Equity in Action

In March, we are celebrating equity and collaboration in School District 46. Using our chosen values as monthly featured themes in our communication plan is one of the many ways that our district expresses our values with action.

In November 2020, SD46 entered into a Ministry of Education initiative called “Equity in Action.” Typically, this scan is a year-long assessment. However, we have been given permission to conduct this scan over three years. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to have richer and deeper dialogues. The intention is that this will be transformative as well as informative. In the text Appreciative Inquiry: A positive revolution in change, Cooperrider and Whitney (1999) state, “the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate and heighten positive potential” is the core of the intention for this process. The equity scan isn’t designed specifically as an appreciative inquiry, however, the process has the necessary ingredients to produce similar ripple effects and results for our
community!

The design is to ask stakeholder groups across the district a series of 32 equity-related questions that cover these quadrants: Governance and Policy, Pedagogical Core, Learning Environment and Learning Profile. In 2021, we begin with 11 of the 32 questions, continuing with the rest of the questions spread out over 2022 and 2023. The collected and collated data will give feedback on how we may best approach barriers to equity in our district. This is a wonderful example of how we enact the values of equity and
collaboration.

The steering committee, which includes a member of the ministry, will meet again on April 15, 2021, to monitor the progress. We are excited to see the results!