Measure and track disparities across all identities and begin the process of meaningful systems change with our comprehensive evaluations.
High-quality teaching and learning begins with an awareness and understanding of your current practices and data compared to best practices. This understanding and comparison inform the essential next steps to advance learning for all students.
Anchored in the ICS Four Cornerstones, ICS is the only organization that provides a proven systems change framework and process to eliminate disparities for the benefit of all.
With a comprehensive equity evaluation of your school district, we engage stakeholders in the quantitative and qualitative data we collect and analyze to assess systems as a means to jump-start and support high-quality teaching and learning for all students.
Our equity evaluations go beyond surface-level audits. Our evaluations include addressing strengths and disparities related to the identities of race, class, sex, gender identity, sexual identity, ability, language, and their intersections. ICS evaluations also include an assessment of education identifiers such as advanced learning, special education, Section 504, multi-lingual services, Tier 2 and 3 interventions, and alternative education.
ICS evaluations measure achievement and representation across all identities and all educational identifiers and their intersections. We analyze qualitative (focus group data) and quantitative data (equity audit data) and compare these data to best practices and research to identify essential next steps for the district.
Compared to other district evaluations or audits, often special education details are not considered at all. If special education is a focus, then the rest of the district is not addressed as the district seeks to “fix” special education.
Unique to ICS, our special education evaluations take into consideration the entire district system and context and across student identities. Current issues within special education services or outcomes are often reflective of the wider district system as a whole. Any attempts to “fix” special education without this more holistic perspective will reinforce a deficit-based system for all students.
Our review process combines qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. We gather qualitative information to understand the nuances of your system via focus groups and individual interviews with key stakeholders including teacher teams at each school, students at the middle and high school levels, administration, school board members, and community members.
We also collect and analyze quantitative data, such as student achievement and student representation disaggregated by student identity and student identifiers (e.g., students receiving special education services, students receiving advanced learning services, students receiving muti-lingual services, alternative programs, etc.).
Our work moves beyond piece-meal approaches to equity audits and district evaluations as we address the entire system in our evaluations to identify gaps in systems, policies, procedures, and practices. We also address educational structures and staffing related to special education, response to intervention, multi-lingual services, gifted/advanced learning services, and alternative education.
ICS evaluations are organized by the ICS Four Cornerstone Framework and Process for High-Quality Teaching and Learning.
The ICS equity evaluation includes a quantitative equity audit with data collected related to race (disaggregated by race), disability, free/reduced lunch, ELL status, sex, gender identity, and sexual identity, literacy and math achievement and in representation in program areas such as special education, response to interventions, gifted, honors/AP; and includes data on truancy and discipline. This includes a review of the performance of “typical” students and those recognized for gifted services.
The ICS evaluation includes an evaluation of how students are educated, including students receiving special education, students labeled gifted, students receiving response to intervention, and students who are multi-lingual, including how many students are served out of district and at what cost. We examine staffing allocations. We also gather staff perspectives on the challenges to the current structure of educating students. We then evaluate the effectiveness of the current structure against the quantitative data we collect in our review and against the research on best practices.
The ICS evaluation includes an analysis of the district’s organizational structure, a review of key district policies to determine to what extent they support or impede best practices for all (including staff perspectives of these district policies that support or impede their efforts to provide for all), an analysis of the district’s human resource system including recruitment, hiring, and retention; and a funding analysis of key district programs or practices for the district to consider aligned with the data from the review from those practices.
The ICS evaluation includes an evaluation of the team structures in the school, including how staff plan together. The evaluation will include to what extent instruction aligns with high-leverage instructional practices.
All Four Cornerstones and the ICS Steps within each Cornerstone are implemented in the context of community engagement and development.
For this aspect of the Framework and Process, we interview a demographically representative sample of community members and gather their perspectives on the district’s strengths and gaps in providing high quality teaching and learning experiences for all students.
We ensure that the voices and perspectives of stakeholders are heard and considered throughout the process. In so doing, we align the process to the district’s strategic plan or other initiatives. The data can also inform the district’s strategic planning process.
Our comprehensive evaluations are completed within two months of completing all the data collection and can usually begin within a week of contract signing.
At ICS, we are dedicated to promoting, advancing, and sustaining high-quality teaching and learning for all students.
Contact us today for your school district’s high-quality teaching and learning evaluation, special education evaluation, or equity audit.
