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July 7, 2014

Dear Chief State School Officers:

Equality  of opportunity is a core American value.  Equal educational opportunity means ensuring  schools have the resources they need to provide real and meaningful  opportunities for all students to succeed, regardless of family income or  race.  To accomplish this goal, students  must have access to a safe and healthy place to learn, quality instructional  materials and supports, rigorous expectations and course work, and, most  critically, excellent educators to guide learning.  Yet family income and race still too often  predict how likely a child is to attend a school staffed by great educators.  This inequity is unacceptable, and the time is  now for us to work together to ensure all children have access to the high-quality  education they deserve, and that all educators (including teachers, staff, principals,  and superintendents) have the resources and support necessary to provide that  education.
  Over  the past several months, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) has  conducted outreach to Chief State School Officers, school districts, civil  rights groups, teachers, principals, and other stakeholders to explore ways to  tackle and resolve the disparities in access to great teachers that we know  continue to exist. Through this  outreach, we heard that there is no single solution to this problem; we need a  broad and systemic focus on supporting and improving teaching and learning,  especially in our highest-need schools and for our highest-need students,  including students with disabilities and English learners.  We heard that the best efforts will not only include  recruiting, developing, and retaining great educators with the skills to teach  all students, but will also build strong school leaders, create supportive working  conditions, and address inequities in resources and supports for teachers.  
  Many  of you have told me that you are ready for a renewed and deeper commitment to ensuring  every student in every public school has equal access to great educators who  set and maintain high expectations for every student.

To  move us closer to this goal, the Department is embarking on a multifaceted  strategy:

- **New State Educator  Equity Plans**:   The Department will ask that, in April  2015, each State educational agency (SEA) submit to the Department a new State Educator  Equity Plan in accordance with the requirements of Title I of the Elementary  and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).  As required by ESEA, in its plan, each SEA  must, among other things, describe the steps it will take to ensure that “poor  and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by  inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers.”  To prepare a strong plan, each SEA will  analyze what its stakeholders and data have to say about the root causes of  inequities and will craft its own solutions.  The Department will issue guidance this  fall to support SEAs in plan development and implementation.  I look forward to working with you to ensure  that these plans translate to meaningful and comprehensive change for students.

- **Educator Equity Support  Network**:   The Department will fund a new technical  assistance network to support SEAs and districts as they develop and implement their  new State Educator Equity Plans.  The network  will work with national and local experts, analysts and practitioners,  including teachers, principals, and professionals knowledgeable about students  with disabilities and English learners, to understand and address each SEA’s individual  needs, share promising strategies, and identify areas of opportunity for  additional support.  Launching in the  fall of 2014 by cataloging effective practices in analyzing and addressing  problems of inequitable access, the network will provide information, tools, and  supports to all SEAs as they develop and implement new State Educator Equity Plans.

- **Data Release and  State Profiles**:   Recognizing that all high-quality State  Educator Equity Plans start with a data-driven analysis of existing conditions,  this fall the Department will facilitate State and local analysis and planning  by (1) sending each SEA a copy of its State's complete data file from the Civil  Rights Data Collection (CRDC), which includes comprehensive school and district  level data reported directly by districts to the Department on metrics such as  teacher experience; teacher absenteeism; teacher certification; access to preschool  and rigorous course work, including science, mathematics, and Advanced Placement  courses; and school expenditures; and (2) releasing State-specific teacher  equity profiles, which will be available to the public on the Department’s Web site.   These profiles will use data that the  Department has previously collected from districts and States via the CRDC and  ED*Facts* to illustrate existing gaps  in key metrics of teacher equity between high- and low-poverty schools and schools  with high and low populations of minority students.  An SEA will then be able to consider these  data and profiles, as well as the SEA’s analysis of its own additional data, as  it prepares its State Educator Equity Plan and determines how best to support  its educators.



| | Sincerely, 
| | -----------
| | /s/        
| | Arne Duncan