Equity in Education is a newly-founded nonprofit organization under the Community Service Club (CSC) with a focus on providing children in lower-income areas with access to better education. The idea was sparked in the summer of 2020 as Covid-19 was on the rise and the Black Lives Matter movement gained traction. Its aim is to bridge the educational resource gap between high-income and low-income communities, an inequity that has been perpetuated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The organization was established by Tiffany Xiao ’23 and Annie Huang, a junior at Beckman Highschool, in Irvine, CA. Xiao holds the position of co-president, while Sydney Alleyne ’23 and Alyssa Jaster ’23 serve as the Director of Communications and the Director of Finances, respectively. The increase in the social and political movement, particularly among the youth, proved to be eye-opening for both Xiao and Huang, and spotlight the blatant issue of education equity, especially as it pertains to students in marginalized communities, became apparent. Because of the expansive scope of such issues, Equity in Education hopes to expand all over the country, with the first branch starting at Choate in partnership with Fair Haven — a K-8 school in New Haven.
The organization focuses on three key methods for creating equity. First, through a one-on-one tutoring service, the team hopes to support these young students and create a solid foundation for learning. In addition, Equity in Education plans to hold monthly events for involved students to expose them to extracurricular activities at a young age. Finally, there will be monthly fundraising efforts to raise money or collect supplies in conjunction with a partner school. As a part of these fundraising efforts, the Choate community recently helped raise nearly $700 dollars to provide winter jackets for Fair Haven students.
The organization strongly believes that every student deserves access to quality education and that opportunities should not be limited due to financial restrictions. Jaster shared, “We don’t want students to feel limited by their finances, and we hope to help them pursue their passions. We hope that over time, students will be able to use the foundations from this program to pursue higher education and careers.” She remembers seeing an Instagram post about applying for a board position and feeling “really connected with the organization’s message.” Some of Jaster’s duties include planning fundraisers and communicating with other schools.
The organization hopes to accomodate the needs of all Fair Haven students. Along with a large population of Spanish-speaking students, the school has been met with a recent influx of Haitian and Afghani refugees. The group’s leaders want to emphasize a similar diversity in the selection of tutors. The founders are matching tutors with tutees based on compatibility, Jaster said, “We also hope to help Choate students who are simply seeking community service hours, as we believe this is a really good opportunity for students to create positive change while fulfilling their requirements.”
As a regular visitor to the Writing Center at Choate, Tatum Kent ’24 feels that tutoring has been a crucial part of her academic career. “It’s nice to feel like I can always get academic support when I need it because Choate makes it very accessible,” she said. Interested in becoming a tutor for Equity in Education, Kent hopes to make the type of support that has benefited her at Choate “more attainable for everyone, especially for younger kids.” Kent hopes to develop skills in tutoring, to learn different styles of teaching, and to accomodate to each student’s needs by recognizing their particular strengths and weaknesses.
As the adviser of Equity in Education, Fourth-form Dean and math teacher Mr. Zachary Kafoglis felt that the program “aligned with a lot of my views about changing historical inequities in education.” Prior to Choate, Mr. Kafoglis taught at a public school where he witnessed under-resourcing first-hand. “I see this as work to close the opportunity gap,” said Mr. Kafoglis. He believes the name really speaks to the message the founders want to pass on, to not just “[swoop] in donated money or [offer] support,” but “[to change] the conditions that contribute to these disparities.”
