All students — regardless of their skin color, families’ income, language spoken at home, or how they identify — should have access to high-quality learning opportunities that allow them to achieve educational excellence. This is education equity.
Through our research, policy analysis, and advocacy, Ed Trust support efforts that:
- Promote rich, engaging high-quality learning opportunities
- Increase college access and completion
- Engage diverse communities to advocate for education equity
- Increase political and public will to act on equity issues
Our approach to this work is informed by our theory of change, which includes four main components that aim to advance positive outcomes that improve the lives of those who are underserved, including Black students, Latino students, and students from low-income backgrounds.
In these quarterly reports, we showcase the work that Ed Trust, along with our partners, is doing.
Theory of Change
Thriving Together: Embracing Courage Amid Challenges
June 2024
Thriving Together: Embracing Courage Amid Challenges
Amid culture wars and a politically charged election year, education equity has faced increasing challenges on the federal, state, and local levels aimed at dismantling previous gains in everything from diversity to the allocation of school resources.
The theme for this quarterly update is “Thriving Together: Embracing Courage Amid Challenges.” In it, we highlight our work to create effective advocacy strategies that move us toward our goal of a just education system where every student can see themselves in their curriculum, experience a sense of belonging, and graduate with the skills needed to live the life of their dreams and solve the world’s most complex problems.
Now more than ever, resisting the temptation to get mired in the mud, and instead moving forward with advocacy that is disciplined and strategic is critical to maneuvering the current landscape and giving every student the tools they need to achieve excellence. When we focus on what matters most for students — a well-resourced system that centers them first — and refuse to let others derail our efforts by putting the issues we care about in a spin-cycle, backwards-looking time machine, there is no doubt that we will continue to advance equity for all students.
Highlights of Our Latest Work
Reports and Briefs
Report: Engaging First: Supporting Young Learners Through Family Engagement
Report: Making Assessment Reports More Meaningful for Students & Families
Essay: Navigating the Promise and Peril of AI for Students of Color
Guide: Navigating the Better FAFSA
In the Media
EdTrust’s work was featured in numerous media outlets including the Washington Post, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, FOX Business, Politico, PBS NewsHour, Inside Higher Ed, and Philanthropy News Digest.
For more media coverage, see our In the News section.
On the Blog
Recent blog posts featured on our website include:
Why Queer Faculty Diversity Matters in Higher Education
Marking the 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the Work that Remains
Why Districts Should Focus on High-Impact Tutoring Interventions as ESSER Funding Ends
Hiding In Plain Sight: How Complex Decoding Challenges Can Block Comprehension for Older Readers
Transfer Students Are Key to Building a More Diverse, Better Prepared Teacher Workforce
Events
AI: Avoiding the Next Digital Divide (SXSW). In March, we hosted a panel discussion on AI at SXSW EDU that explored the ethical ramifications of artificial intelligence and how we can avoid the next digital divide wave.
On May 23, EdTrust and The School Superintendents Association (AASA) cohosted a virtual event, “Superintendents of Color Leading with Excellence,” highlighting the inspiring work that Black female superintendents are doing in their districts. The event featured an impressive panel of Black female superintendents who are working to support their students’ mental health and academic success through best practices.
From April 17-19, more than 180 state advocates, national partners, funders, educators, and students from across the country gathered in the nation’s capital for EdTrust’s annual bootcamp. This year’s theme was Protecting Our Students, Protecting Democracy. This bootcamp offered a mixture of plenary discussions, breakout sessions, strategic planning opportunities, networking, community building, and resource sharing designed to address these issues and give participants tangible skills and actionable strategies to help them in their advocacy efforts.
EdTrust hosted a webinar series in March titled, “Resource Equity in Action: Developing an Advocacy Campaign for Resource Equity.” These trainings covered the three key pieces of successful advocacy campaigns: data analysis, messaging, and impact measurement.
In April, EdTrust was joined by the nation’s leading civil rights voices at our Can’t Be Erased event, in DC, for a timely discussion on the rise of book bans, curriculum censorship, and strategies to mitigate ongoing attacks on public education. The event featured two fruitful panel discussions between state and national leaders and student advocates.
EdTrust held two trainings on “Helping Students From Mixed-Status Families Complete the FAFSA” to steer students from mixed-status families through the process of completing the FAFSA step by step. EdTrust also provided detailed guidance on how to use a newly developed tool to better support students from mixed- status families who are having a hard time filling out the FAFSA.
State Offices
EdTrust-West
Earlier this year, EdTrust-West unveiled a newly redesigned website. While this redesign provided the website with a refreshed, more updated look, it also represented a renewed commitment to our community of advocates who work alongside EdTrust-West to advance educational equity in California.
EdTrust-West also used its learning on technical assistance to transform policies and practices to ensure more equitable experiences and outcomes for students of color and multilingual learners. We created two communities of practice (CoPs) that seek to partner with community colleges to support single mothers and student parents better and provide students with fair access to college-level coursework.
EdTrust-Midwest
Seven decades after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, EdTrust-Midwest and partners in the Michigan Partnership for Equity and Opportunity (MPEO) coalition launched a new campaign, called Opportunity for All. The campaign calls attention to decades of neglect toward Black, Latino students, and students from low-income backgrounds and the urgent need to address profound pandemic learning losses.
EdTrust-New York
In March, we welcomed Arlen Benjamin-Gomez as our new executive director, and she is already working to advance the organization’s progressive policy and advocacy agenda, which focuses on achieving educational equity for all New York students from birth through higher education and into the workforce.
EdTrust-New York continued to call attention to the long-run impacts of the pandemic on K-12 students — including issues such as unfinished learning, lower graduation requirements, lower student engagement, and rising school absenteeism rates, which in the four years since the pandemic shuttered schools, have become pervasive and have hit students of color particularly hard.
EdTrust Tennessee
Every year, the EdTrust-Tennessee team convened advocates and students from across the state for our annual Day on the Hill. This year, on March 12, we brought together members of our TN Alliance for Equity in Education and over 50 students to meet with lawmakers, share our policy priorities, and learn more about the legislative process in Tennessee.
In the States
Delaware
EdTrust has continued to serve as a key thought partner, policy advisor, and advocacy strategist in supporting the statewide campaign to realize meaningful school funding formula reform.
Kentucky
EdTrust continued its longtime partnership with the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and the Kentucky Equity Coalition this spring and was largely focused on expanding advanced coursework access and defending against far-right attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in higher education.
Louisiana
This spring, EdTrust in Louisiana advocated for increased funding for early learning, greater literacy support, and programs to support students’ mental health and well-being during the state legislative session, strategized ways to combat the literacy crisis, and engaged with our student advocates.
Maryland
EdTrust continues to support the racial justice-centered efforts of the Maryland Alliance for Racial Equity in Education (MAREE) to pursue key policy priorities at the local, state, and federal levels.
Massachusetts
The ability to read proficiently by the end of third grade is widely recognized as a pivotal indicator for the future academic success of students. Yet, across Massachusetts, less than half of third grade students are meeting critical literacy benchmarks. In response, EdTrust in Massachusetts has launched a year-long literacy campaign.
Texas
As the 2025 legislative year approaches, the Texas team is thrilled to welcome game-changing advocates to our Student Advisory Council, along with three Texans as part of the third cohort of Justice Fellows. Their energy and expertise will build on student-led efforts to ensure that more Texans can access and complete the degrees and credentials they need to pursue their dreams.
On the Hill
To kick off EdTrust’s annual Equity Matters Bootcamp, we orchestrated a Hill Day with state and local partners from across the country to uplift key federal priorities, including federal legislation to expand access to advanced coursework for underserved students. Over 75 advocates and partners from more than nine states participated in the Hill Day.
Congress passed a Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending package that averted cuts to EdTrust’s priority programs. EdTrust played a pivotal role in helping defeat the catastrophic cuts proposed by the House Republican Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) Education Appropriations bill, which, if included, would have decimated America’s education system and stymied academic recovery efforts for decades.
EdTrust was intimately involved in the recent introduction of the Postsecondary Student Success Act. This legislation includes much-needed student supports, particularly for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds to stay in school and graduate and strengthen the current Postsecondary Student Success Grant program.