Student-Focused Equity Leadership Grant Application

STUDENT EQUITY LEADERSHIP PROJECT

Project Title
Building Equity Leaders
Proposed Start Date
January 5, 2015

Proposed End Date

Funds will be used by June 30th, 2015; work
will continue indefinitely

MPS PROJECT LEAD

Last Name
DePerry
Position
Principal

First Name
Anne
Site/School
Whittier International
Elementary
Cell Phone
612-270-2297

Employee ID#
12375541

Work Phone
612-668-4171
Email
Anne.deperry@mpls.k12.mn.us

MPS PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS

Project Coordination Team Member 1
Diego De Paz
Project Coordination Team Member 2
Angie Pohl
Project Coordination Team Member 3
Cormelle Horton
Total Funding Requested
Facility Fees
$0

Role
Team Facilitator
Role
Record Keeping, Data Collection, Evaluation
Role
Budget Manager

Contracts/Services Materials/Supplies Transportation

$0
$980.00
$0

Other
$5520.00

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Please provide a brief overview of the project below. Attach additional sheets as needed.
The purpose of this project is to build the capacity of a team of educators at Whittier
International Elementary to be equity leaders in the school. Funding for this project will
support the development of the Equity Leadership Team, Beyond Diversity Training for each
member of the team, and release time or extended time to engage in courageous
conversations and collaborative action research. Upon completion of this team formation,
training, and initial action research, the Equity Leadership Team will be charged with leading
efforts at Whittier to promote racial and social consciousness among staff, students, and
community members; address equity concerns for historically under-represented students;
and ultimately increase student achievement and reduce academic disparities based on
racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.

PROJECT GOALS
Please list 3-5 measurable project goals/outcomes. Include a description of how each
project outcome aligns with the MPS integration goals. Attach additional sheets as needed.
Short-term Goal:
1. Whittier educators racial and social consciousness will increase as measured by the
Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey. This goal aligns directly with the student-focused
equity goal of promoting racial and social consciousness.
Long-term Goals:
2. The percent of All Students in all grades tested who earn achievement levels of Meets
the Standards or Exceeds the Standards on the Reading MCA at Whittier will increase
from 43% in 2014 to 48% in 2015 and to 53% in 2016. The percent of Lowest Performing
Students in all grades tested who earn achievement levels of Meets the Standards or
Exceeds the Standards on the Reading MCA at Whittier will increase from 34% in 2014 to
42% in 2015 and to 50% in 2016.
3. The percent of All Students in all grades tested who earn achievement levels of Meets
the Standards or Exceeds the Standards on the Math MCA at Whittier will increase from
51% in 2014 to 56% in 2015 and to 61% in 2016. The percent of Lowest Performing Students
in all grades tested who earn achievement levels of Meets the Standards or Exceeds the
Standards on the Math MCA at Whittier will increase from 36% in 2014 to 44% in 2015 and
to 52% in 2016.
4. The number of All Students who are suspended at Whittier will decrease from 138 by 10%
each year for the next two years. The number of African American Students who are
2

suspended at Whittier will decrease from 120 by 10% each year for the next two years.
Goals 2-4 align directly with purpose of Minnesotas Achievement & Integration Program of
creating equitable educational opportunities, increasing student achievement, and reducing
racial disparities. They also align with the integration goal of addressing equity concerns for
historically under-represented populations.

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
Please describe your target audience. Which staff, students or groups of students will
participate? Will the program bring students from diverse backgrounds together to learn
in authentic settings? How many participants will be affected by the implementation of
this grant?

The Equity Leadership Team will likely include the following members:
3 General Education Teachers
1 Special Education Resource Teacher
1 ELL Teacher
1 Title I Teacher
2 Associate Educators
1 Special Education Assistant
3 Administrators
After the Equity Leadership Team has been trained, engaged in initial collaborative action
research, and developed a plan of action, the Team will target their efforts to raise racial and
social consciousness and address equity concerns for all stakeholders within the Whittier
school community.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES
Please outline the proposed activities. Describe how the activities will achieve the
following student-focused equity goals:
1. addressing equity concerns for historically under-represented populations
2. promoting racial and social consciousness
3. increasing student and community engagement
4. training students to become equity leaders
5. increasing students understanding and appreciation of the multicultural and multi-racial
makeup of MPS and the Twin Cities community
6. expanding students knowledge in cultural fluency and competence
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The major activities for this project include: 1) Establishing an Equity Leadership Team, 2)
Training and professional development for all Equity Leadership Team members, 3)
Engaging in collaborative action research, and 4) Action planning for raising racial and social
consciousness and addressing equity concerns in the 2015-2016 school year and beyond.
The first and second activities, establishing an Equity Leadership Team and providing
training and professional development for team members, are the first steps in promoting
racial and social consciousness within the Whittier school community. According to Rogers
(2003), systems change requires human capital to initiate and then sustain the change; in
particular, school systems change requires early adopters teacher leaders to buy in to the
proposed change from the school leader and then diffuse the innovation to their peers. In
the case of equity work, while it may be the school principal calling for a change in attitude
and practice, it is leaders within the school faculty and staff that, when trained and
committed, will be most effective in actually bringing about the change amongst themselves
and their peers. Therefore, by preparing a team of leaders to take on this significant and
urgent work at Whittier, we are meeting the integration goal of promoting racial and social
consciousness for a small group of leaders and preparing them to spread that promotion of
consciousness throughout the school community. We are also preparing a team of leaders
to engage in tackling the equity concerns that plague our school and district, particularly the
disparities in academic achievement and behavioral engagement between our students of
color and our White students.
In engaging in the third activity of collaborative action research, our Equity Leadership Team
will work alongside other groups in the district including the Office for Black Male Student
Achievement to identify promising practices that impact achievement and engagement for
Black males in particular. Researchers such as Sagor, Pine, McNiff and Whitehead argue that
collaborative action research engages a committed group of professional educators in a
collaborative process of making their work more effective and efficient on behalf of their
students. This collaborative action research will be the first step in identifying specific equity
concerns at Whittier that may be contributing to the disparities in academic achievement
and behavioral engagement, and then testing out a solution/strategy to address at least one
of those equity concerns. In doing so, the collaborative action research will serve to begin to
further meet the integration goals of raising consciousness and addressing equity concerns.
From this action research will stem a better understanding of equity concerns at Whittier
and possible solutions, necessitating the fourth project action: action planning for further
raising racial and social consciousness, addressing equity concerns, and raising student
achievement while decreasing the achievement gap. This action plan will likely include plans
for meeting each of the additional integration goals, including increasing student and
community engagement, building capacity in student equity leaders and including them in
the work of the Equity Leadership Team, and expanding students cultural competency and
understanding of the multiple cultures in the Twin Cities.
4

PROJECT BUDGET
Please provide a narrative for each budget line item.

Other:
Extended Pay for SEAs and AEs
o Approximately $18/hour for each hour attending meetings or trainings outside
of contracted hours.
Estimated hours = 30 hours
Estimated SEAs/AEs = 3
3 SEA/AE (30 hours x $18) = $1620
o Amount Requested: $1620

Reserve Teachers
o 2 Days of training, 1 day retreat
$120/reserve/day
3 days x ($120 x 5 teachers) = $1800
o Amount Requested: $1800

Extended pay for 8 hours of summer work for teachers

o 1 Day ($350 average daily salary x 6 teachers) = $2100
o Amount Requested: $2100
Other = $5520.00

Materials:
Professional development book:
o Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in
Schools, Second Edition: $35.00 x 11 = $385.00
o Other book: $195.00
Copies (e.g. Surveys, agendas, data reports, etc.) = $400.00
Materials = $980
Total Funding Requested: $6,500.00

RELEVANT INFORMATION
Please describe any additional information relevant to this project or program. Is there any
additional information that you would like to be considered for this grant proposal?
Based on data analyzed from the 2013-2014 school year for Whittier International
Elementary, two concerning findings were identified:
There continues to be significant disparities between white students and students of
color in reading and math achievement (50% or greater disparity between Black and
White students on MCA math and reading proficiency).
Discipline data also demonstrates significant disparities between Black and White
students. In 2013-2014, 80% of the referrals and 90% of the removals were given to
Black students (who made up 38% of the student population).
These findings provide evidence for the urgent need to raise racial consciousness among our
school community and address equity concerns immediately so that we can begin to close
the achievement and behavior engagement gaps that persist. This project provides a strong
starting point for the work that must be done to provide equitable educational
opportunities to all of our students and achieve positive academic and behavioral outcomes
for our students at Whittier.

PROJECT TIMELINE
Please delineate the project timeline/ timeframe. What are the anticipated start and
completion dates? When are key project activities planned?

Task/Activity
1. An equity team made up of teachers,
special education assistants, associate
educators, and administrators will be
established
2. The equity team will convene for their first
meeting, set norms, and develop a mission,
vision, and long-term goals
3. Attend after school PD session as a team
about collaborative action research process
and MyMPS

Estimated Start
Date
January 5, 2015

Estimated
Completion Date
January 9, 2015

January 16, 2015

January 16, 2015

January 9, 2015

January 23, 2015

4. All team members will be trained in Beyond

Diversity I and/or II through West Metro
Education Program
5. Complete reading and reflect on
professional reading
6. Develop research question and action plan
7. Implement action plan and collect data
8. Meet with district team to discuss
expectations for sharing findings
9. Analyze and interpret data (Day long
retreat)
10. Share findings with school community
11. Identify a new focus for continued inquiry
12. Develop action plan for beginning of the
school year.
13. Reflect on mission, vision, and long-term
goals. Revise as needed.
14. Share findings at Positive School-Wide
Engagement Institute

January 23, 2015

May 7, 2015

Mid-January

Mid- February

Mid-February
Mid-February
Mid- April

Mid-February
Mid-May
Mid- April

Mid-May

Late-May

Late-May
Early-June
Early-June

Late-May
Mid-June
Mid-June

Early-June

Mid-June

June 16, 2015

June 17, 2015

EVALUATION
Will the program include a student self-assessment to measure their learning from and
experience of this project?
Yes
No
What should participants be able to know or do as a result of this project?
Participants should be able to :
Understand the impact of race on student learning and investigate the role that
racism plays in institutionalized academic achievement disparities.
Engage in and facilitate courageous conversations that promotes exploration of race
and racism and how each influences the culture and climate of our schools
Identify equity concerns within our school
Conduct collaborative action research that addresses at least one concern
Develop an action plan to further address equity concerns

Please describe how you will evaluate whether the project has achieved the following
student-focused equity goals:
address equity concerns for historically under-represented populations
promote racial and social consciousness
increase student and community engagement
train students to become equity leaders
increase students understanding and appreciation of the diversity in their schools
and in the community
Our focus for this initial stage of equity work within the Whittier is to address the
following two student-focused equity goals:
address equity concerns for historically under-represented populations
promote racial and social consciousness
We will measure our progress in meeting the first goal through our collaborative actionresearch project. By the end of the project, we will have identified strategies for increasing
student achievement for our students of color, in particular, our black male students. We
will also have developed an action plan for further addressing equity concerns within the
school community. We will also assess our achievement of this goal through our student,
parent, and staff surveys; through dialogue with our ILT and PDPLCs, and through our
student achievement data. If we indeed meet our goal of moving 5% of all students and 8% of
our lowest performing students (the majority of whom are students of color), we will have
demonstrated that our project was effective in beginning to address equity concerns.
The second goal will be measured quantitatively through use of the Teacher Multicultural
Attitudes Survey pre- and post- project with all Whittier educators. We hypothesize that we
will see a significant, positive increase in racial and social consciousness for our Equity
Leaders, and initial small increases in racial and social consciousness for all staff.

EVALUATION TOOLS
Is the proposal linked to student curriculum?

Yes

No

Please explain the process and tools for assessing the success of this project. What data will you collect
to measure each goal?

Goal
1. Increase in
educators racial
and social
consciousness

Tool
Teacher
Multicultural
Attitude
Survey
(TMAS)

Data Collection
Survey
administration
Pre- (January)
and Post (LateMay, Early June)

Analysis
Compare pre- and post- scores
on the TMAS. An increase in
scores will indicate the goal was
achieved. No increase or a
decrease would indicate the goal
was not met.
Examine MCA Reading scores for
grades 3-5 in 2015 and 2016. Goal
is achieved if 48% of all students
in 2015 and 53% of all students in
2016 meet proficiency, and 42% of
the lowest performing students
in 2015 and to 50% in 2016 meet
proficiency standards.

2. 5% increase for all

students and 8%
increase for
lowest
performing
students in
meeting
proficiency in
reading.
3. 5% increase for all
students and 8%
increase for
lowest
performing
students in
meeting
proficiency in
math.
4. 10% decrease in
suspensions for
all students, and
for African
American
students
specifically, over
the next two
years.

Reading
MCA

MCA test
administered in
spring of 2015
and 2016

Math MCA

MCA
administered in
spring of 2015
and 2016

Examine MCA Math scores for

grades 3-5 in 2015 and 2016. Goal
is achieved if 56% of all students
in 2015 and 61% of all students in
2016 meet proficiency, and 44%
of the lowest performing
students in 2015 and to 52% in
2016 meet proficiency standards.

Suspension
data from
Discovery

Suspension data
will be collected
on an on-going
basis as
suspensions
occur. Data will
be analyzed at
the end of each
semester

Examine suspension data. The

10% decrease will have been
achieved for all students if
suspensions decrease to 124 in
2015 and 111 in 2016, and for
African American students if
suspensions decrease to 108 in
2015 and 97 in 2016.

Date
FOR OFFICE USE
ONLY

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