Equity in Education: A Journey, Not a Destination

Sawsan Jaber, Ph.D., NBCT, is a global educator, presenter, equity strategist, curriculum designer and keynote speaker of 20+ years. She has held a variety of education leadership positions in the U.S. and abroad. She’s currently a high school English teacher and a district equity leader at East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Illinois. Jaber founded Education Unfiltered Consulting and works with schools nationally and internationally. She completed her doctorate in curriculum and instruction, with a focus on inclusion and belonging for students from marginalized communities. She was awarded the Cook County Teacher of the year in 2023, the Illinois Digital Educators Alliance (IDEA) Teacher of the Year in 2022, and has been nominated as the 2023 Illinois Teacher of the Year and for the ISTE 20 to Watch Award for 2023. She’s a member of the board of directors for the Our Voice Alliance (OVA), which amplifies the voices of teachers of color to create more equity for students of color. She’s also one of the founders of the Arab American Education Network (AAEN) and is an ISTE Community Leader. Jaber is a National Board Certified Teacher and focuses much of her research on engaging students in equity work and advocating for Arab and Muslim students. Among other projects, she is currently working on national and international equity-centered projects with Google and the National Board Association. Jaber is a Pulitzer Teacher fellow and a WAMS fellow. She has been featured at several conferences and on many podcasts, and has written for a host of blogs, journals and newsletters with the goal of helping educators empower students to work toward global equity and justice. Jaber has published several scholarly works and is the co-author of Navigating Precarity in Educational Contexts: Reflection, Pedagogy, and Activism for Change. She’s passionate about her work as an activist scholar and co-conspirator for justice alongside her students. Jaber says her perspective as the daughter of refugees from Deir Yasin, Palestine, influences her work.

Sophia Mendoza is an innovative systems-level collaborator with 25+ years of experience as an education leader in the Los Angeles Unified School District and a member of the ISTE Board of Directors. As the director of LAUSD’s Instructional Technology Initiative, she leads computer science education and digital citizenship implementation. Mendoza cultivates leaders and learners for the digital world, recognized as the Latina Technology Champion, CUE Administrator of the Year, and for Best Overall Implementation of Technology by Tech & Learning. She is also the Association of California School Administrators Region 16 Technology Administrator, expanding instructional technology opportunities for all students.

Ken Shelton has been an educator for over 20 years, many of which were spent teaching technology to middle school students. He has worked extensively at the policy level with a number of state departments of education, ministries of education and nonprofits, and was appointed to an Education Technology Task Force formed by a previous California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Shelton regularly gives keynote presentations and consults and leads workshops on educational technology, equity and inclusion, anti-racism, multimedia literacy, cultural intelligence, visual storytelling and instructional design. He’s an Apple Distinguished Educator, a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and a Google Certified Innovator. In 2018, he earned ISTE’s Digital Equity PLN Excellence Award. He was also named an influencer to follow by EdTech Magazine. Shelton holds a master’s degree in education with specialties in edtech and new media design and production.