1. Introduction
The Nation’s greatest resource for solving critical national problems in areas of national concern is its gifted and talented children. Unless the special abilities of gifted and talented children are developed during their elementary and secondary school years, their special potential for assisting the Nation may be lost. Furthermore, the United States Congress in 1972 clarified that gifted and talented children from economically disadvantaged families and areas are often not afforded the opportunity to fulfill their special and valuable potential, due to inadequate or inappropriate educational services. This teaching case study provides a framework for using an equity audit to address gifted and talented inequities. The setting is based in a school in Texas; therefore, applicable laws are addressed in the narrative of the case study.
2. Review of Literature
School leaders have a heavy responsibility and moral obligation to provide an equitable fair and, more importantly, ensure equality for all students. School leaders have a responsibility and moral obligation to make honest and unbiased decisions, ensuring equality for all students. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines equity as “fairness or justice in the way people should be treated… freedom from bias or favoritism” as equality is defined as “the quality or state of being equal: the quality or state of having the same rights, social status” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.a, n.d.b) . In a school, each student shall be treated fairly and provided a climate that embraces all students having the same rights and equal opportunities. Furthermore, leaders shall not discriminate or harass any student based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Research suggests there is a lack of equity involving minority students in schools (Palmer et al., 2019; De Valenzuela et al., 2006) . De Valenzuela et al. (2006) found a disproportionate representation of minority students placed in special education and implied that minority students’ educational opportunities are restricted. School leaders should learn to identify any disproportionate data on all students, including minority students, and address the equity issue. Skrla et al. (2004: p. 155) recommended, “Educators in schools and districts start using equity audits to increase equity within the school system. We also recommend that professors in leadership preparation programs teach their students about this tool and ways to use it”. Skrla et al. (2004) re-conceptualized the equity audit into three main areas: teacher quality, educational programs, and student achievement. Components of the equity audit may include student and teacher demographics, discipline data, years of teaching experience, student groups’ percentages such as gifted and talented, and student achievement. Skrla et al. (2004) conclude that a ten-percentage point difference is considered an inequality. Table 1 illustrates perceived inequities based on the ten-percentage point rule.
In this example, the inequity would be White teachers and African American teachers are disproportionate when comparing ethnicity from the campus to the district. As this may be considered an inequity based on the ten-percentage point rule, there are other factors to consider. In this example, comparing the student ethnicity with the teacher ethnicity on that same campus would reveal a more accurate reflection of inequity. Look at Table 2 below to see what the disproportionality may tell.
Leading conversations with teachers to change their teaching practices can be challenging. The equity audit is a driver to engage in any difficult conversations; essentially, the data becomes the focal point of the discussion. However, Bocola and Boudett (2022) tell us that inequities may be challenging to see clearly and suggest that there should be a collaborative effort with stakeholders to have a sense of the shared “why”. Bambrick-Santoyo (2018) provides other methods to analyze a school’s data, and that is to assess the school culture. What does the culture look and sound like in a school? How do teachers and students communicate during passing periods or in the lunchroom? What does the school entrance look like when parents enter the school? Is it perceived as positive or negative?
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Table 1. Example of ethnicity comparison between students and teachers.
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Table 2. Example of personnel by ethnicity.
These are all guiding questions to assess the school’s culture and climate. Gooden et al. (2022) refer to the equity audit as a comprehensive needs assessment, which includes “quantitative data, interviews, surveys, environmental scans, and service delivery maps” (website).
The data in Table 2 reveal an inequity involving white versus Hispanic teachers in relation to the actual number of white students compared to Hispanic students. In this example, the implication is there are more white teachers than Hispanic teachers, so the teacher demographic does not accurately mirror the students’ ethnicity. To take the data dig to a deeper level would focus on the relationship with attendance, discipline referrals, student groups’ population, and academic performance by the Texas accountability reporting categories of did not meet, approaches, meets, and masters. The conductor of the equity audit can then further examine and determine whether an inequity is occurring, analyze the potential causes, and collaboratively work with stakeholders to devise an action plan, implement interventions, and progress monitor the results (Scheurich & Skrla, 2003; Palmer et al., 2019) .
3. Narrative of the Case Study
In 1987, the first elementary school within the district identified now as a Fine Arts Academy was established. The campus was meant to serve the fast-growing subdivision that created retail development and single-family and multi-family home neighborhoods. Since the creation of the campus, the elementary school has tripled in size from 300 students to 950 students. Since its establishment, the focus has been on meeting the diverse needs of a changing community. The elementary school had a desperate need for a new plan of change because it faced closure.
The school’s vision focuses on excellence, commitment, and family as it strives to be the destination school for elementary fine arts. Consequently, the Fine Arts Academy was born. Students enrolled in the school district are provided school choice to attend the Fine Arts Academy located in a heavily populated metroplex. A highlight of the Fine Arts Academy is its Gifted and Talented (GT) program.
As used within the Texas Education Code (1995: §29.121) , a gifted student is a child or youth who performs at or shows the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age, experience, or environment and who exhibits high-performance capability in an intellectual, creative, or artistic area; possesses an unusual leadership capacity; or excels in a specific academic field. Each school district is responsible for adopting a process for identifying and serving gifted and talented students in the district and must establish a program for those students in each grade level. Districts shall develop written policies on student identification that are approved by the local board of trustees and disseminated to parents (Texas Administrative Code, 1996: §89.1) . Here, the elementary campus’s Gifted and Talented (GT) program is conducted through a pull-out program for all Grades 1 - 5. A certified GT specialist teaches gifted students throughout the school year. In Texas, “the State Board of Education shall develop and periodically update a state plan for the education of gifted and talented students to guide school districts in establishing and improving programs for identified students” (Texas Education Code, 1995: §29.123) . In this district, GT students are required to participate in the Texas Performance Standards Project (TPSP). The project allows GT students to investigate particular topics of interest by developing sophisticated projects. As established on the TPSP website, the benefits of using this program include:
The Texas Performance Standards Project (TPSP) pilots at Grade 4, Grade 8, and exit level indicated that the system can help districts evaluate and improve services for Gifted/Talented (G/T) students in all areas, including identification, professional development, curriculum and instruction, and student and program assessment. Study findings indicated that use of TPSP materials can support the following:
· GT instruction that is rigorous, relevant, and appropriately challenging and that includes options in the four foundations as well as enrichment subjects;
· Growth in student content knowledge and confidence;
· Student skill development in oral communication, inquiry and research processes, analysis and synthesis;
· Preparation for advanced courses in Grade 10 and beyond;
· Teacher professional growth and differentiation for GT instruction; and
· Parent involvement (Texas Performance Standards Project, n.d.) .
4. Role of the Principal Intern
The principal intern described in this study is a participant in a university-district partnership. This is a 15-month job-embedded principal preparation residency program with partnering school districts in Texas. The principal preparation residency program aims to equip aspiring leaders with robust, authentic instructional leadership experiences. A non-negotiable part of participating in the program is for the intern to serve on a different campus than they previously served as a teacher.
During the internship experience, the principal intern provides instructional and pedagogical support for two teachers through instructional coaching and specific feedback for interventions. This process allows the principal intern to lead equitable education for special populations, including gifted students. The principal intern is responsible for conducting four Pre-conference, Observation, and Post-conference (POP) cycles using the Texas Teacher Evaluation Support System (T-TESS), an evidence-based rubric. During the POP cycles, the intern focuses on the teacher’s knowledge of their students. The intern uses stem-based questions to lead critical conversations during the POP focused on improving student achievement for all students, including the GT students. Further, the intern learns to advocate for high-need students on campus and lead conversations with multiple stakeholders involved with the learning of special population students.
Further, the principal intern conducts equity audits for their assigned campus and identifies inequities for special populations by gender and ethnicity within the Emergent Bilinguals, Special Education, 504, and GT programs. Once the disparities are identified, each principal intern engages their stakeholders in a root cause analysis to identify the root of the problem. This practice is followed by each intern creating an action plan for their assigned teachers utilizing school improvement concepts found within the Effective Schools Framework (ESF). The ESF concepts guide the actions’ plans, and the principal intern memorializes the plan within the Texas Accountability Intervention System (TAIS). Each intern addresses the root cause of the problem by drafting Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timebound (SMART) goals and interventions as part of their action plans for each teacher. The goals and interventions are drafted alongside each teacher to ensure the intern has the buy-in from the teacher. The TAIS instrument was initially designed as a school turnaround framework and improvement tool for schools that did not meet the accountability standards set forth by the Texas Education Agency (n.d.) . Here, it is used as a proactive framework to create action plans that instructional leaders could effectively use to guide and monitor SMART goals focused on improving student achievement. As a result of the interns’ intentional efforts to improve student achievement, as memorialized within these action plans, gifted students benefit because there is a focus to ensure that all special populations found within each teacher’s classroom thrive.
A key part of each intern’s action plan involves progress monitoring. A school year within the TAIS action plan is divided into four quarters. At the end of each quarter, the intern meets with each teacher, collaboratively engages the teacher in a data talk focused on student achievement and identifies refinements for the upcoming quarter. The process is known as progress monitoring and helps the intern guide teacher-driven action steps for the upcoming quarter. Each teacher-driven action step is analyzed using authentic data relevant to the teacher’s quarterly and annual SMART goals. Progress monitoring aims to help each intern identify adult-focused action steps that are working and not working within each quarterly cycle. As part of the progress monitoring, each intern identifies areas of refinement at the end of each quarter, which is then included as either a new quarterly goal or an action step within the upcoming quarter. Common interventions for improving gifted education include incorporating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) concepts, higher-order thinking questioning, and goals for attaining mastery level of the content curriculum. In this case study, the focus is on the performance of the gifted and talented students as analyzed by the desegregated data provided in an equity audit.
5. Perception of the Principal Intern
Due to the nature of this case study and protecting the privacy of the principal intern, the individual described in this section provides a perspective through a first-person narrative.
I have been teaching in this school district for ten years and my current school has a very telling history. It was only about five years ago that our school was low in enrollment and was in talks of being shut down, and the district had an idea to boost enrollment by making it into our first Fine Arts Academy. Over the next five years, the school has tripled in growth. Currently, a large percentage of our school is comprised of district and employee children. We also have several students whose parents serve the city and the school board. The school now has lived under the “flagship” reputation and is considered the best of the best.
I am grateful to be assigned to a campus with a leader who exhibits great attributes. She has been a principal for 19 years and is very knowledgeable about the policies and operations of the campus and our district. She also has shown great insight in dealing with conflict among close colleagues and friends with whom she has long-standing relationships.
I have learned very critical skills about data immersion: I’ve learned that this is the basis of all qualitative or quantitative decisions. I have observed and learned how to allow yourself to be submerged in data to understand it better and allow your teachers to understand better—coming from a Pre-K-only campus. This was my principal’s first year learning how the new state accountability system is tied to growth and STAAR data. She solicited help from various district personnel to help her understand the data system better and transfer that knowledge to the staff so that we could all speak the same accountability language and see the impact our daily practice has on data. She is also very hands-on in using the data to make schedule changes, teacher placement, and budget decisions.
Upon completing the research for the equity audit, it was very eye-opening to see the significant inequities present on our campus. This solidified my perspective that there has to be a shift in the mindset. We can’t just be comfortable with focusing on the passing rate. Although there is a heavy trend of passing, there is not a heavy trend of growth. This lack of growth was shown to be more prevalent in the high-performing students. I noticed that teachers were not made to desegregate data and use it intentionally for planning. Teachers were also not involved in data meetings and other ways of monitoring and tracking growth for our students.
The equity audit showed the lack of accountability for growth with all students of all abilities.
Upon beginning the school year and looking at our accountability rating also solidified that we cannot just base our success on the passing rate of students. My perception of schools has changed due to this program and the equity audit. It provides a deep analysis to identify inequities and the root causes and how to specifically address them using the data and research-based practices to impact growth positively. It has made me look at not what I can do alone but what measures we can put in place as a campus to be accountable for students’ growth in all areas.
6. Data from the Equity Audit
Mary, the pseudonym of the principal intern, conducted an equity audit at the beginning of the principal residency program. Based on the data from her equity audit, Mary spent her principal preparation residency program creating and progress monitoring six action plans over the 15th-month job-embedded residency program. This included one Professional Learning Community (PLC), two teachers in need of assistance, one Emergent Bilingual student, one special education student, and one (504) student. Tables 3-8 below represent the data presented in the equity audit, which provides a framework for the data focusing on the gifted and talented population.
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Table 3. Teacher ethnicity compared to student ethnicity.
Note: Table is adapted from the Principal Intern’s PowerPoint equity audit presentation.
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Table 4. Student discipline referrals and attendance rates.
Note: Table is adapted from the Principal Intern’s PowerPoint equity audit presentation.
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Table 5. Programmatic breakdown of student groups.
Note: Table is adapted from the Principal Intern’s PowerPoint equity audit presentation.
Note: Table is adapted from the Principal Intern’s PowerPoint equity audit presentation.
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Table 7. Student achievement percentages.
Note: Table is adapted from the Principal Intern’s PowerPoint equity audit presentation.
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Table 8. Analysis of student performance in relation to the gifted and talented performance.
Note: Table above is reflected by the quarterly campus data and STAAR data from the 2019 and 2021 assessments. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, STAAR (i.e. state assessment) did not occur in 2020. The data represented is overall percentage for the student group.
The gifted and talented student enrollment is 18%, 153 students, for this campus. The gifted and talented students perform higher on reading and mathematics tests. The data also indicates zero discipline issues with the gifted and talented population. The inequity is in the distribution of enrollment. There are 39% white students enrolled in the gifted and talented program, while only 24 percent are Hispanic and 23 percent African American. Overall, the campus population is 28 percent Hispanic, 33 percent African American and 22 percent White. This indicates an overrepresentation of White students enrolled in the gifted and talented program compared to their peers.
7. Conclusion
Equity audits drive difficult conversations based on data, grounded in improving instruction and ultimately outcomes for students. In this case, study conducted by a principal intern serving in a job-embedded principal preparation residency program, the data focused on the gifted and talented population. The special abilities of this student population require knowledgeable and flexible instructional techniques to garner positive outcomes at the highest level possible. The principal intern in the case study utilized many procedural processes and organizational platforms to prepare an equity audit focused on the gifted and talented population in a Fine Arts Academy. In the case study, data outlined in the equity audit included the campus ethnicity percentages, programmatic breakdown of student groups and enrollment, student achievement percentages by ethnicity, and STAAR outcomes in relation to the gifted and talented students. The data indicated that gifted and talented students performed higher on the reading and mathematics tests than their peers. The inequity that was identified in the equity audit was grounded in enrollment with an overrepresentation of white students compared to their peers. Using the outcomes of the equity audit, teachers and administrators can make informed decisions to create a more equitable and fair system for enrollment in the gifted and talented program.
8. Standard 4: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Effective educational leaders develop and support intellectually rigorous and coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
Effective leaders:
Implement coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment that promote the mission, vision, and core values of the school, embody high expectations for student learning, align with academic standards, and are culturally responsive.
· Align and focus systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment within and across grade levels to promote student academic success, love of learning, the identities and habits of learners, and healthy sense of self.
· Promote instructional practice that is consistent with knowledge of child learning and development, effective pedagogy, and the needs of each student.
· Ensure instructional practice that is intellectually challenging, authentic to student experiences, recognizes student strengths, and is differentiated and personalized.
· Promote the effective use of technology in the service of teaching and learning.
· Employ valid assessments that are consistent with knowledge of child learning and development and technical standards of measurement.
· Use assessment data appropriately and within technical limitations to monitor student progress and improve instruction (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2015: p. 12) .
9. Discussion Questions and Teaching Notes
Mary conducted an equity audit over her 15th-month job-embedded internship. As illustrated above in the tables, Mary, was able to gather a complete picture of the campus as she conducted her internship. Analyze the tables above and the examples portrayed in the narrative of defining what an inequity is. After analyzing the tables and examples, answer the following statements or questions below.
1) Describe the surface-level problems within this case study using qualitative indicators.
2) Describe the surface-level problems within this case study using quantitative indicators.
3) Who are the stakeholders that are closest to the problem?
4) Identify key questions that can be asked of the stakeholders to help them identify the root cause of the problem.
5) What do you believe is the root cause of the problem within this case study? Why?
6) Analyze and describe the context of the school and the intern’s perspective.
7) Analyze and describe the equity audit findings.
8) Analyze and describe the legal standards and policies involved in this case study.
9) What are the inequities of this case?
10) Provide evidence of why it would be an inequity.
11) With the inequities identified, create one annual SMART goal that school leaders should focus on to overcome the inequalities for gifted students.
12) With the inequities identified, create one quarterly SMART goal that school leaders should focus on to overcome the inequity for gifted students.
13) With the inequities identified, create four teacher-focused interventions that school leaders should focus on to support the annual and quarterly goals to overcome the inequity for gifted students.
14) Mary mentioned that a mind-shift in teacher perspectives needs to change. In what ways could Mary challenge the status quo and change teachers’ behaviors to improve gifted student outcomes?
Teaching notes
Steps in developing an action plan:
1) Using at least three years of data, identify why students are underperforming within a one-sentence problem statement.
2) Identify the stakeholders (teachers, aides, curriculum specialists, coordinators, directors, administrators) closest to the problem.
3) Create 8 to 10 questions in relation to the content and why students are underperforming.
4) Within a collaborative environment, present the three years of data and ask the stakeholders why students are underperforming within the context of the problem.
5) As a group, summarize the root cause of the problem within a one-sentence statement.
6) As a group, identify one overarching strategy to address the problem. Examples: higher-order thinking skills, student engagement, SEL training, etc.
7) As a group, draft a SMART annual goal and one SMART quarterly goal.
8) As a group, draft four teacher-focused interventions that include the overarching strategy.
9) As a group, identify the data that will be collected during the quarter for each of the teacher-focused interventions.
10) Create a timeline for each teacher-focused intervention within the quarter using the school calendar.
11) At the end of the quarter, collect data for each intervention as part of progress monitoring.
12) As a group, at the end of the quarter, identify what worked and what did not work for the quarter.
13) As a group, at the end of the quarter, identify areas of refinement for the upcoming quarter.
14) Remember that each school year will consist of four quarters—two quarters within fall and two quarters within spring. Initiate steps one through thirteen all over again for each quarter.
10. Class Activities
1) Analyze and report on a current school performance report card. Break into three groups on the three categories of an equity audit: teacher quality, programmatic, and student achievement. In each group, identify the possible inequities within your assigned category. In the whole group, report the findings and make the connections, if any, of the implications.
2) Discuss how gifted and talented students are identified on your campus in small groups. Next, read the laws and policies pertaining to how GT students should be identified and served. Compare the laws and policies with your actual campus’s practice to identify and serve GT students. If your practice does not reflect the laws and policies, describe ways to change your school’s practice.