Reverse-Engineering Equity. Designing Policy That Works.
Policy Components is a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in policy design, implementation, and strategic planning for public education systems. Founded by Dr. Etai Mizrav, a nationally recognized expert on the drivers of educational inequality, we bring the independent analytical rigor of a researcher with the practical focus of a hands-on practitioner. We pair the independence of an external consultant with deep, firsthand knowledge of the state and district systems we serve — an outsider's perspective with an insider's context.
Where others describe problems, we diagnose them. Our signature Components Approach reverse-engineers equity outcomes, tracing observed disparities backward to the specific policies, practices, and decision points that produce them. The result is not a shelf report, but a sequenced action roadmap that tells leadership not just what to address, but when and how.
Our core capabilities include:
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Founded by Etai Mizrav, PhD, Policy Components is built on over a decade of research and practice at the intersection of education policy and equity. Dr. Mizrav is the developer of the SDS Triangle framework (Segregation, Discrimination, Signaling), a peer-reviewed model for understanding the policy drivers of educational inequality, and the Components Approach methodology used in district equity audits nationwide.
He has led and directed full district-wide equity audits as Principal Investigator, developed the Educator Diversity Data Tool adopted by school districts across the country, and has worked directly with the Illinois State Board of Education, Minnesota Department of Education, and Michigan Department of Education on educator workforce strategy. He is the lead researcher on different research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education evaluation and teaches graduate courses on educational inequality at Georgetown University.
Prior to founding Policy Components, Dr. Mizrav served as Manager of Education Policy and Equity at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and as a Senior Researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), where he established AIR's expertise in teacher workforce diversification.
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SDS Triangle Framework
Dr. Mizrav's peer-reviewed research identifies three interconnected forces that drive educational inequality:
These forces do not operate in isolation. They reinforce one another in ways that make inequity self-perpetuating, and a rigorous equity audit must examine all three.
The SDS Triangle is the diagnostic lens through which we examine every domain of an equity audit, from course access and discipline to staffing patterns and family engagement.
Most audits work forward: collect data, describe patterns, offer recommendations. Our methodology works in the opposite direction. The Components Approach reverse-engineers equity outcomes — starting from observed disparities and tracing them backward through the system to identify the specific policies, practices, and decision points that produce them.
The fundamental unit of analysis is the component: a precise, verifiable, data-informed statement that identifies (1) who is affected, (2) where in the system the inequity occurs, (3) what policy or practice drives it, and (4) what action can address it. This level of specificity transforms a finding from a description of a problem into an actionable target.
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From description to action: what a component looks like
Traditional finding: "There are disparities in access to advanced coursework."
Component-based finding: "Students at one campus enroll in AP courses at a rate 23 points lower than at another. The largest gaps are among Black male students and English learners. The primary driver is a scheduling structure that limits AP access to students who completed specific prerequisite sequences — a gatekeeping mechanism not present at the comparison campus."
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Critically, the Components Approach does not stop at diagnosis. Each component is paired with a sequenced, feasible recommendation that specifies what to do, when, and how — designed around each client's actual capacity and context, not imported from generic best-practice lists. The final deliverable is a sequenced equity action roadmap: a prioritized, time-bound plan that connects each finding to specific next steps, responsible parties, and indicators of progress.