Blaire Willson Toso: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. We know that everyone has been Zooming a lot this week, maybe even more than usual. I know a lot of us, we spend time on Zoom. But thank you for joining us.

We are excited to continue our work on looking at data and equity strategies, and in particular here, to explore and improve equity impact in adult education. We have structured this workshop-- as you all know, it's an hour and a half. And we've added some breakout groups, and we really are presenting this as a collaboration with you all, I would say, mainly.

We'll be presenting some information, but we also are fully aware of the fact that you carry out this work on a daily basis and, really, are very close to it. A lot of the pieces that-- some of the breakouts and the chats are really to draw on your experience and sharing. And we hope that we can have a lively conversation, where it isn't you learning from us, but us learning from you, your colleagues learning from each other, and that's the way we'd like to carry it out.

In the spirit of that, you do have open access to your microphones, as well as the chat feature. We have a lot of chats throughout for sharing strategies as well. So use those features and hopefully we'll have a lively conversation. Next slide, please.

So a little bit about us, WestEd. As you know, we've been committed to issues of equity, education, and economic mobility. And we continue to refine our ideas, and purpose, and our leadership. We're moving to create a space where we can really focus on the inter-relationship of education, student success, and economic mobility.

And the economic mobility is also about well-being. We want healthy communities. We know that education isn't the answer. Economic mobility isn't the answer. But wrapping it together, along with well-being and the services that adult education provides, offers an excellent opportunity to begin to support people along that pathway. Our team works in partnership with collaborators, stakeholders, education professionals to build solutions that will help to provide equitable access and success to career pathways that support economic stability and well-being. Next slide, please.

And as you can see, many of you are familiar with our lines of work. We focus a lot on data tools and analysis to support education and pathway work. We're really focused on supporting and developing pathways that are intentional and linked to workforce needs, and industry needs, as well as learner needs, also on implementing other pathways.

We definitely focus on the labor market and economic analysis. And we'd like to engage-- as I said up front, we'd like to engage with people on these conversations because we don't think alone. Our team provides a solution. It really has to be informed by multiple partners and stakeholders. Next slide, please.

So today, I will introduce ourselves really briefly. Randy Tillery is unable to join us today, but he's here in spirit, and, really, continues to guide this work. My name is Blaire Willson Toso, and I am a senior program manager at WestEd. I lead the K professional development and have worked on the adult education pipeline, as well as working on several national initiatives that include the integrated education and training, the ILCE, as well as other areas of adult education, particularly in adult basic education and career pathways. I'll pass it over to Jessica.

Jessica Keach: Thanks, Blaire. My name is Jessica Keach. My pronouns are she/her/hers. And I'm a senior research associate at WestEd in our post-secondary and workforce group. I manage the adult education pipeline dashboard. I also do a lot of professional development with Blaire in adult education, supporting adult learner success, and then I'm also involved in several other research and evaluation projects at WestEd.

Prior to joining WestEd, I was in the IR, or Institutional Research Office, at a community college district in southern San Diego County and did a lot of work supporting our consortium down there. So I am excited to be here with all of you and learn from you. And hopefully, you can learn some things from us today to. Ayanna.

Ayanna Smith: Good morning, everyone. My name is Ayanna. I am a program coordinator II with WestEd. And I am new to the WestEd team and the adult education work, and so I'm here supporting Blaire and Jessica and here to learn from you all as well. And thank you, Dr. Farmer, for putting in the chat your name and where you're from. We invite everyone else in the audience to go ahead and do so as well. And I'll go over the agenda for today.

So we're going to start with the welcome. And then we're going to get into some context setting, talking about who adult education is tasked to serve. And then we're going to talk about equity and adult education. So we're collecting on the holistic learner journey, connecting it to your three-year plan. And then also doing some small group discussions and a breakout. Then we're going to get into using data to identify equity gaps, talking about what data sources are available and what practices and strategies you can use. And then finally, getting into stakeholder engagement to identify and communicate equity gaps.

So our goals for today will be for you to reflect about what equity means to you, in your work with adult learners, identify strategies and resources to help you center equity in your conversations, and to identify key stakeholders to engage in understanding and communicating equity gaps. I'll pass it over to Blaire.

Blaire Willson Toso: Thank you. So in thinking about equity, we always start with, who do we serve? And we wanted to do a reset. So I went back and looked through some of the key documents that inform our work. And we have multiple tools that display

There's an AEP dashboard, TOPSpro reports, WIOA State Reports, MIS reports. But as you take a moment there's these definitions on the left hand side that talk about who we serve or what is the intention of the work that we do, defined through key documents. And we would like you to take a read through them.

And then put your ideas as you look at that. Look at how-- think about how it resonates to you. And particularly, in are learners accurately captured and represented in these tools or documents. There's language like underserved adults, lifelong educational opportunities, moving on to courses, and workforce, barriers and access, support services, labor market and employment. And so do you see your learners represented in there? Is that what you think about the work and who you serve?

OK. You all are testing my TEFL, my ESL wait time. I started as an ESL teacher and I've never been very good at the wait time. So I count in my head. But I'm just curious, do you all think-- thank you, Leslie, for adding something in the chat. You're saving me. [chuckles] Teaching people 18 years and older. So what's the definition of an adult? And as we know in CAEP, it's 18 plus. And in WIOA, it's 16 plus. So those are the people who we think about serving.

Who else has a definition? How would you refine the definitions of who we serve? Paige says, yes. She thinks it captures it, but it's hard to know how we're reaching the underserved.

Yep. Individuals get lost and so do-- and what we'll talk about is, so do some particular groups. And you serve the most marginalized. Right. They're the hardest to reach. It's very clear in the work that we do. We're not serving everyone. We're serving people who are in need. Working parents, disabilities.

Yes. Exactly. See there's lots of groups in these generalized terms. Sometimes smaller groups or groups that we don't necessarily think or come readily to our mind get-- yes, thank you. Undocumented legal human beings. I like that. Providing them access to economic opportunity. And Paige also says it's so hard to serve all these people when we're-- have waiting lists, which is another thing. There's a choice. There's an expansion of who can we serve, and funding always comes in there. Thank you.

Let's go ahead and move to the next one. And then to further focus ourselves on equity and the adult learner, we also wanted to really highlight what we all already know. I know this slide is not new to any of us. There's been lots of discussions. We've seen the reality in our programs. But the adult learner enrollment was definitely affected by the pandemic.

And while many programs are seeing enrollment increase again, there's still work to be done especially as the pandemic disproportionately affected people of color and low income populations. In other words, this is our population that really was affected by the pandemic economically through educational opportunities. And we're-- even in this, we're only seeing a fraction of the people as some-- a couple of you already posted, of who could likely benefit from adult education services.

So that sets the context. It's a big job. All of a sudden we're overwhelmed. It's Friday, let's go home and go to sleep. So I'm going to hand it over to Jessica who will give us-- walk us through some of the-- thinking around equity and then some tools on how to use equity, or to identify equity.

Jessica Keach: Thank you, Blaire. Yes. And it can be very overwhelming. But I think as all of you know, just start, and take it piece by piece. So as we transition into our discussion around equity, please feel free to turn your cameras on, but also know that we encourage participation in whatever format is accessible to you.

So whether that's through the chat, or sharing your voice regardless of whether or not you're in a space that allows you to share video. So the conversation that we're going to have will help us set the context for our discussion on data tools that I'll walk through later in the training. And hopefully we'll be able to find some commonality around why we're here, why we work in adult education, and our hopes for adult learners.

I want to acknowledge that at times conversations around equity can be unfamiliar, and uncomfortable. But because we've all opted in to be here today, I know that this group is ready to step outside of our comfort zones. And ultimately, the goal is really just to be able to learn from one another, like Blaire mentioned earlier, and walk away with a better understanding of strategies. And tools that can be used to facilitate conversations around data and equity outside of this space. So possibly in your consortium's at your own institutions.

Next slide, please. So our mindset. I want to start by sharing our mindset as we engage in these discussions. And this is particularly as it relates to discussing data or observations in the field. As we reflect, I want us to remind ourselves to frame our thoughts and our inquiry around the systems and programs that exist to serve adult learners. It's going to be really important to remind ourselves not to attribute data to the intrinsic qualities of people or groups.

So ultimately, we just want to stay away from making generalizations about the motivations of students and people. Is there anything that anyone would like to add before we jump into our discussion? Perhaps any tips that you found helpful in talking about equity. And you can also feel free to just drop those in the chat if you have any resources you want to share with your colleagues.

I cannot wait as long as Blaire. So I'll share a tool that I've found helpful. So one tool that I found helpful is the oops and the ouch technique. You all may be familiar with this already, but part of having conversations around equity is messing up, and this is inevitable. No matter how experienced you are, how well versed you are in particular terms and processes.

So if you say-- if you say something that didn't come out as you expected. Something that perhaps is hurtful, you can say, oops to acknowledge it, and then try again. Alternatively, if someone says something that you find harmful, then you can say, ouch. And that lets the group know that there's something that really needs to be discussed further.

I don't expect this to come up based on the structure of today's training, but this protocol is a great tool to have available. It's a great tool in your toolbox, and it might help you as you facilitate conversations on your campuses. So if you have any tips or tricks feel free to put those in the chat as well. All right. Next slide.

So have any of you seen this graphic or something similar? Let me open up my chat box. And give me a thumbs up if you've seen something like it. The Giving Tree. So let's see, oh, thumbs up. So we've got a few people who've seen something. We've got a yes. It's great. It's a very common graphic. Sometimes it will be used with a baseball field. Yep, someone said, the one of the kids at the stadium. That's great.

Does anyone want to share a little bit about what you see in this graphic or what any of these visualizations mean to you? Feel free to come off mute if you're interested in sharing.

Audience: Hi. My name is Patty Lopez. I am with West Valley College. And I've seen this used as an example of equity. Every student comes at a different level. And you can expect all the students to start at the same level. You really have to give them resources, and help them so that they reach their full potential. If it has to be a taller ladder for one student than the other, then that's what we have to do. So it's really is about being able to provide the resources that are necessary to be able to support each learner in their needs. And so in that way be able to give them equity.

Jessica Keach: Great. Thank you so much, Patty. I think that was a great explanation. I see in the chat someone said a rising tide does not lift all boats, some people have holes in their boats or none at all. Exactly. Someone said I like the justice addition as well. So that's great. I can do just a brief overview. But I think you all have captured it really, really perfectly.

So in this visualization that I pulled from George Washington's online public health resources page the tree represents-- and that's represented by the tree that bears fruit. And you can also see that the tree is curving to the left. And so while a tree may naturally curve to the left in nature, it's important for us to recognize that our systems are human made. And our systems have often been a certain way for so long that while outcomes may appear unintentional, they're actually often deeply rooted in discriminatory practices and beliefs.

So the second visualization attempts to solve the inequality through equal access to resources. So however, the person on the left, they didn't need a ladder to access the fruit. And the person on the right didn't get a ladder that was tall enough to help them reach the fruit. So equity is that third visualization. It's represented where two folks are provided with specific ladders or resources that they need to reach the fruits of the Apple tree.

And while equity is a solution for addressing an equal systems justice, which is that visualization on the right. Where I've also seen that last graphic referred to as liberation-- can take equity one step further by fixing the systems in ways that lead to long term sustainable, equitable access. So that's the long gain. And you can see that the tree has permanently been adjusted so that each individual has equal access with the same ladder. So that's our hope. That's our vision.

And great. It's great comments in the chat. I really appreciate it. Next slide. So in our work with the field, we've done collaborative brainstorming activities, have held conversations like this to really uncover what equity means to you, practitioners, and service providers in adult education.

So what you see on the screen are responses from your colleagues to the question, "What does equity mean in adult education?" And so as I read off some of these responses, I'll ask that you tell your colleagues right now in the chat what equity means to you in adult education. So one of your colleagues has previously said, equity in adult education means ensuring access to services and information in a variety of languages.

We've heard providing access to resources, support referrals and education to all who walk through our doors. Heard supporting learner leadership through educational opportunities that transfers to their other daily activities. I see in the chat access for all. Access is a very common theme throughout these responses in these quotes.

So someone said access, making sure that we listen to community members who may benefit from adult education, but who are not yet accessing our services. Someone said no gate keeping of minimum qualifications. And this was specifically related to career technical education. Someone else said all students have access to outcomes-- to the outcomes that they want with the support that they need based on individual circumstances. So I see in the chat using the knowledge of adult learners-- that our adult learners have alongside their curriculum. Access to the same treatment opportunities and advancement.

That's great. Thank you. Next slide, Ayanna. So in along with the previous slide, and this discussion on what equity in adult education means to you all. We've engaged with the field to ask about what equitable outcomes are in adult education. What are those outcomes? And traditionally, we talk about the adult education student journey starting with enrollment, then progress, transition, success, and employment and earnings. These are your CAEP outcomes. They are aligned with WIOA outcomes. They're familiar to you.

However, in conversations in the field, we've heard so much more than just these standard metrics, or the standard journey centered around these metrics. So what we've done is create a visual that aligns with a more comprehensive and holistic view of the adult learner journey. This is one that begins with access, and enrollment, progress towards learners own identified goals, attainment of their own identified goals, ultimately economic mobility.

So this journey is wrapped in integrated supports with a deep focus on well-being throughout every step of the journey. And finally, and almost most importantly, we've heard is that it's centered in learner choice, and agency. So that learners have the ability to identify their own goals, and make those choices for themselves, and that access is there. So will you click one more time, Ayanna.

Here are some of the comments that have helped craft this journey. So let me Zoom in a little. So along with access, and enrollment-- higher participation rates, your colleagues have said. Increased enrollment. Progress. Rates of persistence for English language learners. For goal attainment, one of your colleagues has said, seeing difficult-- or seeing different populations of students from various backgrounds and ages achieving their identified goals.

And then economic mobility. Students walk away with skills or credentials that lead to jobs that allow them to do more than just scraping by, or with a clear plan on how to get there. And then for integrated supports folks have said commonly need for technology, computers, access to the internet, closing the digital divide, as well as resources like child care.

And then central is that learner choice and agency. And one of your colleagues has really captured it. Getting to choose and be prepared for their next steps. Whether that's transitions to living wage employment, or transition to further education. So let's go to the next slide.

And I am going to just take a moment. This is the first time we've shared this model. And so i really love your feedback. What are your reactions? What resonates with you? Is there anything missing or is there anything that should be changed? And you can feel free to put that in the chat or you can come off mute. I'll try to pause a little longer than last time before moving forward. But is this resonating with you and what should be updated.

I see you Uta put in the chat-- I think learner choice and agency at the center is crucial. All right. Leslie is saying, I would add an arrow from mobility to access as a life-- as lifelong self-improvement. That's great. OK.

Randy Tillery: Yeah. Just kind of building on what Burr put in there-- and there was another comment about recruiting-- the importance of recruitment. I think the-- to get to the point of access, there's a lot of work that goes into that piece. So I love this. But just to say that there's probably a lot that precedes the access, and maybe there could be something added just to show that's a big step. And once folks get in there, then hopefully they're off to the races. But it's not always that simple.

Jessica Keach: Yeah. That's great. So there's even-- there's something that comes even before access that we should be thinking about. That's great. The circle should maybe be open. That's great.

Blaire Willson Toso: Leslie, could you say-- sorry to interrupt. But I'd be curious. Leslie, could you say a little bit more about what you mean in the intention between that?

Jessica Keach: Yeah.

Blaire Willson Toso: I told you we were going to make you all work this section.

Jessica Keach: I know.

Audience: Yeah. And I have to leave in just a couple of minutes but I'll come back. Right. It's not a closed system. So more porous. So that feeling that you can come in and come out at different points is part of it, but it feels like a very closed universe. So well-- so maybe you can just make the outside circle more gauzy.

Jessica Keach: Yeah. Yeah. Maybe like a glow or something. Like one of those--

Audience: Well, like cells.

Jessica Keach: Yeah.

Audience: Even cells are porous. So that kind of thing. That's all.

Jessica Keach: Great. Thank you so much, Leslie. We see in here arrows-- for many of our students, arrows go both ways. It's great. Financial literacy. Making more money is only a part of not scraping by, yes. I think that we really wanted to focus on well being here as well. It's not forwarded as much. But this idea that folks aren't working towards one day being healthy, happy, secure. We want to address that along every point of a journey-- of the journey for our adult learners.

I like well being in integrated sports. This is really great. This is helpful. So thank you so much. Please feel free to keep the comments coming as we move into the next slide. And we'll come back to this in a few slides. So will turn over to Blaire.

Blaire Willson Toso: Thank you. I'm not very good at multitasking. Jessica, could you post our email in the chat because even-- sometimes you think about it a little bit-- we really are thinking about this and how it does frame our work. So feel free to send on additional information.

All right. So just Jessica set the stage for thinking about equity, sort of, writ large. And we wanted to put this in the context of the work that you all do, and your three year planning process, which we know took an inordinate amount of time, and thought last year. And now you're in the process of implementing them. And you're beginning to think about refining continuous improvement, and the data that informs that.

So we're going to think about it in terms of equity. So in terms of equity, the three year plan focuses on equity in some way. So here's some of the language that we've pulled from the three year planning process. It talks about it in needs, barriers. That learners encounter gaps and service. And identifying your priority adult populations. And then the guidance really gives you some space to prompt them. So like, how do student outcomes compare across different student populations and programs. And are particular demographic groups achieving outcomes at higher rates than others.

And so we were wondering, like, how did that prompt you to think about your equity plan? Are there other questions that you all used or that we should be using? And what might be missing from this? All right. I'm going to ask a question then. So for me when I was thinking about this I noticed we focus a lot on priority adult populations. But we don't talk about equity in terms of our staffing plan, or who's engaged as stakeholders.

So just thinking about-- we tend to think about equity in a very singular way. About delivering our services. And who-- granted students, they should be student centered. But how are the other places. Where are the other areas that might then spill over, and really begin to look at equity for our student population.

Yes, classified components. Oh, everybody's on a roll. Thank you. What are support structures that facilitate the achievement of outcomes. Thank you. ESL students succeed more than the ASC students. Yes. Exactly. There are those outcomes or those structures that should also be informing equity in our three year plan. I know that's a little bit of a step aside. But I think it's an interesting piece to think about. All right. Next slide, please.

So we'd like to now turn it over to you all to think about how you have addressed equity in your three year plans. I think that that's a space where we begin to drill down and identify what might we want to do. How do we think about it. What data are we collecting. And so we're going to have-- we're going to have you all have conversations among yourself as the experts.

You all are experts and colleagues in this work, and can probably provide additional information and insights. I've read many of the three year plans, and it's interesting to see how different they are. And I don't mean that just geographically or what you're doing, but also when-- just how people-- you can see how people have thought about it, and planed about it.

So that we're hoping by having you go on and talk, and discuss the following questions in breakout rooms, that you'll be able to think-- prompt each other to think about it more broadly as well. Or query each other about, oh, you thought about that. How was that working for you? And so in your breakout rooms, we're going to have-- first have you identify a note taker. We just would like someone to record and be able to share out a couple of the highlights of your conversations, or something that made you say, aha, or that was surprising.

And then you-- amongst yourselves, we're not going to facilitate these. It's just to discuss the questions that are on the board, on the slide here. And you don't need to answer all of them. We do want you to take-- to be able to feel like you can share them. I've posted the questions in the chat. So please keep your chat open when you go into the rooms.

You'll have 10 minutes to have this conversation. You should be in groups of about 5 or 6. And are there any questions before we move you into your breakout rooms? All right. Then let's go ahead. And you'll have 10 minutes once you're in there.

Speaker: It ended up working out to be about 4 to 5 people per room.

Blaire Willson Toso: Perfect. Perfect. Thank you. If you have an integer breakout room, just go ahead. There should be an invite for you on your screen. Just go ahead and click Join.

Jessica Keach: Blaire, someone asked in the chat if we can share our PowerPoint. And so I didn't know-- I know we will be. But I wasn't sure how that was going to be facilitated.

Blaire Willson Toso: Oh, that's a good question. I forget when it's not-- when it's the summit it's a little bit different. So why don't we-- Patricia, do you know-- is there somewhere for us to upload our PowerPoint?

Speaker: I thought there was a spot on the CAEP Summit platform itself. But I'm not positive on how you go about doing that. But you could ask Veronica, Holly, or Mandela. They would be able to tell you exactly how to do that.

Jessica Keach: I think I can find it. OK. Let's see. I just see our--

Blaire Willson Toso: We can get the registration list also and send it out to them.

Jessica Keach: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not seeing a place to upload. But if we get the registration, then we can send it out. We can also save it as a PDF right now and just upload it to the chat. Let's see.

Blaire Willson Toso: Oh, that's a great idea. Sorry, I didn't even think of that.

Speaker: Yeah, I'm not sure if you're able to upload it, or if it had to be Holly, Mandaley, or Veronica, on the back end.

Jessica Keach: Oh. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Let's see.

Speaker: Jill in room 1 is asking for help. Did one of you want to join that room?

Blaire Willson Toso: Yeah. I can go in there. Sure.

[laughter]

Jessica Keach: Let me--

Speaker: Since we have some people who haven't joined a room. There are a few rooms that only have 2 or 3 people in them. Just to let you know.

Jessica Keach: OK. OK. I think I've got a PowerPoint that I can--

Speaker: You might need to share the PDF when everybody's back, just because I'm not sure if it's going to populate in the chat with everybody in breakout rooms.

Jessica Keach: Man, I never know.

Speaker: I know. I'm not sure either, which is why I'm just saying, you might want to re-share it in a little while.

Jessica Keach: Yeah, I'll re-share it at the end to, just make sure everyone has it. I always wonder, I'm like, are they getting my chats in their breakout rooms. I don't know.

Speaker: Yeah. I'm not positive. So I just wanted to throw that out there.

Jessica Keach: Awesome. Thank you.

Speaker: Should I broadcast that they have like two minutes left.

Jessica Keach: I was going to ask-- I was just going to ask you, is there a-- is there a timer or anything for them?

Speaker: No timer. I just-- I jotted down the time when you guys said 10 minutes. And it was like 11:03.

Jessica Keach: OK. Yeah. Just let them know, like a few minutes left or however many.

Speaker: Yeah. If there's a timer feature on break rooms, I don't know about it.

I can go out and close the breakout rooms, if you're ready for that. I think it gives them like 30 seconds-- sorry, 60 seconds to come join the room again.

Jessica Keach: Yeah. That would be great. Welcome back, everyone.

Blaire Willson Toso: Thank you. We're going to take a few minutes just to hear a little bit of share out. It was a really-- I got to be in one of the breakout rooms. It was very, very interesting. And I will take a little bit of time. Room 1, does anybody want to-- that was the room I was in. Does any one want to share out or I did take some notes?

Letcia Carabajal: The room I was in-- I don't remember the number of the room.

Blaire Willson Toso: You were 1, Leticia.

Letcia Carabajal: Ka'Ryn, I know I came in a little later. She said something powerful. She said that she wishes to change the perception of individuals. They have this perception that-- and specifically, people of color-- the expectations that they have of people of color, or the lack of expectations, changing that stereotype. She was giving an example, that there was a culinary pathway that most of the individuals that spoke another language replaced in this pathway with no other option.

It reminded me, and I shared that back. I'm a child from the '70s. And when you were in school, and my siblings when they were in school, they were expected, they were trapped to be in a particular occupation because they were Latinos. Girls would go become secretaries, and boys mechanics.

So I love that she said she would like to see that individuals change their perceptions. I say change the stereotypes that many have. That we only fit into this certain category, and we can do better. So I just wanted to share that.

Blaire Willson Toso: Super. Thanks. So yes, it was setting goals and outcomes based on student feedback, which was where the data came in, and then beginning to think about programming for adult learners and choice in voice. Room 2. OK. I don't know who was in room 2. I'm going to go ahead and see if anybody would like to share out from their breakout room.

Audience: This is John. I'm sorry. I forget which room we were in, Blaire. So--

Blaire Willson Toso: All good.

Audience: She was in room 2. I'm sorry. I'll stop. Go ahead, Paige.

Audience: Go ahead, John. And then I'll go after you. How's that?

Audience: Oh, boy. Now, I don't know which room number I'm in. Though I probably just got us all out of sync. I'm sorry, guys. So we were talking about those three year plans. And whether or not we explicitly overtly stated equity type strategies, or even use the word equity, versus did we use equity as a lens in talking about, or describing, or designing other strategies that we support equity at lots of levels.

We were thinking about we serve two big client types. We serve students. And then we serve those that work at our schools as well. And so is it a lens that some of the strategies we have an example would be that Iris brought up from the Compton area is, this notion of students come to us preloaded with lots of skills and competencies.

And do we build systems that recognize that, and honor that, and provide student-- I'm going to use the word credit very loosely. Not meaning credit in a class or towards graduation or anything. But do we provide them the credit of having that prior knowledge in some way that it benefits them as they engage our pathways in our program so that the program is doing something very critical, which is it's adapting itself to meet the student. We know the students are already adapting to meet us. But is the program-- is what we do reflexive to meet that student where they're at?

Blaire Willson Toso: Thank you. I appreciate that. The thread through from the room 1 is especially that look at students as people who come with a background knowledge, and really need to be represented. We are just running a little behind. So I'm just seeing that there are nine rooms. I'm going to move to Paige because she volunteered. And then if people want to jot their highlights in the chat.

And I want to say I really appreciate the thinking about the lens, John. And then do we actually use that language? Are we using it as a lens? And having-- I can answer that from having read those three year plans. But probably you all are already thinking along the same lines. So Paige.

Audience: Sure so I was in group 5. And one of the consortium-- consortia in our group, or the person talking-- shared that they have just hired or they're hiring an equity and trauma expert that will be leading three meetings with them with their members. And then the members will go back, do some homework at their sites, and then come back to me. So those will begin in January.

And this representative also said that-- they have a lot of experience. They've been working on this a lot. And they've had some disastrous consequences, and fallout. So they're just continuing to persevere and persist in the work. So they have a plan to address it. And then another person in our group predicated his conversation with us by pointing out that adult Ed is equity work. What we're doing is already equity work.

His particular consortium, one of the things that they're planning to do or that they've committed to do is renew their commitment to applying the immigration integration framework, and increasing support, and opportunities for immigrants. In their consortium over 50% of their population are immigrants in their student population.

And then also one of the people talked about how to measure the increase in equity, and in their staff. And just that that's a difficult thing to measure. And just a very cool thing from one of them, their school district hired these two staff members that are called JEDI's, standing for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. And he's hoping to get them involved with adult Ed also. So some good highlights from group 5. Thank you.

Blaire Willson Toso: Thank you. And I really appreciate you sharing that it isn't all about successes. I really appreciate that someone mentioned that they had disasters, and they had to rethink. I think that that's true. And that there are pitfalls. Even when Jessica talked about some of the conversations.

So yes. I really-- I appreciate people sharing. I think there's as much to be learned from the disasters, and the repairs, and the rethinking as there is about the successes. So it sounds like you all had a lively conversation. Really appreciate the chat that's going on. But I think we are going to move on. It is a-- this is a really fruitful conversation. And to learn from one another is really fabulous.

And yes, the piece of adult education picks up where some students have been failed by the K-12 system. And Kelly, I like the way you framed that. That it was a system that failed them, and not that they failed from that. That they failed out of the system, which is oftentimes how our work is represented in who we serve. So much appreciated for the conversation. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Jessica who's going to get us back into some data tools.

Jessica Keach: Thank you, Blaire. All right. So we'll move into a discussion on using data to identify equity gaps. We want to start with where do you get your data? So heavy on the chat feature here today. Let us know in the chat. Where do you commonly look at data on your adult learners. I've included some common sources on the slide including CASAS, TE-- they have really great reporting tools available to you.

The LaunchBoard, the adult education pipeline has visualizations. And your CAEP metrics. I've heard LiteracyPro, CALPRO, Ellucian, which is the parent company of Common Student Information Systems that community colleges use, like colleague and banner. And then Comas. We know our community colleges report their data into MIS. And then that data is also accessible in data mart. So let's see. We've got a lot, TE, CAEP summary reports, launch board, CAEP Factsheets, WDB, MC, so labor market information. That's a great one.

Let's go to the next slide. I'm going to try to catch us up a little bit. We're going to move into a peer learning activity. So it's breakout rooms again. And what I am going to ask you all to do is in your group, everyone will have a slide and a topic. Or actually two topics assigned to them in the Jamboard. So if Ayanna or maybe Blaire if you'll drop the link to the Jamboard in the chat. That would be great.

So what you're going to do in your groups, is you're going to answer these five questions using sticky notes conversation with one another. What measures are important to you in understanding outcomes in this area? So for example, one group might be assigned access, and economic mobility. So what measures are important to you in understanding access?

What populations do you or would you like to dis-aggregate by to understand equity gaps? So traditionally you think of race, ethnicity, gender, age. But as it's already been mentioned here, it's very clear we serve a lot of students, a lot of students with a lot of unique needs. You want to dis-aggregate by particular barrier types. ELL students. May be students who were formerly incarcerated.

And then we'll ask what you-- discuss what data sources do you or could you use to get data on those measures. What barriers exist to collecting or accessing that data? And then what strategies have you used or could you use to overcome those barriers? So we'll move into our breakout rooms now.

And we originally had 15 minutes. Let's shorten that to just 10 minutes. So try to get at least one measure for each of your topics. And if you can get that completely done, move on to some additional thinking around measures that you might want to include. Are there any questions before we begin?

Speaker: Did you want five breakout rooms?

Jessica Keach: Yeah, I think that'll work. OK.

Speaker: Ready set.

Jessica Keach: Join your breakout room. And we will ask you to share out a little bit when you come back. Here we go. OK. Let's see. Time is at 11:27. So that's 10 minutes. Blaire, do you think I should still do the demonstration?

Blaire Willson Toso: I do. I think that we can-- I do. Or maybe just get a read on how many people are familiar with it. My guess is that it would be really beneficial to do the demonstration. So I'm chatty. I like to hear what people say and engage that way. So I can limit myself a little more.

Jessica Keach: No. I think it's going really well. We always just--

Blaire Willson Toso: I know.

[laughter]

Yeah. I mean, the last slides like communicating about equity, and two year planning, we've got some we've got some time in there that I think we'll be OK with.

Jessica Keach: OK. That sounds good. Let's look at these gym boards.

Speaker: I made all three of you co-hosts, because I didn't realize when I did break out before that you wouldn't be able to see who was in the breakout rooms. So now you should be able to see who's in the breakout rooms.

Blaire Willson Toso: I think as there are a lot-- what happened with room 1 is that there were only two people who ended up in there. And one of them was not an adult. They didn't-- they weren't an adult education practitioner so to speak. They were with a foundation. So they just felt like they didn't have that much enough perspective to add to the conversation. And then Leticia joined and it was really-- it took off between Leticia and Corinne. So Corinne, it was really it was a cool conversation. I was glad to be a part of it.

Jessica Keach: So I wonder if I should join that. I love to join.

Speaker: It looks like Steven just joined. Should I move him into a breakout room?

Blaire Willson Toso: Yep. I think so.

Speaker: Or maybe not. Maybe he left.

[laughter]

I was just about to do it. And then he disappeared.

Blaire Willson Toso: He was like, oh, no. No.

Jessica Keach: Group 5 is moving. OK. I'm going to join a group and see.

Blaire Willson Toso: Which one are you joining and then I will.

Jessica Keach: I think I'll join group 4.

Blaire Willson Toso: OK.

Jessica Keach: And then I'll be back. Where are you going to go?

Blaire Willson Toso: You know what, I'm going to go to group 5 because it's one of the smaller ones as well. So--

Jessica Keach: OK.

Blaire Willson Toso: So do I just join that one?

Speaker: Yeah. If you hit join, it should take you there.

Blaire Willson Toso: OK. Perfect. Thank you. What time, Patricia, are we done? I didn't look at the-- I should have looked--

Speaker: You-- we started at 11:27. So you have about 7 minutes still. And I'll do a 2 minute Warning again like I did last time.

Jessica Keach: OK. Great. Thank you. You're welcome.

Ayanna Smith: Patricia, do you know what time they are supposed to be coming back?

Speaker: 11:37.

Ayanna Smith: OK.

Speaker: So I'll go ahead and close it out 11:37, which gives them like a minute to come back. So it'll really be like 11:38.

Ayanna Smith: OK. Thanks.

Jessica Keach: Welcome back, everyone. All right. So we're running short on time. But that's such great conversation. I'm going to ask-- does anyone who has anything to share that they found that came out of their breakout room, that they thought was really interesting, or might be something that they wanted to share with the group around on one of these topics?

Audience: I just took an interest in things, like not all data is graded equally Those that kept that data. And then the other thing is like, we have a lot of data, and the key is how you analyze it, and what you do with it.

Jessica Keach: Yeah. I think that's really important. What do you do with the information that we have available to us. In the group that I was in there was discussion around what a barrier being to data collection-- being the translation or the translation of some of the standard categories into student centered or plain language. And so I think folks in our group had some great strategies around that.

And John shared a link. I'm going to ask John, if you don't mind coming off mute and sharing that link that you shared with our small group.

Audience: Sure. Yeah. So the link I sent-- this is a resource. I think SCOE we built this out quite a while ago. They're the barrier definition cards translated into languages. Now I didn't review them quick enough here to say that they take it down into student centered plain language that-- students oftentimes won't tell you they have a barrier to employment. They don't. That's foreign language to them even if they speak English.