Coaching for Equity: Conversations That Change Practice 1st Edition by Elena Aguilar

“This book is for every teacher leader, coach, and educational practitioner who seeks to interrupt educational inequities. Elena shares her vulnerability and insights, embraces the power of emotions, and deepens our understanding so we can expand our skillsets―helping us to put relationship before task and keep equity at the core.”
―Tamisha Williams, Dean of Adult Equity & Inclusion, Lick-Wilmerding High School

“Coaching for Equity is an extremely accessible and terrifically useful book for educators at all levels. Elena’s authentic and caring voice comes through as she combines personal narrative seamlessly with concrete strategy to help all readers develop their conversational skills around issues of inequity. I recommend her books again and again.”
―Jennifer Abrams, Communications Consultant and author of Having Hard Conversations and Swimming in the Deep End

“Finally! – a unique and deeply needed guide to creating equity and shifting hearts, minds, and classrooms using tools of compassion and curiosity instead of tools of force, superiority, and judgment.”
―Laura Brewer, How To Make Love

“Elena insightfully offers leaders the essential mindsets, practice frameworks, and explicit tools to create equitable school conditions for every student, every day. This book should be essential reading for all school leaders committed to ensuring students reach their full potential and schools deliver on their promise to disrupt barriers that disproportionately and negatively impact the academic and socio-emotional experiences of black and brown students.”
―Alexandrea Creer Kahn, former Chief Academic Officer at Leadership Public Schools and co-author of Identity Safe Classrooms: Pathways to Belonging and Learning

“Coaching for Equity: Conversations That Change Practice takes the courageous step of explicitly naming and addressing the social, political, and historical nature of white supremacy and colonialism in American schooling. I’ve had the privilege of learning from Elena over the last eight years and her brilliance in coaching radiates in person and on the pages. Read and study this text to develop your praxis and your commitment to justice and liberatory education.”
―Javier Cabra Walteros, Chief Academic Officer at Envision Education

“Finally! Elena Aguilar’s Coaching for Equity is an accessible guidebook that pushes us beyond platitudes of equity to the essential ground of creating complex learning environments that demonstrate―every day―what it takes for all children to receive the educational experiences they deserve. Coaching for Equity is for all of us who have been hungry for guidance about how to gather our people, get past our fragility, and “journey towards justice and liberation” as we work in service to all children.”
―Kimberly N. Parker, Ph.D., Shady Hill School and co-founder of #DisruptTexts

“Elena Aguilar, once again, delivers an illuminating resource for educators. Through personal experiences, a historical perspective, proven educational methods, and clear direction―teacher leaders will gain tools and strategies necessary for doing the challenging yet essential work of transforming their schools into welcoming, inclusive and equitable environments for learning. I certainly did.”
―Ellen Shulman, Principal, Minneapolis Public Schools

“Elena Aguilar writes, leads and coaches from compassion, curiosity and a deep commitment to honest conversations about systemic inequities. In this book, Aguilar provides clear, actionable and compassionate tools and resources to ensure that every single child has access to an equitable education.”
―Kendra Lee, Director of Diversity and Inclusion Learning for Comcast

“Elena Aguilar writes with a humility and power that pulls you in like a warm, engrossing fire. She has a way of unapologetically telling the truth while also meeting you where you are with profound respect for your journey as an educator at any point in your career and as a complete human being. Coaching for Equity: Conversations That Change Practice is a book of wisdom that can only be birthed after decades of firsthand experience and deep reflections on making the unconscious conscious in order to have educational equity for every child, every day.”
―Daisy Han, CEO of Embracing Equity

“I believe a majority of people want to create and contribute to a more equitable society, and we are too often frozen in our good intentions because we cannot address inequities we do not see, we don’t know how to address the inequities we do see, we fear the pain of the process, and we fear the potential to do more harm. Elena Aguilar offers us a road map to activate our agency and begin the work of dismantling the systems of oppression that hurt us all. She offers a set of tools to begin building the healing human connections we crave.”
―Grace Losada, EdD, leadership coach and former vice president of Fusion Education

“Elena has a brilliant approach to providing practical tools, methods, and strategies to examine the behaviors of educators that contribute to creating and sustaining an equitable educational experience that every student, regardless of identity and lifestyle, deserves. As teachers and educational leaders look to refine our practices to best meet the needs of all our students, we will benefit from Coaching for Equity by thinking about things in ways that we should have all along.”
―Dr. Trina Moore-Southall, Director of Equity and Inclusion, Brentwood School, Los Angeles

“Elena Aguilar has built a compelling equity-coaching model. Her transformational approach evolves from her core values and 30 years of coaching and experience with diverse cultures. Through story telling she presents strategies that support systemic change; she offers implementation guidelines, and tools. Coaching for Equity is a timely, professional resource that supports an invaluable approach.”
―Virginia McHugh Goodwin-Wildflower Foundation Coach

“As we long to re-imagine schooling during our time of worldwide trauma, Elena Aguilar brings her expertise about emotional resilience and helps us craft the skillful conversations needed to create equitable classrooms, schools, and districts that honor the needs of all the learners, both children and adults. This book will refill your reservoir of hope; it will provide you with the blueprint for building an environment where compassion and academic excellence go hand-in-hand.”
―Cheryl Beeson, retired school and district administrator

Your Guide to Creating Equitable Schools

If we are going to interrupt educational inequities and create schools in which every child thrives, we must refine our conversation skills. Coaching for Equity offers extensive strategies for talking about race, power, and systems of oppression, strategies which lead to changes in a teacher’s practice. This book is for teachers, leaders, and coaches who accept responsibility for interrupting inequities in schools and who want to build the knowledge and skills to coach for equity.

Coaching for Equity contains an updated Transformational Coaching framework and the tools and rubrics that are necessary to implement this model of coaching. In addition, personal narratives demonstrate what coaching for equity looks like and help us see how we can make every conversation count towards building a more just and equitable world.

“This book is for every teacher, leader, coach, and educational practitioner who seeks to interrupt educational inequities. Elena shares her vulnerability and insights, embraces the power of emotions, and deepens our understanding so we can expand our skillsets—helping us to put relationship before task and keep equity at the core.”
—Tamisha Williams, Dean of Adult Equity & Inclusion, Lick-Wilmerding High School

“Finally! Elena Aguilar’s Coaching for Equity is an accessible guidebook that pushes us beyond platitudes of equity to the essential ground of creating complex learning environments that demonstrate—every day—what it takes for all children to receive the educational experiences they deserve. Coaching for Equity is for all of us who have been hungry for guidance about how to gather our people, get past our fragility, and ‘journey towards justice and liberation’ as we work in service to all children.”
—Kimberly N. Parker, PhD, Shady Hill School and co-founder of #DisruptTexts

“All coaching should be about equity, but coaches need tools and maps to guide them through emotionally complex conversations about race and justice. This book provides coaches with those tools and maps. Any coach who is concerned about equity, which should be every coach, will greatly benefit from reading this book.”
—Jim Knight, Senior Partner, Instructional Coaching Group