On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law an education bill designed to ensure that, "From this day forward, all students will have a better chance to learn, to excel and to live out their dreams" ("Bush Signs Education Measure," 2002). He chose to sign this bill in what he considered to be one of the most important sites in America, a public school. Above him hung a sign with his campaign slogan on education, "No child left behind."

The signing of this bill made headlines. Now it is up to all stakeholders in education to see that new headlines follow. "Students in Inner City Schools Meet Standards of Excellence." "The Gap in Achievement Test Scores Between Minority and Majority Students Disappears!" "All Students Exit US Schools Ready to Enter College and the Workforce."

How will we go about making these headlines a reality? Well, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that there is a great deal of research and professional literature available to provide direction for such sweeping school reforms. The bad news is there is a great deal of research and professional literature available to provide direction, but there is no magic answer or "best prescribed path."

Those charged with leading our schools toward success for all learners can breathe a little easier, however, because there are some common practices which appear throughout the literature, are grounded in sound research, and are tested under a variety of conditions. Furthermore, there are better understandings of how to go about implementing such practices.

Building a System for Change

School reforms complex enough to alter headlines require a systemic approach, focusing on all aspects of education from the community, to the district, to the schools, to the classrooms. Any number of frameworks may be used to address the needs of students, but such frameworks must include consideration of both quality and equity. One such framework (Ten Essential System-Building Standards) was described by the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE), a consortium of state agencies primarily responsible for providing national leadership for sex equity in vocational education. Many of the practices and policies developed through sex equity funding, however, have been found to be equally advantageous for other groups. "Similar principles underlie efforts made toward improving the achievement and economic preparation of disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, English language learners, gifted students, and others" (NAPE).
Consistent with the North Central Association process for school improvement, NAPE recommends that schools use both academic standards AND system standards to accomplish their goals. Just changing or establishing rigorous content standards will not bring about high student achievement. All portions of the educational delivery system must be examined and improved to assure that all students meet the new content area expectations.

The following section will identify the NAPE's system standards and one of the indicators from each standard. The author's suggestions for practice are provided for each of the sample indicators. The reader should note that a thorough review of both NAPE and the Ten Essential System-Building Standards (with a complete list of indicators for each standard) may be found on the web at www.napequity.org/standards.pdf.

Standard 1: The Educational Environment. Educational environments are created that honor diversity and respect the individual.

Selected Indicator: Published documents, informational brochures, school-wide displays, and visual materials portray females and males of varied racial, ethnic, age, and ability groups in a variety of roles.

Suggestion: Schools may collect data on the environment using an instrument like the "School Classroom Environment" checklist provided by the Midwest Equity Assistance Center (http://mdac.educ.ksu.edu). This checklist asks you to examine the classroom by asking questions like: "Is diversity celebrated within the classrooms by the visual display of various racial/ethnic groups, age groups, economic groups, or men and women in non-traditional roles in the following places?" "Does the physical arrangement of the classroom seating reflect the differing learning styles that exist in the student population?" "Do the classrooms display the artwork of different cultures, whether done by the students or from other sources?" It continues with questions for the use of course materials, the library and school building, the main office, the cafeteria, the staff, and the students. A checklist of this nature would serve as a more systematic guide for examination of the environment and could be used both as baseline data upon entering the improvement cycle and as evidence of efforts to improve the environment at the end of the cycle. While in the end, it is student achievement evidence that is most desired, these data provide information for enhancing the academic initiatives.

Standard 2: Issues of Governance and Policy. Educational leaders assure equity in governance.

Selected Indicator: Administrators are evaluated on their support and incorporation of equity standards.

Suggestion: Districts may want to revise both formative and summative evaluation processes for administrators to ensure the inclusion of a goal area or an item on the evaluation instrument involving equity. If educators maintain this is an issue of critical importance, everyone in the system must be held accountable for practicing in ways supportive of diverse learners. Superintendents may wish to alter formal evaluation instruments or processes or administrators could voluntarily collect data from peers, their staff, and parents to determine strengths and areas needing improvement on the part of the administrator.

Standard 3: Preservice and Inservice Education. Preservice and inservice education equips faculty, administrators, and staff with the skills needed to teach and work with diverse student populations and communities.

Selected Indicator: Information is provided to educational staff regarding local, regional, and national workshops, conferences, and professional development opportunities related to diversity and equity issues. Equitable support is provided for participation in those activities.

Suggestion: Many districts now use staff development funds to pay for university classes leading to endorsements in areas such as Bilingual Education or English Language Learners. Others have funded teachers to attend training and required those teachers to return to their home districts and conduct seminars with other staff members. Information about such training opportunities includes local colleges and universities, national organizations, and various assistance centers (Equity Assistance Centers, Comprehensive Assistance Centers, Regional Resource Centers for Special Education, Regional Technology in Education Consortia, Regional Educational Laboratories, and Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Consortia) located throughout the United States and easily contacted via the Internet.

Standard 4: Teaching Practices. Fair and impartial teaching practices are incorporated into classrooms to facilitate the academic achievement of all students.

Selected Indicator: Teaching strategies and methods address the learning styles of each student.

Suggestion: Schools may wish to select a strategy or approach to teaching that emphasizes the use of multiple strategies. The Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development has recently published books worthy of consideration for changing teaching practices. One such text, So Each May Learn. Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences (Silver, Strong, & Perini, 2000), would serve as an excellent resource first to create an awareness of multiple intelligences and learning styles and then to provide suggestions for integrating good practices into the curriculum, instruction, and assessments.

Standard 5: Assessment Practices. Fair and impartial assessment practices are incorporated into classrooms and testing programs.

Selected Indicator: Assessment strategies are sensitive to how students learn (e.g., written, verbal, kinesthetic, and/or visual) and are administered in a manner that permits individual students to demonstrate mastery of content.

Suggestion: The text, Meeting the Needs of Students of All Abilities. How Leaders go Beyond Inclusion (Capper, Frattura, & Keyes, 2000), contains a chapter on standards-based assessment which provides many good ideas about conducting standardized, performance-based, functional, and individualized assessments and discusses a proactive assessment process in a 'context of belonging.' Their handout on ''Standards, Curriculum, and Assessment Template for All Students" could be amended for use in almost any program. It provides a format for capturing (and ensuring) the use of multiple methods of instruction, assessment options, and performance levels.

Standard 6: Evaluation of Personnel and Curricular Materials. Curricula and personnel are evaluated to ensure that issues of equity and diversity are consistently addressed.

Selected Indicator: Teacher-student interaction patterns are studied to promote equitable involvement with every student.

Suggestion: Two successful programs frequently used to address interaction patterns include Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA, http://mdac.educ.ksu.edu/ MDAC/services/programs/tesa.html) and Gender/Ethnic Expectations and Student Achievement (GESA, http://mdac.educ.ksu.edu/MDAC/services/programs/gesa.html). TESA examines areas of disparity in student/teacher interaction and helps teachers acquire skills needed to study such disparity. GESA focuses on five areas of disparity in schools (instructional contact, grouping, classroom management, enhancing self esteem, and evaluation) and helps teachers look at the impact of gender, race, and ethnic biases on their teaching and discover what happens when they reduce bias. Many other similar programs exist and staff developers will want to consider the evidence of effectiveness and the requirements (cost, time involved) before selecting one for use.

Standard 7: Individualized Educational Planning. Data on student achievement and programs are collected and evaluated to ensure that all groups benefit from educational practices and policies.

Selected Indicator: A data collection system clearly identifies the educational progress of all students; information is disaggregated to identify performance of all population groups.

Suggestion: The use of the "Education Equity Checklist" designed by the Midwest Equity Assistance Center would serve as an efficient way to collect data on numerous issues related not only to student progress but also to the entire educational process. It provides a format for tallying or recording data (by ethnic group or any other category pertinent to a school or district) on such issues as suspensions, discipline referrals, participation in extracurricular activities, enrollments in college preparatory curriculum, and enrollments in advanced placement courses. Further, the checklist asks whether certain identification, placement, and exit criteria for English Language Learners are in place, whether certain types of information are available to all students, and whether the district has provided various forms of support. Again, this checklist could be amended to suit the specific needs of a district or school and ensure that many issues were examined.

Standard 8: The Allocation of Financial Resources. The entire learning curriculum is available to all students through comprehensive, individualized planning and course selection.

Selected Indicator: Mentoring and support groups exist for students who enroll in non-traditional classes.

Suggestion: The use of retired teachers, pre-service teachers, and community volunteers to establish a mentoring program has been effective in some schools. As with any mentoring initiative, great care must be given to issues such as identification of mentors and mentees, training and support for mentors, and clarification of roles and expectations.

Standard 9: Data Collection and Accountability. Financial resources, facilities, and staffing are allocated in ways that provide opportunity and success for all students.

Selected Indicator: Equity issues are considered when educators are recruited (e.g., teachers of ethnic minorities, male elementary educators, female math and science teachers, qualified teachers for rural areas).

Suggestion: "Grow your own" approaches to staffing are becoming popular for resolving shortages of qualified personnel in under-represented areas. Many universities have received federal funds to support minority students entering the teaching field. Some districts have developed contracts with 'hometown' graduates. Under these contracts, financial support is provided with the stipulation that the students return to teach in their communities for a specified period of time.

Standard 10: Partnership Building with Community/Business/Parents. Parents/ caregivers, community organizations, business/industry, and schools work together as partners to promote academic achievement and inclusive learning environments.

Selected Indicator: Outreach activities (e.g., newsletter, open houses, workshops) empower parents, partners, and caregivers to become involved in the student's education.

Suggestion: Numerous lists of 'tips' or 'ideas' for including the community and motivating parent involvement exist. Not all ideas work in all settings, and it is helpful for a wide representation of stakeholders to generate such a list for their own community. To get started on the process, some suggestions would include: