School District Builds Leadership From Within
Davis Joint Unified School District Builds Internal Capacity for Equity Leadership Development
In an era when many organizations are stepping back from equity work due to executive orders, Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) in Davis, CA has continued their commitment to creating inclusive learning environments for their students. Through a multi-year partnership with the National Equity Project (NEP), the district has transformed how they approach professional development, moving from external delivery models to building internal capacity for sustained, student-centered change.
From Challenge to Opportunity
Like many districts, DJUSD faced the familiar challenge of professional development that looked good on paper but failed to translate into meaningful classroom instructional shifts—as was their initial experience with their Universal Design for Learning (UDL) training. While the initial launch was well-received, the year-long virtual follow-through lacked meaningful application.
"The conceptual learning was still solid stuff to be presenting to the teams, but I don't believe it felt quite relevant. It was a lot of theory," explained DJUSD’s Associate Superintendent of Instruction, Troy Allen, reflecting on the challenges of the virtual delivery model. “Our principals told us they needed real examples of barriers that our students were facing, and tactics to address those barriers.”
This experience became a catalyst for reimagining their approach. Rather than abandoning the valuable UDL framework, the district saw an opportunity to deepen the work by directly addressing how bias influences instructional design—building on UDL's guidelines around equity and the role that bias plays in instruction.
Co-Creating Solutions Through Partnership
When DJUSD decided to focus on mitigating bias through Universal Design for Learning, they took a thoughtful approach to selecting a partner. Opting not to accept a pre-packaged program, they conducted interviews with potential collaborators, asking each to envision how they would support the district's goals.
NEP stood out for their willingness to co-design with the district rather than deliver a pre-existing product. "NEP brought us theory and practical strategies. This made it feel like our principals could take action on the theory," Allen noted. The partnership also leveraged existing relationships—several NEP LFE Fellows were already working in the district, creating natural bridges for the work.
“To kick-off a year-long arc of learning, we co-designed a one-year trajectory with a DJUSD professional development team. Then, four NEP staff co-facilitated a district-wide professional development session with the fellows for every educator in the district,” explains Mark Salinas, NEP's California Regional Director and lead coach for the partnership. “[Davis] has an approach that you don’t always see in districts,” he continues, speaking of what made the DJUSD partnership unique. “Their approach towards professional development puts an emphasis on experimentation, reflection, feedback, and catalyzing agency through in-depth multi-year integrated learning.”
A Multi-Layered Approach to Change
DJUSD and NEP partnered through a "train the trainer" model that built capacity at multiple levels. Instead of having external consultants deliver all training directly, NEP supported a district team of three instructional leaders—Maria Luquin, Tyler Millsap, and Niki Reina-Guerra—who then worked with site administrators to facilitate monthly professional development sessions.
"Niki would draft the initial deck. The deck would then go to NEP. Then we would bring it to our director's team, refine [it], and give it to the principals,” recounts Maria Luquin, DJUSD’s Director of Multilingual Education and Categorical Programs. “So by the time we got to the principals, it had been through several sets of eyes."
The instructional leaders were tasked with accommodating the diverse needs of educators from kindergarten through AP physics teachers—a significant design challenge that they navigated through careful attention to universal principles while allowing for local adaptation. "The resources that Mark and the team brought were really, really accessible,” Luquin adds. “So I think a lot of this work, even though it's very deep, complicated, and transformative, if it's not accessible, teams are not going to do anything with it."
Approximately 800 educators participated in the year-long learning cycle, including teachers, counselors, paraeducators, and administrators across 18 school sites. Through their collaborative design process, DJUSD established a professional development sequence focused on five key areas: content choices, engagement structures, expectations, interactions, and pedagogy.
Monthly professional development sessions consistently drew around 200 feedback responses, which the team reviewed and quickly incorporated. Each of the seven sessions across the school year built systematically on the previous learning while remaining responsive to that participant feedback.
Centering Student Voice
Participant feedback was the catalyst for one of DJUSD’s most powerful efforts. When teachers consistently requested to hear more direct examples, the district partnered with The Practice Space to support young people to effectively share stories of their experiences, which included creating a podcast series featuring student voices on topics like belonging, bias, and their classroom experiences.
"Teachers needed to try to understand the concept more deeply,” notes Tyler Millsap, DJUSD’s Administrator on Special Assignment. “So we would go to a site or two and gather student stories about the particular topic." This initiative made way for ongoing student learning. The same students who participated in early podcasts returned later in the year to reflect on their experiences, creating a sustained dialogue rather than a one-time data collection effort.
“I think everybody moved farther along on that spectrum from wherever they were at the beginning of the year to the end of the year,” Millsap adds, “to where I think there is a critical mass of people that believe [equity] is a very worthy and important topic.”
The upcoming year’s professional development will center on collaborative focal student inquiry where educators will systematically design and adjust learning conditions to better serve students. "They will begin identifying students that are emerging as outside of the sphere of success and then [make] a commitment to the UDL practices or the mitigating bias practices they want to apply to changing that sphere,” Allen shares proudly.
A Model for Authentic Partnership
According to Allen, the successful partnership between DJUSD and NEP stemmed from several key factors. Strong leadership support—from the superintendent through the board—created the political safety necessary for equity work. The willingness to embrace uncertainty and co-create solutions fostered innovation and responsiveness. Most importantly, the focus on building internal capacity rather than relying solely on external expertise created conditions for sustainability.
By centering student voice, embracing iterative design, and maintaining unwavering focus on equity, their partnership proves that meaningful organizational change is possible when commitment meets strategic support. "Every single time we met with NEP prior to planning a session, I felt stuck, and the hour long conversation brought me out of that,” Niki Reina-Guerra, DJUSD Instructional Coach, shares candidly. “I would feel better, and that goes for my team members, too.”
As the district moves into the next year of their equity journey, they do so with strengthened internal capacity, clear systems for continuous improvement, and most importantly, a shared commitment to creating learning environments where all students can thrive.
Learn more about how the National Equity Project can support your work to create youth-centered learning environments through strategic consulting and design services.
