ABSTRACT
The third case chapter profiles Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), a large school district encompassing Louisville, Kentucky, and the surrounding county. Building on a legacy of reform beginning with desegregation in the 1970s, JCPS leaders built an infrastructure to advance a vision of racial equity, including a well-staffed and well-funded Diversity, Equity, and Poverty division led by Chief Equity Officer John Marshall. Marshall, alongside several superintendents (most recently Superintendent Marty Pollio), invested in building human capacity to operationalize the district’s equity vision and advanced a whole child approach to expanding academic opportunity through rigorous and culturally responsive deeper learning and transformative school models. As a result of its persistent efforts, the district increased its rates of postsecondary readiness, increased access to advanced academics, and decreased the number of disciplinary actions for students of color.
