• 2021 APS Equity Audit Report (Click to Download)

    Introduction

    Atlanta Public Schools (APS) in collaboration with The Leadership Academy conducted an equity audit, outlining the current state of equity within the district. The equity audit would first collect broad input on the current state of equity within APS in order to engage stakeholders in collaborative action planning and shared development of metrics for tracking process. Upon receipt of this report, the Atlanta Public Schools equity committee will use this data to continue building the collaborative action plan.


    In keeping with the APS commitment to equity, this equity audit follows and builds upon work spurred by a 2014 equity audit. That 2014 equity audit, conducted by external partners, “compiled data from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, administrative data on schools, principals, teachers, and students across the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system, recent APS reports, and financial reporting data.”

    The audit’s resulting report determined, “There exist substantial variations across schools in the APS system in all of the areas where equity was examined. These include differences in indicators of teacher quality, academic programming, financial resources (particularly represented by PTA and foundation funds), playgrounds, student academic achievement, and classroom instruction.”


    In desire to understand the current equity landscape and develop an action plan to address inequities, the partnership with The Leadership Academy determined the focus of this 2021 equity audit would be on Cultural Competence and Collective Action (with a focus on Resource Equity). These focus areas are key areas that the APS leaders selected from the Leadership Academy’s Equity at Work, a strategic planning guide designed to help system leaders target their efforts in creating a more equitable education system. Cultural competence within that guide is defined as the state in which culturally responsive teachers and staff members ensure all students have access to learning experiences that are relevant, respectful of difference, rich and engaging. Within Equity at Work, Collective Action and Resource Equity is defined as a commitment to solving problems with collective, rather than isolated action.


    To begin our work together, Dr. Tauheedah Baker-Jones, Chief Equity and Social Justice Officer, served as chair of a cross functional team of internal stakeholders that helped to inform the audit process. Also, throughout the process various other internal and external stakeholders were consulted to assess the current state of Atlanta Public Schools and work collaboratively on the equity audit and action planning.

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