Equity in Wayzata Public Schools

Our equity commitment is a continuation of a decade of strategic planning.

• In 2011, we adopted a Strategic Road Map to clarify our district’s mission, vision, values and strategic direction.
  • Our board reviews and updates this document regularly.
  • Administrators and staff use this document to guide our work.
• In 2015 we added equity to our list of six core values.
  • Our definition of equity is:  Meeting the specific needs of all students.
• In 2020, we began work on the equity commitment document to clarify and guide our equity work.
  • January 2020 student leaders from the high school articulated the need for the district to do more around their diverse voices being heard and celebrated. 
• On April 12, 2021, the School Board unanimously approved the Equity Commitment document.
• On April 30, 2021, the Equity Commitment document was sent by email to all district families and staff.

Our development of the Equity Commitment followed the same rigorous and collaborative process that we followed to create the Strategic Road Map. The process took about 14 months.

• Our district leadership team developed the initial framework.
• We gathered input from a diverse group of over 200 staff members, including:
  • Teachers
  • School principals 
  • Support staff
  • District administrative leaders
  • School Board, as representatives of the community

Our Equity Commitment is an aspirational document to ensure that each and every student in Wayzata Public Schools receives a world-class education that prepares them to thrive today and excel tomorrow in an ever-changing global society. Like any organization focused on continuous improvement, our next steps will involve turning these aspirations into actions in a multi-year process including: 

• Gathering additional input from students, parents, staff and community members
• Examining current metrics for measuring progress
• Determining if additional metrics are needed
• Examining school district policies and practices

Meeting the specific needs of all students has always been a priority in Wayzata Public Schools. This comes through a variety of programs and resources to serve the unique needs of each and every student. Examples include, but are not limited to: 

• Comprehensive academic programming 
• School meals 
• Technology equipment 
• Transportation 
• Special Education services
• Testing accommodations
• Gifted and Talented programming
• Wide variety of arts, athletics and academic activities
• Early childhood and Transition programming

Standardized assessment data in Wayzata shows that our mission is not yet being realized for each and every student. Part of our work surrounding continuous improvement is to regularly review student performance data. When we see academic achievement discrepancies, it is our responsibility to take the initiative to learn and grow to ensure that all students in Wayzata Public Schools receive a world-class education.

Assessment Data Specific to Wayzata Public Schools

For further information, explore the Wayzata Public Schools data available on the Minnesota Department of Education Website. MDE Data

The district’s Strategic Roadmap is the foundation for our work. Additional resources that inform our work:

• We are building on the strategic direction of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). 
• We draw from the work of a number of respected institutions that share and compile research, including, but not limited to:
  • Solution Tree
  • Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
  • Learning Forward
• We also draw upon numerous resources about organizational design of educational and non-educational organizations including non-profits, small businesses, corporations and the benefits realized from their focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
• As individuals and as an organization our focus is on continuous improvement and lifelong learning. For example, 80% of our teachers have obtained degrees beyond their bachelors (79% Masters, 1% Doctorate).

Our ultimate outcome is to fulfill our mission: To deliver a world-class education that prepares each and every student to thrive today and excel tomorrow in an ever-changing global society. We evaluate how we are doing by tracking our progress in four strategic directions: Achievement, Each and Every, Personalization, Health and Well-Being.

• One of our next steps is to determine which existing metrics would best assess our progress. Examples of existing metrics include: annual student engagement survey, course enrollment data, and local and state assessments by demographics.
• From there we will determine what additional metrics might be needed.

Our equity work is embedded in the day-to-day work of our district’s teachers, staff, and administrators. 

• There is no specific equity budget as equity is connected to all that we do.
• The General Fund is the primary source of funding for our district’s staff and our teaching and learning functions, including our embedded equity work, which focuses on the needs of each and every student. Equity is for all students, so all dollars support this work.
• Equity is meeting the needs of all learners. Toward that, we receive specially targeted state and federal funding. Use of these funds are defined by state and federal parameters to meet specific student needs, including:
  • Special Education
  • Gifted Education
  • English Learner Programs
  • Achievement and Integration Programming
  • American Indian Education Aid
  • Physical/Mental Health Services
• The district’s equity work is coordinated by the Director of Equity and Inclusion and is a part of the Human Resources department. There are staff across the district that provide further support and guidance as part of their roles as building leaders. We have staff at each school building and within multiple departments serving as leaders to support the embedding of equity to meet the needs of all students. Staff taking on these professional development leadership roles may be paid stipends based on their employment contracts. For staff that are full-time, 12-month employees there is no additional compensation. For staff that are part-time and/or 10-month employees there is compensation up to $800 per contract year.  In total this is approximately  0.1% of the General Fund budget to support staff salaries and stipends. 
• Partners for Healthy Kids also provides local grant funding. This is a federally funded Family Services Collaborative of stakeholders from many sectors in our local and surrounding communities.

The work of our teachers and district staff will continue to be guided by our Strategic Road Map, as well as the Equity Commitment which grew out of that roadmap. 

• The equity work contributes to on-going professional growth and development for teachers and district staff. All such contributions have been guided by our Strategic Roadmap. 
• This has included professional development related to building relationships in classrooms that strengthen learning and increasing teacher strategies that engage a wide array of learners. 
• We do not teach Critical Race Theory to teachers or students. It is not part of our curriculum.

There are no proposed policy changes at this time. We are still in the process of evaluating our policies and metrics. That process will include gathering additional feedback from students, parents and staff.

We believe this work will help us better prepare students for college and the workplace in an ever-changing global society.

• Teachers will use their expertise to create a safe, welcoming and nurturing classroom environment where students can share information about themselves and feel a sense of belonging. 
• Teachers will not require students to share their identity, nor will they tolerate shaming of any identity.
• Students will have an opportunity to examine and deepen their understanding of the world and one another.

There are no proposed curriculum changes at this time. 

We have a district curriculum review process that guides when we review each content area. This cycle is built around the Minnesota Department of Education’s cycle for reviewing content area standards. In accordance with Minnesota State Statute the standards for each content area are reviewed and revised generally on a 10-year schedule approved by the Minnesota legislature or as required . As district curriculum arises in this cycle, we will use the lens of our Equity Commitment to make sure we are meeting the unique needs of each and every student.

Anti-Racist

A person who opposes racism and takes action to eliminate racism at individual, institutional and structural levels.

A person’s cognitive bias is formed by neural pathways that cause them to be inclined to hold certain perspectives. The pattern-seeking mechanisms of our brain are automatic and operate with or without our conscious awareness. Once these patterns form, they continue to influence how we interact with new information. As a result we may hold cognitive biases even if we do not mean to.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina

We do not teach Critical Race Theory to teachers or students. It is not part of our curriculum. 

Critical race theory is a concept that is more than 40 years old. The basic tenets of critical race theory, or CRT, emerged from a framework for legal analysis in the late 1970s and early 1980s by legal scholars.

American Bar Association

In Wayzata Public Schools we are guided by our vision to create exceptional student learning, experiences and relationships. This includes staff and students appreciating themselves and their own culture, appreciating the cultures of others, and building skills to navigate productively across our differences. This is key to preparing students to thrive today and excel tomorrow in an ever-changing global society.

Giving all students the same thing, without considering unique student needs.

A combination of interrelated elements consciously designed to meet the unique needs of all of the people it affects.

Meeting the specific needs of all students.

Examples could include:  Intervention and Gifted and Talented programming.  Equity focuses on specific needs, thus is in alignment with our strategic roadmap of each and every.

This definition is in alignment with the Minnesota Department of Education, which states: Educational equity is the condition of justice, fairness and inclusion in our systems of education so that all students have access to the opportunities to learn and develop to their fullest potential.

“In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.” — Carol Dweck, 2015

“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” — Carol Dweck, 2015

The awareness that some discomfort is necessary in order to change. — Productive Discomfort: A Tiny Guide

For example, discomfort is produced when we examine our data and see that it does not meet our goals. We can transform that discomfort into productive discomfort by engaging in hard conversations focused on improving our instruction to meet the unique needs of all students.

• Productive Discomfort
• The only time you are actually growing is when you're uncomfortable
• Productive Discomfort: Tiny Guide
• The Key to School Change: Getting Comfortable With Discomfort
• Coined by Daniel Pink “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” (Riverhead, 2011)

Each of us has many overlapping identities, including gender. Correctly using someone’s preferred pronouns is a way that we respect that part of their identity. 

Individuals in our community sharing their preferred pronouns is one way we can deliver on our vision to create welcoming, nurturing and safe environments where all are valued for who they are and the contributions they make.

nonbinary gender pronouns : quick help : student writing support : center for writing : university of minnesota

A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. — Merriam Webster

Structures, practices and policies that maintain systems of racial inequity.

For example, when we  consistently see different outcomes among racial groups  we need to examine which structures, practices and policies might be contributing to those disparate outcomes.