
quity is an easy word to say, a harder concept to achieve. Recently, I had the honor of speaking with educators and parents whose students had taken part in our contest to “Write the Final Episode” of the middle grades’ fiction series “Ben and Ruby: The Final Faceoff.” Each of them told their story of putting equity into action.
Dr. Harris believes that access is the cornerstone of equity. And so, through a focused stepwise approach, which included curriculum design, internal professional development, and patient support of teachers asked to “try new things,” Dr. Harris led her community to integrate STEAM into every classroom. Part of that initiative was the introduction of Achieve3000 Literacy, with its science, technology, arts, and other nonfiction content, differentiated so all students could access the same ideas, engaged in discussion together at the same time in the same classroom.

Encouraging and offering students of all confidence levels, all ability levels, and all experience levels to go the extra mile, can make amazing things happen. It focused Palm Middle School on encouraging all students to stretch their minds and skills. And that reluctant reader in Ms. Byrd’s classroom — her amazing imagination is on display, as her episode “A Way Out” has been published for millions of students around the globe. Emerey Anderson is America’s newest author, and we cannot wait to see what she writes next.

Access differs from exposure. It is the opportunity to experience ideas in a way that they connect, presented in a form that allows comprehension. Access includes giving time enough for the students to deepen their understanding and make connections. Access includes encouraging the learner to use those ideas in alternative ways, like writing their own ending to “Ben and Ruby: The Final Faceoff.”


Dr. Harris, Mrs. Byrd, Mrs. Anderson, and Mr. Valente each shared with me their stories of putting equity into action. At the heart of each was the same caring and yet rigorous expectation, give students access to ideas and time to make connections, and then let them write the next chapter of the story. Equity begins with access and blooms with the opportunity and the encouragement to create new ideas from our own connections.
Invite your students to “Ask a Scientist,” and to “Finish the Story.” Each week, we invite students to submit questions to scientists in our Kids’ Channel, and each quarter we invite students to Finish the Story (or engage in other creative writing challenges) in our fiction writing contests.
We believe equity begins with access and flourishes when students make their own connections. When students write the story, equity comes to life.