LCPS EQUITY POLICY REVIEW 1
LCPS Equity Policy Review
Jennifer Hitchcock
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jennifer Hitchcock.
Email: jhitchcock3@liberty.edu
LCPS EQUITY POLICY REVIEW 2
LCPS Equity Policy Review
Equity is, overall, a simple term to define. The idea behind the word is that people
should be treated fairly and given what they need to succeed (Equity definition & meaning,
2022). The problem is, where exactly do these ideas of fairness and success fall when it comes
to education? This is something that many districts are trying to address. Loudoun County
Public Schools in Virginia is no exception. While many districts use a variety of policies to help
define their ideas of equity, Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) opted to focus on creating
one concise equity plan of action.
LCPS initiated their Equity Plan in 2019 with the intention of fully implementing it by
2027. To help the community have a say in the way LCPS is working to improve in this area,
they created a presentation to showcase it and discussed the plan in a school board meeting.
They then asked the community for feedback and revised the plan based off the constructive
criticism provided. Given the formatting of the policy and the inclusion of the community of the
policy and its wording, the presentation provided is extremely easy to understand. Consisting of
twenty slides, it takes the reader through what the plan is and how it is to be implemented.
Within slides 17 – 20 are the goals LCPS has for their plan. Slide 17 specifically mentions the
CRF or Culturally Responsive Framework (Loudoun County Public Schools, n.d.).
Unfortunately, the slides do not provide a link to this, meaning if someone want to know what
this essential part of the policy is, one must search specifically for the LCPS Culturally
Responsive Framework.
While LCPS does provide the slides in an easily accessible manner, the CRF, an essential
part of this policy, is not linked to their published Equity Plan. However, once it is found, the
CFR is very straightforward and easy to understand. Between the plan and the CFR, LCPS was
LCPS EQUITY POLICY REVIEW 3
able to lay out exactly what it is the school district feels is needing to be complete for the county
to be equitable. The plan discusses three very important parts and the roles of all who work with
students in the county. The language is straightforward and simple to understand in both the
slides (Division of Professional Learning / Office of Culturally Responsive Instruction 2020) and
the policy paperwork (Loudoun County Public Schools, n.d.). This is helpful for the many who
are living in Loudoun County but are not as proficient in the English language as others.
To help those involved in the actual day to day implementation of the policy as it is being
laid out over the next few years, the school district has created Equity Leads to oversee and assist
staff in implementing the policy and understanding it (Loudoun County Public Schools, n.d.).
The Leads are trained by the division heads in charge of equity and are working to ensure their
school staff are trained as well. The county did not just push out a plan and let their staff try to
figure it out for themselves.
The CFR is designed to help all staff in the schoolwork on creating an environment where
all students feel welcome. It helps teachers to know what the county wants but neither the slides
nor the plan (Division of Professional Learning / Office of Culturally Responsive Instruction,
2020) expressly states what staff should do in sensitive school climate situations. Instead, those
in need of help must google to find the slides and CFR or go their principal or Equity Leads for
help. This is one area of potential improvement for the policy.
A second area would be providing a more simplistic outline for staff themselves. While
the training and equity leads are helpful, not having the policy on hand for quick review is a
downfall. This should be fixed.
Loudoun County Public Schools resides in one of the richest counties in America. It has
made a concerted effort to ensure that the students feel welcome and their environment is
LCPS EQUITY POLICY REVIEW 4
conducive to learning in a safe manner. While the policy itself is easy to understand, due mostly
to the way the county laid it out in both slides and the CFR, it lacks in a few areas. The policy
itself is not the easiest to find. There is no concise plan sent out to staff. Instead, they must
complete a series of trainings and help provided by the trained county Equity Leads placed in
their schools. This should be fixed. Teachers and principals should know exactly what the
county wants as laid out in their policy and not be expected to simply search it up if they need
help.
LCPS EQUITY POLICY REVIEW 5
References
Dictionary.com. (2022). Equity definition & meaning. Dictionary.com. Retrieved September 30,
2022, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/equity
Division of Professional Learning / Office of Culturally Responsive Instruction. Loudoun County
Public Schools Culturally Responsive Framework. (2020, June 23). Retrieved September
30, 2022, from https://www.lcps.org/Page/229626
Loudoun County Public Schools. (n.d.). Comprehensive_Equity_Plan-9_2020rev.PDF.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10uGhsRIQ8VdsovSIQWkJvHZ3vzUbkr5c/view?
usp=sharing. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10uGhsRIQ8VdsovSIQWkJvHZ3vzUbkr5c/view?
usp=sharing
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