Does admitting students on financial aid make a school equitable, or only accessible?
Why the question matters
Access is the part of equity independent schools can point at and be proud of, and it is genuinely hard-won. But Barth's definition is about what each student gets, not about who walked in the door. A school can recruit a class that looks nothing like the one it recruited in 2018 and still run on habits built for a different population — and the cost of that gap lands on the students who arrived last.
What I currently think
My honest position is that admission is the beginning of the question, not the end of it. The numbers I want to see are the ones that come after: who is in the advanced and honors sections, who is offered an extension, who is referred, who is asked to leave, who is handed a scaffold before they have to ask for one. That is the difference between a school that has diversity and a school that is equitable. I want to hold this without accusing anyone. The teachers in my building are not the problem — the habits are, and habits are not anyone's fault and everyone's responsibility.
What I am reading & learning
- —Barth (2016), Educational equity: What does it mean? How do we know when we reach it?
- —Lewis & Diamond (2015), Despite the Best Intentions
- —Carter & Welner (2013), Closing the Opportunity Gap
- —U.S. Department of Education (2025), The impact of civil rights laws
Related journal entries
- Fair is not the same as equitable
My whole career has been about growing in my understanding of fairness versus equity. Fair treatment is not necessarily equitable treatment — students need scaffolds that help them reach their best potential — and I want to understand what that requires in the elite school where I teach.