Dr. Sandra Lochhead is a tenured educational leader with handson experience fueling her dedication to providing equitable education to all students. During her over 35-year career, she has served in instructional, administrative and leadership roles. She is deeply committed to providing students with an enriched learning experience in public schools while upholding the highest academic standards.
In an interview with Educational Insider, Dr. Lochhead shared insights on her career trajectory and her aim to provide appropriate education. She also shared her opinion on the importance of leveraging various resources to improve public education.
Meeting Intersectional Requirements of Public Education
I have led leadership development and pipeline initiatives throughout my career, leveraging innovative practices to improve public education. These practices have helped me actively work on dismantling inequitable systems through collaborations with schools, central teams and external partners.
My role as a special education teacher and general education teacher instilled in me a commitment to meeting the intersectional needs of students who learn in distinct ways. Teaching is both intensely gratifying and humbling and fueled my dedication to partner with families, communities and other educators to meet their needs.
Fulfilling our aspiration to educate all is a communal endeavor. These early career experiences solidified my core values of collaboration, personal reflection and continuous improvement to achieve equitable outcomes.
Translating Educational Equity to Tangible Outcomes
I have found that Elena Aguilar’s (2020) definition of educational equity resonates with me. She defines it as every child, every day. Every child, every day, receives what is needed to develop academically and socially to access any opportunity needed to fulfill their goals. Equity is not about being equal; it’s about distributing resources and providing opportunities and practices that result in every student achieving the expected outcomes.
Equity recognizes that students have diverse needs, strengths and challenges. Keeping this in mind, it is important to provide them with tools that cater to their learning instead of simply providing the same learning approach to everyone.
“True transformation requires courageous and difficult conversations rooted in curiosity and compassion. It is imperative to understand the expectations and meet them with an unwavering commitment to every student’s success.”
High-quality educational resources are essential; however, using those resources to be responsive to the students' interests, needs and identities requires depth of knowledge and skill that is enhanced through collaboration and ongoing professional learning. Providing distinct support ensures uncompromised standards of teaching and learning experiences.
My doctoral research reinforced the importance of making such practices visible and explicit to achieve tangible outcomes at scale. It confirmed my belief that education must be considered a civil right for every student, regardless of individual circumstances or characteristics. The ultimate goal is to enable all students to achieve equally exceptional outcomes.
Advancing Educational Equity through Dialogue
Advancing educational equity requires us to recognize that inequities exist. Addressing inequities is not a zero-sum game. Acknowledging and emphasizing common ground principles and objectives drives better outcomes for everyone involved. It becomes a win-win game. With education being the foundation of our future, it is crucial to continuously seek to understand the factors that advance and inhibit student achievement and take responsibility for addressing the factors we can influence to achieve equitable outcomes.
True transformation requires courageous and difficult conversations rooted in curiosity and compassion. It is imperative to understand the expectations and meet them with an unwavering commitment to every student’s success.
Anchoring our conversations to shared beliefs and goals keeps us aligned in advancing equity and empowerment.
Cultivating Responsible Innovation through Collaboration Innovation nurtures a sense of autonomy and enhances job satisfaction. However, left unchecked, it can inhibit the learning trajectory. Building a shared understanding of the priorities and associated expectations cultivates transparency among teams. Encouraging innovative teaching methods helps us meet the unique needs of students and our broader educational goals.
Innovation must be grounded in key factors—curriculum programming, novice and tenured teacher ratio and culture. Leveraging this data drives strategic innovation. Sharing research, teaching models and coaching builds educator capacity and drives inspiration.
A system that tracks innovation and adherence to expectations strengthens collective efficacy and honors educator expertise.
Measuring Effectiveness of Learning Programs
Student academic progress is an essential measure of the effectiveness of learning programs. Students’ ability to read, think mathematically, engage scientifically, understand history and be creative is imperative and therefore vital to measure.
Effective learning goes beyond academics—it requires safety, belonging and engagement. Students must feel welcomed and engaged to attend school and achieve.
To truly understand impact, we must consider and integrate the perspectives of students, families and the community, recognizing the diverse stakeholders involved.
Using comprehensive measures, inclusive of key participants in the learning program, builds shared ownership and deeper insights into what is working.
Advice for Aspiring Educators and Leaders
Modern education places multifaceted and intricate expectations upon educators and systems. An asset-based approach rooted in shared goals and a common vision fosters participatory learning and helps educators navigate instructional complexity.
Using varied sources of qualitative and quantitative data builds a shared understanding of the ongoing progress relative to the desired goal of the community. It is essential to keep in mind that data is the beginning of a conversation; it prompts questions and points us in a direction to look deeper to uncover the “why” and “what to do next”. Those who are closest to the data will bring the greatest insights.
Active and open exchange of ideas constructively addresses resistance to innovation. Understanding stakeholders’ concerns builds trust and encourages newer approaches.
Documenting personal reflections helps educators align intent with action and bridges the gap between perception and practice. Making your practice public, sharing your craft, taking calculated risks and embracing feedback, even when it feels vulnerable, empowers educators to grow and continuously improve.
Achieving educational equity demands overcoming the barriers for students who have been historically underserved and providing them with the unique support and resources needed to reach their full potential. This demands an acknowledgement of inequities and the courage to act.
Education is our collective responsibility. Collecting diverse insights from colleagues, mentors, families and external stakeholders helps inform a strategic approach to offering rich and rigorous educational experiences to students. This approach empowers our children with the skills, knowledge and opportunities to fulfill their goals and aspirations for the future.
