During the course of EDUC 615: Educational Change, I learned that equality is not the same as equity. While students can be treated equal, there can be an array of inequalities going on at their school. For example, I work at a very diverse school where, even though there are children of all cultural and religious backgrounds, everyone is treated the same or equal. However, after doing my Equity Audit Data Collection, I found out that my school has several inequalities. One of them is that the percentage of female teachers is significantly higher than the percentage of male teachers, which was the topic of my Equity Study. It was very interesting to find out through the research of articles on this topic, that the lack of male teachers in elementary schools is not only happening in my school or schools around the country, but that it is a phenomenon happening all over the world.

          I also learned that I can be a Teacher Leader not only in my classroom, but also in my school, which in turn will hopefully make changes in the world. Before I took this course, I thought that I could only teach my students, but I now believe that I can make a change in the world starting through my school. I feel empowered to go ahead and let my school director read my Equity Study, so that hopefully she can make my Action Plan happen.

          Furthermore, the survey that we responded at the beginning and the end of the course showed me the difference a few months of instruction can make, because EDUC 615 taught me to be a Teacher Leader, I wish every teacher would take this class so that they can also change their school environment. About the survey, I was very surprised to see the response for Q19, because it was the total opposite. The question said, “My school is an equitable space.” At the beginning of the course I said Strongly Agree, because before I took this class, I thought that equity meant that everyone is treated equal. But after learning that equity goes beyond just being treated fairly or the same, I came to the conclusion that my school is not an equitable space after all. After doing the Equity Audit I learned that my school has many aspects that have a lot left to be desired, and that is why I chose to do my Policy Brief/Action Plan about Male vs Female Faculty & Staff, which I believe is a very important aspect that school supervisors should be thinking about for future school years. Also, at the beginning of the course I had no idea how to analyze data, let alone putting that data onto a chart. That is why I answered Unsure to Q33 on the survey, which reads, “I am good at statistically analyzing data about my students.” Afterwards, I answered Strongly Agree, because with the Equity Study, I learned so much about data, how to input the information, and how to analyze it.

          From the Eight ASTL Learning Outcomes, these are some of the points I believe were addressed during EDUC 615:

• Student learning: Teachers are committed to students and their learning. Teachers are leaders and have the power to change their school if it is affecting their students’ learning environment.

• Learning community: Teachers are members of learning communities. As Teacher Leaders, teachers will be changing their school environment and, therefore, will be changing their communities as well.

• Diversity: Teachers attend to the needs of culturally, linguistically, and cognitively diverse learners. Not only teachers must treat their students with equality, but also the school must be an equitable place for teachers to work at and for students as well.

• Change agent: Teachers are change agents, teacher leaders, and partners with colleagues. We teachers have the power to be leaders and make changes in our school   environments in order to make them more equitable, not only for ourselves but also for our students.

          In conclusion, I learned a great deal by taking EDUC 615 and I wish teacher could take this course, because not only it teaches you to think like a leader, but it also empowers you to be a change agent. Moreover, this course made me realize that even though we as teachers treat our students as equal as possible, our schools might not exactly be an equitable place to work at. Therefore, as the Teacher Leaders as we are, we need to use our power in order to change our schools and make them a better place for our students and ourselves. EDUC 615 Equity Study