Values
Equity:
- Biases and structural racism create inequities that must be actively addressed in order to move towards a more just and equitable society.
- All students should have access to an equitable baseline of college and career guidance and should be equitably treated in the admissions, placement, and financial aid processes.
- The students most likely to be harmed by the lack of standardization and alignment between educational systems are those who have the least access.
Transparency:
- Transparency is essential for the development of trust and accountability and helps shine a light on issues that need thoughtful attention and action.
- When students and their families have the ability to view their own transcripts and the education to know what they are looking at, they can help ensure problems are caught before they create harm.
Student Focus:
- Students have a right to educational opportunity. In order to effect change, systems must be designed with students at the center of the equation.
- The role of educators, counselors, and educational systems is to minimize the obstacles students face in their paths to college and career.
- While college may not be for every student, that choice should be made by the student themselves.
How We Work
Integrity
- Honest, ethical behavior lies at the core of all our work and is essential to good stewardship of public resources and student data.
Relationship-based Partnership and Collaboration:
- Improving student outcomes requires us to change the way that educational systems operate.
- Systems are comprised of individuals. Creating attentive, ongoing relationships with individuals is central to how we create change.
Commitment to Equity
Our commitment to equity defines our work, externally and internally.
What We Believe
As a team, we recognize that bias and structural racism exist and have, over many generations, impeded the progress of both individuals and entire communities. One result of structural racism is inequitable access to the information, resources, coursework, and supports needed to effectively pursue a career, training, and education after high school.
We believe that all students, irrespective of their race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, socio-economic and immigration status, sexual identity, ability or religion deserve the opportunity to realize their full potential.
We believe that education is a key lever for addressing a broader set of inequities, and we are collectively committed to creating and broadening pathways within the educational system that expand access and opportunity.
What We Do
Externally
- Focus tools, programs and services on the use of accurate data to support key decisions that can help or hinder student progress towards their educational and career goals:
- Promote a universal district-wide approach, supplemented by specialized programs for college and career planning.
- Support data auditing and support for clean up of A-G coursework
- Provide a curriculum that provides a systematic baseline of college knowledge to participating students.
- Normalize data formats and promote clear standards so that all students’ transcript data is reported and treated equally in decisions regarding admissions, placement and financial aid.
- Connect educational systems to unify and leverage efforts in support of student success.
- Disaggregate data to focus attention on any discrepancies or areas in need of additional attention by sub-group.
- In our partnerships, add a clear stance towards inclusion of racial/ethinic groups and other subgroups (Foster, ELL, Continuation, SPED, etc.) to implementation planning from the start.
- Communicate our individual and organizational commitment to equity, by way of personal stories and why we are moved to do this work.
- Work in coalition with organizations that are fighting for policies and practices that prioritize equity.
Internally
Program:
- Disaggregate student activity and academic data by sub-group to ensure that an equity lens informs measurement of our partnerships work, and related strategic decisions.
Talent Development:
- Design and implement hiring practices, professional development and ongoing support to employ, retain and advance the leadership of people of color in the organization.
- Integrate an equity lens into the onboarding, ongoing development and supervision of all team members.
- Create a culture that provides safety for direct feedback about words and actions that do not align with our equity value.
Contracting and Business Practices:
- Prioritize Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) led businesses when seeking external professional services.