Funders’ Collaborative for Innovative Measurement
For the Funders’ Collaborative for Innovative Measurement, a workgroup of Grantmakers for Thriving Youth, PSA is conducting a field scan that explores the connections between measurement and structural inequities and identifies bright spots where K-12 and out-of-school time education organizations are reflecting, innovating, and implementing new measurement practices as part of efforts to dismantle these inequities. With a focus on understanding the process and decisions around measurement, PSA’s scan is exploring both the ways in which measurement is being used to inform shifts in policies and practices, and the ways in which organizations are rethinking measurement practices through an equity lens.
Third Settlements
PSA is partnering with Third Settlements to support a range of organizational DEI projects. These projects include conducting a landscape analysis around DEI in global corporate philanthropy; facilitating organizational equity sessions; and engaging in organizational equity audits across the philanthropic, corporate, and nonprofit sectors.
Case Study of Surrey Schools
PSA is partnering with the Surrey Schools (British Columbia) and the Center for Global Education at Asia Society to develop a case study of strategies that support the implementation of equity-driven, anti-racist policies and practices, grounded in the experiences of Surrey schools during the Covid-19 pandemic. This case study is designed as a practical resource that offers concrete exemplars of how to implement and operationalize a commitment to equity in the day-to-day practice of instruction and supports for children and families.
System Strategies to Advance Educational Equity
PSA reported on lessons from a learning cohort of districts focused on strategies for dismantling systemic barriers facing students, families, and educators for the Center for Global Education (CGE) at Asia Society, in partnership with Digital Promise and support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. During the 2019-20 school year, CGE invited teams from ten districts—members of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools—to join a learning cohort focused on policies and practices to foster more equitable school systems. This learning cohort fostered dialogue and peer-sharing through a series of webinars and a two-day study tour of the Toronto District School Board. PSA documented the reflections of system leaders and emerging strategies for articulating and operationalizing the district commitments to equity. The PSA report provides concrete examples of the ways in which districts are taking steps toward designing more equitable school systems.
System Strategies to Advance Educational Equity: Lessons from a District Cohort
NAA Building Capacity of Leaders of Color
As part of a National Afterschool Association (NAA) initiative focused on building the capacity of leaders of color, funded by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, PSA authored a research review on strengthening diversity among afterschool leaders, drawing on research from the broader nonprofit and human services field as well as from an analysis of survey data on the characteristics and experiences of NAA members. This review examined data that highlighted racial inequities in the leadership of youth-serving nonprofits and informed the development and implementation of a professional learning community for emerging leaders of color.
The Afterschool Leadership Landscape: Supporting and Strengthening Racial Equity
Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium
PSA served as the evaluator of the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium. A federally-funded Equity Center, the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium provides technical assistance to help districts tackle the work of identifying inequitable policies and practices and developing and implementing new, more equitable ones. The Consortium’s work targets racial, gender, sexual orientation, and language inequities. The PSA evaluation explored the effectiveness of the Consortium’s work in achieving its goals of raising awareness of equity issues and in helping school and district leaders adopt and implement policies that address some of the root causes of access and outcome gaps in student academic engagement and performance.
ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC)
Since 2016, PSA has played a central role in documenting the work of the ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC), a national collaborative that promotes leadership for equity in state and city education policies. Funded by The Wallace Foundation, and managed by the New York City Leadership Academy, the ELLC represents a partnership between the National Urban League, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the Council of the Great City Schools. ELLC partners from 10 states—including State Education Agencies, school districts, and Urban League affiliates—convene to identify policy priorities, develop common messaging, and determine strategies for promoting equity in school leadership and outcomes.
Grantmakers for Education Case Study
For Grantmakers for Education, PSA profiled the equity journeys of NewSchools Venture Fund and Lumina Foundation for Grantmakers for Education. The case study examined the strategies implemented by each organization to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in their own organizational cultures, in their grantmaking practices, and in their field building efforts.
[these two links are for the same report--I’ve included both the link to the client website and to our version of the report. I think we’ve incorporated both in previous listings—the client one as a hyperlink within the narrative, and something that’s a “hard upload” in the actual report link? Let’s use a similar process to what we’ve done elsewhere. Thanks!]
Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Midwest
Under subcontract to the federally-funded Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Midwest, PSA implemented an equity training for school board members in Wisconsin. In recognition of stark racial disparities in educational achievement, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has made closing educational outcomes gaps between Black students and their white peers a state priority. This training for school board members—among the state’s key educational policymakers— focused on applying research to make evidence-based decisions about ways to produce more equitable outcomes for students.