Last year, ACSA’s Equity, Achievement and Diversity for Success Committee’s Diversity Task Force began the implementation of a three-phase Diversity Action Plan. Phase One focused primarily on the areas of communication, recruitment and ongoing data collection. To help communicate the need, a Diversity Toolkit was developed and distributed for EADS and regional leaders to use.

Now Phase Two is set for implementation. This phase will contain four primary focuses.

• Data collection. ACSA has always collected data on ethnicity for the association’s private use. However, there are approximately 4,000 ACSA members who fall into the “no response” category when queried on their ethnic background. Phase Two of the Diversity Action Plan will include an attempt to reduce that figure to ensure that the organization has the most accurate data possible.

To this end, ACSA is simply going to send out a call for this information to those members through a variety of mediums. Research on the best method to collect this data is still in progress, but the Diversity Task Force expects to have a plan for the collection process by August for the ACSA Board of Directors to approve.

• Continued communication and awareness. The task force will continue to update ACSA members with ethnicity data and on the progress of the action plan. Task force members will continue to lead conversations and present information at the local levels.

The members of the task force will work collaboratively with the Member Services Department and full committee in their efforts to market the association to diverse administrators, through advertising, articles, presentations and other means.

• Leadership recruitment. One of the areas of concern the task force hopes to address in Phase Two is that of internal ACSA leadership and the lack of diversity within the governance structure. Phase Two will include a component to help underrepresented administrators connect with their local charters and regions. The idea is to get these school leaders involved locally so that they are visible to region leadership and become part of the pool of members who are available to serve in region leadership positions and at the statewide level as committee and council members, state delegates and board members.

• Membership recruitment. The task force will continue to work collaboratively with the ACSA Member Services staff and the EADS Committee to increase recruitment of diverse administrators, including women and younger administrators. Diversity Task Force members, Member Services Committee members and ACSA Member Services staff will be visible in urban areas and at administrative programs across the state as part of the outreach plan.

The EADS Committee will also continue to host the Unity Breakfast at ACSA’s Leadership Summit as a way to recruit diverse members, engage them in a meaningful activity with their peers and to share the task force’s work.