&® Equity Fellows ‘The Equity Fellows Project currently supports selected teachers, school administrators, and staff members in twenty targeted schools across Montgomery County. Now in its second year, participating districts include Dayton Public Schools, Northmont City Schools, Trotwood-Madison City Schools, and the Dayton Early College Academy. Community partners include the Dayton Metro Libraries and Dayton Public Schoo'’s Office of Males of Color. Each Equity Fellows (EF) team includes at least one administrator as well as teachers and staff members who directly work with students. The EF approach is data-driven and based on proven models such as the local STEM Fellowship Program at the Dayton Regional Stem Center and research on teacher-driven oritical professional development. Each EF team aligns with a “cradle to career’ educational goal (spanning from kindergarten readiness to high school completion and post-secondary enrollment) that best fits its school Population. Using district-wide and school and student-level data, each site examines how students are succeeding with a closer examination of multiple student attributes~such as race, gender, and disability. Teams are looking to more carefully consider racial and other achievement gaps, then asking themselves, what wil it take to eliminate these achievement ‘gaps for our student population? What barriers are in place that might be unintentionally discouraging or limiting student achievement? ‘Supported through ongoing site-based coaching, training in culturally responsive teaching, and project-wide Implementation sessions, EF teams develop a Faculty Training Plan and Action Plan, including a root cause analysis, in order to put in place various structures or rethink ‘current practices to eliminate achievement gaps. The project requires Equity Fellows to reflect on and challenge their own mindset as well, better understanding implicit biases everyone holds regarding people different from themselves. As such, difficult and uncomfortable conversations are a natural product of this work. The Equity Fellows project is funded with critical support from StriveTogether, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring success for all children.