Grounded in a school's engagement with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Week of Action in Schools, the study shared during this roundtable will explore how aspects of Critical Language Awareness (CLA) pedagogy were integrated into curriculum design to address and promote racial justice and equity. Critical theory serves as the framework for this study because it provides a robust lens for examining and challenging the power structures and inequities embedded within educational systems. By focusing on the intersections of language, identity, power, and oppression, critical theory allows for a deep analysis of how these factors influence educational practices and outcomes. This framework is particularly suited for addressing the goals of the BLM Week of Action in Schools, as it emphasizes social justice, emancipatory practices, and the empowerment of marginalized communities, aligning perfectly with the objectives of fostering equitable teaching and curriculum design. By using the qualitative methodology of case study, this project incorporated various data collection techniques such as interviews, observations, and document analysis in an effort to gather comprehensive and detailed information related to teachers’ implementation of CLA pedagogy. Open coding of lesson plans across Preschool through 8th grade revealed three themes: 1) a progression of learning across grade levels related to key constructs such as race, racism, diversity, and advocacy; 2) the impact of aligning read-aloud lesson plans to social justice standards; and 3) the use of discourse to create shared projects. Findings will be discussed through a school administrator and researcher lens that connects to the specific conference thread of curriculum design for equitable teaching. We will describe key components of curriculum design including staff development, materials and resources, anchor texts, and planning requirements; challenges to implementation; and implications for practitioners and researchers who seek quality teaching practices that will lead to a more equitable world.

Research aim: This roundtable aims to explore the intersection of education policy and teacher education innovation, focusing on creating greater capacity for engaging in global policy development. Participants will discuss the relationship between these two areas and apply the concepts of complexity theory, systems thinking, and "deliberative policymaking" to their national contexts. The goal is to examine how education policy can be redesigned to support innovative, equitable, and inclusive teacher preparation practices.

Framework: Grant's (2024) recommendations on deliberative policymaking will be juxtaposed with the four design principles of the 'Teacher Development 3.0' framework (Ellis et al., 2017; Ellis, 2024). These principles include: a lifelong teaching profession, schools, universities, and teachers at the heart of communities, education as cultural and societal development, and a continuum of learning.

Methods: The roundtable will use a participatory format, including presentation, small group discussions, and a shared discussion. Participants will discuss education policy trends, innovative teacher education practices, and successful policy interventions.

Findings: The current state of education policy and its impact on teacher education, challenges and opportunities for innovation, the role of human-centered design and deliberative policymaking, and potential future structures for teacher education programmes.

Relevance: This roundtable session directly aligns with the conference theme by exploring how education policy can be leveraged to support quality teaching and promote a more equitable world. By fostering innovation, collaboration, and inclusion within teacher education, a stronger foundation for high-quality teaching practices that benefit all learners can be created. Findings are situated to influence provision of teacher education and assessing novice teachers’ skills for equitable and democratic classrooms during preparation.

E-Pal Study Guide, (EPSG), a student-centered learning platform that focuses on students’ commitment to learning, employs metacognitive philosophy, emphasizes positive values, and constructive use of time management. EPSG is an interactive program functioning as a virtual assistant specifically designed for first year college students at Bergen Community College, *Success 101. Course Learning Outcomes: “Focus on the strategies, habits, and behaviors necessary for students to empower their own academic and personal growth. Emphasis will be placed on self-assessment, goal setting, written and oral communication, critical thinking, self-management, and study strategies.”

As a tool to enhance students’ success, EPSG seeks to answer the following: (1) Can educators use a customized ChatGPT to reshape learners from instructor-directed to autonomous? (2) Specific to content/discourse, are there activities that educators and learners can create and co-create to transform unreflective thinkers to novice? (3) Is it possible for a ChatGPT such as EPSG to be used to motivate learners to develop a sense of personal commitment that leads to an understanding of the lasting impact of learning, faith in their own abilities, and belief in their self-worth?

An investigative empirical study, mixed-methods research methodology is being used to answer these questions. Intensive cross-sectional studies—descriptive cross-sectional and analytical cross-sectional studies will be used for data collection. Students will be observed extensively, electronic surveys/questionnaires will be used to collect data from learners and educators, interviews, and readings from experts on Artificial Intelligence will be analyzed, synthesized, and integrated in the study.

Since students will create and co-create; hence the opportunity to contribute to academia. Besides adding to the existing body of knowledge on Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT, results from EPSG will show this platform as a strong tool that empowers educators and learners while engaging with interdisciplinary discourse.

This study examines the use of virtual field trips (VFT) as a means to foster equitable curriculum in primary and secondary grades. Virtual field trips consist of place-based learning experiences at educational sites that are conducted virtually over the internet, or through the use of some other technological streaming or recording device, so that students can learn from experts around the world without leaving their classrooms (Zanetis, 2010). Virtual field trips allow students to access learning experiences that otherwise would be too far away, or too expensive to obtain without appropriate funding or planning resources.

The theoretical framework used for this study consists of constructivist learning theory. Constructivist learning theory argues that students acquire new knowledge by connecting new information or experiences to their prior knowledge. Through the use of virtual field trips, students will gain insight to other cultural capitals.

The methods used for this study consisted of a qualitative content analysis. For 21st century learners, the content analysis revealed that while virtual field trips provide students access to learning sites around the world. They often lack background information and expert commentary that are needed to construct a well-rounded understanding of the intended cultural capital under investigation.

Experiences for learners unable to travel beyond the classroom are valuable lessons that can be enhanced through the use of VFT, if they are afforded the proper learning opportunities to include context beyond the VFT guide.

This study is relevant to the curriculum design for equitable teaching strand as it provides outside opportunities for student learning when field trips may not be financially or readily available.

The aim of this roundtable is to draw together international perspectives on rural education, the perceptions associated with education in non urban areas in each country represented, with the intention of bringing the debate around rural and island education and equiping teachers to teach rurally to the fore. Promoting and enabling international discussion, this workshop will be looking at furthering an international definition of rurality in education, and serve as a conduit for making connections amongst different specialisms, including equity, professional learning and meeting the needs of all teachers in rural and island contexts.

Value and function of rural: through this roundtable we will be investigating why defining rurality in education matters in relation to the value, function and resource allocation worldwide as well as implications for equity. Rural students, their families and communities as ‘invisible’ (White & Kline, 2012; White & Corbett, 2014). Taking a rural standpoint is an inclusive way for all teacher educators, no matter where they are geographically located, to address social justice and inequity and improve the learning for all students. There is an importance of the uniqueness, the “thisness” of rural schools and their place in society, being against the holistic approach of treating all schools the same in relation to policy, social context and resource allocation.

Through multiple lenses, fundamentally this is about equity, sustainability of schools in the widest sense, policy and governance, collaborating at all levels with rural and island schools and communities at the centre. The intended outcome of this round table is collaboration internationally and planning future collaborations for future research, and how we can support our rural schools and communities. Finally, collectively, to challenge the oft deficit narrative in practice, policy and academic research as relates to rural and island education nationally and globally.

Extant literature on K-12 teacher evaluation fails to consider the multifaceted complexities that impact teacher instructional decisions and student learning outcomes. When faced with the realities of increasing student diversity (Kane, Kerr & Pianta, 2015), student opportunity gaps connected to racial background (Andrew et al., 2019), and the political focus on school accountability (Kraft et al., 2020), a teacher evaluation system built on accurate, dependable measures that center evidence-based research and equitable teaching practices are imperative. Current teacher evaluation practices at our institution include an analysis of student achievement, teacher research, and teacher observations. However, these sporadic observations lack the consistency, frequency, and clear purpose to produce quality feedback.

“Real improvement requires quality measurement” (Rogers, 2021, pg. 1). We seek to reimagine a high-quality teacher evaluation tool centered on 1) examining culturally sustaining and universally designed teaching practices (Waitoller & King Thorius, 2016), 2) high-quality teacher feedback cycles for improvement, and 3) multiple data points for student success metrics. The intersection of these factors yields important results for teachers and students, including the expectation of embracing students’ variabilities while communicating to them that they are worthy of our greatest attention and effort, flexible pathways to clear goals with high expectations, and ensuring educational equity is provided to all. We propose that these indicators, supported by quality feedback and reflection, have a direct impact on student outcomes.

Through this roundtable discussion, we will share how our Teacher Evaluation Leadership Team (TELT), responsible for the creation of our teacher evaluation tool, revamped our educator evaluation process with intentional changes to teacher observations, curriculum design, and professional learning. We are seeking constructive feedback to improve our evaluative rubric, specifically as it relates to measuring teacher quality and equitable teaching practices.