American Institutes for Research presents equity audit findings, recommends districtwide monitoring and school-level follow-up

Maddie Denjunkba, project director for the equity audit at the American Institutes for Research, told the Westwood School Committee on April 1 that a district-root-cause analysis identified uneven implementation of instructional supports and several actionable priorities.

"We focused on 3 areas in the district: resource allocation, educational climate, and instructional supports for diverse learners," Denjunkba said, summarizing the scope of the review.

The audit team collected district data, interviewed staff and leaders, held three family focus groups and convened a 32-member root-cause analysis event that included school leaders, teachers, students and community members, Denjunkba said. From that work, AIR developed problem statements and prioritized causes to guide recommendations.

Why it matters: AIR flagged issues that could affect which students receive supports and how well those supports work. Among the top problem statements were inconsistent implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) across buildings, and a lack of clear entrance and exit…