What Is Equity in Education?

In education, the term “equity” is often misunderstood, many confusing it with the concept of equality. While both concepts relate to fairness, they are fundamentally different in how they approach supporting students. So, what is equity in education, and why is it essential for ensuring that all students reach their full potential?

Equity in education refers to providing every student with the support and resources to succeed based on their individual circumstances and needs. This goes beyond simply offering all students the same resources and opportunities (which would be equality). Instead, equity recognizes that students come from diverse backgrounds and have varying abilities, challenges, and learning styles. Therefore, educational approaches must be tailored to meet those needs—whether that involves extra support, different learning materials, or accommodations.

For instance, a student with a learning disability might need extra time on a test or access to specialized tools like speech-to-text software, while another student might benefit from advanced learning opportunities. In both cases, equity ensures that the students receive the specific resources that will help them thrive, not just a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

A popular topic to discuss is how to balance the ideal of maximum inclusion with the need to address each child’s unique needs. On one hand, inclusion is a central part of education today. The idea is that all children, regardless of their backgrounds, abilities, or challenges, should have access to the same educational environments. The belief is that shared experiences in the classroom will foster empathy, collaboration, and a sense of community among students, helping them develop both academically and socially.

However, the push for maximum inclusion can sometimes conflict with the individualized support some students need. A program designed to meet a student’s unique needs may require a level of separation from the general education environment. This separation can take many forms, such as a specialized classroom, small group instruction, or additional one-on-one time with a teacher or aide. While this may appear to contradict the principle of inclusion, it is often necessary to provide students with the tools and strategies that will help them succeed.

For example, a student with autism may find it overwhelming to participate in large group activities in a typical classroom setting. In such cases, while inclusion is still valuable, the child may benefit more from a smaller, more focused environment where their needs—such as sensory breaks or specialized social skills training—can be met more effectively. Without this adjustment, the student may struggle to keep up with their peers or become disengaged from the learning process entirely.

This tension between inclusion and individualized support creates a delicate balancing act for educators, administrators, and parents alike. Ideally, the goal is to have a system in which all students are included in the learning community while also receiving the accommodations, modifications, or separate services they need to thrive.

In practice, however, this balance can be hard to achieve. Parents and educators may have differing views on how much separation is appropriate, and there is often a concern that too much separation could lead to a child feeling stigmatized or isolated. On the other hand, if children are forced to conform to the same pace, methods, or expectations as the rest of the class, they may not receive the necessary support to succeed.

To address this issue, an equitable educational system needs to offer flexibility. This could mean a variety of options, such as:

• Differentiated instruction: Teachers provide different levels of support within the same classroom, using a variety of teaching strategies and resources to meet the needs of students at various ability levels.
• Specialized programs: For students who need more intensive support, separate classes or specialized programs can provide targeted instruction while still maintaining connections with the larger educational community through shared activities or inclusion opportunities.
• Assistive technology: Tools such as text-to-speech software, adaptive keyboards, or virtual classrooms can help level the playing field for students with disabilities or learning challenges without removing them from the general education setting. Let’s Go Learn is another example of a tool that offers personalized, adaptive learning programs, supporting students in their unique educational journeys and enabling them to achieve their full potential.

Ultimately, the goal is to create an environment where each child can feel included while also receiving the necessary support to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. It’s about meeting each child where they are—whether that means more time, additional help, or a slightly different learning experience.

In education, equity doesn’t mean simply treating all students the same way; it means recognizing that every student has different needs, abilities, and backgrounds, and providing the resources and support necessary to ensure each student’s success. While the goal of inclusion is important, it’s equally important to acknowledge that in some cases, a degree of separation or specialized support is necessary for students to thrive. Balancing the ideals of inclusion with the realities of individual needs is a challenge, but it’s a challenge worth facing—because when equity is achieved, all students have the opportunity to succeed on their own terms.

By embracing both inclusion and individualized support, educators can create a truly equitable learning environment, ensuring that all students, no matter their background or challenges, have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential.

Pro-Tip: To determine whether an assessment is equitable, evaluate its scoring method to understand its design. Unlike standard grade-level assessments, DORA (Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment) and ADAM (Adaptive Diagnostic Assessment of Mathematics) offer equitable evaluations by adapting to each student’s current level. These assessments provide multiple scores across a subject, focusing on specific skills and concepts, rather than just comparing students to their peers. This diagnostic approach ensures personalized insights into learning gaps and strengths, in contrast to the scaled scores (e.g., 725) or percentage scores (e.g., 34%) used in comparative assessments, which are not designed for individualized learning diagnostics.