Equitable Academic Outcomes

The REAL Mathematics Digital Design Companion: Applying Equity Principles to Math EdTech Development and Procurement

EdTech products are rapidly transforming math education, yet culturally responsive and sustaining education (CRSE) principles remain largely absent from how these tools are designed and selected. While the broader education field recognizes the value of culturally responsive practices, concrete guidance on how to apply these principles in EdTech contexts, particularly as products evolve to incorporate new AI features, has been limited.

WestEd developed the REAL Mathematics Digital Design Companion to help bridge that gap, offering a practical guide for EdTech development teams and school and district leaders involved in procurement decisions. Rather than being a compliance checklist, the companion is designed to expand the factors teams consider when building or evaluating math EdTech products, helping ensure these tools are accessible for all students and do not replicate the pitfalls of the past. This resource is part of WestEd’s broader REAL Mathematics work supporting relevant, engaging, and applied learning in mathematics.

New Resource: Improving American Indian Student Outcomes in Nevada

Download a new resource from the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center and Utah Education Policy Center that describes how the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center (WEEAC) at WestEd provided sustained technical assistance to help Nevada develop and launch its Plan to Improve Outcomes for American Indian Students in Nevada 2025–2030.

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Improving American Indian Student Outcomes in Nevada

Nevada’s American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students face persistent gaps in attendance and graduation, and a structural data problem compounds these outcomes because the state counts only students who self-identify solely as AI/AN, likely undercounting the true Native student population. For years, Nevada’s Office of Indian Education sought a formal plan to guide the state’s work on behalf of these students.

This impact story describes how the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center (WEEAC) at WestEd provided sustained technical assistance to help Nevada develop and launch its Plan to Improve Outcomes for American Indian Students in Nevada 2025–2030. Combining data analysis, broad community engagement with Tribal leaders and district superintendents, and ongoing thought partnership, the WEEAC built the state’s capacity to own and lead the work. The result is a published 5-year plan with measurable targets—launched at the state’s 2026 American Indian Education Summit—and an expanded Office of Indian Education positioned to lead sustained implementation in the years ahead.

Supporting Student Success Through Aligned and Coherent Systems

Students thrive when the programs and services designed to support them work together seamlessly. Yet too often, well-meaning initiatives are operated in isolation, creating confusion and inefficiency for schools, families, and communities. This WestEd Perspectives piece explains how state and local agencies can build aligned and coherent systems—in which policies, practices, and partnerships reinforce each other rather than working at cross-purposes.

The brief shares practical strategies for strengthening coordination within your agency, between state and local levels, and across sectors like education, health, and social services and offers real-world examples of what alignment looks like in action, from coordinating student support services to helping families access resources without navigating multiple bureaucracies.

Discover how building relational trust, fostering collaboration, and creating shared goals can transform fragmented efforts into connected systems that better serve young people and families.

Centering Equity in Data-Based Decision-Making: Considerations and Recommendations for Leadership Teams

The focus of this guide is on supporting school, district, and state education leadership teams in centering equity in their data-using culture and data-based decision-making processes to redesign and transform systems for equitable health and learning. It includes specific companion dialogue guides to support teams in implementing practices and practical strategies to center equity in all of their work—including the ways in which they gather, analyze, and use data in their school-wide whole-person work.

The Coaching Cycle: How Coaches Can Support Teachers and Improve Student Outcomes

The overall goal of instructional coaching is to strengthen teacher practices and thereby improve student outcomes. The National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) defines instructional coaching as a coach working collaboratively with a teacher through a recursive and job-embedded feedback cycle focused on strengthening implementation of effective instructional strategies. Throughout the coaching cycle, instructional coaches apply research supported practices—building relationships using alliance strategies; observing teacher practice; modeling instructional strategies; and providing teachers with performance feedback—to strengthen the implementation of effective instructional strategies.

Coaches can use this tip sheet to learn about the three-step coaching cycle and how to use it to help improve teacher practice and student outcomes. Understanding the steps of the coaching cycle can help coaches, as well as those training or supporting instructional coaches, to best meet the needs of teachers and students.

Defining Effective Coaching Practices to Support Teachers and Improve Student Outcomes

Research on professional development shows that teachers need long-term support to improve their teaching. One method for providing that support can be instructional coaching. The National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) defines instructional coaching as a coach working collaboratively with a teacher through a recursive and job-embedded feedback cycle focused on strengthening implementation of effective instructional strategies. However, not every form of coaching is effective. In fact, research links four specific coaching practices to improvements in teaching and learner outcomes. These practices, described in more depth in this tip sheet, include: using alliance strategies (also known as relationship-building strategies), observing, modeling, and providing performance feedback.

Essential Conditions for Advancing and Sustaining Cross-Sector Collaboration: A Reflection Guide for Child-, Youth-, and Family-Serving Agencies

The work toward cross-sector collaboration has never been more urgent. Through a global pandemic, an increasingly polarized society, intensified violence locally and abroad, societal reckoning with injustices, and a surge in adolescent mental health challenges, many child-, youth-, and family-serving agencies have invested greater resources in supporting systems improvement.

These efforts include California’s recent multibillion-dollar investments in community schools and children and youth behavioral health. Such efforts motivate state and local agencies to work together across education, health, social services, and other sectors to align their efforts toward a shared, coherent purpose.

This guide from The California Center for School Climate shares strategies for creating and sustaining seven essential conditions for effective cross-sector collaboration to improve equitable access, experiences, and outcomes for young people, families, and communities:

Collaborative Leadership Capacity
Diverse and Inclusive Representation
Relational Trust
Collective Vision and Purpose
Clear Structures and Approaches to Teamwork
Continuous Improvement Routines and Infrastructure
Adequate Resources and Abundance Mindsets

For each condition, the guide describes indicators of implementation that leaders and cross-sector teams can use to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities in the design and implementation of their own collaboration efforts. The guide also offers tips for how to begin or strengthen each condition and points readers to further resources.

Superintendent Christie Abeyta of the Santa Fe Indian School: A Cultural and Community-Driven Approach to Improving Graduation Rates

This brief highlights the transformative educational practices at the Santa Fe Indian School (SFIS) under Superintendent Christie Abeyta, emphasizing a culturally responsive and community-driven approach that has led to impressive graduation rates. With 98% of students graduating in four years as of 2022, SFIS stands out against state and national averages for American Indian students. The piece explores the school’s commitment to integrating Indigenous culture into its curriculum, fostering strong cultural identities among students, and preparing them to become future leaders within their communities. It also discusses the historical context of SFIS, its unique governance by Pueblo leaders, and the importance of community involvement in education.

Moving Forward with Equity for All Students: The Legacy and Promise of the Brown Decision and the Civil Rights Act

In this session, leading educators and scholars participated in a fireside chat to discuss the impacts of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They highlighted the significant influence these legal milestones have had on advancing the civil rights of diverse student groups, including African American, American Indian, Mexican American students, as well as women, girls, immigrants, students with disabilities, linguistically diverse students, and LGBTQ+ students.

Equitable Academic Outcomes

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