Equality, Equity and Adequacy

Equality: Equal opportunity to participate in program. Equality occurs when all students are given a like education. Equality in Education has many examples such as Department Planning Period which makes teaches work together to build lesson together.  For example, ensuring that all grade levels have science curriculum materials is an equality issue. Title IX is another equality issue. Ensuring that girls have just as many opportunities as boys helps prove that all students are expected to learn at their full capacity.  We see this mostly in the Athletic arena.

Equity: Fair or equal distribution of resources for schooling, taking into account student differences and school district characteristics. In reading others’ responses on the discussion board, it is clear that most participants see equity as fair, but not always exactly equal. Compensatory education is a prime example of helping provide equity to students who may have contributing factors explaining why he/she does/does not necessarily receive services. Another factor that limits equity is the inverse funding system. The concept is that all schools will be equally funded; however, target revenue and hold harmless keep some level of disparity in the system.

Adequacy: Need for just enough funding to allow students to achieve. Adequacy does not maximize a program’s benefits to students, but instead proves its existence. There is a great deal of debate has centered around adequacy, even though the Supreme Court ruled the current system is adequate (at least for now). Adequacy deals with issues such as textbooks for all students. Another example could be scheduling (which students are allowed to take certain courses).  Adequacy is just doing the bare minimum.  One such example of this is unfunded mandates like Steroid Testing for athletes.  The State Legislature makes these decisions but does not fund these.  School districts scramble to fulfill state law while not breaking the bank.

Overall, many people lump these three terms together.  As the definitions above show they are nothing alike.  As future Superintendents we must educate our staff on the true meanings of Equality, Equity, and Adequacy.

Group 5’s Response to IMA, Group 3:

Roy, I agree with the flexibility that the new requirements allow, but I’m not sure districts have thought through the long term allocation of resources. In addition to the strategic planning related to IMA, one has to remember that the state combined both technology allotment and textbook allotment, then reduced the fund by half. So, unless a district is very efficient, resources are/will be essential in the future. I have spoken to many publishers looking for aligned materials and they are not out there. The publishing companies are allocating all of their own human capital to develop Common Core Curriculum that 48 states have adopted. Texas and Alaska have their own, and are tasked with creating their own resources…. without an understanding of what the assessment looks like (Sorry to splice in assessment).