Dr. Sarah LaCour, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky’s College of Education
“To make informed choices at the ballot box, students must have an education, and for that reason, we say that education is a civil right,” said session co-leader Dr. Sarah LaCour, assistant professor in the department of educational policy studies and evaluation at the University of Kentucky’s College of Education.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), one of the country’s leading civil rights organizations, partnered with the College’s Initiative to hold this second annual event.
Titled “Truth in the Quest for Justice: Equity Audits as Litigation Tools,” LaCour's session tackled what equity audits in school districts look like, how the University of Kentucky’s team has conducted several so far, and why such audits can help all students receive a quality, inclusive education.
“In its most basic form, an equity audit is a means of identifying institutional practices that produce discriminatory trends in data and in the education context,” said LaCour. “We’re concerned here with data that affects students.”
When conducting an audit, she stressed the importance of seeking out varied stakeholders—from parents to students to administrators to teachers to community leaders—to ensure the audit is indeed equitable. Locals can point out how an online-only survey, for instance, may exclude families that do not have broadband. Auditors can instead make paper copies of surveys available at community centers.
“One of our goals is to make sure institutions are living up to Brown v. Board of Education,” said Dr. Gregory Vincent, the session's co-leader and professor of educational policy studies and evaluation at the University of Kentucky’s College of Education.
