The Education Trust: Championing Equity and High-Quality Education for All Students

The Education Trust (EdTrust) stands as a prominent national voice for education equity, fiercely advocating for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. For three decades, EdTrust has been dedicated to challenging systemic injustices and reframing the public narrative surrounding education. The organization's mission is rooted in the belief that all students, from pre-K through college, can achieve at high levels when provided with a high-quality education. However, EdTrust recognizes that many young people, particularly low-income students and African American, Latino, and American Indian students, are unjustly denied access to the learning opportunities they need, significantly impacting their life outcomes.

Origins and Evolution

EdTrust was established by education equity visionary Kati Haycock with the goal of advocating for a high-quality education that prepares students of color and students from low-income backgrounds to enter and complete college. The organization expanded its work to include federal policy advocacy and increased its use of research and data to highlight disparities in academic performance between students of color and their white peers.

In its early years, EdTrust aimed to raise awareness about the disproportionate disadvantages faced by students of color. The organization published "Good Teaching Matters," which challenged the prevailing deficit-based narratives that attributed student failure to poverty, regardless of instructional quality. By showcasing success stories, the report emphasized the critical role of effective teaching.

EdTrust continued to emphasize the importance of teachers in student achievement. Following the release of "Not Good Enough," which revealed shortcomings in teacher licensure exams, EdTrust published "Honor in the Boxcar," a collection of essays and action steps aimed at strengthening teacher preparation, particularly for schools serving the highest-need students.

Key Initiatives and Accomplishments

Shaping Federal Policy

EdTrust played a significant role in shaping the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind. Through its efforts to educate the public and policymakers about achievement gaps among student groups, EdTrust influenced the legislation's focus on equity. The organization convened a bipartisan group of legislators and business leaders to support the legislation.

Expanding to State-Level Advocacy

EdTrust expanded its impact beyond the national level by opening its first state office in California, known as EdTrust-West. This office developed a broad portfolio addressing the state's complex education challenges. EdTrust later opened offices in New York (EdTrust-New York) and Tennessee (EdTrust-Tennessee), further extending its reach and influence.

Recognizing Success and Addressing Funding Gaps

EdTrust launched the Dispelling the Myth awards to recognize schools where educators effectively taught students of color and students from low-income backgrounds to high levels of achievement. The organization also launched College Results, a free online tool providing graduation-rate data for every four-year college and university in the country. Furthermore, EdTrust published its first Funding Gaps report, a groundbreaking analysis examining disparities in school funding across states and districts.

Advancing Higher Education Equity

While maintaining its commitment to K-12 equity, EdTrust significantly expanded its higher education research and policy work, formalizing it as a distinct division within the organization. The organization achieved a major victory through the Save Pell campaign, which successfully restored funding to the Pell Grant program during a period of severe budget cuts.

Leveraging Digital Advocacy and Storytelling

EdTrust expanded its reach by using digital storytelling to make data more accessible and actionable. The organization released "Uneven at the Start," an analysis examining state progress in improving academic outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, revealing persistent disparities and uneven reform efforts across states.

Addressing Accountability in Higher Education

EdTrust published "Tough Love: Bottom-Line Quality Standards for Colleges," calling for stronger federal accountability in higher education. The organization also launched the Students Can't Wait Project to help states redesign assessment, accountability, and school improvement systems in the wake of ESSA's passage. Through its Equity Advocacy Bootcamps, EdTrust trained hundreds of advocates, equipping them with a clear understanding of the policy window ESSA created and the levers available to advance equity.

Focus on Latino and Black Student Success

EdTrust released two major higher education research reports-"A Look at Latino Student Success" and "A Look at Black Student Success"-that provided data-driven insights into graduation outcomes and completion gaps for Latino and Black college students, highlighting institutional patterns that contribute to inequitable outcomes.

Addressing Free College Programs

EdTrust published "A Promise Fulfilled: A Framework for Equitable Free College Programs," its first comprehensive analysis of statewide "free college" or college promise initiatives. The report offered policymakers and advocates an equity-driven framework for evaluating how these programs are designed.

Promoting Resource Equity

EdTrust partnered with Education Resource Strategies to launch the Alliance for Resource Equity (ARE), expanding the field's focus beyond funding levels to how resources are allocated and used - and centering the dimensions of resource equity that most directly shape students’ experiences.

Recent Initiatives and Focus Areas

Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

As schools faced challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, EdTrust worked to ensure that the American Rescue Plan's unprecedented $190 billion funding had set-asides for academic recovery.

State-Level Victories

EdTrust-Tennessee played a central role in advancing the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA), the state's new school funding formula. EdTrust-West's All in for Financial Aid campaign secured a significant win for California's students of color and students from low-income backgrounds, requiring schools to help all students complete the FAFSA before graduating from high school.

Read also: Becoming a Neonatal Nurse

Defending Inclusive Education

Amid growing national attacks on public education and inclusive curriculum, EdTrust launched the Can't Be Erased campaign to defend students' access to books, accurate history, and inclusive school environments.

Expanding Access to Advanced Coursework

At the federal level, EdTrust helped shape a major proposal to expand access to advanced coursework. EdTrust informed the development of the Advanced Coursework Equity Act, a federal proposal to invest $800 million in expanding access to Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, and other advanced learning opportunities for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.

Addressing Chronic Absenteeism

Partnering with Attendance Works and Nat Malkus from AEI, EdTrust issued a national challenge urging states to reduce chronic absenteeism by 50% over five years - a call answered by 14 states, representing over 9 million students.

Championing Key Legislation

EdTrust-Midwest helped secure a historic school funding victory in Michigan, making Michigan one of the nation’s leading states to address the concentration of poverty through a new weighted school funding formula known as the Opportunity Index. EdTrust-Midwest and partners also secured passage of Michigan’s Reading for All law, which helps students with dyslexia and the teachers who support them.

Securing Funding for Education Initiatives

EdTrust-West secured more than $85 million for math and science professional development for educators. EdTrust-New York successfully advocated expanding access to child-care subsidies, and EdTrust-Tennessee launched a regional strategy to strengthen school funding across the South.

Defending Students' Rights

At the state level, EdTrust and its partners successfully defended students’ rights and public education investments. EdTrust-Tennessee helped defeat three bills that would have undermined Plyler v. Doe, the landmark Supreme Court decision guaranteeing undocumented students the constitutional right to attend public school. In Louisiana, EdTrust helped stop HB 685, legislation that would have banned DEI programs in higher education and state agencies.

Amplifying Black Voices

EdTrust launched an ambitious multimedia storytelling platform called The Black Principals Project. Board, starting with an interview with a renown academic and historian about the untold story of how 100,000 Black educators lost their jobs as a result of the landmark decision.

EdTrust-Midwest: Advancing Equity in Michigan

The Education Trust-Midwest (EdTrust-Midwest) works in partnership with policymakers, educators, advocates, parents, business and civic leaders, community groups and others to advance the development and implementation of policies and practices that improve the educational outcomes for all of Michigan’s students.

EdTrust-West: Dismantling Barriers in California

EdTrust-West is committed to advancing policies and practices to dismantle the racial and economic barriers embedded in the California education system. The organization focuses on strategic research and advocacy to improve equity at all levels of education. EdTrust-West builds partnerships and cultivates relationships to engage a local network of advocates in key regions across the state. They inform and drive their policy agenda, lead and participate in local advocacy, and engage stakeholders in discussions about regional educational equity priorities. These efforts aim to improve the experiences and outcomes of students of color and multilingual learners, particularly those facing poverty.

Core Values and Principles

EdTrust is guided by the following core values and principles:

Focus on Students: EdTrust advocates for students, especially those whose potential is often overlooked.
Equity Lens: EdTrust evaluates policies, practices, and dollars spent through a single lens: what is right for students.
Addressing Systemic Inequities: EdTrust believes that long-standing gaps in opportunity, achievement, and attainment for Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds are part of an education system that does not provide equitable or adequate support and resources for them.

Strategic Priorities

EdTrust focuses on the following strategic priorities:

Advocating for Bold Policy: EdTrust strives for policy changes that draw on input from communities and educators, are impactful, strategic, and actively promote their mission at the local, regional, and statewide levels.
Communicating Clearly: EdTrust raises awareness about crucial educational equity matters and solutions within the EdTrust-West policy and advocacy platform.
Supporting Equitable Policy in Action: EdTrust actively oversees, advocates for, and supports the effective execution of educational equity reforms at both the state and regional levels.
Building Strong Coalitions: EdTrust reinforces partnerships and relationships among state and system leaders, community advocates, and educators.
Courageous Research and Data Analysis: EdTrust utilizes a comprehensive approach that combines rigorous research methods with asset-based perspectives to pinpoint the underlying causes of educational inequity.
Focusing on Key Regions and Communities: EdTrust builds partnerships and cultivates relationships to engage a local network of advocates in key regions across the state.

Leadership

Denise Forte serves as the president and CEO of EdTrust.

tags: #education #trust #west #mission