Audience - My audience is any and everyone willing to listen and attempt to understand what educators go through.

Topic - Social Inequity. I chose this topic because I feel it's one of the biggest issues we have in education today. Not to mention, because I am so passionate about this topic, I have already conducted a good amount of research on the topic that would help with this assignment.

Federal - Department of Education

• The U.S. Department of Education (ED) operates with the goal of ensuring education in the United States is of a good quality and fairly accessible by everyone.

State - Texas Education Agency

• The Texas Education Agency is the state agency that oversees primary and secondary public education in the state of Texas. It helps deliver education to more than 5 million students.

These two agencies have a lot to do with resources in public education and the support within schools.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 - This Act ensures everyone equal rights to learn. 

CROWN Act - a law that “prohibits race-based hair discrimination, which is the denial of employment and educational opportunities because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including braids, locs, twists or bantu knots.”  (Carter, 2021)

• Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America's disadvantaged and high-need students.

• Requires—for the first time—that all students in America be taught to high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers.

• Ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families, students, and communities through annual statewide assessments that measure students' progress toward those high standards.

• Helps to support and grow local innovations—including evidence-based and place-based interventions developed by local leaders and educators.

• Sustains and expands this administration's historic investments in increasing access to high-quality preschool.

• Maintains an expectation that there will be accountability and action to effect positive change in our lowest-performing schools, where groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation rates are low over extended periods of time.

Administrative Law - Civil Rights Act of 1964

• In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination based on sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing.

• (Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+))

______

• The ruling in Brown v. Board of Education gave fuel to the civil rights movement and led to the end of segregation. It also introduced the role of social science in Supreme Court cases.

• In 1951, Oliver Brown sued the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas for forcing his daughter to travel across town when an "all-whites" school was far closer. With the help of NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, the case reached the Supreme Court.

• The Supreme Court heard the case in 1952 and again in 1953 under a new Chief Justice, Earl Warren. Under the influence of Warren's judicial activism, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Brown in 1954.

• Is offered by a college or career school and approved by the U.S. Department of Education;

• May be a degree, certificate, or non-degree program;

• Is designed to support students with intellectual disabilities who want to continue academic, career, and independent living instruction to prepare for gainful employment;

• Offers academic advising and a structured curriculum; and

• Requires students with intellectual disabilities to participate, for at least half of the program, in

  • Regular enrollment in credit-bearing courses with nondisabled students,

  • Auditing or participating (with nondisabled students) in courses for which the student does not receive regular academic credit,

  • Enrollment in noncredit-bearing, non-degree courses with nondisabled students, or

  • Internships or work-based training with nondisabled individuals.

• The CROWN Act is a law that forbids discrimination based on hair texture and hair styles.

• CROWN stands for: “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair.”

• Provide intense diversity training for all staff in Public Education.

• Keeping the testing and criteria for testing regarding special education the same regardless of race or gender.

• Ensure zoning for school districts is fair and equal.

Code of Conduct: Engage in verbal (oral or written) exchanges that threaten the safety of another student, a school employee, or school property.

This code of conduct relates to my topic because lower socioeconomic students may get picked on or bullied because of their clothing or lack of resources. This code helped ensure equity and equality for all students.

The context of my topic and the laws that had impacted my topic personally relate to me because I am black and went to predominately white public schools growing up. These laws allowed me to attend these schools and get the best education possible, safely and with the best resources available. My educational career was flooded with teachers who I believe genuinely cared about me and wanted me to succeed!

• Know the laws related to equality within education.

• Have a level of understanding for different ethnicities and cultures.

• Education yourself about social justice issues.

• Examine your beliefs and habits.

• Provide recommended edits for district or school handbooks or other policy documents, or revisit policies that serve to push students out.  

• With a multidisciplinary team, troubleshoot any obvious trends to minimize barriers for students’ academic, behavioral, and social–emotional success.