Equity-Based Teaching in Higher Education
The Levers That Institutions Can Use for Scaling Improvement
Authors: Equity-Based Teaching Collective
Publication Date: 2024
Format: Playbook (PDF)
Start the ProcessSharpen the FocusAct with Purpose
Digital Learning Reform
Student-Centered MissionCatalytic Leadership
Senior LeadersMid-Level LeadersCore StaffFacultyStudents
All Institution Types
This playbook defines equity-based teaching (EBT) as a systems-level approach to improving outcomes for Black, Latine, Indigenous, and low-income (BLILI) students and outlines 15 institutional levers for improvement across five key stakeholder groups: Institutional Leaders, Centers for Teaching and Learning, Deans and Department Chairs, Faculty, and Students. Framing teaching as part of an ecosystem, the report calls for structural and cultural shifts, not just pedagogical adjustments, and offers detailed, stakeholder-specific recommendations supported by research and institutional examples. It emphasizes the interdependence of actors and actions needed to scale EBT and ensure sustainable, equity-centered teaching transformation.
Connections to the Transformation Journey
and How Institutions Transform
Stages of Transformation
Start the ProcessSharpen the FocusAct with Purpose
- Start the Process: This playbook introduces equity-based teaching as a field-advancing framework to reimagine teaching as a lever for institutional transformation and serves as a useful reference for teams considering where to focus early transformation efforts. It clearly defines the concept, the roles of ecosystem actors, and how EBT supports equitable student success, especially for BLILI students while presenting actionable ideas for how institutions might begin integrating it into teaching and learning.
- Sharpen the Focus: Section VI outlines 15 specific recommendations for scaling equity-based teaching, organized across five stakeholder groups. This guidance helps institutions clarify where to direct improvement efforts and what types of policies, programs, or practices to prioritize, especially at the intersection of instruction, culture, and technology.
- Act with Purpose: Institutions ready to move from planning to action will find concrete implementation ideas throughout the report. Each recommendation includes real-world examples from colleges that have adopted equity-based teaching practices, offering practical models for how to embed change across roles and systems.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Evidence-Based Practices
Digital Learning Reform
- Digital Learning Reform: This resource positions equity-based teaching as a high-impact instructional strategy that integrates technology to improve outcomes for BLILI students. It defines equity-based teaching, maps the institutional ecosystem that enables it, and highlights how digital learning tools can support more inclusive and student-responsive pedagogy. The report offers 15 concrete recommendations, organized across five institutional stakeholder groups, to support implementation at scale.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Core Institutional Capacities
Student-Centered MissionCatalytic Leadership
- Catalytic Leadership: By offering a compelling vision for equity-based teaching and a framework for ecosystem-wide engagement, the report provides leaders with language and structure to build buy-in, align priorities, and organize teams around shared goals for instructional transformation.
- Student-Centered Mission: Institutions wanting to build capacity related to a Student-Centered Mission may benefit from how this resource’s language and frameworks prioritize the needs of students (especially those who have been historically marginalized) over historical approaches to teaching and learning. In doing so, it advocates for redistributing power in the classroom and the curriculum in ways that recognize students, teachers, and communities as education co-constructors, and elevates students’ own forms of knowledge and lived experiences.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Continuous Improvement
This resource is most relevant to the following cross-functional roles:
- Senior Leaders: The report can be useful for senior leaders looking for language that helps explain what EBT is and build buy-in around it. The framework it puts forth can also be a valuable structure for organizing transformation efforts related to teaching and learning.
- Mid-Level Leaders: This resource supports mid-level leaders charged with facilitating teaching-focused transformation efforts by offering concrete recommendations organized by distinct constituent groups to help clarify next steps.
- Core Staff (Centers for Teaching and Learning): CTLs are featured prominently, with recommendations to guide faculty support, strengthen development pipelines, and embed equity-based teaching into campus culture. These strategies offer inspiration for new initiatives and provide cover for discussions with administrative and faculty leaders about a more ambitious approach to teaching and learning.
- Faculty: A plurality of the recommendations included in the report are targeted toward Faculty, Deans, and Department Chairs and, when combined, offer a high-level roadmap of concrete steps to take. The authors also included many resources in the appendices for readers keen to dive deeper into the contributing research.
- Students: Rare for this topic, the report also serves as a valuable resource for students directly by helping contextualize what contributes to the teaching experience (in the form of an intuitive model of the EBT ecosystem) and providing recommendations targeted specifically to students for how to contribute to the process of improvement.
This resource connects to the following phase(s) of the PRPAM framework:
- Prepare: Institutions in the Prepare stage of a continuous improvement cycle can use this playbook to explore equity-based teaching as a strategic priority. It provides conceptual clarity and entry points tailored to different stakeholders, helping teams begin organizing for change.
- Prioritize: The playbook’s 15 recommendations, framed across institutional roles, can help institutions in the Prioritize phase of a continuous improvement process to identify high-impact strategies, align them with existing efforts, and set priorities for action.
- Act: The report’s descriptions of 15 concrete policies, programs, and practices offer actionable next steps for institutions ready to implement equity-based teaching. Real-world examples from colleges that have undertaken similar efforts provide practical inspiration for how to approach campus-wide implementation.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Stages of Transformation
Start the ProcessSharpen the FocusAct with Purpose
- Start the Process: This playbook introduces equity-based teaching as a field-advancing framework to reimagine teaching as a lever for institutional transformation and serves as a useful reference for teams considering where to focus early transformation efforts. It clearly defines the concept, the roles of ecosystem actors, and how EBT supports equitable student success, especially for BLILI students while presenting actionable ideas for how institutions might begin integrating it into teaching and learning.
- Sharpen the Focus: Section VI outlines 15 specific recommendations for scaling equity-based teaching, organized across five stakeholder groups. This guidance helps institutions clarify where to direct improvement efforts and what types of policies, programs, or practices to prioritize, especially at the intersection of instruction, culture, and technology.
- Act with Purpose: Institutions ready to move from planning to action will find concrete implementation ideas throughout the report. Each recommendation includes real-world examples from colleges that have adopted equity-based teaching practices, offering practical models for how to embed change across roles and systems.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Evidence-Based Practices
Digital Learning Reform
- Digital Learning Reform: This resource positions equity-based teaching as a high-impact instructional strategy that integrates technology to improve outcomes for BLILI students. It defines equity-based teaching, maps the institutional ecosystem that enables it, and highlights how digital learning tools can support more inclusive and student-responsive pedagogy. The report offers 15 concrete recommendations, organized across five institutional stakeholder groups, to support implementation at scale.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Core Institutional Capacities
Student-Centered MissionCatalytic Leadership
- Catalytic Leadership: By offering a compelling vision for equity-based teaching and a framework for ecosystem-wide engagement, the report provides leaders with language and structure to build buy-in, align priorities, and organize teams around shared goals for instructional transformation.
- Student-Centered Mission: Institutions wanting to build capacity related to a Student-Centered Mission may benefit from how this resource’s language and frameworks prioritize the needs of students (especially those who have been historically marginalized) over historical approaches to teaching and learning. In doing so, it advocates for redistributing power in the classroom and the curriculum in ways that recognize students, teachers, and communities as education co-constructors, and elevates students’ own forms of knowledge and lived experiences.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Continuous Improvement
This resource is most relevant to the following cross-functional roles:
- Senior Leaders: The report can be useful for senior leaders looking for language that helps explain what EBT is and build buy-in around it. The framework it puts forth can also be a valuable structure for organizing transformation efforts related to teaching and learning.
- Mid-Level Leaders: This resource supports mid-level leaders charged with facilitating teaching-focused transformation efforts by offering concrete recommendations organized by distinct constituent groups to help clarify next steps.
- Core Staff (Centers for Teaching and Learning): CTLs are featured prominently, with recommendations to guide faculty support, strengthen development pipelines, and embed equity-based teaching into campus culture. These strategies offer inspiration for new initiatives and provide cover for discussions with administrative and faculty leaders about a more ambitious approach to teaching and learning.
- Faculty: A plurality of the recommendations included in the report are targeted toward Faculty, Deans, and Department Chairs and, when combined, offer a high-level roadmap of concrete steps to take. The authors also included many resources in the appendices for readers keen to dive deeper into the contributing research.
- Students: Rare for this topic, the report also serves as a valuable resource for students directly by helping contextualize what contributes to the teaching experience (in the form of an intuitive model of the EBT ecosystem) and providing recommendations targeted specifically to students for how to contribute to the process of improvement.
This resource connects to the following phase(s) of the PRPAM framework:
- Prepare: Institutions in the Prepare stage of a continuous improvement cycle can use this playbook to explore equity-based teaching as a strategic priority. It provides conceptual clarity and entry points tailored to different stakeholders, helping teams begin organizing for change.
- Prioritize: The playbook’s 15 recommendations, framed across institutional roles, can help institutions in the Prioritize phase of a continuous improvement process to identify high-impact strategies, align them with existing efforts, and set priorities for action.
- Act: The report’s descriptions of 15 concrete policies, programs, and practices offer actionable next steps for institutions ready to implement equity-based teaching. Real-world examples from colleges that have undertaken similar efforts provide practical inspiration for how to approach campus-wide implementation.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Recommended Citation: Equity-Based Teaching Collective (2024). Equity-based teaching in higher education: The levers that institutions can use for scaling improvement. Equity-Based Teaching Collective.
