Our Commitment to Equity and Antiracism

The current education system is broken—promising limitless possibilities while perpetuating deep inequities. We believe in an anti-racist education that equips every child with the knowledge, skills, and passion to create a more equitable and just world.

Our Vision

We partner with educators in schools and districts who are committed in word and deed to high-quality education and equitable excellent outcomes for all students. By aligning on a shared vision focused on three dimensions of student achievement—mastery of knowledge and skills, character, and high-quality student work—we honor students’ full humanity.

We embrace a vision of education as a powerful engine for disrupting structural racism, and fulfilling our nation’s promise of equal opportunity for all. Educational equity means that all children experience these pillars of educational equity:

1. Instruction and assessment that challenge, engage, and empower learners
2. Access to standards-based, content-rich, culturally affirming curriculum
3. School culture that fosters positive identity, belonging, agency, and purpose
4. Explicit anti-racist discussion, practice, and action

We want to be clear about our language: the words that we use are important because they allow us to build shared understanding. Diversity means cultivating a wide representation of people, ideas, processes, and experiences. Equity recognizes that we are born into unequal and unjust circumstances—and these factors should not predict our ability to fail or succeed. Inclusion means creating the conditions that foster belonging—harnessing what makes us unique to strengthen our community and amplify our impact. Excellence is defined as transformational impact in EL Education’s Dimensions of Student Achievement. Anti-racism means taking an explicit stand against racism.

Our Commitments

We commit to:

• Examining how racism lives in each of us as individuals, and in the fabric of our organization and its policies, culture, and traditions
• Holding ourselves accountable to equitable and excellent outcomes in the schools and districts with which we work
• Holding ourselves accountable by providing consistent, transparent, and candid reviews to our staff, Board, and partners on our DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) strategies and commitments
• Educating ourselves and taking action over time to grow as an anti-racist organization

We come to this task with deep humility, knowing that we have much to learn. We look to the anti-racist educators in our midst for guidance. We also draw on our organization’s roots in an education philosophy profoundly dedicated to the power of student resiliency, agency, and leadership for social justice. Finally, we are grateful to learn every day from courageous students, teachers, principals, and district leaders doing this work in their communities and schools across the United States.

Keep learning with us.