Our Story
In the Fall of 2017, Amy Schrepfer-Tarter, Lauren P. Bailes, and Lisa Cullington first came together to discuss professional development designed specifically to eliminate gender disparities in their schools and workplaces.
In the Spring of 2018, their idea came to fruition. As practitioners and researchers, they developed and piloted their own tools to assess gender disparities in K–12 schools and districts. They took their name from the term aequitas, which is Latin for “equity.”
Although the co-founders had individually developed and implemented professional development in their own schools and workplaces, they thought that gender disparities, whether in curriculum, instruction, assessment or leadership, remained largely unaddressed. They formed an educational consulting firm which turns research on equity issues and gender into practice.
Aequitas Educational Consulting (AEC) is first and foremost led by female practitioners drawing upon their real-life experiences as educators. Combining these experiences with the research base, the leaders of AEC are ready to provide your school or district a concrete plan to meet the needs of all your students, teachers, and leaders.
Lauren Bailes, Ph.D.
Lauren Bailes has been in the business of storytelling for as long as she can remember. After earning a Bachelor’s from Eastern University in English and Secondary Education, she taught middle school English Language Arts in Brooklyn, New York, convincing students that their stories mattered as much as the ones found in classroom novels. After a Master’s from Columbia University Teachers College in Literacy Education and a PhD from The Ohio State University in Educational Policy and Leadership, she now teaches doctoral students at the University of Delaware and conducts research in partnership with schools and districts. She is now interested in narratives of political engagement, organizational culture and climate, and educational leadership. When not reading, writing, or crunching data, you’ll find Lauren hiking with her dog, planning her next trip, or listening to a podcast at two times its normal speed.
Amy Schrepfer-Tarter, Ph.D.
Amy Schrepfer-Tarter started her career as a Latinist, earning a Bachelor’s from the University of California at Santa Cruz in Classical Civilizations and a Master’s from the University of Arizona in Classical Philology. Amy has been teaching Latin for eleven years, with a brief break to get a Ph.D. at the Ohio State University in Educational Policy and Leadership. Amy comes by her interest in gender and leadership genetically, having been inspired greatly by her mother, who studied the gender dynamics of environmental history, and her father, who has spent the better part of the last 40 years educating future leaders. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and working with the local shelter to make sure all the adorable fur-babies have plenty of snacks.