In 2026, ACSA’s annual Equity Institute returns with a unique theme — “Equity For Real: Anchored in Integrity When the Tide Shifts” — to reflect the changing political environment facing leaders in school equity.

Teams of principals, teachers, parent leaders, counselors and more will gather March 25-27 in Anaheim to reflect on their equity work and move forward with intention. The event will offer practical tools and a trusted community to help attendees advance the work in real, sustainable ways.

Equity Institute also features the following keynote speakers who will discuss their educational experiences grounded in practice and research:

Parvin Ahmadi, former ACSA president who advanced statewide equity advocacy through community action and policy leadership. The former superintendent of Castro Valley Unified School District, Ahmadi made it a priority to ensure safety and belonging for marginalized students at her district;

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, founder of the Racial Literacy Project and an award-winning scholar, poet and leader in antiracist education.

Equity Institute Planning Committee Chair Dr. Simone Charles said equity is always a work in progress.

“Recently, equity has been treated as a final destination, an off-ramp or (an) escape room where one can simply plug in a code, solve a puzzle, say the magic word and ‘presto,’ all is solved,” Charles wrote in an email. “Equity work is not that simple, nor that easy, and it’s never completed.”

Charles, the principal of Walt Whitman Continuation High School in Los Angeles Unified School District, added that she hopes attendees build connections with other equity leaders at the conference.

“By this, I mean connecting with other equity leaders to develop sustainable relationships that will in turn sustain the ‘work,’” she wrote. “I mentioned earlier that this work is not easy and as such cannot be done alone. Therefore, connecting with others throughout the Equity Institute (and) developing sustainable connections will help us to sustain and uplift one another and continue the lessons learned at Equity Institute together.”