Superintendents across the state heard how the Kentucky Department of Education’s (KDE’s) equity playbook is helping Boone County school district in its mission to serve all students.
Boone County Superintendent Matthew Turner joined KDE Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer Thomas Woods-Tucker at KDE’s monthly Superintendents Webcast Wednesday to talk about the new playbook and his district’s experience.
Supt. Matthew Turner
The equity playbook provides district and school leaders with personalized coaching on evidence/research-based practices, content and resources to address opportunity gaps in one or more of the following areas:
• Student achievement;
• Utilization of funding and resources;
• Disproportionality relative to student discipline;
• Culture and climate; and
• Highly effective staff and high-quality instructional resources.
Boone County is in the first cohort for the equity playbook’s executive coaching.
“We’re real excited about the progress we’ve made as well as the professional development that has been made,” said Woods-Tucker.
The equity playbook, which launched this fall, aligns with United We Learn, the vision for the future of public education in Kentucky. The playbook is an initiative designed to improve the state’s five equity pillars: student achievement; utilization of funding and resources; high effective staff and high-quality instructional resources; disproportionality relative to student discipline; and culture and climate.
“At the center of our equity playbook is personalized executive coaching,” Woods-Tucker said. “Each school district has identified up to eight participants and we are providing that coaching free of charge. For our teachers, they don’t have to leave their districts.
“We know that executive coaching is one of the more effective approaches to increasing student outcomes.”
Turner said Boone County has 28 schools and programs. Among the district’s students, there are 63 languages spoken at home, 42% of students receive reduced-price meals and 14% of students have a disability.
To learn at higher levels, Turner said the students want to feel accepted and loved. He said they want to know the school knows them, their families and their background. He said students need to know people at the school care and the school wants to help them.
The equity training is aligned with efforts Boone County has made to close achievement gaps with students, Turner said.
“The people we have in the program right now – all of our high school principals, some of our middle school principals – they are very, very pleased and very excited and really like some of the work, especially the coaching aspect,” he said. “It provides some structures, some processes and strategies for closing gaps.”
The second cohort begins in January and the third in the fall of 2023.
Kentucky State Department of Education
