New Book Offers Proven Solutions to Achieve Equity in Education

The struggle to break the cycle of persistently poor outcomes for students from traditionally under-resourced demographic groups is not a new problem in California; but one team of educators is finding success in closing the gap. With their new book, Shattering Inequities: Real World Wisdom for School and District Leaders, authors Robin Avelar La Salle and Ruth S. Johnson propose that not only is sustainable change possible, it is achievable within any school system."Each chapter of the book opens with a story about a student or educator who will inspire and inform change," said Dr. Avelar La Salle, CEO of Orenda Education and co-author. "By personalizing the experience that so many of our students and leaders face, we hope to tap into their own 'equity heart' and join the journey to transform education."Shattering Inequities gives solutions to familiar problems facing school districts serving predominantly low-income, Latino and African American families. These students persistently perform below their white and Asian counterparts, even within the same school. And these outcomes have come to be a shared issue for the state; in 2017, California schools ranked 69.9 percent -- a C-minus -- and ranked 10th to last in the National Ranking (Noguchi, S., 2017).