Equity and Excellence Plan | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy has spent the past two years in transition, moving from the 2014 Board Approved Diversity Plan to the development of its' next rendition, the Equity and Excellence Plan, as directed by the 2018 Board Approved Equity and Excellence Policy. Additionally, this policy aligns with the IMSA Impact and Outcomes statement, “By 2022, IMSA is a recognized global leader and catalyst in equity and excellence in STEM teaching and learning, innovation and entrepreneurship.”

In the spirit of inquiry and innovation and in an effort to embrace the inclusive nature of IMSA, the development of the Equity and Excellence Plan was approved as an official research study by the Institutional Review Board. The purpose of the study was:

to develop an equity and excellence plan that is driven by the IMSA Board Approved Equity and Excellence Policy, rooted in Theory of Change, informed by data, and facilitated through an inclusive, equity-minded frame.

Being that IMSA is shifting from an approach of diversity and inclusion to include a focus on equity and from the mindset of this work being the responsibility of a few to it now being institutionalized with collective responsibility; the Theory of Change was utilized to provide IMSA with a framework to guide that change and ultimately inform the development of the Equity and Excellence Plan.

A theory of change is a predictive assumption about the relationship between desired changes and the actions that may produce those changes. The most distinctive characteristic of Theory of Change in contrast to other methods is that it focuses first on outcomes, rather than interventions.

In addition, IMSA partnered with the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center (MAP), utilizing the Equity Context Process Analysis, multiple data collection tools and analysis processes, to facilitate systemic examination of educational equity. Through climate surveys, classroom observations, faculty interviews, school building walk-through, course enrollment data, student involvement and student discipline data, the following occurred:

provided an assessment of the extent to which aspects of educational equity are evident in the academy;
identified areas that may be opportunities for growth related to advancing educational equity; and
supported equity-oriented strategic planning, as well as ongoing monitoring and assessment activities related to promoting educational equity.

Thus, the development of the Equity and Excellence Plan , depicted below is data-driven, student- centered, inclusive of an array of voices of the IMSA community, and developed through an equity- minded frame.

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