Education Equity Conferences and Webinars
Since 2018, the Department has held an annual Education Equity Conference each year to offer professional development focused on the public policy levers, evidence based practices, and preparation necessary to ensure that Virginia educators are empowered and equipped to advance equitable outcomes for all students.
Additionally, since late 2019, the Virginia Department of Education has hosted regular webinars focused on equity strategies and to share best practices and resources with school division staff.
The 2021 Webinar series was focused on sharing best practice and practical resources that advance the critical competencies necessary to achieve education equity in Virginia: Courageous leadership, Compassionate family and student engagement, Continuous reflection, Cultural responsiveness, and Curriculum reframing. Together these competencies make up the EdEquityVA Compass or Virginia’s Equity 5 Cs. Through the diverse expertise of our partners and presenters, our goal was to offer relevant and engaging sessions to Virginia educators that align to the Department’s priorities outlined in Virginia’s equity framework, Navigating EdEquityVA.
The 2021 series has now concluded, and the 2022 series schedule and registration pages will soon be posted.
Recordings of all webinars, from 2019, 2020 and 2021 are available on the VDOE’s YouTube page.
2021 Education Equity Summer Institute
The Virginia Department of Education hosted the 2021 Virginia Education Equity Summer Institute in combination with a statewide conference on Teaching African American History virtually June 15-16, 2021. The conference focused on culturally responsive and inclusive educator practices and teaching African American History through culturally sustaining pedagogies. Breakout sessions and keynotes provided professional development to support Virginia’s recently expanded History and Social Science standards and the implementation of the new elective course in African American History for high school students that launched Fall 2020.
All breakout sessions were recorded and made available through #GoOpenVA.
2020 EdEquityVA Week Symposiums
Governor Northam declared November 30-December 4, 2020 as EdEquityVA Week in the Commonwealth. In recognition of EdEquityVA Week, the Department hosted a Virtual Symposium. The recorded sessions are available on the VDOE YouTube page, and included Culturally Relevant Pedagogy featuring a Keynote Address by Dr. Gloria Ladson Billings. and Closing Opportunity Gaps featuring a Keynote Address by Dr. John King.
EdEquityVA Virtual Summer Summit 2020
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in lieu of the annual in-person Education Equity Summer Institute, the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Equity hosted an #EdEquityVA Virtual Equity Summit. The recorded sessions are available on the VDOE YouTube page, and included a keynote welcome entitled “We Want to Do More Than Survive” by Dr. Bettina Love.
2019 Virginia is for All Learners: Education Equity Summer Institute
The Virginia Department of Education, in collaboration with Virginia’s Secretary of Education and VCU’s School of Education provided this conference for Virginia educators, school leaders, education policymakers, and other invited stakeholder group representatives.
2018 Virginia is for All Learners: Education Equity Summer Institute
