Representation Matters 24/7, 365

Sometimes threads from various parts of my life converge in ways that should not surprise me, but still do.

• At work, I’ve been enjoying hearing from my colleagues at #AERA2023 in Chicago about the sessions they’ve attended, such as inclusive mentoring, equity in assessments, gender bias in STEM, and disproportionality in special education. And in coaching conversations with aspiring leaders in my agency, we talked about my choice to delay applying to the senior executive service until I felt I’d seen enough people similar to me be successful in this job.
• At home, one of my daughters, an international veterinary student, has had a lot to say about how her university consistently doesn’t think about policies and decisions that affect the international students differently (or disproportionately) than domestic students. And on a parent page for my younger daughter’s university, I recently noticed a fellow parent “just asking” why the University has a VP of Inclusive Excellence instead of just Excellence (mad props to the parent who responded, “Because there are too many people out there who wonder why inclusive excellence is a priority.”)
• The other night around a firepit with friends, many of whom are teachers, the conversation centered around the tension between their responsibility to make their classrooms welcoming spaces for all kids, and the divisive content laws popping up across the nation. I also heard from women in the group who talked about the challenges of being heard and feeling seen under leadership that is largely made up of men. The youngest among them hinted at some less than positive experiences she’s had as a research scientist in a field largely dominated by men 25 years her senior.

It struck me that a common theme here is, who is making decisions and who is invited to provide input into them…and who is not?

In other words, Representation Matters. But too often, the people mainly paying attention to that are those who are underrepresented. Examples include those who are women, people of color, neuroatypical, LGBTQ+, and/or disabled.

Shirley Chisholm once famously proclaimed “if they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Metaphorically speaking, making sure that everyone has a seat at the table is at the heart of much of the work we do in #k12 at the US Government Accountability Office . Not surprising, since the historical purpose of our public education system is meant to provide equitable access to a quality education for all students. And it feels more important than ever, given America’s increasingly diverse student population. I entered 2023 with a renewed commitment to ensuring that our work considers students’ diverse experiences. Nearly one-third of the way into the year, those small moments I described above reminded me of the importance of representation, not just for a particular celebratory month or day or week, but 24-7/365.?

We’ve all seen what happens when groups are omitted from the table or relegated to a mere footnote in research—it leads to conclusions that simply do not universally apply, whether to gender, age, sexual orientation, race, lived experiences, etc. We do not live in a monolithic society.

And before I move on, let me pause for a minute and address the concept of “Colorblindness”– which is how generations of us were raised by well-meaning adults. Can you differentiate between the lights on a traffic light??Then yes, you DO see color. Unless you have a medical condition or disability, you see color. And so do my teams when it comes to our work. We simply don’t subscribe to that “colorblindness” nonsense because doing so would be dangerous, irresponsible, and a denial of the fact that color very much matters in students’ experiences in schools. We know this to be true because reams of data and research—our own and from other credible researchers—tell us so.

The federal laws governing K-12 education are a suite of civil rights laws meant to provide and protect access to education for groups of kids who have historically had less access—or none at all. So, we do all we can in doing our work to name each group and acknowledge their unique circumstance, and to affirm students’ identities. Often, we are able to use nationally representative data that allows us to look at different groups of K-12 students. Doing so often reveals stark differences in students’ experiences depending on their income, race, gender, identity, location, special education or English learner status. For example:?

• School dress codes restrict girls’ attire more than boys’, and many include restrictions on hair that may disproportionately target Black boys and girls and those of certain religions and cultures.
• Middle school teachers with high poverty students learning virtually were 44 times more likely to have students who were regularly failing a class or significantly behind academically in the 2020-2021 school year compared to all other middle school teachers.
• Overall rates of school bullying have remained stable since the 2014-15 school year (about 1 in 5 kids report being bullied annually), but bullying related to race or disability status has risen since the 2015-16 school year.
• The US student population has become increasingly more diverse over time. In the 1950s, White students comprised nearly 90 percent of K-12 enrollment; today, they less than half. Yet, a high degree of racial and economic segregation persists in our public schools.

My goal is to set a table big enough and wide enough that no folding chairs are required. Because doing nuanced analysis in a truly objective way—a key goal of all GAO analyses and products—requires humans with diverse voices, backgrounds, and lived experiences all working together. So, shoutouts and big love to my group of badass K-12 colleagues, whose different backgrounds, lived experiences, and lenses through which they approach our work greatly enriches its quality, and helps ensure respectful representation of the kids we aim to help.

As Old Man Winter’s greys and whites are overtaken by a dazzling tangle of colorful blooms, I wish all of my followers a Happy Spring, full of color, promise, and hope.