National Equity Project
21
7
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Oakland, CA
Founded: 1991
Mission: At the National Equity Project, we believe every child has a right to a quality education. We coach people to become the powerful leaders who make good on that promise. We provide comprehensive services to build culture, conditions, and competencies for excellence and equity in districts, schools, classrooms, nonprofit organizations, and communities.
Tags:
bay area, middle-secondary education, educational management, educational preparation, college achievement
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
LaShawn Routé Chatmon.
Prior to becoming Executive Director of National Equity Project in July 2007, LaShawn served as the Director of our Oakland High School Redesign Initiative for seven years. A California native and recipient of public school education, LaShawn earned her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and her Masters in teaching from Brown University. With ten years of teaching experience, LaShawn has…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
n/a
Total Revenue:
$3,515,163
From the Nonprofit
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Chris Perrius
Development and Communications Director Oct 28, 2010 |
Please join the National Equity Project (formerly BayCES) in celebrating our new name and expanded scope! Free Event on Friday, October 29, 2010 5:00-8:30pm Featuring Keynote speaker & Moderator:Angela Glover Blackwell- President & CEO of Policylink In conversation with: Tony… Read More. |
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Chris Perrius
Development and Communications Director Sep 29, 2010 |
We greatly appreciate the recognition of our impact by the expert reviewers and this web site, and welcome your financial support if you believe, as we do, that every child in this country has the right to a quality education.…
Read More.
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Contact Info
Address:
1720 Broadway, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612, USA
Twitter:
Story:
Learn about the role National Equity Project played in Oakland, California's school reform:
In 2000, National Equity Project partnered with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and Oakland Community Organizations (OCO) to write and implement a small schools policy. The New Small Autonomous Schools (NSAS) movement was initiated by parents, teachers, and activists committed to improving education in Oakland, which had a long history of poor urban school conditions including high dropout rates, school overcrowding and violence, and teacher turnover. No new school had been built in Oakland in the 30 years before this policy was passed. These egregious conditions prevailed in the mostly Black and Latino flatlands while high quality schools served the mostly White hills.
In the reform, OCO organized the community and National Equity Project provided education and project management expertise. National Equity Project created a Small Schools Incubator to help school design teams create new schools. Design teams included teachers, leaders, parents, and sometimes students. The original plan in the NSAS policy was to create 10 new small schools, but the reform accelerated when (1) the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made large grants totaling $40 million to support the small school reform (other national and mostly local funders joined forces), and (2) the district was taken over by the California Department of Education because of a district fiscal crisis. A State Administrator, Randolph Ward, replaced the superintendent Dennis Chaconas, and plans were made to convert several comprehensive high and middle schools into small schools sharing the old campuses. New small school creation became a district strategy for providing quality schools in every neighborhood. The Executive Director of National Equity Project, Steve Jubb, was appointed as one of two leaders (with Katrina Scott-George, Special Asst to the State Administrator) of the increasingly comprehensive reform, which included new systems of school-site budgeting, a split in the district central office between academics and school services (which became somewhat optional, enabling principals to make more decisions about procuring services for their school), and a network model of providing school services, among other innovations. This district redesign became known as Expect Success.
In 2004, National Equity Project transitioned the Small Schools Incubator into the district central office (where it became the now defunct New School Development Group), and in 2006 it transferred management of Expect Success. National Equity Project continued to coach most of the over 40 new small schools and provide consulting services to district leaders to promote the initial goals of the reform: a quality education for every child regardless of race or socioeconomic status. In a recent outside evaluation by Strategic Measurement, the new small schools in Oakland, compared to schools with similar demographics, demonstrated higher achievement, faster rates of student improvement, greatly improved graduation rates, and higher teacher, parent, and student satisfaction.
(Read more about National Equity Project at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Area_Coalition_for_Equitable_Schools)
Expert Reviews of National Equity Project
Evidence of Impact Summary:
National Equity Project has developed an approach to developing leaders capable of addressing inequity in secondary education through its work developing new, community-friendly schools in the East Bay and elsewhere, and later with its Leading for Equity program. National Equity Project is able to guide participants to identify deep-seated problems, often ones that are difficult to discuss (like personal prejudices that inhibit high expectation setting for poor students of color), and find solutions to the issues. The collective solutions are prioritized into a strategy for communities to use on a path to improvement and excellence.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Experts praise National Equity Project's program design and area of focus. Most seem confident in National Equity Project's capacity to achieve lasting change in school leadership and thus foster better student outcomes. Experts also praise the National Equity Project's leadership as well as the strength of their political connections.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Experts frequently suggest National Equity Project would benefit from refocusing their program to more viable models. On a tactical level, respondents state National Equity Project could foster more collaboration and utilize PR more effectively to achieve greater, measurable results.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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In short, BayCES [National Equity Project] facilitates deep change in school and community settings. By investing in long-term and deep relationship-building and structured, reflective conversations with educators and community members, BayCES [National Equity Project] is able to guide participants to identify deep-seated problems, often ones that are difficult to discuss (like personal prejudices that inhibit high expectation setting for poor students of color), and find solutions to the issues. The collective solutions are prioritized into a strategy for communities to use on a path to improvement and excellence. | ||
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Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools [National Equity Project] have started an incubation process in Bay Area for small schools by design. Their processes for facilitating conversations about race and equity have broad impact. They began the process with a 2012 grant to have an impact on instruction. They coach schools and leaders in schools to become high performance, equity-based institutions. | ||
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BayCES [National Equity Project] has developed an approach to developing leaders capable of addressing inequity in secondary education through its work developing new, community-friendly schools in the East Bay and elsewhere, and later with its Leading for Equity program. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Operations |
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BayCES [National Equity Project] possesses deep expertise in educational theory, pedagogy, cultural competency, racial justice, and facilitation/mediation. They have a solid infrastructure, built and supported by inspired, super-competent leadership. | ||
Political connections |
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They have strong political connections. | ||
Leadership |
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Their leadership is diverse, forward-thinking, non-hierarchical--modeling the best of what we want in schools. They also have an equity focus for all decisions. | ||
Program Design |
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I think their leadership coaching model and the leading for equity approach (creating strong teams by developing cross-cultural understanding and competence) are strengths. They have fabulous leadership, a solid track record for supporting positive, lasting changes in the districts, and schools where they work. | ||
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BayCES [National Equity Project] provides outstanding professional development and coaching of school leaders around issues of equity. These are critical issues to address if we are serious about closing the achievement gap. | ||
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One of the few organizations focused on systemic change within the public school system. Evidence of the small school movements in Oakland is a testimony to the time it takes to work within a school district. | ||
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BayCES' [National Equity Project] core strength is its Leading for Equity program. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Better marketing |
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BayCES [National Equity Project] could benefit from making their work clearer to the general public to build an understanding that poor school performance isn't the fault of teachers or students, but a larger de-valuing of students from certain demographic groups. | ||
Insufficient results |
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This organization has spent a huge sum of money over the past several years. I don't think they have the level of achievement and outcomes to justify the expense. In short, they exist and continue, but I cannot see they are very high -impact or high-productivity. | ||
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While I have admiration for the philosophical approach, I do not believe that BayCES [National Equity Project] has demonstrated the kind of impact that would merit significant investment. | ||
More collaboration |
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They should focus more on collaboration with like-minded organizations. | ||
Revise model |
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I'd like to see them evolve further by developing the Leading for Equity into their core business. I think the system change work they did during the last decade is no longer a sustainable business model. | ||
Scale |
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It would be fantastic to see them in more South Bay schools. | ||
More inclusive |
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Improvement is needed at the structural level that allows and opens other systemic thinkers to participate in its own work. There is no single answer and, often, BayCES [National Equity Project] has been too rigorous with their own curriculum. | ||
Invest only in core programs |
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I would suggest divesting from work that does build on this Equity for Leadership program. I am not sure their school-based work to affect classroom practice is as effective as their leadership development work. They can look the same, but it's an issue of focus, scope, and not over-promising. I'd like to see them develop simple and important metrics for their LFE work. | ||
Leadership
LaShawn Routé Chatmon
Executive Director
Executive Director
From the Nonprofit
|
Chris Perrius
Development and Communications Director Oct 28, 2010 |
Please join the National Equity Project (formerly BayCES) in celebrating our new name and expanded scope!
Free Event on Friday, October 29, 2010 5:00-8:30pm Featuring Keynote speaker & Moderator:Angela Glover Blackwell- President & CEO of Policylink In conversation with: Tony Smith- Superintendent, Oakland Unified School District Sandra Fewer- Member, San Francisco School Board Victor Diaz- Founder, REALM Charter School Cesar Lagleva- Marin Community Organizer Michelle Espino- Teacher, Leadership High School The California Ballroom 1736 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612 RSVP for this event at deliveronthepromise.eventbrite.com |
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Chris Perrius
Development and Communications Director Sep 29, 2010 |
We greatly appreciate the recognition of our impact by the expert reviewers and this web site, and welcome your financial support if you believe, as we do, that every child in this country has the right to a quality education. At the National Equity Project, we coach people to become the leaders who make good on that promise. Here we would like to respond to the few negative reviews and briefly explain why we have changed our name from the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES).
Regarding our impact relative to investment: Between 2000-07, the National Equity Project (then BayCES) was a lead partner in the small schools movement in Oakland with OCO (parent organizers). We drafted the policy and designed the process, and advised (coached) over 30 school design teams comprised of educators and parents to create and launch small schools to replace 22 larger, low-performing schools with new “small by design” schools featuring a learning focus, a commitment to meeting the needs of every child, relationships with students and families, staff collaboration and continuous improvement. With the funds we raised, we provided $13 million pass-through Gates Foundation grants, technical assistance, and principal and teacher coaching to 38 of these schools averaging four years of support per school. We passed the process over to the district where it became their ongoing school support and accountability program. Over seven years the entire project cost roughly $40 million, equivalent to less than 2% of the total budget of the district over that period, only a fraction of which went to our own expenses. A decade later, Oakland Unified has been the most improved urban district in California for six years straight, despite deep poverty in the city and frequent turnover in district leadership. An evaluation of the new small schools by renowned scholar Linda Darling-Hammond found that small schools improved student learning and student and family experiences. Many of the new small schools are models for closing racial achievement gaps, such as Think College Now (a California Distinguished School, whose principal David Silver has said that “this school would not exist without BayCES, they create the conditions for success”). The schools that we worked with directly had overall API gains that were more than twice the state average. We continue to focus on creating conditions for success, and we work in partnership with schools, districts, and CBO’s. We also provide school coaching services that improve classroom teaching, adapted from successful teacher development programs in New York City. Unlike many others on this site’s list, we do not directly serve students or youth so our impact is harder to isolate, but the education field is largely in agreement that systems change and the transformation of leadership and organizational culture are critical to improving our nation’s schools and achievement among vulnerable students of color. Furthermore, our partners pay us fees that cover over half of our costs – they demonstrate their confidence in our impact with their limited funds. In the last few years we have been working with many non-school partners in new areas of the country so our previous name no longer described us well. We also changed our name to the National Equity Project because we want to change the national conversation about educational equity. We believe, and research indicates, that sustainable, large scale improvement in schools cannot be accomplished without deeply improving school and district leadership and culture. Better curriculum and choice and accountability models can only go so far; ultimately, people have to carry out such plans under the challenging working conditions of urban schools and districts. Central factors in those challenges are race and class, which are still rarely talked about by educators or reformers in productive ways. So we work with leaders, whatever their role (from superintendents to parents), to ensure that equity initiatives are implemented in ways that develop the capacity of people to successfully address the many social, cultural, and political challenges they face while maintaining excellence. |