Equity

Equity vs. Equality:

• Equity refers to fairness and providing every student with the necessary resources based on their individual needs.

• Equality means providing every student with the same resources, regardless of their individual circumstances.

Achievement Gap: The disparity in academic performance between groups of students, often categorized by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or gender.

Opportunity Gap: The unequal or inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities, such as access to advanced coursework, experienced teachers, and extracurricular activities.

Cultural Competence: The ability of educators to understand, appreciate, and interact with students from cultures or belief systems different from their own.

Implicit Bias: The unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that affect an educator's understanding, actions, and decisions in an instructional setting.

Inclusive Education: An educational approach where all students, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, learn together in the same age-appropriate classroom.

Restorative Practices: Approaches to discipline that focus on repairing harm and restoring relationships, rather than punitive measures.

Differentiated Instruction: Tailoring teaching methods and materials to meet the diverse needs of students.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): A framework for designing educational environments that enable all learners to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning.

Socioeconomic Status (SES): A combined measure of an individual's economic and sociological standing, often based on income, education, and occupation.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Teaching practices that recognize and incorporate students' cultural backgrounds into the curriculum and learning environment.

Access and Inclusion: Ensuring that all students have the opportunity to participate in all aspects of educational life, including extracurricular activities, advanced courses, and gifted programs.

Microaggressions: Everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to individuals based on their marginalized group membership.

Trauma-Informed Education: An approach to teaching that recognizes the presence of trauma in students' lives and adapts educational practices to support their emotional and academic needs.

Linguistic Diversity: Recognition and support for students who speak languages other than English at home, including bilingual education and English language learning programs

LGBTQ+: An acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and others. The "+" includes other sexual orientations and gender identities that are not explicitly mentioned in the acronym.

Gender Identity: A person's deeply-felt internal experience of gender, which may be different from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Sexual Orientation: A person's emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to others. Common orientations include heterosexual, homosexual (gay or lesbian), bisexual, and asexual.

Gender Expression: The external manifestation of one's gender identity, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, haircut, or voice, which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically associated with being either masculine or feminine.

Transgender (Trans): An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Cisgender (Cis): A term for people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.

Nonbinary: A gender identity that doesn't fit within the traditional binary of male and female. Other related terms include genderqueer, genderfluid, and agender.

Queer: A term used by some people to describe a sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression that does not conform to societal norms. It has been reclaimed by some in the LGBTQ+ community as a positive and inclusive term.

Pronouns: Words used to refer to people that often relate to their gender identity, such as he/him, she/her, and they/them. It's important to use the pronouns that a person identifies with.

Coming Out: The process of revealing one's LGBTQ+ identity to others. It can be a gradual or sudden process and can happen at any stage in a person's life.

Ally: A person who supports and stands up for the rights and dignity of LGBTQ+ people.

Safe Space: An environment in which LGBTQ+ students can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm.

GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance or Gay-Straight Alliance): A student-led organization that aims to create a safe and welcoming school environment for LGBTQ+ students and their allies.

Intersectionality: The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Two-Spirit: A term used by some Indigenous cultures in North America to describe a person who embodies qualities of both masculine and feminine genders.

Deadnaming: The act of referring to a transgender person by the name they used.

Disability: A physical or mental condition that significantly limits one or more major life activities. Disabilities can be congenital (present at birth) or acquired (developed later in life).

Ability: The possession of the means or skill to do something. In the context of disabilities, it often refers to the strengths and capacities that individuals have, regardless of their disabilities.

Impairment: A loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function. An impairment may or may not result in a disability.

Functional Limitation: A restriction in the ability to perform an activity or task in a typical manner. This can be due to an impairment or a disability.

Belonging: Belonging refers to the feeling of being accepted, valued, and included within a group, community, or environment. It encompasses a sense of connection and identity with the people and surroundings, making individuals feel secure, supported, and recognized as integral members.