Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Written by: Kathy Myles - Wisconsin RtI Center
Aligns to Coaching Competencies 1.a & 6.a
Read Coaching & Leadership for Equitable Outcomes
As many of you know, equity is at the center of the work we do as leaders and coaches in our districts and schools in Wisconsin. The Department of Public Instruction offers information as well as evidence and research based strategies to improve student outcomes designed to assist in closing the achievement gap. For example, a report from State Superintendent’s Task Force on Wisconsin’s Achievement Gap called Promoting Excellence for All focuses on strategies for students of color while the School Mental Health Framework concentrates on positive development of students’ social and emotional competencies and mental health while Results Driven Accountability (RDA) centers on the educational results and functional outcomes for children with disabilities.
The Wisconsin RtI Center has not only placed equity at the center of the Wisconsin Framework for an Equitable, Multi-level System of Supports, they collaboratively developed the Model to Inform Culturally Responsive Practice as a means of examining beliefs, knowledge, and skills Wisconsin educators and schools need to cultivate to reach and teach diverse learners and achieve equity within their multi-level systems of supports. This is all couched in the state’s definition of equity.
So, while we have all of this information and these strategies, how might we engage as coaches and leaders?
A new resource, jointly crafted by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and its partners from the Wisconsin RtI Center/PBIS Network and The Disproportionality Technical Assistance Network (the Network) is intended to push your thinking about the specific role of coaching and leadership in advancing equity for each and every of Wisconsin’s students.
Coaching and Leadership for Equitable Outcomes offers information and strategies for your personal growth as a coach as well as rationale for the importance of this work in Wisconsin and how you might engage your stakeholders in the essential work of advancing equitable practices for all of Wisconsin’s learners.
We encourage you to lean in and be kind to yourself while remaining curious about not only what you need to learn but also, how you can use what you already know to begin or continue the journey toward equity.