting disproportionate discipline rates, develop recommendations for alternatives to suspension
• Access: Examine factors affecting access for African American students to high quality schools, programs and classes as well as opportunities that increase achievement for African American males
• Human Capital: Examine factors that will impact greater recruitment and retention, and leadership development of African American educators
• Whole Child: Examine the factors that result in meaningful social-emotional support and relationship building with students and parents
• Family and Community Engagement: Examine the factors that will foster more meaningful relationships and engagement with African American parents and community members

To reach a common goal

The goal of the AAETF is to create a compilation of recommended actions, efforts and resources needed to address the factors that are contributing to the Opportunity Gap for our African American students and educators. Upon completion, this will be known as the Equity Agreement.

Using an effective process

The AAETF will adopt the following process:

• Pre-Engagement and Learning: The AAETF begins by providing a clear description of the challenge at hand.
• Organize and Prioritize: Working Groups analyze the problem and research solutions using input from stakeholders, community members and current data.
• Synthesize and Socialize: Through input from stakeholders, community meetings and current data, the AAEFT begins to research solutions and drafts the Equity Agreement.
• Presentation of Recommendations: Complete with recommendations, the Equity Agreement draft is completed and presented to the Board of Education.

Implementation and Evaluation: The Board of Education and the DPS Senior Leadership Team receives and reviews recommendations. Work begins toward implementation and evaluation of new policies.