The LEAD Tool™ helps school leadership teams start dialogue and sustain action in expanding educational opportunities, improving school climate, and attaining equitable outcomes. It provides teams the opportunity to examine practices and policies through the lens of 10 research-based equitable practices and to bring families, communities, and other stakeholders into the conversation. Teams can use the rubrics to assess their personal and organizational strengths, challenges, and progress.
Our aim is to eliminate gaps in opportunity, access, and outcomes that are highly predictable by students’ race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and location, while simultaneously improving outcomes for each and every student.
Eliminating gaps can be achieved by examining current practices, systems, and outcomes. This requires deep collaboration to change the system—which can include providing greater resources, targeting professional learning for educators, and changing and improving educational practices and processes.
With the LEAD Tool, school leadership teams consisting of educators and stakeholders can assess their school's current climate, instructional practices, and policies through the lens of 10 high-leverage equitable practices. By using the rubrics, teams identify strengths and weaknesses and clarify targets. Using the rubric also provides teams direction for planning next steps and action.
The practices included in the LEAD Tool are supported by research and were formed through a rigorous process involving expert practitioners, community leaders, and educational researchers (see resources section).
Share the LEAD Tool with your team by downloading a printable PDF of the 10 equitable practices rubric.