LaShawn Chatmon & Kathleen Osta: What Is an Equitable Learning Environment and How Can Your School Build One?

We hear a lot today about the importance of creating equitable learning environments for all children -- providing each child what they need to be successful, which means some might need more than others depending on their starting point. We also hear a lot about  backlash against some of those efforts. So when ideas about equity vary from community to community, how does it get implemented? Does an environment that is equitable for one child necessarily mean it becomes unequitable for another? Where is the balance – and how does it get struck?

LaShawn Chatmon is the founding Executive Director and Kathleen Osta is Managing Director of the National Equity Project. NEP works with education leaders nationally on these very questions – helping design and implement community-appropriate approaches to equitable learning. Both have worked in schools – LaShawn as a teacher and leader, Kathleen as a social worker –and, can offer practical guidance on how to build and implement approaches that work.

For more information, go to www.turnaroundusa.org/podcast.