--joining today's webinar titled "Equity in the Classrom" with Dr. Cherise Moore of the American Institutes for Research. My name is Veronica Parker. I'm project coordinator with the California Adult Education Program Technical Assistance Project.

So if you are on your computer and you have speakers and a headset, there's no need to in. However, if you can't hear, please click the sound icon up top. It's right next to the audio button, and you would just select that. It will highlight green, and that will provide sound for you. And that's how you're able to hear today's webinar.

If you are experiencing any technical difficulties, please be sure to let us know in the general chat pod, and we will be available to provide assistance to you via a private chat. And how that works is you will see a yellow highlighted tab at the bottom of the screen with someone's name, either myself or Marjorie, and that's our way of communicating with you and helping you through any technical issues you may have. So please be sure to let us know if you experience any technical difficulties throughout the course of this webinar.

The resources are available for this webinar. They are available for download. So we have provided a copy of the PowerPoint presentation down in the handouts pod. If you select that file and then select Download, the file will download to whatever browser your computer downloads files to. So please be sure to download the PowerPoint presentation and use that as a guide as we navigate through the webinar and also save it for future reference.

So the chat pod is available for you to communicate with Dr. Cherise Moore. Please be sure to type in a chat pod any questions you may have. There are also designated chat pods throughout this webinar, so when the chat pod appears for a particular section or asking a particular question, please be sure to just type in the open space and then select Enter or even the cloud that's right next to it.

If you are attending with other colleagues, please be sure to let us know. We do take attendance and report attendance to the state, so please be sure to let us know if you have logged in into this webinar but there are multiple people who are witnessing or participating in the webinar. We want to be sure to account for everyone in our attendance records.

Also, if you have signed in, and you are not using your first or last name but rather an acronym, maybe your consortium name or even initials, please be sure to let us know who you are so that we can accurately account for you in our attendance. This webinar is being recorded and will be available on the California Adult Education website. And I'll be sure to post the URL of exactly where you can find the webinar recording. It will be available later on this afternoon. So please be sure to watch it again, or even pass it on to colleagues who were unable to attend today.

Now I will turn it over to Dr. Cherise Moore, who would get us started with today's webinar.

Wonderful, wonderful. Thanks so much--

Are you there?

I am here, can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

OK, great. And hoping everyone else can hear me too as we get started talking about equity in the classroom. I want to quickly go over the agenda. We're going to have some time to get to know each other a little bit more, do some introductions. We're going to define equity and what it means, and why it's important in education. We're going to look at three peripheral issues surrounding equity privilege, bias, and stereotypes.

Briefly, we're going to look at those. And then we're going to talk about really what this is about, with the strategies for enhancing equity in the classroom. And then some time for you to ask questions and share some of those resources that can help you dig deeper should you wish to do that.

Our goals with doing that are to make sure that by the time you're done, you'll be able to define equity and why it matters; you'll have a better understanding the relationship between privilege bias and stereotypes, especially as they relate to equity; and be able to differentiate between what happened at the systemic level, as it relates to equity; and what happens at the localized level in the classroom and can happen. Finally, we'll look at some strategies and give you a chance to reflect on how you can improve the student experience in the classroom to really think about improving student outcomes.

I want to just quickly make sure that as we get started, you signed up for this webinar because of the description, and the description talks about how equity can be described in many different ways. And a lot of work has been done around that. It's a buzzword that you hear a lot. There's information that you might have learned about a leader's role.

I see some of you are administrators and leaders in different capacities. Some of you are in the classroom. But what I want us to focus on-- there's a lot that can be done outside of the classroom, but we're going to be focusing on what can happen in the classroom.

And because of that, I want to make sure that we are all on the same page about-- the goal of this webinar is really to share information and give you a chance to reflect on that information, but there are some definite norms that I want to make sure that we're all in agreement on because this topic is a topic that makes some people uncomfortable.

We want to make sure that for all of us, that it's OK to be OK with not being OK. I want you to be OK with not knowing what you don't know. You don't know what you don't know. I want to make sure that you know that everyone-- everyone on this webinar, everyone around you has some bias, privilege, or stereotype Regardless of whether or not you believe that to be true, that is true.

And then I want you to believe that with this comfort, there is growth that's created. We are going to be this comfortable or uncomfortable in some of the areas in which we'll be talking, but that's OK because growth happens from that. I want you to allow the conversations to happen without any judgment.

And then finally, we're going to be done in about 50 minutes. That's just not enough time to go deep at all on this topic or this content area. So understand that an hour is not enough time, but it is enough time for you to start to reflect on what this means for you and in your classroom. So if we can all agree to those norms, I'm going to move forward with getting a know little bit about each other.

I love Veronica's introduction because she refers to me as Dr. Cherise Moore, and that's only a part of who I am. There's so much more to who I am, just like it is with each of you and with all of your students. And so you'll see a poll below, and I just want you to take a moment to share who you are by the areas are asked below in this poll.

It asks about your position, if you work full or part time, your experience in adult ed, and then the last one is a poll where you can check many, many categories. And it asks you to scroll down if you don't see all of it to see the many possible people who represent who you are.

For me, I am an administrator in adult ed. I am a researcher with the American Institutes for Research. I am full time, and I've worked in adult ed for 30 years. And then on that last area, there are probably at least half of those that describe who I am.

So again, thank you for taking a moment to share who you are. There are 21 of you, so I'll give you some more time to share that, and then we'll broadcast the results.

Judy, Veronica, I'm not sure which of you-- or do you want me to broadcast? Or how do you want to do that?

Great, thank you so much for sharing that and for broadcasting those results. I see that the majority of you are teachers. And then we have a good group of administrators here too. I also see that not everyone participated, and that's OK. I hope that you'll participate in the other opportunity that we have to engage. The majority of you are full time.

And the majority of you have more than eight years in adult education, so this topic isn't new to you. It isn't something that you're probably talking about for the first time, but, as we said earlier with our norm, if you've talked about it before, if you're talking about it now, an hour's not enough, but certainly this is a conversation that should not end.

We also want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable, again, as we move forward with the content of equity, equity, equity. So as we look at equity, one of the pieces that you might have seen is this image here. And as you look at this image, we're going to be talking a bit about it shortly. But this image of how some people think about equality versus equity.

And it's an image that has been used to really help trigger conversation and inspire a conversation. But maybe it's new to you. And I'm going to ask you to look at it, because momentarily, I'm going to ask you to share some thoughts around that image.

You'll see in one where everyone's on the same box and looking over a fence. And then you'll see in another where the box has been changed to provide the person who needs more lift to look over the fence with double the boxes. So just think about this, and we'll come back to it in a moment.

Some people have seen this image, and when they think about things that happen with maybe the student that they serve or in their classrooms, this is what they see when they're looking at equity and equality and then maybe that last section there, that last box up was what some would describe as reality, where the one person who is already able to see over the fence is now able to see with a bunch of boxes way, way over and beyond. And maybe even beyond the baseball field.

And then the one who needed the two lifts to see over the fences, reality is their situation, environment, has them way lower than we even imagined when we were looking at equality and sharing the box equally.

So here we are with our first chat, and I'm going to ask you to think about what you just saw. What is the story that comes to mind for you at the first image? And what is the story that comes to mind for you with the second image? What's common in each image? That's for that first chat that you'll see there.

And then for the second chat pod, I want to get your thoughts on what does it say about equity? And given that, how might you define equity? And I see a bunch of you typing in the general chat. We're going to ask you type in the chat to the right, and put your responses there. I'll give you a moment.

Cherise, do you want to switch back to the image while they're typing, so they can--

Yes.

Thank you for trying that type and share. What you see in the first and second image are here, the first and second boxes and then looking at the third one, the reality too. And thank you for starring that type about what this says about equity and how you might define it given these images.

It's not-- as some of you've noted, it's not really equal for many folks. And starting from different places and different experiences, there are some considerations that we need to understand when we think about equity and equality.

Appreciate what you're sharing, what it says about equity. As you consider some of the comments that it doesn't mean equal, and it really is hard to achieve. Meeting people where they're at, you don't always even know where they're at. And that was a part of what we did that first exercise for us to get to know each of you.

A part of being able to support your student is really knowing them. And oftentimes, that's the challenge that we have because if we don't know them, we don't know how to support them in the classroom and give them the support that they need to be successful. Good, good.

I know these images bring up a lot of thoughts and a lot of-- imagery and metaphors are critically important, which is why I am a visual learner, but I chose to use these for you for this webinar so that you could think about it in those visual terms that help to see it this way. We're going to come back to these, but I want to give you the chance to just ponder and reflect. And I appreciate your typing in your thoughts, but we're going to move on now. So thank you so much.

OK. So this is the way in which equity is defined. And per Webster's, it talks about ensuring that there is freedom from bias and favoritism, and there is justice and fairness according to natural law and the right. It is really giving everyone what they need to be successful. And often, it's confused with equality.

When I ask this question, I've done a presentation on equity before, and I've flipped the definition piece with the images because often the first thing that comes to mind is people say, well, you know, it's giving everybody the same thing. And it's not that, as you saw in those images.

And sometimes it appears unfair, but when we think about our classroom and what our students need, if we really want them all to succeed, we can't treat them all the same. Any of you who are parents, you might know that your kids all have different needs too. And you can't treat one the way that you treat another. They have different things that they're sensitive about, different things that inspire them and motivate them, and we have to understand that, when we're talking about our students in the classroom, too.

Equity in the classroom is defined-- when we look at some of the research by Julia Torres, she said that in a classroom, "a classroom where everyone has access to the same learning and the same optimal conditions for nurturing intellectual curiosity." So if you think about that, for the teachers on this webinar, when your students have the same access in the learning environment and the conditions are set up for them as an individual, again getting back to knowing your students, that that will nurture their motivation-- their desire to learn. So that's how we're defining equity in the classroom.

And I just-- I know that you're on this call because you're interested and concerned about the topic, so it already matters to you, and often this is where it becomes preaching to the choir about this, but it's important to see why it matters, and then I'm going to share also what some of the research says about why it matters.

For educators, they really want to close the achievement gap. They don't want there to be differences. They want to see all of their students doing well. So you know why it matters. And really, it's understanding that both equality and equity, they're both critically important pieces to the work that we do. But if we try and only do one, we're going to be impacting negatively the outcome of the other. So you have to do both of those.

And then understanding that when you pour in equal amounts of knowledge, similar to the example I shared with kids, you don't always get the same outcome, same thing with knowledge-- when you pour in content, knowledge, information. You've seen that. You've probably seen it as a student yourself. We've all been in the classroom where there are areas where we do need more help than others.

And if we aren't recognizing that and knowing our students individually, we're going to get different outcomes. Even though we might be saying, well, I'm teaching the same content, I taught them all the same, they were all there in class that day, we have to understand that in education, that doesn't guarantee the same outcome. Again, that's because not all students start from the same place. So the real important part here is understand that equality isn't enough to really combat the hundreds of years of oppression, poverty, or just disproportionately that many of our students may have experienced in their life.

And then if you think about research and what their research does, the research really speaks to equitable learning environments having to be free from threats, humiliation, danger, and other disregards and ensuring instead that there's a supportive quality environment that really focuses on accepting students for who they are, where they are, valuing their experiences, respecting them, and ensuring that there's a level of safety and security in the learning environment that they have.

And much of the research is really targeted towards K-12 students, but you're going to see that as we look at equity across the adult ed world, this is the piece that we can transition-- [audio out]

--not just what we see working in a K-12 environment, but also working across for adult ed students.

Cherise, you cut out for just a second. Can you repeat what you said, like, the last 10 seconds?

Sorry, sure. I was saying that while much of the research is done on K-12, and students who are not in our classes around equity and the impact in the classroom, the people that I pulled out, they translate directly to what it means to our classes as adult educators with ensuring that students have equitable learning environments.

Just want to do a sound check. I know that there is background noise, but I want to make sure that you are still able to hear me. So I'm hoping that is true.

It sounds better now, Cherise, than it did a few moments--

OK, great. Great, great. Perfect. So one of the pieces that you have to grapple with when you're talking about this issue is privilege bias and stereotypes. One of the norms that we talked about at the start, was that it's really important to recognize that we all have privilege, we all have bias, we all have stereotypes. I'm going to say that again. We all have privilege. We all have bias. We all have stereotypes. So with that understanding that we all have privilege, bias, and stereotypes.

If you accept that, then you can move to seeing this image when it comes to equity. this image is a little bit different than the other two that we saw earlier. In this case, there's something visibly different. That fence is removed. That fence, for many, represents privilege. That fence, for many, represents oppression. That fence represents many different things. But in this example, removing it is what they're showing as liberation.

I'm going to ask you your thoughts around that. What does it mean to you when you see that that's removed? How does that relate to your experience and understanding of equity? Please take a moment and share in the chat.

I think that's that, so I will continue on, but yes. That wall or the fence being removed really represents that it gives us the opportunity in our classroom to not have any other barriers or outside forces that have impacted the access and accessibility that the students you have in your adult ed classes might have experienced or might come to you not having. So good, thank you for that.

Again, this is a really big, big issue. And it's bigger than what we're going to talk about. We have started with really looking at in that image possibly systemic inequity. And then in our classrooms, I want us to think about that being the localized inequity. So for systemic, that the historical institutional pieces that could be the fence, and then in our classroom, we're going to talk about what the pieces are that we can look at in the classroom.

And we talked about all of these pieces being really on the periphery as equity-- bias, privileged, stereotypes. One of the pieces that I've asked you to think about-- not so much needing to share here, but something that I want us to think about, consider, and understand was the acceptance and belief that we're starting from this place.

How does asking this question-- when I ask you, what are your privileges? what are your biases? what are your stereotypes? How does that make you feel? And that's the Chat pod that we have here because part of understanding where we're coming from is going to help us with supporting our students.

I can share my own examples of when people ask me what my privileges are, well, you know, I come from a background where there is high education. And so that means that there are some advantages that I have. I know some things that some people don't and have experienced something that other people haven't because of that. And sometimes that makes me, with my privilege, know that I have to take a step back to relate to some of my students.

So that's a personal piece for me to understand, maybe their experience isn't the same, and their family, background, and upbringing, as it relates to that, isn't the same. So it makes me reflect as I think about the question when someone asks me, what's my privilege? what's my bias? what's my stereotype? Makes me think a little bit about how I feel about that. I'll let you share some thoughts. I see many of you are typing.

Good, good, good thoughts. There's no need for guilt. So I know that sometimes can happen to folks' thoughts when they think about their own privilege, bias, and stereotypes. But you know, many ways in which-- especially with stereotypes and biases, that's a natural protective means that we have because we're innately trying to protect ourselves from what might be different and the other. And that's OK. That's actually normal and natural.

The piece that folks struggle with is saying out loud that it exists. That is also OK. Our goal is to understand that even with that, with our own privileges, biases, and stereotypes, that we still support our students with where they are and where their needs are regardless of that.

So I'm glad-- I like that we can all talk freely knowing that we all come to the table with these things and that we can reflect on how we can be more-- have different environments in our classroom, given that. So thank you for that. It need to have more options, because yes, we are all different with different background experiences. Great, thank you so much for that.

[interposing voices]

So we're going to quickly go through some webinars on privilege so that you can all understand maybe some ideas of what that brings to mind. So questions to ponder-- here are some questions for you to think about as it relates to privilege. So the image here, "I cannot be blind to the invisible system of privilege that I'm a part to".

Again, the goal here is to bring awareness that we all have some privileges. And these are some questions-- I'm not going to go through them because this in itself is an hour or two webinar. But I just wanted you to think about that. Again, other questions that you might look at in your classroom as it relates to privilege.

Then bias. When we think about bias, this is the part where we make some assumptions about things that we don't know how it relates to things that we say out loud, the explicit bias that we might have, and then the implicit biases that we might have. Those implicit ones are things that are all below this image here, which is the iceberg image. I'm sure you're familiar with that. But it shows that below the iceberg are all these values and an implicit bias points that we have that we don't often recognize or say out loud.

Similarly, this image garners lots of assumptions. You look at the students in this image, and we might make some quick assumptions about them just from what we see or what they look like. But if you look at what's written on them, you'll see that these are assumptions that help inform stereotypes that they might not be accurate.

So there's one who's hungry, and he might be acting out in a different way because of that. There's someone who's abused. There's a bully. And the bully might also be abused, but, you know, we don't know about the homeless student unless we ask them. Unless we know our students, we don't know these things about them. But just quickly having you think about bias, privilege, and stereotypes through images.

All of these would be available for you. You can download the PowerPoint after that. But as you think about privilege, bias, and stereotypes, just a quick poll from that-- which one would you want to explore more if we did have more time today?

All right, so most of you would want to study a little bit more on the biases. What's that bias ? [interposing voices] OK, good. Thank you for sharing that. So now I want to look specifically at some strategies in the classroom to enhance equity. And there are six strategies that we're going--

Cherise, you're come in little bit muffled again.

[audio out]

Apologies for that. We're going to look at six strategies now to enhance equity in the classroom. And those strategies that we're going to look at are acknowledging the inequity, knowing your students, having high expectations, using and viewing culture as a resource, using data to inform instruction, and then daring and targeting instruction. So we're going to look at those now together and go through each of them.

OK so first, we want to start off by not pretending that inequities don't exist. And that's similar to what we've just done as we looked at our own biases and stereotypes and our own assumption that we have and own privileges. So the disparities have existed and do exist and continue to exist. And we can't pretend that they don't. And it's oftentimes that they're most visible, these students' demographic that you see here, but that is not the only time that they are visible.

You see them in areas that are hidden, like we saw in the image that we shared earlier on stereotypes. Acknowledge that there are different barriers in the learning environment, and that our goal is really to not perpetuate the inequity, but to make sure that we recognize we have a responsibility to change their inequity.

And then the second one is knowing your students. So know that they are-- know them as individuals, seek to celebrate them and their unique identities. Especially our students who come from all over the world, you want to value that experience.

You want to value their years of knowledge that they've gained just from their own experiences. And then you want to try and make sure that you're able to connect the curriculum to what they already know. And there's a variety of ways you can do this. But if you don't know who they are, you just can't. You don't know how to make those connections. So with equity, you're really trying to focus on helping students leverage their unique identity to further their learning.

I'm going to ask you to share quickly now. What are some of the ways that you already get to know who your students are? If you can type in the chat pod, that would be great.

Cherise, we seem to be missing that question. Give me one moment.

Thank you so much for sharing the ways in which you get to know your students. I see that one of you is still typing, and you can share that. But you know, they always say that in that relationship, building is most critical for our students, and that happens in the first few weeks of class. So you really have to focus on getting to know your students.

The other piece that changes in the classroom around equity can happen is when you recognize that is important to have high expectations of all of the students. Some of our students are particularly vulnerable. And so if we start off knowing that they already have, in many cases, low expectations of themselves. And our job is to really help make sure that because of all of the past experiences they might have had with societal biases and the stereotypes, regardless of who they are, but where they're coming from, we must really focus on having high expectations in the classroom with these students.

Some examples of how you can do that are here, for setting high expectation levels. Sometimes it's difficult, but if we are surrounding them with images of themselves that help them to think about their capabilities and abilities, what they can do, those expectations are often set there.

A simple piece, too, of maintaining eye contact with our students throughout is another way in which we can set high expectations. Asking a difficult questions-- that's another piece that helps to raise expectations of our students. Then focusing on academic standards and increasing the rigor of all of our students-- another important and critical part of helping us understand how to serve and focus on all of our students' needs.

One of the pieces that often gets forgotten about in the classroom is how we can use and view culture as a resource. Our Students are coming from many different backgrounds and environments, and if we view that as a resource, it will help to strengthen what they are able to do in our class and ensure that they feel that they're capable. So some of the pieces here that researchers said is acknowledging that heritage and incorporating that into our classrooms.

You Might have heard about culturally responsive teaching and culturally sustaining andragogy. Both of those areas really help us to ensure that we are bringing in their experience and creating definitely more equitable learning environments for our students.

Do you want to see responses to that? We have classes, again, with many, many different students than many levels of experiences, of many backgrounds. And so our job, as you're getting to know them, that first bullet there, is to ensure that we are responsive to the unique identity of our students.

Some of being responsive with that is again, showing their culture in our instructional content. So that text that you choose, the books that you use, you want to make sure that what's in them look like your students. Making sure that when we're telling the examples of things in American culture, that we're telling it from a variety of experiences and a variety of narratives and histories and a variety of accepted truth. SO, so critical, that curriculum being really reflective of everyone in our classes.

And sometimes that's hard, because they don't create it, necessarily, with that in mind, with the focus and a lens on equity. But we can find resources. The internet has a wealth of resources and opportunities. You can put in search for particular kinds of people, and you would be surprised what comes up with those images. So consider that as you're using [inaudible] culture as a resource.

And it really turns out, from [inaudible] that she said about education and students, is that culture is the way every brain makes up for the world. So if you think about it that way you recognize your own culture and background, all of your decisions and actions really have been grounded in as a foundation of understanding who you are and what your culture is. So it's the same here with our students and the class.

Here are some examples of how you can do that. And again, these examples are available for you to look at more detail as we go through the webinar. But one of the big ones, and it's an easy one, and it's one that we don't spend time on is making sure you know how to correctly pronounce your student's name.

The name that a person has in many cultures has symbolic significance. And so if we don't pronounce it, or if we mispronounce it right off the top, that damages the relationship, no matter how hard we're trying to make it right and build that relationship with that student. And you want to, again, ensure that the classroom displays all reflect the diversity of the students in the classroom by celebrating who they are in their culture.

Another one that is often considered really high to equity and how our students are doing as it relates to equity is if we look at data, and using data really to inform our instruction. And what that means when you're bringing the data into the conversation as it relates to equity, there are many, many ways in which we can do that to help change, maybe, the stereotypes and assumptions that we have about our students.

So here's one way. You want to examine the data as it relates to equity with the goal of using that to build capacity for student improvement in the classroom. Some of the questions that you want to ask is thinking about what the common gaps are for outcomes. What are some of the areas that students are most successful in? Where are they struggling the most? What are some assessment options that students can use to do better?

One of the pieces when you think about equity is, if you're giving every student what they need where they're at and when they need that, you're going to have a variety of assessments. And so when you look at data to inform instruction, that data is going to help think about what those options are that you have for your various assessments.

And again, when you're looking at it, you want to really make sure that you're looking at all the subgroups and sub populations in your class. This goes, often, beyond what we think about when we're looking at subgroups. It's much more than just what you see as subgroups. It's oftentimes those pieces that we looked at.

Many of the things that were on that list earlier, when we were getting to know each other, didn't have to do with anything that someone could see immediately. We would have to tell them that. So again, you have to get to know who your students are.

Of course, differentiated instruction and varying instruction is a huge strategy to support our students in the classroom. You must know your students and where they're coming from so that you can know what their learning needs are. If you have a student who is a visual learner, if you have a student who's an auditory learner, you have a student who is a tactile learner, they're all going to need different instructional opportunities to learn.

So one of the errors that we fall into is we look on that equal-- and we look at time and preparation-- but we look on that equal image, and we say, well, we're going to give them all this worksheet. Or we're going to all do this project. But all of our students' needs are different.

And so to know them, it will help us really differentiate and personalize, individualized and customize their instructional learning needs so that they get exactly what they need to be successful. The quote around this in the research says "a differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas into developing products so that students can learn more effectively." And here are some examples. So some of it is grouping and pairing and having like groups or un-alike groups.

Another way of thinking about this and helping us get this image is making sure that we're doing some assessments. And they have different types of assessment to examine what our students' learning styles are. And we put two of those here, again as resources for you to use within your class with your students.

And so those are the six areas that we've done. I want to ask as you're thinking about this, we pull up one of our, I believe our last poll. And this is, given these six areas of things that you can do in the classroom, understanding that there are systemic things beyond that we can't impact, but in our classroom, which of these strategies would you want to focus on working to improve as it relates to enhancing equity in your classroom.

Looks like a lot of you are just starting with one of the pieces. That's having high expectations of our students. And then a lot of are wanting to think about this data and disaggregating it so that you really know your students and know where their gaps are so that you can vary the assessments that they have. Good, good, good. Perfect.

So we're getting towards the end. And this is just a quick checklist. And it's more of a reminder because I know we're all in this together as we think about how we can best help our students. But a part of our job is to really work on ourselves first and recognize that first plan, that we acknowledge that there are inequities to start, that we are aware of who our students are, and paying attention to the background issues that impact them, and that we ensure that all of our students have a chance to succeed in our classrooms. And that we understand our own privilege, stereotypes, and bias, as we are reflecting on how we can best support our students.

So one last image that I'm going to leave for you as a metaphor to think about when we're looking at equity and supporting our students. So just like our students, we know that we all learn differently. And this image is designed to help trigger conversation and have us to think about equity in our classroom.

One of the pieces that [inaudible] has put together is this image that shows a black area. And it invites you to consider, what idea do you have, what image will you add to continue this conversation, to help us move the conversation forward as it relates to equity in the classroom?

So just share your idea that you would put in that fourth image. They know, for example, that this isn't the perfect way of describing equality, equity, or liberation, and have gotten significant feedback about it, both positive and negative. But what would you add to the conversation? Because it definitely triggers getting that conversation started. Please share in the [audio out]

Thank you so, so much for adding to that. I love the students in the circle, the image of high expectation, starting by providing everyone with two boxes is good. Oh, they're participating in the game, no onlookers. Good. Someone said changing the image to where there's a female in the image might be one way to look forward at that.

Whatever it is, I'm going to invite you to share this PowerPoint and the images that were in it. And there's a link for these images there for you. But you continue to have the conversation and push the conversation about equity in the classroom. So please do do that.

And as we wrap up, I want to ask you your final thoughts, questions, concerns as it relates to this topic and the time we spent together. We understand that there's no one right way to really, really do this or to advance the conversation, to advance equity in practice. Because just like our students all learn differently, I've shared this earlier, we all learn differently too.

So this was one attempt, and there are many of you who want to learn about this. I hope you found it valuable. But the real piece is, keep pushing the conversation. Recognize your own privileges, biases, stereotypes, and how that impacts the periphery of equity. But even beyond that, what's happening in your classroom with those six strategies that were shared. Growing in the discomfort, recognizing that there are some things I can do differently, that will continue to enhance equity in our classrooms.

Finally, here are some resources for you to consider-- lots of them because there's so much around this conversation. More is being done in our area around this conversation and will continue to be done. And then I just want to say thank you very much for this opportunity.

I especially want to say thank you for your patience and understanding the content as well as the background noise. I apologize for that, but I am grateful that you hung in here through the end. And I hope that you learned something from it. It will be recorded, and the slides are available for you. Thanks so much. Bye bye.

Thank you so much, Cherise. This is Sudie Whalen with American Institutes for Research. And I just want to echo what Cherise said, and thank you all for hanging in there. We know the sound quality wasn't great. We worked with what we could. But we really appreciate you guys hanging in there listening while Cherise gave us information on such an incredibly important topic. Thank you all.

All right, and thank you, Cherise and Sudie, and thank you all very much for hanging in there. We definitely appreciate your time and your patience. As we have mentioned before, the webinar has been recorded, and the PowerPoint is available as a resource. It will be posted on the California Adult Education website later on this afternoon. So definitely feel free to access it at that time.

We are about to close the webinar, and when we do, the evaluation will appear. Please let us know what you thought about today's webinar. And in addition, please let us know if there are any other topics that could be related to equity or some other important topic that would be useful to you as practitioners in the classroom. We'll definitely address both through the evaluation process.

Again, thank you all very much for your time, and have a great rest of the afternoon.