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Listening Campaigns & Equity Analysis

Measure what you care about – and care about what you measure.

Education is a complex system comprised of numerous institutions and communities. It is influenced by the economy, housing, transportation, local cultures, internal politics and other dynamics. Sustainable improvement requires an awareness of how education systems work, attention to root causes, and a focus on empowering people to do what is needed to achieve better results.

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Listening Campaign

To launch our engagement with a school, district, or organization, we will often conduct a comprehensive Listening Campaign with key stakeholders (school leaders, board members, community leaders, parents, students, etc.).  The Listening Campaign surfaces diverse perspectives and concerns that are often unacknowledged but influential, and builds the necessary common language and community to understand and address systemic equity issues.

National Equity Project coaches conduct individual and group interviews in order to hear and document the varied perspectives of community members. We use the Listening Campaign to allow potentially silenced voices or muted perspectives to be integrated into the dialogue about the impact and influence of race, class, and culture on disparate educational outcomes.

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Key elements of a Listening Campaign include:

• Interviews (individual and group, primarily in person but also by phone as needed)
• Documentation, organization, and analysis of interview data
• Listening Campaign Data Report
• Presentation of the findings in appropriate forum(s)

The Listening Campaign Report summarizes transcribed interview data into emergent categories.  Click here to download a Sample Listening Campaign Report.

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Equity Analysis

In an Equity Analysis, National Equity Project staff collect, organize, and analyze school-based student outcome and experience data to reveal specific equity issues and achievement gaps.  The Equity Analysis will often reveal specifics about the types of achievement and experience gaps occurring to help answer the question: What does the data tell us about the specific equity challenges we need to address?

The targeted data will vary according to context but often includes the following outcomes disaagregated by race, gender, socio-economic status, and other relevant categories:

• A range of standardized test outcomes
• Course grades, D/F rates, GPA
• Disciplinary action data
• Attendance

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When part of a larger equity coaching engagement, we can present Listening Campaign and Equity Analysis findings together at a customized Leading for Equity Institute, which provides a facilitated space for exploring the results and planning action.