Upon completion, this plan will have been developed with the Superintendent's Cabinet, Building leadership, Learning Community and Stakeholder suggestions, and presented to the School Committee for review and feedback.
The Theme of Equity
Through the Strategic Plan 2.0, WPS has pledged to provide an equitable, high-quality education which is accessible and engaging to all students in a multi-year strategic plan.
The Equity Action Plan is being designed as “a bold” and “courageous” roadmap that is timely and will position WPS as a national leader in redefining PreK-12 education as a deliberately inclusive and supportive experience where all succeed.
Further, this plan stands to ensure a culture of equity and inclusion by continuously and thoughtfully improving our access to meaningful experiences and sense of belonging for all learners. It is critical that WPS is a place that ensures participation, access, and the right to express culture while feeling valued, respected, and having their individual needs met.
In order to support this work, we strive to define the Department of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the following way:
● Diversity: The understanding that each individual is unique, with a range of backgrounds in race, ethnicity, socioeconomics, and culture as well as various identities, experiences, and interests.
● Equity: A fair and just distribution of resources and opportunities for all individuals. The fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all individuals, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups.
● Inclusion: A process of involvement and empowerment where the inherent worth and dignity of all people are recognized.
● Belonging: The ongoing culture created to have all individuals feel welcome across differences. This is manifested in relationships, experiences, physical space and written word.
This plan could not be more timely or critical as our nation grapples with the action needed for anti-racism. This plan is bold, courageous and aims to tackle our equity issues head-on.
The Plan’s Content
Directly aligned to Watertown Public Schools’ Mission and Core Values, the 2023-25 “Equity is an Action” plan is bold, courageous and aims to tackle our equity issues head-on.
The plan’s mission is to ensure success by inspiring students and addressing barriers to learning.
The plan’s vision is: Empowering all students to thrive in a diverse and ever-changing world.
The plan has five guiding principles. We want WPS to be:
Welcoming
Empowering
Equity-Focused
Innovative
Results-Driven
And the plan has six priority areas, each with equity as both foundation and core.
Leadership, Policies, and Practices
Climate and Culture
Student Outcomes and Access to Advanced Learning Opportunities
Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning
Human Resource Practices
Resource Allocation Processes
Each of the six priority areas for the 2025 Equity Plan has a number of measures that will help us monitor progress and accountability in achieving the goal. In addition to measures, each goal also has a number of strategies and highlighted actions, which outline the steps that WPS will take to achieve the goal.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) define the key overall outcomes that an organization is trying to achieve. They answer the question of what success looks like and how will we know if we are progressing toward the intended outcome. As an educational organization, all KPIs are student outcomes.
Leadership, Policies, and Practices-
We know that our work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion will only be successful if we can effectively shift our school’s foundational systems. We also seek to audit our policies and processes to reduce bias and increase accountability and action.
Develop employee resources groups committed to making DEIB an institutional priority.
Create and develop a culture of accountability and sense of ownership regarding DEIB initiatives.
Develop strategic touchpoints with stakeholders, through multiple communication platforms, in an effort to both educate and inform.
Align actions items from the Strategic Plan 2.0 to DEIB initiatives
Visionary leadership is demonstrated while supporting high expectations that balance the needs of all stakeholders
Develop and implement a communication plan for when bias-based incidents occur in our learning community.
Climate and Culture-
We aim to put students at the center of our work and reinforce our commitment to creating a respectful community that celebrates differences, and support all of our students as they grow into new versions of themselves. We seek to ensure cultural competence and anti-racist culture among leaders, faculty and staff, and students through continued training; and to promote accountability around community behavior and values.
Cultivate and inclusive climate that champions DEIB, including race, socioeconomic background, gender, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, language, and national origin
Develop a culture where community members feel welcome, valued, and a sense of belonging.
Ensure that academic curricula reflect a commitment to DEIB.
Create space for reflection and education in response to traumatic current events, with an emphasis of those that impact historically marginalized populations.
Provide DEIB focused professional development workshops for all district and school leaders.
Explore and refine when necessary activities and/or opportunities in extra and co-curricular activities that support equity and inclusion
Eliminate barriers to participation in key school experiences
Develop and implement a communication plan for when bias-based incidents occur in our learning community.
Student Outcomes and Access to Advanced Learning Opportunities-
While we seek to cultivate a particular experience within WPS, we know that we are ultimately preparing our students to enter a wider world. The district needs to consider how it engages with our external community and integrates opportunities around diversity, equity, and inclusion into all of those interactions.
Review and deploy discipline processes equitably
Explore and refine when necessary activities and/or opportunities in extra and co-curricular activities that support equity and inclusion
Prepare students for real world application of skills related to working in diverse groups
Eliminate barriers to participation in key school experiences
Measure and maximize inclusion in Honors and Advanced Placement courses
Leverage the MTSS process to ensure we are meeting the social and emotional needs of our students and choosing appropriate resources to support learning
Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning-
It is critical that we form a curricular backbone that supports WPS’ commitment to inclusion and combating racism. This requires us to audit our courses and implement plans for curricular and pedagogical changes that promote culturally responsive teaching and reality pedagogy, with a focus on decentering whiteness, promoting social justice, and espousing anti-racism in order to cultivate belonging for all students.
Develop a climate that supports personal and professional growth through the lens of DEIB
Create regular opportunities for class-specific feedback that validates student experiences and allows for real-time instructional revision..
Ensure that academic curricula reflect a commitment to DEIB.
Create training opportunities and DEIB awareness programs for all members of the learning community.
Offer DEIB professional development opportunities, including but not limited to: Cultural Competencies, Implicit Bias, and Difficult Conversations in Race.
Provide DEIB focused professional development workshops for all district and school leaders.
Human Resource Practices-
We must actively cultivate a diverse community—across our district, specifically, within our faculty and staff. This requires that we recruit, support, and retain faculty and staff who identify with historically under-represented groups. To maintain a diverse and inclusive community, we will actively promote a culture that encourages honest and sincere communication and reflection, and the ability to participate in dialogues around complicated topics. We will continue to expand our hiring network.
Retain staff of color and maximize the likelihood of professional growth.
Increase the diversity of the staff, district wide, to better reflect our students and our greater society.
Develop a plan to improve the racial diversity of staff at all levels within the district.
Require training in micro-aggression and micro-inequities.
Provide DEIB focused professional development workshops for all district and school leaders.
Develop a marketing strategy to recruit a diverse pool of applicants, local and nationally.
Develop and uphold structures to ensure that all employees are included, respected, and supported in culturally responsive ways.
Resource Allocation Processes- (no submissions from subcommittee)
We know that our work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion will only be successful if we can effectively shift our resources to be equitably aligned with varying needs. To support this work, we must manage our resources to honor the community’s investment in our schools; create safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable learning environments; support civic and community engagement; and serve current and future generations.
