The development of the Equity Commission felt and looked different. The process was incredibly inclusive — we thought not only about who the research and/or policy experts in our field are and challenged ourselves to expand our definition of the word experts. With the expansion of that definition, we recognized that teachers, students, and school leaders should be seated at the table because they are the experts “on the ground.” From the very first meeting, we put value in people by choosing to focus on the importance of storytelling — getting behind the people who are doing the work — not just their resumes or lists of accomplishments. It set the stage for a deep and new kind of thinking and ideas about what really needs to happen in our work and approach to authentically center students and humanity in schools.

Often, it feels like organizations already have a predetermined answer to the question of why do we have persistent inequities in education. So they only engage in a very narrow conversation about inequity just to justify that predetermined answer, while failing to look at the entirety of the problem. NTC decided to amplify people living and carrying firsthand experiences of inequity in practice. It speaks to a commitment to understand the barriers to equity and all the complexity of it. We decided to actually dig into all of the layers to see learning from the perspective of the students and educators. It’s a messier process. But I can’t imagine that we’re going to make any meaningful progress if conversations and solutions aren’t led by the communities we’re working to support.

When I started at NTC, equity wasn’t centered in what we do. We were pushing toward it, but it wasn’t the everyday focus. As a part of my focus on early learning, I’ve been able to see and participate in opportunities and efforts to put equity center stage. Our work to define and build professional learning around our Optimal Learning Environment framework was a huge step to begin to meet the needs of all the kids in front of a teacher. And now, through our developing Direct-to-Educator work, we’re doing more and more to figure out how to get good student-centered professional learning content for teachers. It’s been interesting to see how we’re also impacting equity for educators, especially those in early learning who have the greatest opportunity to create educational equity, yet are the least supported and trained educators in the field. We’re able to democratize access to high-quality learning and coaching so that they might grow themselves in pursuit of student-centered teaching. I feel fortunate to get to be a part of a group that’s obsessively working on this and having these conversations every day.

Prior to NTC, I was never in a professional space where I felt like I could bring my full self to the conversations and to the table. For years I denied a certain part of me and I didn’t really want to talk about it or explore it — I had all kinds of reasons: being scared, worrying about retribution, and not knowing others perception. What would be the ramifications if what I shared was not valued or seen as important? To experience a professional shift at NTC where folks like me, from the LGBTQ+ community, are asked to be thought leaders around equity and the work that we do is really remarkable. We’re crafting this space where there’s room for everybody and really genuinely wanting to hear different perspectives to inform the work and to be advocates for change. It’s critical for my wellbeing, but it also is in service to the students our vision and mission is pointed towards.

Probably five years ago, I remember the first time that I was in a room with everyone from our program delivery team — it was a national retreat in Chicago. And I was really struck by how much that part of our organization looked just like the teaching force: 80 percent white and female. And there were three or four dots in the room. I was one of those dots. What I’ve seen over the years is an effort to ensure there is more diversity. And when I speak of diversity, I think that there’s been a lot of attention to racial diversity, and I’m hoping that there’s also attention to diversity of thought. When I started my work in the org, we waited until the second year of training content to discuss equity. Now, we are engaged in equity-focused conversations and content right out of the gate with our partners, engaging in ways that are meaningful to our mission and the work from day one. Multiple shifts have happened in truly prioritizing equity. There’s still a lot of work that we need to do. It’s always going to be a work in progress. We won’t ever say, “We’ve arrived.” But I think it is reflective of how nuanced and complex it is to create equitable outcomes in schools, in district offices, and in systems. We are going through the mess of that because it’s messy.

To be in a diverse workspace, where it wasn’t just folks who looked like me, but to know that there were allies, committed to the work in this space is refreshing. With NTC committing to the internal work and collaborating with others to support us, we really have the opportunity to make an impact. And at the same time it’s work that is messy and hard. It keeps challenging us in so many ways. Yet we need all of this to grow and it’s what will make us stand out as an organization. A lot of people and places stay in a safe space of theory and conversation. NTC shifted its mission and vision to be explicit about the students we’re supporting and how we plan to effect change — it was and is difficult and scary for many. But for me, it felt good, reaffirming and like I was in the right place, doing the right work. The reason why I got into what I do, for students, with aligned educators, is coming to fruition here and now.

The work we’re doing is adaptive in nature and it’s dependent upon the needs of the communities that we’re serving and the districts that we’re serving and the students within them. It’s really impossible to create a perfect product to deliver without really paying close and responsive attention to the needs of the students in different places.

I understand schools and systems want something that they can hang their hat on and say: “We did it.” I think that as we move to responsive consultation, it becomes incumbent upon us to be very metacognitive to try to get at mindsets. And so when you’re talking about mindset shifts and doing things differently and attending to process, then that means that you need to be explicit about the process as you’re doing it. What does the process actually look like? When do we create those spaces to be able to reflect on where we were, where we’re going, how we’re going, so that you can really get to the belief? We need to get to the humanity underneath to figure out your needs, your assets, your areas of support. NTC is embracing all that must go into a process, a slow process, to drive equity-minded instruction.

I can see a thread from when I first interacted with NTC as a newbie teacher in California to when I was an instructional coach in Chicago — we’ve always been working to cultivate practices and behaviors in educators that serve their students well. And now we’re centering equity as we try to build the kind of mindsets of teachers that are reflective and persistent. And we’ve fully acknowledged that specific communities of students continue to be underserved as a result of the systems that don’t make space for their needs. It is the sort of thing that a teacher has to work on every day to move a little further in that journey. NTC’s use of coaching — I had a coach and have been one — demonstrates that we’re here with you for the long haul of change and implementation. Because this work is hard, it demands partnership and collaboration.

I feel like NTC has made and really continues to make some deliberate and intentional actions towards supporting and elevating the voices of affinity groups to inform our work internally and externally. As a co-lead of the LGBTQ+ affinity group, we’ve identified three focus areas that we wanted to attend to as we really aimed to humanize the teaching and learning experiences of students from that community. Building empathy. Engaging in knowledge building of challenges and assets. And enduring action. So as we’ve become more educated and increasingly empathetic, what are the implications for our work at NTC? We’ve identified the opportunity and desire for NTC to potentially add LGBTQ+ youth as a priority student community. We see this as an opportunity to really live further into that vision statement where every student receives an equitable education.

One day as I was facilitating an NTC Professional Learning session, we were unpacking data around student success and race. I had an “Aha!” moment that I shared — I was a data point! This face, as a brown woman, I was part of the statistics in New York City public schools. One could have studied the impact of education on my life. For high school, I attended a predominately white boarding school in Massachusetts. I saw and experienced the discrepancies and inequities, daily, of what it meant to be in school, what it meant to learn, what it meant to be pushed, and what it meant to be in a space where high expectations were held and where the opportunities for growth and success were plentiful. It was hard to fathom that my peers, other young people of color who had skills and talents and potential were probably never going to experience a high quality education like this. So I went into education, with the hopes and goals of creating that. For me, it’s always so easy to come back to my “why” as an educator and someone supporting educator development, because it’s so personal and it’s so real. Look, when we know better, we do better. So we can’t get to that knowledge if we’re not ready to break down those barriers and look within, and confront biases and acculturated practices. It starts with the personal, and the local, and the immediate. I’m a part of that. I have to model that. I have to share stories of my personal learning journey. This isn’t a “you” challenge. It’s a “we” challenge. And I love that NTC tries to create spaces where teachers, coaches, and leaders are reflecting on their “why” as they develop and grow their craft, in service of students.

It’s a really different approach to think about centering the humanity of the children and their teachers to make schools be places that nurture someone’s full self, their social sides, their academic sides, their emotional needs sides. Everything. But we’re working against the grain so much. The easy thing to do is say we can only do one little piece. It’s powerful that NTC is actually saying, “Well, let’s support making systems that serve and center people’s humanity.”

For me, I keep coming back to it as a feeling, as the lived part — emotional, intrinsic — of the experience. Learning should be filled with feelings of being valued, feeling that you belong, that you’re cared for, you’re invested in. That someone is seeking to understand you and appreciate you as they’re challenging and engaging you.

I think humanity and teaching and learning looks flexible. It’s recognizing that there is no one size fits all. It’s seeing the people that make up your space and recognizing that each person brings with them their own knowledge set. We all have something to teach and to learn. There’s flexibility. There’s discovery. There’s an authentic effort to recognize everyone’s brilliance so each person participating can be self-actualized.

There are places, there are schools, there are communities where teachers and students are thriving. It’s a beautiful, liberating and joyful experience for all of the constituents. We’re trying to create those moments. So for teaching and learning to be humanized, we need to ask ourselves: “Why do my kids need to learn this? Why is this important to them? How is it going to support them in developing their identity? In supporting their own communities?” And we need to fully understand what those answers actually mean to bring to help young people be critical thinkers and to stay curious and explore the world.