Equity Plan (View and Print ALL FAQs)

Equity Plan Requirements:

Which districts are required to complete an Equity Plan?

As a federal requirement, all districts that receive Title I funds must complete an Equity Plan.

Do Districts of Innovation need to complete an Equity Plan?

Yes, if a DOI receives Title I funds, the DOI must complete an equity plan.

Equity Plan Template and Submission:

Where can I locate the submission template?

The template that districts will submit is the District Roadmap Reporting Template. This can be found in the About The Toolkit section on the website
Please note that for the 2018-2019 process, we have provided differentiated templates for districts with three or fewer campuses (Small District) and those with four or more campuses (Large District).

Do districts need to update the equity plan throughout the year?

No, but they should be monitoring throughout the year.

When and where should the plan be submitted?

The Equity Plan should be submitted on ISAM by November 1, 2018. Step by step instructions on how to submit the Equity Plans can be found on Equity Plan Submission Guidelines on the homepage of the Equity Toolkit.
Please note that the Equity Plan process for the 2018-2019 school year has been modified. Please see the Equity Plan Process for 2018-2019 at the top of the Texas Equity Toolkit for details.

Data Collection and Analysis – Gathering Data:

When examining data for the equity plan submitted on Nov. 1st, which year’s data should districts be referencing?

All data used to develop the equity plan submitted Nov. 1, 2018 should be 2017-2018 data. This includes percentages of students in poverty/students of color, teacher years of experience/out of field status, and effective teaching measures.

What types of data should districts examine when determining equity gaps?

Districts will need data for the percentages of out-of-field and inexperienced teachers for each campus.
Districts will need to define effective teaching on their Equity Plan and will also need the data that they used to inform their analysis in relation to effective teaching.
A list of all relevant data sources can be found in the Step 2 Toolkit Appendix 2.

What types of campuses should be included when examining equity gaps?

For large districts (4 campuses or more), districts must examine data across all campuses in calculating the district equity gap, regardless of individual campuses’ Title I status. These districts will create quartiles to examine their data and record it in Table A of Step 2 of the Toolkit.
For small districts (3 campuses or less), districts must only analyze data for Title I campuses. These districts can record their data in Table B of Step 2 of Toolkit.

How should districts with a single outlier campus (i.e. a campus with a couple of students, a campus with no teachers) move forward with their equity gap analysis?

We encourage districts to use their best judgement in equity gap analysis. If including a 4th campus will drastically skew the district’s quartile data, the district is at liberty to exclude the single, outlier campus from the data analysis.

What steps should I take if my district has no equity gap in out-of-field and inexperienced?

If a district calculates that they have no equity gap or a negative gap in out-of-field and inexperienced, they should focus on their definition of effective teaching and whether gaps exist there (OOF and inexperienced are just two of three measures and really proxies for effective teaching).
Districts with no equity gap in OOF and inexperienced, should also look at student learning, can the district confirm with 100% confidence that all students are learning at commensurate and appropriate rates – including low-income and students of color? The district can use the data points for student learning listed in Step 2, Appendix B.

Although it is not required, districts also may want to consider calculating equity gaps for additional student groups (special education, ELLs, chronic absenteeism, etc). This task is especially relevant to districts that have homogenous student populations. For example, a district may have more than 90% of its students classified as low-income and students of color. More information in Step 2, Part 2.

When will the state equity gap data be updated?

State equity gap data is now available on the equity website under the State Equity Reports section.

Data Collection and Analysis – Defining Effective Teaching:

What types of data should districts examine when developing their definition of effective teaching?

Districts should choose at least one measure from each of the three categories (teacher performance, student learning, and student engagement) to inform their analysis of equity gaps in relation to effective teaching, provided data is available in each category. If a district does not collect data in each of those three categories, it is suggested that one of the district’s strategies is the creation and/or implementation of a collection process for pertinent equity data.

Are districts required to report the data points that they used to calculate their equity gap in effective teaching?

While districts are required to report the measures that they’ve selected to define effective teaching and any overarching takeaways, they are not required to report specific data points regarding equity gaps in this category.

Can districts complete the remainder of the Equity Plan process using the equity gap data from effective teaching, although it was NOT recorded in the template?

Yes, districts can continue the remainder of the Equity Plan process using the data points from effective teaching.

General Questions:

Are districts required to complete each section (attracting, supporting, and retaining) of the Step 3: Conducting a Root Cause Analysis table?

Districts are not required to complete every section of the root cause analysis table. For example, if a district completes the equity gap analysis and reaches the conclusion that their special education teachers are not receiving enough support, that district can complete the “supporting” section of the table.

How many strategies should a district select?

• Districts should use their best judgement in selecting strategies that they can realistically implement. In some cases, a district may select only one strategy to implement.

Does the equity plan need to be reported publicly or approved by the school board?

There is no public reporting requirement, and there is no requirement for board approval.