Scope of Work

The APS Center for Equity and Social Justice (APS CESJ) was established as the district’s first office devoted solely to advancing equity in education. The APS CESJ supports the implementation of equity-focused, evidence-based practices for entities throughout the district, and supports staff in ensuring that educational equity is a primary consideration in our problem-solving, decision-making, planning, and implementation processes.

We also examine current policies and practices and work to interrupt and eliminate inequitable practices to create inclusive and just conditions for all staff and students. The Center for Equity + Social Justice (CESJ) support involves:

• Collaborating with district leaders, who are responsible for ensuring educational equity, as thought partners in tackling equity challenges and ensuring that equity is fully embedded into their deliberation and decision-making processes. Thought partnership includes sharing research on best practices, sharing resources for creating or expanding equity, evaluating equity impact and elevating equity considerations, and providing tools and professional learning to build the equity lens and stamina required to advance equity.

• Engaging district leaders in shared conversations around equity-focused data, developing goals to define success and action plans to translate intent into action, offering feedback on equity impacts and considerations inherent in key initiatives, and supporting with the development of mitigation plans to minimize any unintended impact.

• Supporting district leaders in measuring progress toward achieving equity and illuminating district strengths and areas for growth via equity audits, conducting root cause analyses for any patterns of disadvantage and disparate impact, and in authentically engaging diverse stakeholders in the decision and deliberation-making process.