It's with the environments we are creating. For me, the question is: Do we do enough to create classroom environments for students to be intellectually curious? The problem is not typically with the kids, who always come in with intellectual curiosity on some level. And that's the thing that's so important. Too often we reduce engagement to hands-on 'activities' or to a lesson that's fun and interactive, but we don't necessarily connect that interactivity to academic rigor or cognitive capacity building. And I mean true intellectual engagement, not just having fun. When we think about equity as making sure every student reaches their intellectual capacity so they can carry a heavier cognitive load-so that they can take part in deep learning that is rigorous, for example-then we see how critical it is to create the kind of intellectual curiosity and engagement that allows us to kick-start students' information processing and meaning making.
Because if we get more kids in advanced algebra, but they can't carry the cognitive load required for advanced algebra, that doesn't help anybody. So, I don't see instructional equity merely in terms of system metrics like getting more kids into AP classes or advanced algebra. For me, equity is about making sure every student is a powerful learner-that's the equity goal we should be shooting for.
