My Ambitionz Az a ‘Rida’: Leading for Equity & Social Justice in the Atlanta Public Schools

Abstract

The Atlanta Public Schools is among the 100 largest school districts in the country. Its 51,600 students attend 87 schools spread throughout the city: 40 elementary schools, 9 middle, 11 high schools, 2 multi-grade alternative schools, and 25 charter schools. The student breakdown includes: 75% African American, 15% white, 7% Latino, and .2% Native American. In addition, 3% of the students are English Language Learners.

There are deep seeded inequities that exist amongst all student groups. A 2014 audit revealed substantial variations across schools in all areas where equity was examined. Most notable were the differences between facilities and funding in the more affluent, predominantly white schools in the north of the district and the poorer, predominantly Black schools in the south. The district has since taken steps to address these inequities. However, inequities continue in teacher quality, academic programming, student achievement, and discipline. As a result, in 2019, the Board of Education passed the district’s first equity policy and the administration developed a five-year strategic plan outlining eleven equity commitments that will guide the district’s efforts from 2020-2025.

As a resident, I worked with the Superintendent and senior leaders to support the implementation of the Board’s equity policy and district strategic plan. This included supporting the development of the district’s first equity office, which will be charged with leading the district’s efforts to disrupt the reproduction of racialized outcomes My strategic project entailed developing the plans and structures necessary to build the office, as well as assessing the opportunities and challenges inherent in cultivating the internal conditions necessary for the office to tackle the inequities that exist within the system, uncover their root causes, and address barriers to progress.

This Capstone examines this work and discusses the steps I took to build the organizational capacity needed to implement the district’s equity policy and strategic plan in a systemic and sustainable manner. It concludes with recommendations for systems leaders on how to successfully develop an organizational equity change strategy that is coherent and ensures all organizational elements—culture, systems, structures, resources, and stakeholders—are being used to enact a theory of change that is grounded in equity and aligned to a robust vision of excellent and culturally-responsive teaching.