Equitable Access Supports: Implementation Playbook and the Equitable Access Toolkit

Every student deserves teachers and principals who can help them achieve their potential. Yet research consistently shows that many students do not have consistent access to excellent educators. In comparison with other students, students from low-income families or rural backgrounds, students of color, students with special needs, and English language learners have less access to excellent educators, which hinders their ability to succeed in school and beyond. To help education leaders ensure that all students receive equitable access to excellent educators, the U.S. Department of Education has launched the Excellent Educators for All Initiative, which requires each state, alongside stakeholders, to create and implement a State Plan to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators. To support states as they develop high-quality state plans, and to support them as they implement these plans, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) has created the Implementation Playbook and the Equitable Access Toolkit. The toolkit is used to help you to create a strategic, data-based State Plan to Ensure Equitable Access using our stakeholder engagement guide, root-cause analysis workbook, and data review tool. The playbook contains relevant tools and resources which states and districts can use to implement Equitable Access Plans, and offers step-by-step support through five related tools.