North Penn ECI committee outlines multi-year equity, inclusion and cultural-proficiency work; district pilots culture clubs and changes cafeteria offerings

On Jan. 14, 2025, the North Penn School District Equity, Cultural Proficiency and Inclusion (ECI) Committee reviewed progress on five district goals that aim to expand culturally responsive instruction, reduce discipline disproportionality, recruit and retain diverse staff, and increase family and student engagement across the district.

The overview framed the work as long-running and structural: Dr. Pam Hart, director of curriculum and equity, told the committee the district has formalized equity goals since 2018 and recently merged its cultural-proficiency and inclusive-practices efforts to better address systems and structures.

The committee heard examples of how that systems focus has translated into programs and changes across schools. Goal 1 (professional development) has emphasized equity-focused data and behavior work for building teams and support staff, with staff sessions that pair short readings and classroom scenarios with school-level academic and behavioral data. Rachel Early and Jackie Giammarco, co-chairs for Goal 1, said building teams use multiple measures — student learning, perceptual, demographic and process data — and collect participant feedback via post-session Google forms to refine future sessions.

Goal 2 work is focused on student engagement, course selection and discipline. Committee presenters said the goal team met groups of high school…