The Region X Equity Assistance Center is located at Education Northwest's Equity Program in Portland, Oregon. The Equity Assistance Center is one of 10 regional equity assistance centers in the nation funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Equity Assistance Center helps public schools and their communities incorporate educational equity into policies, procedures, and classroom practices to ensure each student receives what she or he needs to succeed academically.

Key Equity Issues

• Implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [NCLB])
• Educational Equity
• Highly Qualified Teaching
• Sex Equity
• School-Based Harassment, Bullying, and Teasing
• Charter schools and magnet schools
• Safe Schools

What We Do

At the request of school boards and other responsible governmental agencies, the Equity Assistance Center provides training and technical assistance on issues related to equity in education to ensure that all children, regardless of race, sex, or national origin, have equal access to quality education and the opportunity to develop high academic standards in reading, math, language arts, and other core subject areas.

We are funded to provide training and technical assistance in Region X. See our map. This region consists of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap), Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

Equity Priority Areas

These following priority areas are the focus of the current Equity Assistance Center cooperative agreement. Along with our usual training, professional development, and workshops, Center staff members are available to provide training or technical assistance in the following areas:

Highly Qualified Teaching – "ensure equal access to highly qualified teachers and teachers of students particularly students who are disadvantaged or racial and ethnic minorities"

English Learners – "incorporate researched based strategies to provide students who are English learners with equitable access to high-quality education"

Over/Underrepresentation of Minority Students – "address the overrepresentation of minorities in special education and the underrepresentation of minorities in gifted and talented"

Dropout Prevention and Reentry – "provide effective approaches to school dropout prevention that promote equity by addressing the specific needs of students who are at risk of dropping out, including students of color, students from low-income families, and students with limited English proficiency"

The Region X Equity Assistance Center is funded under U.S. Department of Education contract number S004D110013.