School committee gets first look at equity audit

Fresh off of publicizing the findings of a much-anticipated equity audit, Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools presented an overview of the results to the all-Island school committee on Thursday evening.

The audit is a review of the district’s policies, its social climate, and fairness to students and community members of all backgrounds. The project has been in progress since last August, in partnership with the national education nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium.

Overall, students, caregivers and staff rated the Island’s public schools as safe, inclusive, and attentive. But there was room for improvement, such as diversifying staff and clarifying disciplinary policies.

The district’s idea for an audit came out of the district’s desire to assess itself amid the national and global outrage over George Floyd’s murder in 2020, project coordinators told The Times last year. The effort also dates back to the schools’ earlier efforts to assess their climate in 2018.

As of yesterday, the district-wide audit results are available on the school district’s homepage. The data comes from a range of sources, including equity audit committees where schools assessed their own policies; the schools’ latest annual survey of caregivers, staff and students; and focus groups of 7th to 12th graders.

Though presenters from the district made it clear to the committee that they would only share a bird’s-eye view, they reported generally positive feedback across the many different aspects of education covered in the audit.

“We’re going to take kind of a 25,000-foot view of the findings — not completely high up,” district research specialist Kim Garrison told the committee.

The presentation was broken into eight categories, including School Policy, Assessing Community Needs, School Culture, and Staff. For each category, presenters identified two strengths and two opportunities for improvement. These findings and supporting information are also available on the consortium’s Story Map on the audit site.

In the majority of considerations assessed in the audit, respondents generally felt safe in the school system, and felt that most schools had responsive staff and well-developed educational equity policies.

Student focus groups formed for the audit generally highlighted a positive and inclusive school culture. Respondents felt overall that most schools had attentive staff and well-developed educational equity policies.

Caregivers were especially satisfied with the schools’ communication efforts — about 90 percent of them positively viewed the accessibility and quality of information shared by schools.

Schools also reported that they had made significant strides in equity and inclusion, partly by making materials available in multiple languages.

Each of the eight categories also showed less-favorable assessments, including a lack of diverse representation in the schools and a need for clearer policies.

“There is a need for more inclusive representation in school planning and governance,” said Sheryl Taylor, the district’s Equity and Access Coordinator. “A lot of our schools are reporting that family and community involvement doesn’t necessarily reflect the diverse demographics of our community.”

Most schools reported a need to improve their training  against biases and stereotypes, and many are still developing practices around diverse representation.

Accommodating transgender students was another area for improvement.

“While we have policies at a high level around equity, our policies around rights and accommodations around transgender students — for the use of bathrooms, how we’re using pronouns, those sorts of things — are not consistent across the school district,” Garrison said.

Staff also wanted a clearer understanding of schools’ disciplinary policies.

And in the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, Garrison noted issues with inclusivity.

“The high school focus group identified that inclusivity might be felt differently across different groups,” she told the committee. “So they weren’t saying that it’s not necessarily an inclusive environment, but that there’s something to be acknowledged for how different groups are experiencing the school differently.”

Garrison also noted that these sentiments were reflected in The Times’ recent reporting of high schoolers’ experiences.

Caregivers of Vineyard students, while they rated school communications highly overall, were split on whether they received positive feedback about their children’s accomplishments.

The district is yet to integrate student voices into the audit, in the form of the Views of Climate and Learning (VOCAL) survey filled out every year as part of the state Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test. Garrison explained at the meeting that the data was received last week, and that work is ongoing to incorporate it into the project.

The audit is now in its second phase, which includes the work that went into last night’s public presentation. The third and fourth phases involve incorporating results into school improvement plans, and implementing policy changes, respectively. The school system will also update its audit website going forward as the process continues.

For the next part of phase two, principals will speak to school committees on how audit data can inform school-specific improvement plans. This is expected to take place late this month and early November.

Speaking after the presentation, Rita Perez of MAEC complimented the district’s work so far. “I’m really thrilled with the direction that Martha’s Vineyard is going,” she said. “There are some school districts where once the equity audit’s done it just sits on the shelf. And you’re really taking this to heart, you’re doing this with all seriousness, and I really applaud that.”

Taylor, Looking forward to the rest of the process, was also optimistic about the work so far.

She noted the schools’ culturally responsive curriculum review this summer, as well as grants already in place for engaging families.

“I think as a school system, for almost every one of these things, there was already some momentum, some movement that we had identified and had already started doing work in,” Taylor said.

Before the presentation, district Superintendent Richie Smith spoke about his districts’ commitment to a transparent audit process.

“My first priority and obligation is to our school system, our children, their families, and our staff. We have strived to operate from a core value, which is trust. I think anybody who has worked closely with us would say as much. In the context of our EDSCLS, MAEC and other inquiries, we’ve often been criticized, and rightfully so, that we gather information and do nothing with it … I’ve been and will continue to be deliberate, sensitive and careful with the information that people have entrusted us with. Doing anything less is, in our opinion, irresponsible. All data is valuable. But when it’s not used, or used properly, it loses its value and sometimes even becomes a detriment. Lastly, we will always try to be respectful of the work that our staff does in the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools. There is an order by which people are informed. You all as our school committee are one of the first to know and have reports. And though I may make mistakes, on occasion, we are always thoughtful about this process.”