Professional development is often oriented toward closing achievement gaps. However, attention to achievement gaps focuses on a symptom of a much deeper problem: systemic barriers to high quality learning opportunities for all students. One of those barriers is thinking about students as deficits—as problems to be fixed by educators.

In this Equity Tool, we provide resources that problematize deficit-based frameworks and practices that are currently utilized in many schools, offer asset-based and restorative ways of thinking, and highlight texts for ideas on how to center equity and shift towards asset-based professional learning.