Sustaining an Equity Focus in the Face of Budget Cuts: Perspectives from Hillsdale High School

DIANE FRIEDLAENDER
SCOPE/SRN Senior Associate

ELLE RUSTIQUE
SCOPE/SRN Senior Associate

JEFF GILBERT
Hillsdale High School Principal

Facilitator: LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND
SCOPE Co-director and Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education

In the face of epic (or epidemic) budget cuts, schools that previously supported equity-oriented designs now struggle to maintain those structures. And some are succeeding. One of these equity-oriented schools — in which resources are intentionally allocated to support the success of all students including low-income, minority and learning disabled students and English language learners — is the focus of a panel discussion to be held November 29 as part of SCOPE's Brown Bag Seminar Series.

This panel discussion will focus on the impact of funding inequities in California and on how one school is successfully navigating the new budget realities. The school — Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California — is one of the few that is successfully educating all of its students against the odds and against national trends.

The panel will be facilitated by Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Co-Director of SCOPE and faculty sponsor of the School Redesign Network (SRN). Featured speakers are Diane Friedlaender, Senior Associate at SRN, and Hillsdale High School Principal Jeff Gilbert. Friedlaender will present research findings from the High Schools for Equity study conducted with Darling-Hammond on the characteristics of successful high schools organized on principles of equity. Gilbert will talk about the work being done at Hillsdale High School, which has received national recognition for its success in educating low-income and minority students and English language learners. Gilbert will present the strategies he and his staff are using to preserve their equity-oriented school design despite continuing budget cuts.

SCOPE's brown bag seminar series brings notable experts to the Stanford
community to address issues of educational opportunity, access, equity,
and diversity in the United States and internationally.