Healthy school districts are diverse, community-centered, and are given the support they need to serve all students.
Many systems and policies – including segregated communities, unfair district accountability measures, and harmful student testing methods – make districts unhealthy.
Learn more about IDRA’s work to support healthy school districts below.
Healthy school districts are a critical part of strong communities – they involve diverse groups of families, students and other local partners in school governance, policy, and practice. But, punitive accountabilitysystems, testing that punishes students and schools, and systems that take control away from communities without supporting their success create barriers to school district health.
School districts should be accountable to their own diverse communities. School success and student performance should not hinge on a letter grade. IDRA works to grow family leadership in education, supports research-based assessment systems that are not harmful to students and schools, and researches the impacts of inappropriate state intervention in local school districts.
SB 3 Claims That Talking About Racism and Race is Racist. — IDRA Testimony against SB 3 in 87(2) session, presented by Ana Ramón to the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee, August 10, 2021 – See video
Don’t Deny Students Important Information to Work for a Better Future – IDRA Testimony against Texas Senate Bill 3, presented by Ana Ramón to the Senate State Affairs Committee, July 15, 2021 – See video
IDRA joined with other civil rights organizations to demand that transgender students across Georgia be protected by their education leaders. On Wednesday, May 4, 2022, the Georgia High School Sports Association’s Executive Committee voted 61-0-1 to prohibit transgender students in our k12 public schools from participating in gendered sports teams that do not align with their gender assigned at birth. This decision impacts transgender, nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ students in your school district among many others. We are demanding that leaders across Georgia who have policies that are supportive of LGBTQ+ students join other athletic representatives in the GHSA and vote to reverse this policy this month. A version of this letter went out last week to the following school districts: Atlanta PS, Clayton County PS, Cobb County SD, DeKalb County SD, Fulton County S, Gwinnett County PS, and Savannah-Chatham County PSS.