Consultant outlines equity audit findings for Seaside schools

Katie Swalwell, the district’s external equity consultant, told the board the audit combines disaggregated outcome data with focus groups and classroom observations to identify patterns of disproportionality across student groups. “So we’re looking at the distribution of material and nonmaterial access and opportunity,” she said, framing the audit as a way to spot where outcomes and experiences diverge by social identity.

Swalwell pointed to the difference between school demographics and the composition of the students classified as "excelling." “Fifteen point seven percent of the group that’s excelling are Latino students. They’ve been at 34.7% of the school,” she said, adding that the audit is a blunt instrument that signals where deeper investigation is needed rather than explaining root causes. The presentation emphasized that equity work pairs quantitative data with two dozen focus groups and classroom observations to produce building-level action plans.

District leaders said they have already begun translating the audit into action. The superintendent’s office confirmed each building leadership team has drafted action plans and that the district intends to build internal capacity so equity review becomes routine practice rather than dependent on outside consultants. Swalwell recommended repeating a full audit every 3–5 years while using ongoing data pulls and local monitoring in between to track progress.

Board members asked clarifying questions about how metrics are calculated and how English-language-learner status and socioeconomic proxies are handled. Swalwell acknowledged limits in available data and said some demographic proxies (for example, free-and-reduced-price-lunch status) are used when more precise indicators are not available, and that the audit flags areas for targeted follow-up rather than offering immediate policy prescriptions.