the Ketch Scarlet Queen, Philip Carney master. Position 14 degrees 20 minutes south, 170 degrees 40 minutes west. Sky fair wind brisk remarks. Departed pango pango island of Tupwila after involvement in murder. Reason for involvement, Hattie McCormick and the patient stowaway. It was a fair trip in a fast one down across the line from Christmas Island until we raised the atolls of the northern cooks. We touched there at Penrin where we took on a cargo of fresh fruit for the American Naval base at pango pango. The wind deserted us after we cleared the harbor and the Scarlet Queen rolled sluggishly through glassy water. The mats and rigging carried all the canvas we could send aloft but it hung there, barely disturbed by the faint humid breeze. The slow progress got to the crew too with the oppressive heat that pulled at their nerves, shortened their tempers. Even the gulls circling overhead were belly aching. I was sweating out my trick at the wheel. We were a day off the eastern tip of Tupwila when the monotony aboard the Scarlet Queen suddenly came to an end. Hey Skipper, look at the passenger I dug out at a ball peak.  He sneaked on at Penrin, he says. I found him in the rope locker when I went in after some lying. Who are you? George Craven. You came aboard at Penrin? That's right. Such a thing is working in your passage instead of stealing it. I had to be sure. Yeah, sure that nobody saw you leave. Where are you bound? Same place you are, Pango Pango. That's why I picked your ship. Where are you getting away from? Nobody. I'm going to start the new year right. There are three people on Pango Pango I'm going to kill. And so mutual continues the voyage of the Scarlet Queen written by Gildowd and Bob Tolman and starring Elliot Lewis. Scarlet Queen proudest ship to plow the seas, bound for uncharted adventure, every week complete entry in the log, and every week a league further in the voyage of the Scarlet Queen. Please give her a gun. Go on into the cabin Craven. Sure. That way. All right, through here. Sit down. I don't know what you're going to start in on, but you can save your breath, Captain. Nobody's going to keep me from getting in a dame in a flunkies. Oh.  She runs a joint in Pango Pango called the McCormick House. You or nobody else is going to stop her. Sure, that's all fine, but look, you're a stowaway. This is an American ship going into an American port. I want to stay out of trouble. To do that, I turn you over to the naval officials when we dock. That's all right. I expected it. I'm going to get this into my log. When did you come aboard it, Peter? Your last day there. Boarded December. Wouldn't have found me if that wind hadn't dropped in that blast that heat hadn't driven me out of that hole for some air. Yeah, yeah. Where are you from? I said where are you from? Just put down a log. I don't feel like answering no more questions, Captain. You like to make it tough for yourself, don't you? You don't make friends very fast. I ain't had much practice. I'll talk to the Navy. All right, Craven. We'll be in tomorrow. In the meantime, you'll stay on the after deck during the day where we can see you. And you'll spend tonight under guard and locked in the cabin through that passageway. You don't have to worry. It's taken me 11 years to get this close. I'd be nuts to waste him by causing you any trouble now. By noon the next day, we'd made Pango Pango Harbor. Craven was a model prisoner as far as he went with us. And it wasn't far enough. When I got to his cabin, it wasn't empty. But instead of Craven, the man inside was my crewman who'd been on guard. Nielsen! Nielsen! He'd been slugged and he was bound and gagged. I didn't know where Craven had gotten the tools of the education, but the lock on the door had been neatly jimmied. Outside of the lump on Nielsen's head, the only thing he'd left for us to remember him by was his murder threat. And now he was ashore and free to carry it out. 20 minutes after I'd put Gallagher in charge of the Queen, I'd located the McCormick House. It was a typical island building, two-story frame with a corrugated tin roof. Most of the ground floor was taken up by the bar room. The usual group of island customers were pretending to enjoy what was coming out of the ancient play of piano in the corner. The floor had the face of the bartender smiled with a half-hearted welcome as I walked up to him. Happy new year, ma'am. How are you? Well, what do you have? Nothing right now. I'm looking for Hattie McCormick. Is she here? Oh, you'll never find her anyplace else. And did you bring something for her? Yeah, some bad news. Oh, what is it? I'm Lester Nord. We are partners here, so anything for her is for me, too. Well, maybe you'd be interested then. Do you know George Craven? Oh, what about him? He's here in town.  He stowed away on my ship from Penrin in the Northern Cooks. We found him yesterday. I had him locked in the cabin, but he jimmied his way out after we got into the harbor. He must have slipped over the side. Hey, what did this fellow look like? Big guy, black-haired, bushy eyebrows. Hattie, come out front quick. She'll be out. But Dora at the back of the room opened, and Hattie McCormick took up the full width of the opening as she came through it. She might have been the Sadie Thompson type when she was younger. There were some traces of past attractiveness shining through the weight the years that loaded her with, but it was easy to see that Hattie hadn't given up the fight. Her plump hands and fat wrists were crusted with costume jewelry. Her hair was just off platinum. Her face was brilliant with makeup. Her eyelashes were beaded like a burlesque queen, but they barely did justice to the sparkle behind them. Well, who is this Lester? You called me from chapter three of a mad love story, so I do hope he's something special. I think he says Craven's here in town. George Craven? That's impossible. I described him all right. He says he stowed away on his ship to get here. Oh, well, if he said so, that's enough for me. Honey, did anyone ever tell you that most women would believe anything that came from that appealing face you wear? Well, your approach is a little startling, Hattie, if you know what I mean. Honesty and impulsiveness. I've used them all my life since leaving the mountains of Nebraska. What's your name, honey? Phil Charny. That's nice. Oh, let's go back to my room, shall we? I want to hear more about this and get away from the dinner of that infernal piano. Honey, maybe I'd better close up. I can't stay. Lester, of course you won't. To help me, I don't know why I bother with you. To get more like an old woman every day. Oh, come on, honey. We'll have a couple of shots back in the room. Hattie, you old rascal, you sound as though you read that line before. Ha-ha, plenty, honey. It's my favorite. The bottle's in the cabinet, honey. Bring it over, will you? I'll just sit out. All right, honey. Oh, God, great. Now he's back, huh? Oh, if one day one would pass without a man causing me trouble.  Yes, I guess I have. Bless them all. Oh, I've loved a lot of men in my 35 years. Oh, but tell me, honey, what did George Craven have to say? You won't like it. Huh? He said he was on his way here to kill three people.  He made that statement to you?  Oh, but it doesn't have to ruin our drink. Here, let's get this down. All right. You work for money, Phil? That sounds like the buildup to an offer. You're right, honey. I need help. Oh, I'm not exactly afraid of George Craven, but I'm not as fast on my pins as I used to be. I'd like to hire you to be my bodyguard. That could be quite a chore, honey. Tell me, why is Craven gunning for you? Oh, he used to be married to my niece. He's no good, Phil. I took her away from him with Lester's help. Craven tried to get her back with a gun. We had him sent up for 10 years hunting the salt charge. Now he's out of stir and out to pay us back for the rap, I suppose. Why don't you go to the Navy, honey? They'll give you a protection. Oh, no, no, no, not the Navy. I'm in enough hot water with them and the missionaries as it is. They'll send me back to the States if anything else happens. I need somebody like you around, Phil. Well, I don't know, Hattie. I'd like to help you out, but I've got shipwork to do. We've got a cargo to load. Hattie, Lester just told me that Craven... Who's this? Phil, this is my niece Viola. Dearie, this is Captain Carney, the man who brought Craven to us. What are we going to do, Hattie? He'll kill me. He'll kill me, Captain. Well, that's no news to me, but I didn't invite him to Pangopango. He stowed away. Phil, it's worth $200 if you'll just stand by us. We really need your help. Now look at this poor child. She's terrified. Lester's gone all to peace and you're the only one we have. After all, Captain, he came on your ship. All right. You'll let him escape. Hattie. Now the least you can do is... Hattie, all right. We're going to lay over for a few days until we get a cargo. I'll do what I can for you. Oh, Phil, honey, that's my boy. I knew I didn't make a mistake in that honest Irish face. Poor us another day. It didn't take much selling to get Lester to close the McCormick House to customers. By nightfall, we had every door and window in the place locked and after Hattie had heard of the others of their rooms and she'd gone to hers, I slipped outside to stand my watch. I found a spot just outside the door from which I could cover the approach from town. There was a faintly perfumed breeze floating through the grove of Nipah palms that surrounded the place. A half moon shot rays of light down between the trunks. I'd been there maybe 15 minutes when I heard the door behind me crack open and the niece Viola slipped out. She was wrapped in something sheer that matched the moonlight. Her eyes were wide with fright and her fingers picked nervously at her mouth. Viola! Oh, Phil, I wanted to find you. What are you doing wandering around? I couldn't stand it any longer. Can I stay with you for a little while? Yeah, sure, I guess. Thanks, Phil. Do you think he'll come, Phil? You know him better than I do, don't you? I know him better than anybody does. Well, you think he'll come? I know he will. If he comes to me first, oh, I think I'd go back to him if that's what he wanted. Maybe you should have thought of that 11 years ago. You can build up a pretty good hate during a 10-year stretch. I know you can't, Phil. I don't think I would have done to him alone, but I was just a kid. Hattie and Lester. Oh, I don't know Phil. Yeah, you know. Well, relax, Viola. Phil, have you seen anything? With all these shadows, you might have slipped past. Nobody slipped past. You're all right. I guess I am. Now that you're here, Phil... Look, I was thinking, maybe instead of sitting here watching you get the jitters, I ought to go find him, turn him over to the authorities. Really, I can't do anything. He stowed away on my ship. Slugged my crewman. Don't leave. I do feel better if you're here. Don't leave. Did you see that? Over there on the other side of the house? I'm sure, Phil. Oh, Phil, I'm so frightened. I think it's your imagination, but if it'll make you feel any better, I'll take a look. Don't leave me here alone. Wait for me, Phil. We found nothing in the shadows. Better see if the house is all right. Phil, I'm so frightened. We walked slowly around the house. I checked the windows. Everything was secure on three sides. But on the fourth, we stopped. The job wasn't as neat as the one on my cabin door, but it was just as effective. The window was raised, and I looked in on a ground floor hallway. I ran my fingers across the bottom of the window and felt the torn grooves were a bar had been pushed in and forced upward to break the lock. Hattie's room was at the end of the hall, and I headed for that first. Hattie! The first sound of life was the creak of bed springs under her weight. Then the lights went on. Phil, what in heaven's name is the matter? Somebody forced the window at the end of the hall. Where's Lester? Up here's his room, I think. We'd like to put on some slippers and get something around me. I'll go up with you. I'll meet you up there. Phil, don't leave me alone. Is that maniac in the house? By the time I got to Lester's room, I figured I'd done her a favor by leaving her behind. The door was closed but unlocked, and he lay with his feet taught it sprawled on his face. It looked to me like the weapon that had caved in the back of his head was the same bar that had been used on the window. It lay on the floor beside him. I didn't even bother to check his pulse. I just left him. Is he all right, Phil? Phil! I'm not doing much of a job for you, Hattie. He's dead. Oh, no, Phil. Oh! He was a good man, Phil. Lester was a real good man. I'm sorry, Hattie. Would you be all right? We were together for a long time. Sure, honey. I'll be all right. I think I saw Graven. He was running away. What? What are you going to do? I'm going after him. I think it's about time, don't you? Oh, gee. Honey, don't do that. Why not? I'd rather you stay here. I hired you as a bodyguard, and I need you. Look, my oldest is Caracal. And now it's poor Lester. Oh, I need you more than ever. Don't go. You got a gun, haven't you? Yes. Well, get it in your hand and keep it there. Phil, you don't even know where he is. He can't be far. Rest easy, Hattie. I'll be back. Not easy, honey. But I'll do the best I can. By the time I got outside, there was nobody in sight. The first place I checked was the small waterfront hotel. Not only was George Graven registered under his own name, the desk clerk told me he was in. I didn't bother to knock when I got to his door. All right, Graven, just stay in that chair. Connie, who's chasing you? Stow it and settle down. You and I are going to have a talk about a murder. Oh, we are? What murder should we start with? I told you, stow it. Another guy who started all this murder talk, remember? Yeah, I think I do. But you're wasting your time, Connie. I got more alibis and teeth. I got one for everything you can think of. There's a way to take care of alibis and the teeth along with them. Come on, Craven. Spill. Get out of here, Connie. I don't know what you're talking about. Are you going? Look, Craven, I'll be in paid money to get the story you're going to tell me. Then we're leaving together.  Come on, Craven. Make it easy for yourself. You aren't going anywhere this way. Give away, Connie. Give away from me now. I've got plenty of time if you have. What matter with you, Connie? I watched him get up. I didn't realize what was bringing him to his feet. When I did it was too late. He was crouched in front of me, but when I heard a movement behind me, I spun. All I had time for was a glimpse of Viola Saxon's face and the piece of pipe she was swinging. It landed across the side of my head and erased everything. First thing that found its way through the pounding in my head was a question. Why Viola Saxon? I got to my feet still working on a question. But when the room settled into focus, I knew she'd never answer it. Viola Saxon was still there. She was lying next to a toppled chair. She'd been killed by the same piece of pipe she'd used on me. I started digging for some new answers. In a woman's purse I found one. A bank book on a New Zealand bank. $140,000 balance in the name of the McCormick Company. In an envelope I found an address of draw. There was another Craven's prison release form. I shoved both answers into a pocket covered by Viola's body with a blanket and left. It somehow didn't surprise me that Craven was sitting at a table in the hotel bar instead of hiding out somewhere. I didn't bother trying to talk to him this time. I sent a note into him. But I went back to report to Hattie McCormick. What in worried about you? Where have you been? Feeding my head against the biggest stone wall on the island. I'm resigning. Phil, honey, what's the trouble? Tell Hattie. Oh, I gotta tell you, I guess. Viola's in Craven's room at the hotel. The hotel? She's dead. Dead? Oh, no. Oh, I can't believe it. Oh, I told him once he met that man that something dreadful would happen. I did everything I could. I told her to be careful. You know, Phil, we had to have him arrested, wasn't it? Yeah, I know for a thought. But here's his prison release form. It says grand larceny. Oh, it's a forgery. I know him. He wouldn't stop at anything. You know what I think, honey? I think you wouldn't stop at anything. I think you and Lester and Viola would make stuff in it. That you framed him into taking the rap. I think that's what he came to pango-pango to pay you off for. Phil, honey, what in the world makes you say that? A bank book. A bank book? With a $200,000 deposit in the name of the McCormick company, the year Craven went up. And enough balance to make murder worthwhile. Where did you see it, Phil? That bank book. Viola took it to him. Why that little cheat? Excuse me, honey. Hon, I'll have a look. You could see her blanch even beneath the layers of powder when the bank book was mentioned. She waddled toward a roll-top desk in the corner. When her back was turned, I scooped up the 38 revolvers she'd left on the table. I broke it, emptied the shelves into my pocket, snapped it closed again, put it back on the table before she moved toward me. It's gone. It's gone. I've got to have that bank book. I think that bank book's caused about enough trouble. That's mean. That's mean, yes. It's dangerous letting him run around loose. Phil, you've got to go to the officials immediately and have him arrested. You mean it? You've got to help me, Phil. It may mean my life. Oh, how right you are, Hattie. All right, I'll go. But here's the story I'm going to have to tell him to begin with Craven didn't kill Lester Nord. Phil, how do you talk him? Lester was killed from behind. Like somebody must have trusted. I don't think he would have turned his back on Craven. You want more, Hattie? Go ahead, Phil. Then Viola must have done it. You know, honey, I think you're half right, but Viola must have lost confidence in you, Hattie. After you two knocked off Lester, she followed me to Craven's room and laid a pipe across my head to keep me from turning him in. I feel, honey, that's the most. All right, Craven, come on in. You're double-crossing me, Phil. You're double-crossing me. But you won't get away with it. Her move for the gun on the table is the fastest one I've seen her make. She held it at her generous waist and backed into the middle of the room as Craven came in. Hello, Hattie. I haven't changed a bit. Last time I saw you, you were holding the gun on me.  Things have changed. Haven't they, Hattie? Don't come any closer. Either one of you. You had a good idea about the murders, Hattie. A man with a revenge motive who even made a threat. You were always too greedy, Hattie. You should have been happy with Lester gone and just a two-way split.  As you are, dear, there can still be a two-way split. You and me... Oh, no. Vi tried it. When I left her in the room, I told her the same thing I'm going to tell you. I waited 11 years for this payoff. Money won't do it. You're taking care of the other two for me. Now I want you. That sounds like about it, Hattie. I'm only sorry for you, Phil. Thanks. I had a soft spot in my heart for you, too. All right, this is gone far enough. I'll take the gun, Hattie. No, no, Phil. Don't try it. You'll go with Craven if you do. I want you. You did this to me. You did it. Stop Craven. Okay, Hattie. It's all over. The authorities will get one of them anyway. Okay, there you are, Connie. I've waited 11 years. There's the last of the payoff. They're all taken care of. What are you bragging about?  That's what you came here for, wasn't it? I came here because I knew those three were sitting on a keg of dynamite from that frame they slipped on me. I knew just showing my face it. Blow it. Yeah? Well, you just stay here and gloat over it for a while. I'll go round up a naval shore patrol. Don't wait to say goodbye to Hattie McCormick when they loaded her aboard a ship for the States. We'd picked up a cargo of Cobra bound for the market in New Guinea. And the day before her departure, we cleared Pangopango Harbor and stood out into a sea ruffled by the Southeast Prays. Stand by to make... We were passing a sleek destroyer when Gallagher balled his orders. And the crewmen driven by the pride that's found in those who ship on the sail instead of steam snapped to their stations in front of the audience gathered on the ship. The audience gathered on the destroyer's deck. With force, please make sail! The mainsail climbed smoothly into place under the pull of eager arms. The jib went up, then the mizzen, and the scarlet queen as though she too felt superior to the steel machine offer. Starved, took the push of the wind gracefully, bowed her tall mask before it, and seemed to dance through the white cap to speckle the water ahead. We gave that destroyer crew quite a show, didn't we? You better mind the show, Gallagher. What I want to know is if you check the ship for stowaway. Oh, Skipper, I'm the guy that found him. Remember? I didn't let him aboard. But there ought to be a New Year's resolution in this, Red. You mean maybe we can work out something like a rat guard to keep stowaways off? No, it goes deeper than that. Oh, you mean start teaching the kids in kindergarten that if you want to go to sea, you'd either pay for it or work for it? Oh, no, you got the wrong slab, Red. Teach them that if they got an urge for grand larceny to stowaway before they do it, set them out to it. Well, the guy didn't do so bad at that, Skipper. $140,000 bank account. Which he may have to give back. Yeah, well, in a private business in Pangalpango. And with the memories he's got, he can have it. So what's the New Year's resolution, Skipper? Well, I'll slip my mind, Red. Ah, but what's the difference? What happened to the resolutions you made last year? Oh, I wish you hadn't brought that up, Skipper. I made a terrible mistake. I swore off this kind of life. Yeah, I was going to settle down in a good, solid, respectable job in Nebraska. Well, like you say, what happened to resolution? Here, Skipper, to the queen of the Scarlet Queen. After you, mate. After you. Log entry, the catch Scarlet Queen. 5.30 p.m. Wind, fresh to moderate. Sea cresting, mainsail and mizzen reefed. Chip secured the night. Signed Philip Carney. Master. Mute will invite you to sail into further adventure on the voyage of the Scarlet Queen next week at the same time. The voyage of the Scarlet Queen stars Elliot Lewis as Phil Carney with Ed Max as Gelliger. And tonight featured Verna Felton as Hattie, Jack Cushion played Craven, and Lillian Bayef was Viola. Music scored and conducted by Richard O'Roth. The voyage of the Scarlet Queen has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.


Hi you guys, she was saying that I'm back.  So I have a question. I'm gonna ask the question. I've already asked it on Facebook. I just wanna see what some of you guys will answer.  It's kind of hard for them to stay in a relationship with a woman and some of the women don't really accept the bisexual thing and see him more as a woman than a male or someone that they would marry. So what do you guys think about men who are bisexual but want a family, a wife and to have kids? But on the side still want to see men and things like that. What do you guys think about that? Do you think that's right? Do you think it's wrong?  Do you think that marriage can be an open marriage and still be successful with a bisexual partner? There are lots of ways that people have relationships in the world, okay? My ex-boss, I had a boss from a long, long time ago and he was bisexual, his wife was bisexual, they were married and they owned a business together and it seemed to work for them, they had a daughter. So I don't know, I can't judge anybody's situation but if you're a bisexual male or you're trying to get married and have kids and still want something on the side, you're gonna have to find someone very understanding to accept you. Not all women are automatically going to accept that because first of all, women are jealous.  So that's gonna be hard to kind of figure out as well. And also will she have permission to see whoever she wants on the side as well? Is that part of the deal? So you're gonna have to discuss all these things, okay? Personally, I could not be in an open relationship, straight, gay, bi or whatever, I just, I couldn't do it because there's lots of dangers, risks, chances, stalker instances, just all kind of things. I wouldn't wanna do that but I know a lot of people, you know, they try to accommodate other people and they're more open-minded and willing when it comes to a relationship. Me, y'all know I like it old fashioned, old school. Man pays for everything, man is the provider. He comes home from work, you know, does write, be a good father and all that stuff.  Don't want any alternative man. I don't want him asking me for half the rent. I don't want him looking at other men's butts. I don't want none of that. I don't want him cheating on me. I don't want him asking for an open marriage, okay? So I'm very traditional in that aspect but a lot of people will allow certain things and that's fine. As long as the relationship works for you and you're benefiting from it, I don't see a problem with it. So chime off in the comments. What do you think about the situation? Could you date a bisexual man? Would you take him seriously if you were dating him or would you feel like he was just another girlfriend or someone to talk to? Or would you feel like you could never trust him or would you feel afraid to sleep with him or would you be imagining him with another man while you're being intimate? What, tell me what's on your mind. I'm pretty sure they're gonna be watching this video and reading the comments so you can kind of talk directly to that person. It's a bisexual male. Having issues with women taking him seriously. Let him know what you guys think and let me know what you guys think. Would you do it? Have you done it? Do you know someone who has done it? What was the results? Did it work out? How long does the relationship last? Are these people still together? Give you all the good details, okay? So I'm gonna see y'all on the next video. Please, please comment so we can get some feedback, all right? I'll see you later. Bye.


Good morning or afternoon, depending on where you are, I'd like to welcome you to this one hour webinar hosted by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Urban League. Again, my name is Martens Rock. I'm a policy and outreach advisor at the Learning Policy Institute, and I'll be moderating today's webinar. I want to let the audience know that this webinar is open to the public and is being recorded. The recording will be emailed to you in a few days and available at the link just shared in the chat. We'd also like to announce that we've tentatively scheduled our next webinar in this series, Around Teacher Shortages, for October 17th at 3pm Eastern Time. Please sign up for our mailing list to receive a notification or check our website's upcoming events page in a few weeks. As for today, we'd like to talk more about equity opportunities within ESSA and how we're engaging our local partners in ensuring equity is real for our students. Today, we'll begin with a presentation by Suzy Feliz, Vice President and Vice President for Policy and Legislative Affairs at the National Urban League Washington Bureau, who will provide some framing around ESSA requirements and opportunities, as well as the role of the National Urban League and civil rights groups are playing. We'll then hear from Jessica Kardeshan, Director of Federal Policy and the Director of the Washington D.C. Office, and Steven Castillo, Policy Advisor, both at the Learning Policy Institute, who will present a recent report on how districts and schools can take advantage of high leverage equity measures in the state accountability systems to close gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes. While Cater Williams, Deputy Director for the Partners for Each and Every Child, will speak to how they've meaningfully engaged stakeholders in gap closing and improvement. And, to Nicholas, President and CEO of the Knoxville Area Urban League, will discuss the development of an equity playbook geared to ensuring equitable outcomes for all our students. And finally, we'll have some time to respond to questions we've received from our audience. We encourage you to submit your questions throughout the presentation in the chat box at the lower right hand of your screen. Please make sure all participants are selected from the drop-down menu to ensure we can see your questions. And without further ado, we'll go ahead and hear from Suzy Feliz, Vice President of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the National Urban League. Suzy, the floor is all yours. Thanks, Martin. Hi, everyone. I am going to take the next few moments to provide a brief refresher on the requirements in ESSA and the levers that provide opportunities for states to advance equity during implementation. And then I'll close by sharing some of what the National Urban League has been doing to advance equity and excellence in education. So, since 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has been the federal civil rights law in education. The law was designed to ensure a federal guarantee to a quality education regardless of race, income, religion, or zip code. And during the years leading up to the passage of ESSA, the National Urban League and several partners on this call were part of a diverse coalition of roughly 46 civil rights and education equity organizations that fought hard to ensure educational and civil rights protections for vulnerable children were prioritized in the reauthorized ESEA. While ESSA does maintain the civil rights legacy of this federal law by providing tools to advance education equity for historically underserved students, we're concerned that the law did roll back federal oversight authority and instead gave some of that authority back to states, which means states are now responsible for providing and protecting education opportunities for historically disadvantaged children. And since history has shown that states have not been good stewards of civil rights, we must remain vigilant and holding them along with school districts accountable for upholding the spirit and letter of the law. So, since the bill was signed into law in December of 2015, the National Urban League and several of our partners have worked hard to engage states as critical friends and partners at every level of implementation. So, what does the law require? The law requires, first of all, that states create a robust and meaningful accountability system to hold schools accountable for the progress of all students. As part of their accountability plan, states will set long term goals, measure progress towards those goals, identify schools not meeting the goals, and create plans to improve schools that are not serving all students. These goals have to be set for all students, as well as students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, English learners and low income students. And after setting the goals, each state must rate their schools based on how they perform on the goals they set and the other measures in the school rating system for all students and for each group of students. And then finally, the state requires the identification of schools for support and improvement. And a new requirement, which is the in-depth reporting of student performance on assessments, graduation rates, and school climate to the public and parents by all students and individual groups of students. And that data must be understandable, easily accessible, and timely and provided in a variety of languages and formats. So what are some of the opportunities to advance equity through ESSA? We've identified a few. I'm just going to go through a few with you today. Resource equity is one opportunity. So ESSA creates an opportunity for states and districts to flood resources, financial and otherwise, into the spaces that need them the most. The law requires that states identify three categories of support for support and improvement, including comprehensive support and improvement schools, which are those in the lowest 5% of title one schools in the state and all high schools with graduation rates below 67%. Targeted support and improvement schools, those schools that are consistently underperforming as defined by the state. And then additional targeted support and improvement schools where one or more groups of students is performing so low that they would be identified as a comprehensive support and improvement school if they were their own schools. So these schools identified for improvement must write a school improvement plan in collaboration with local and community stakeholders, which identifies and addresses resource inequities at the local level. And these resource inequities can include disparities in district level funding and budgeting, teacher quality, safe and healthy school facilities, access to advanced courses and access to technology and the internet. And as I mentioned under our requirements section for the first time, states are required now to report to the Department of Education and publish on these state and district report cards. They're per people expenditures and access to advanced courses. The law is also innovative in that it requires a new level of stakeholder engagement in the development of state plans. So it requires in particular meaningful consultation with variety of stakeholders, including parents, families and communities in the development of state plans, title one plans, school improvement plans, report cards and other major decisions during implementation. So this provides opportunities for advocates to do several things. We can request a school wide or district wide meeting to discuss how report cards are being developed. We can request meetings to discuss how district school improvement plan and processes are going to take place and to inform those processes. We can also ask our school district and schools how federal, state and local funds are being distributed. And if they're inequitable, we can advocate for a way to student funding system, just as an example. So stakeholder engagement will enable us to really be able to influence the strategy being used to ensure that all children have a high quality education. And then there's the high quality fifth indicator, which is the indicator for school quality and success. So this provides an opportunity for states to include within their accountability system measure that measures academic in addition to academic achievement, graduation rates and English language proficiency, a measure that can drive equity by measuring chronic absenteeism, suspension rates, college and career readiness and school climate, just to name a few of the types of school quality and success indicators that we believe can provide an opportunity to advance equity. So what is the National Urban League up to these days? We've been engaged in various efforts to advance equity and education. Our equity and excellence project is one that we launched in 2010 and is where we explicitly support local, state and national advocacy engagement and education reform efforts throughout the entire Urban League Affiliate Movement and in collaboration with local, state and national partners. So the EEP project began with eight Urban League affiliates in two states, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. And now the portfolio includes 27 Urban League affiliates funded across 21 states, including our very own Knoxville Urban League and we're glad Phyllis Nichols is on today's webinar with us. These reform efforts are focused around seven key areas that we have listed here that are highly and tightly related to the historic mission of the National Urban League. And we really believe improvements in any one of these seven areas would help some students across the entire education spectrum. However, we can we can help many more students by intentionally and meaningfully combining reform approaches to systematically address the complex problems that students, parents and communities continue to face. We also launched in January of this year, the No Ceilings on Success Campaign in partnership with TV One, which is the nation's largest black owned multimedia company. And with the No Ceilings on Success Campaign, we're working the whole states accountable to their plans for achieving educational equity under ESSA. The No Ceilings on Success title is derived from the concept of breaking glass ceilings that prevent individuals from reaching their highest potential. And this work really builds on the work of the Urban League's Excellence in Equity Project by equipping parents, teachers, students and communities with the knowledge to remove the barriers that prevent every student from achieving academic excellence. And then finally our team is in the process of reviewing state plans with an equity lens according to those seven focus areas and a few others to identify best practices nationally and opportunities that were taken and perhaps those that were missed in this first set of state plans. And we're really hoping that our analysis will help us not just provide some insight into how states are using the levers, the equity levers and the law to advance opportunities for disadvantaged students, but to also help us set the agenda for further equity advancements through implementation and perhaps even the next round of reauthorization. So I'll stop there and hand it back over to Martin. Thank you. Well now, thank you for providing that context. It was really helpful, particularly as we're heading into hearing from Steven and Jessica, who will talk a little bit more about the paper and tools that they have created to assist local stakeholders. Steven and Jessica, I'll hand it over to you now. Great. Thank you. And thank you, Susie. And as Susie mentioned under ESSA, there's likely to be a lot of information available for educators, parents, community members and advocates at the local level to inform school improvement plans. So now the hard work of ESSA implementation begins and it's really important that those at the local level have the information they need to make the best decisions. So Steven and I are going to share some ideas on how you can use the information that is available to you at the local level to ensure that you're selecting the right school improvement efforts that are evidence-based and addressing underlying issues that might lead to low performance on a particular indicator. So all states to varying degrees are using multiple measures in their accountability and improvement systems and depending on the extent to which they incorporate them, they can provide a more comprehensive and nuanced set of data that is meaningfully connected to student success and can, when it's provided alongside well-chosen resources, as Susie mentioned, help drive continuous improvement across all schools. To this end, LPI looked at five indicators that reflect a student's opportunity to learn and that we think can provide information that's critical to school improvement efforts. These include student suspension rates, different measures of school climate, chronic absenteeism rates, extended year graduation rates, and indicators of college and career readiness. States are using indicators or measures of these indicators for different purposes in their system. Some are using them for accountability purposes, which we mean they're part of, they're one of the factors that determine whether a school is identified for comprehensive or targeted support. Others are using the information to inform school improvement efforts, so have nothing to do with whether the school is identified or not. And others are providing additional resources or technical assistance related to these measures. So we're seeing a variation across states in terms of how they're using them. We'll go through each of these five indicators. So we'll start with student suspension rates and we know that students who are suspended from school become further disengaged and are less likely to graduate. We also know that research shows that students of color and students with disabilities are disproportionately suspended compared to their peers and most often for nonviolent behaviors and more subjective offenses. We also know that exclusionary disciplinary practices are ineffective according to the research, therefore reducing their use is an important part of school improvement efforts. All states under ESSA are required to report on rates of in-school and out-of-school suspension, so this information will be available at the local and school level. In addition, nine states are including this measure in their accountability system to identify schools. At the local level, there are a number of questions that you can ask your school or district to ensure that this information is being used effectively to drive continuous school improvement. As previously mentioned, these slides will be available at the end of the webinar, so we won't go through every bullet on them and they're also included in our LPI report, which we will provide links to. But for example, just highlight one of them is that asking whether your state or district is tracking multiple suspensions, so are certain students getting one or more suspensions? What are the average length of those suspensions and for what reason are those students suspended? And do those answers vary depending on student subgroup? That will give you at the local level a more accurate picture of how students are experiencing suspensions and the type of intervention or remedy that you need. So for example, a school that has a small number of classrooms that have a high number of student suspensions, the intervention will be very different than a school where it's a school-wide issue versus a classroom level issue. It's also important to ask whether your school or district in response to poor performance on this indicator is going to implement an evidence-based strategy or a set of strategies like those included here, such as training on implicit bias for educators and the removal of zero talent policies to address these issues. One thing to also note as we look at these indicators, not only can they reveal schools that are struggling in terms of performing well on them, but it can also identify schools that have been able to close gaps or improve performance and have those schools serve as models. We also will provide a number of evidence-based resources that we think are of high value at the local level that can help inform the interventions and strategies. And so here's a number of them that we think might be of interest. And I will turn it over now to Steven to talk about school climate. And we also know that creating a positive school climate is critical to student and educator well-being and success. States are approaching assessing school climate in different ways. For example, eight states use student surveys to measure school climate in their accountability and improvement systems. Six of these states are also using data from these surveys to inform their school improvement efforts. Some additional states are providing technical assistance that includes evidence-based strategies for improving school climate. In addition, all states are required to report on rates of in-school and out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, school-related arrests, referrals to law enforcement, and incidences of school violence, including bullying and harassment. This data will be available at the local level to help assess school climate. There are a number of questions that should be asked about state and district efforts to measure and improve school climate. For example, how does the district or school plan to use professional development funding under Title II, school improvement funding under Title I, and student support and academic enrichment funding under Title IV of ESSA to align and support these efforts? At the state level, one area of support is how districts and schools can effectively analyze and respond to school climate data. At the local level, you can drive school improvement by partnering with community-based organizations and sharing best practices. While surveys can reveal schools that are struggling, they can also identify schools where things are working well to model after. As schools and communities work to identify the appropriate intervention or strategy, these are resources which could be considered. Next, we looked at chronic absenteeism, because we know an average 15% of students are chronically absent, and these students are less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school. All states are required to report rates of chronic absenteeism, and 37 states are using this measure for accountability or improvement purposes. To ensure that this information is accurate and effectively used at the local level, it is important to ask whether your state has a uniform definition that allows for easier data comparison and analysis, including having a consistent definition of partial day absence and how it counts towards overall attendance. Another question to ask is how your state or district uses chronic absenteeism data to find and address patterns of student absences. At the local level, you can use chronic absenteeism information to drive school improvement by partnering with community-based organizations to support students and using professional development to provide teachers with strategies that support attendance. As schools and communities work to identify the appropriate intervention or strategies, these are resources on chronic absenteeism that could be considered. Another important piece of information is the extended year graduation rate, which when recognized can provide an incentive for schools to keep youth with challenges that prevent them from graduating in four years. 35 states at the District of Columbia are using this measure in their accountability and improvement systems. With extended year graduation rates, the work to keep students on track must begin well before students enter high school. It is important to ask how your state or district is supporting and measuring students making the transition from eighth to ninth grade so that these students aren't lost within the system. Also, make sure your state is compliant with ESSA requirements in the ways listed here to ensure the accuracy of that information. There are also a number of strategies to support students on their road to graduation, including creating advisory systems and small learning communities to increase a student's sense of belonging and the support provided to that student. As schools and communities work to identify the appropriate intervention or strategy, here are resources that can be referenced to implement in the extended year graduation rate, and I'll pass it back to Jessica. Great. Thank you, Steven. And finally, states are including a number of measures to increase student access to educational opportunities that prepare them for college and career. And if well done, these opportunities, these efforts can increase student opportunities. However, if not, they can perpetuate student tracking and narrow student options. 39 states in the District of Columbia are using additional college and career ready measures in their accountability and improvement systems. This is in addition to graduation rates and student achievement. To prevent against tracking, these are questions that can be asked at the state or local level. We know that many schools have to cancel advanced courses because they don't have teachers licensed to teach those subjects. So it's important to ask what your state or local efforts are in order to attract and retain a well prepared and highly skilled educator workforce. Also, as the school and districts report student success and advanced coursework, it shouldn't just report enrolled student success, but also reflect which students aren't enrolled in those courses to see who's being left out of those opportunities. To answer these questions, the answer to these questions should reflect a commitment by the district and the state to invest in expanding course opportunities and state and local investments in teachers. And as Martens mentioned earlier, we'll be doing a follow up webinar that will really dig deep into addressing teacher shortages that will provide some more information on these types of strategies. And as schools and communities work to identify the appropriate intervention and strategies, we've identified some evidence based resources that we hope will be useful to those efforts. All of this information, including state specific information, so you can see where your state is on each of these indicators can be found on LPI's website that will be made available at the end of this webinar. And with that, we will turn it back to Martens. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Steven and Jessica for that presentation. Very helpful. Just another quick reminder to our audience to ask questions or engage in discussion. Please use the chat box in the right of your screen and select all partners from the drop down again to submit some questions if you have them. Now I'd like to introduce our next presenter, Cato Williams, Deputy Director of Partners for Each and Every Child. Cato, the floor is yours. Thanks so much, Martens. Good afternoon, everyone. We have been focused so far on this webinar on equity and ESSA, obviously. Hopefully you've been listening to that. Susie talked a bit about some of the key equity levers in the law. Jessica and Steven went a bit deeper to address the school improvement planning process and related evidence based practices that can inform local planning efforts. And I am going to attempt to kind of bring some of those ideas together but speak from a slightly different but definitely related angle that Susie actually touched on. And that's the idea of using meaningful stakeholder engagement in policy and practice as a lever to advance equity and excellence in our education system. So what does ESSA say about engagement and why does it actually matter? ESSA actually requires that each state district and school consult with an array of stakeholders on issues ranging from how to best disperse federal funds to how to support schools that serve struggling or high needs students. The specific consultation requirements actually vary across the program, but the focus on engagement across ESSA is absolutely consistent. And this gives states and districts a chance to really commit to engagement with all stakeholders in an ongoing and meaningful way. Engaging stakeholders is not just required under the law, but it really is a strong best practice to effectively improve schools. And we'll talk about best practices in a few. But the idea here is that making decisions on ED policy in an inclusive and transparent way really leads to better decisions and encourages stakeholders to contribute and become true partners in achieving the goals of their state and local communities. And it's really not brain science. Communities will support improvement strategies that they actually help to develop. So partnerships with outside stakeholders, which would include parents and philanthropy and educators and community-based organizations and others really will only serve to build local capacity to implement innovative and ambitious strategies from meeting the needs of all students. So what are some basic here in the law in terms of what it says specifically about engagement? Well, it's important to remember that the basic agreement related to engagement at the heart of ESSA is that more flexibility has been given in exchange for more explicit requirements for stakeholder engagement. So when we think about the who and we refer to stakeholder engagement kind of generally, but the law really does articulate specific requirements as to who the stakeholders must be at a minimum. For example, parents, school administrators, sometimes families, possibly business leaders in certain contexts. When we think about the what, ESSA specifically calls out the topics where engagement needs to happen, some of which you've heard already to this point. Those include consultation obviously on the development of the state ESSA plan and any subsequent amendments, but also school improvement planning and also family engagement strategies and many other areas. The law also identifies different levels of engagement. So we see consultation reference. We see meaningful consultation reference. We see partnership reference. So when we think about the when in the context of school improvement to actually receive money and support, LEAs must actually partner with parents and others to develop and implement comprehensive support and improvement plans. So we want to really think about this as a short and long term game. There are a number of short term requirements under the law that are coming up, some of which you've heard already that we should all be attentive to with regard to stakeholder engagement. For example, identifying schools for improvement and engaging in school improvement planning report cards. Susie talked a lot about data and data accessibility and reporting. There's going to be a wealth of information that was not previously available to the public disaggregated data disaggregated by subgroup in a number of areas. It's going to include this idea of per pupil funding and what funding looks like at the school level. Major major advocacy tool and then of course any necessary amendments to the state plan that could actually become an upcoming issue after the election, but we won't actually go there today. But there are also long term benefits and a real long term game in terms of how we think about this to really getting stakeholder engagement right. Our main idea as an organization here is that if you build a system that works well for the communities that have historically had the toughest time participating and face the highest barriers to their participation, then you have built a system that really works best for everyone. So I said I would go back to some of these best practices. Our organization partners for each and every child has developed a set of promising practices that we believe demonstrate meaningful engagement among broad and diverse groups of stakeholders. And that are likely to really result in ed policies that support and advance at equity and excellence. So we can kind of think of them as a framework for best practices for meaningfully engaging a range of stakeholders at the state and local level. I like to think of this as sort of the platinum standard for engagement. This is just a quick summary that I'll go through, but on the next slide, you'll see a link to our website where we've actually flushed out all five of the promising practices areas. So the first one, reaching the unreached, making sure that those folks who are most underrepresented and underserved are actually at the table and have a voice at the table. Transparency is the second one, the idea of showing your work on engagement. Sticking with it, again, this is a long game. We really need to approach this with a continuous improvement frame, making sure that the resources are allocated to really do engagement right and with fidelity. A fourth one, maximizing your resources. How often do we think that we are the only ones who can do engage in a particular effort? Here we really want to think and be thoughtful and strategic about how to leverage community resources, partners who are the trusted voices in the field who can also support engagement efforts. And then the idea of doubling down and looking at parallel processes, looking at how other government associations and organizations are engaging, making sure that you're communicating and aligning some of those efforts. This is all very, very important. So finally, resources. I mentioned earlier, we've actually developed a number of resources related to meaningful engagement for the field in an effort to help build capacity in this area. The resources for the most part tend to focus from a substantive place on that school improvement angle and space. And so the first two that I have here on this slide, meaningful local engagement under ESSA, was a project with CCSSO and a number of states and national partners. Really trying to support district and school leaders and administrators and understanding the who, what, when, why, how of engagement, especially when we think about needs assessment processes, root cause analyses, and so on and so forth. The third resource that I have listed here, Engage for Education Equity, is something that we are incredibly proud of. It was, was and is and continues to be an endeavor with the Dignity in Schools campaign and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. And this is a toolkit targeting that parent family advocate organizer audience in particular to support local engagement around local planning efforts that are happening. And so really how to for parents, families, community members with really practical resources to support and empower those groups. The Promising Practices Framework is something that I just referenced and that is just again the link to the more flushed out version of that framework that I shared with you earlier. Partners for each and every child.org backflash engagement is where you can find a wealth of additional resources related to engagement related to equity in order to advance equity and excellence in these areas, both produced by ourselves as an organization but also very importantly with our partners in the field. And I think that's it for me. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Katie. That was great. I'm sharing a lot of those helpful resources and the Promising Practices. So now we'll transition into our last presenter of today, Phyllis Nichols, who is the president and CEO of the Knoxville area, Urban League Phyllis. Good afternoon and thank you for having us. I want to thank Martins and all those who are engaged in this very powerful work. The Urban League is first and foremost the civil rights organization and ESSA is the civil rights law and so our involvement with ESSA began with writing the Tennessee law, which Tennessee likes to do things a little different. We call it Tennessee's succeeds. So equity is the threat of ESSA and we believe that if implemented with fidelity will will certainly help to eliminate some of the historic achievement gaps that we have had. So one of the things that we have worked to define equity in Tennessee is we had folks who came with evolving perspectives and I am sure that the stakeholders and those who are involved in our webinar today have seen many graphics about equality and equity. And we need to one of the things we learned in Tennessee is that there was not continuity on what we were talking about when we came together to define equity. And so we began with that definition on equality and equity and exactly where we were on that. So we went further than that because one of the things that we have found is that there's also reality with that and that as we have found that as more resources have have come within our district, those who have or getting more. And the reality is that our disadvantaged students, especially our students of color, where the whole was even getting less. So we began looking at stuff through liberation, meaning that and if you look at the graphic, not increasing boxes. But what we are working on is removing barriers, not creating an equity system, but a liberation system where there's empowerment and an opening of opportunity for all of our students. Tennessee has worked to remove some of those barriers through laws and I think that there's been many references to in school and out of school suspension and all those. And so we have in order to remove barriers. Some of those are public policy things that have been in place, but also law. So I just wanted to very quickly show how public policy has been some of the barriers that we've had to remove. Our vision in creating the Tennessee leaders for equity papers was to establish some guiding principles. And for that, we had to create a mind shift change that that would make sure that all students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to embark on a successful path. And my paper's got shifted here, sorry. And what we, what we meant by that in the, in the playbook, when we, I wanted to make sure that everybody understands all those who came together to create the equity playbook. This was designed to be shared with all of the districts in the state of Tennessee. We have 147 school districts. We had 38 educator prep program who came and are going to be using the equity playbook. Now, what this is, is a framework to assist leaders in how to monitor equity commitments in their community. And what we're, what I want to, to share with you today, and we've got the, you can download with it is that this is a tool kit that not only is for highly trained school leaders, but it's for our district leaders. It's for school boards, and it's for community allies. We all understand and support that the, that our principles, the cultural environment for the schools. But our cultural environment is also supported by the community. And we want, we want to our community and our culture to be reflected in the schools. And so what we have decided in the state of Tennessee, along with, along with our department of it is that equity, that we're going to have to have some equity shifts in culture, and that that requires some mind shift. And so the playbook actually takes people through some mind shift. And we talked about the decreasing chronic absenteeism. The playbook actually goes through one misconception and I'll give one, and we are hoping that everybody will download this, but one misconception was that at risk families value school less and therefore they don't attend school regularly. Well, actually, we know that research tells us that when low income elementary students don't attend, there's, there's lots of other reasons around it. So attended school more than 90% of the time, I think someone else has already mentioned how that affects school. But there are other reasons and we know that that it could be, we have a lot of health issues, and when community organizations are engaged with the school, then we can help to support the school. So one of the things that the Urban League has brought in other community organizations and working with the school, including business communities is that we are able to support our school. And we know that in the, in Tennessee, our definition of equity is that in the field of education, it means that every student has access to effective teachers, but they also have access to resources, experiences, and some rigor that they need to be effective. And community can help bring that. And that's the role of community organizations, organizations like the Urban League and other civil rights organizations that are available. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Martin. Great. Thank you for all that helpful on the ground context. Now, we'd like to begin our discussion and address some of the questions that we've received from the audience. So, Phyllis, actually, I want to address the first question to you. Can we talk a little bit more? I know you mentioned school boards, but we got a question that came in specifically asking how the school boards were engaged in your playbook and just the role that they play that you've found. So, this is how we engaged our school board. We had ESSA boot camp and we brought together a variety of stakeholders. We had, we had both teachers, parents, school board, other elected officials for an all day boot camp. And we did ESSA learning because it was important that we not do edu speak to folks who may not understand accountability and some of the terms of accountability. So, we had folks from all of our stakeholders group for boot camp. What we found is that our school board was very much engaged because they didn't have the opportunity or had not availed themselves about learning about ESSA law, especially when it came to how schools would be graded, how schools would be, whether it would be A to F and also the accountability measures of schools. We found that some of our teachers knew a lot more than our schools. Again, when the funding came and how funding would be going to school, a lot of our school boards lack that information. And so they appreciated attending our boot camps and we have those every summer so that it is available for school board members, teachers and other district leaders. Fantastic. Great. No, that was really helpful. So, Kata, I was wondering along the lines of, you know, stakeholder engagement. I'm wondering, you got a question from a parent advocacy group wondering the level of families, parents and community groups in the effort and equity efforts that you found in the work that you've been doing currently. Great. Thank you for that question. So there's certainly a very important role for families to play at both the state and local levels, in particular in the context of some of the areas I mentioned earlier, like identifying schools for improvement and engaging in the actual school planning process at the local levels, like looking at report cards and any necessary amendments to the state plan. In terms of getting a little bit more specific, though, we think about school improvement. Parents and families can do things like share your stories with other families and find common ground, inform the goals that are being developed at the local level, thinking about what success looks like for your child, trying to help set priority for student supports and programs, especially using some of those excellent evidence-based best practices that Jessica and Stephen shared earlier, giving feedback to your school, volunteering. There are a wealth of things that can be done on that front. When we think about report cards and data reporting and the opportunities there, when you look at these new report cards, try to think about, as a parent or family member, what the story is that the data is trying to tell us about the students in the schools, if there's information on the report card that shows that your school is doing well in some areas, not so well in others. If the information on the report card actually matches what you've seen in the school personally and whether or not you feel like your school needs to make improvements, whether or not your school has actually been identified for support and improvement. So those are just a few of the different ways that parents and families can get involved. This is giving me an opportunity to plug or re-plug and gauge for education equity. In addition to the 50-plus page toolkit that is downloadable as one whole document and individual sections, we also worked very hard with our partners to develop English and Spanish versions of parent and student supplements that detail some of the information that I just shared. In addition, in the next week or so, we're going to be releasing a worksheet to support organizers, parents, and families as they look through their school's report card. It's designed to be used in groups, ideally with a facilitator along with the toolkit information on school report cards and needs assessments. And you can find all of that in the links that I provided. Great. Thank you so much. And we definitely appreciate the documents being accessible by language. And we found that that has been an issue that we've seen before. So thank you for that. And the resources that you shared. Jessica and Steven, we had a question around what states tend to be meeting on some of the issues as you've dived into the equity measures. So what states tend to be faring a little bit better in those efforts in, you know, taking a look at all of those equity measures that you referenced before in your presentation? Yeah, in the report, we looked at three states for each indicator. And so only four states are using all five equity measures for either accountability or improvement. So there's a lot of work to be done on these issues. But some states that stand out for extended year graduation rates, New Mexico is using four, five and six year graduation rates, putting a primacy on the four year rate and providing support to their schools to be able to use that measure. Ohio is using some of its title for funds to implement school climate surveys in a way that's unique from other states. And also on chronic absenteeism, Connecticut has been doing a lot of work before as on measuring this indicator and setting up data systems to create a tiered model so that if a student misses 10% of the school year, they'll get some intervention. But if they're missing 10 to 20% of the school year, they'll get an even higher support from their school and community. So I would definitely look to the report, depending on what indicator you want to measure. Right. And one thing also to note is that there's a lot of state efforts that are happening that were not included in their ESSA plans, but also states did make commitments in their ESSA plan. It's really important at the local level that community members hold their state accountable for the promises that they made in their ESSA plan in terms of the supports that they indicated that they would provide to districts and schools. Great. Thank you both. Really appreciate that. And Susie, I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more about how the National Urban League and some of the partners that you're working with are supporting your local affiliates and other partners on the ground. And if there are any other partnership stories that you can tell outside of course you are working with Phyllis down in Tennessee. Sure. So I mentioned in my opening that we have a project or a program that we call the National Equity and Excellence Project where we provide support to 27 Urban League affiliates across 21 states. And we've provided this support in a variety of ways. For instance, a number of our affiliates have led or organized convenings in their communities to bring diverse stakeholders to the table during the first few months of the laws implementation to kind of, you know, explain to parents, families, and community members what the law requires and what that means for the community's engagement. And we would provide a lot of the policy analysis to help affiliates interpret the provisions within the law that they can kind of digest and explain in layman's terms to their constituents. And then we would also help sort of ghostwrite for a lot of our affiliates who provided testimony to their state departments of education regarding their ESSA plans or, you know, during the last year and a half or so in the years prior where state legislatures would propose bills in education that would ultimately impact some of the important equity provisions. We would ghostwrite testimony for affiliates or talking points for them to use in their conversations with the media or with state and local influencers. And through our national civil rights and education reform and advocacy partners, we've helped strengthen or stand up some of these local coalitions that are very diverse across multiple sectors in K through 12, higher ed, and the workforce. And just to sort of highlight a couple of, I would say, successes, local stories. Our New York Urban League affiliates were able to leverage the partnership that they have with the Education Trust in New York in coalition with other local affiliates, like our NAACP chapter, New York, and our local Unitos U.S. affiliates and chapters of other national partners to draft and advance the equity-focused priorities in their state as a plan. And then our various affiliate leaders in Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Ohio have also been working hand in glove with their state and district superintendents to look at Title II investments from an equity lens in a way that ensures that low-income students and students of color are taught by teachers and led by school and district leaders who have access to high-quality professional development to turn around success. And then, of course, we have Phyllis Nichols, our NAACP Phil Urban League president and CEO, who's one of our key leaders in this work towards equity and excellence. And we're real happy she joined us today. Thanks again. No, thank you. I appreciate that. And we're starting to run out of time. So I'd like to thank our panelists. We'd like to thank Suzy and Steven, Jessica, Kata, and Phyllis for your time and for all these great resources. I really appreciate all of that and just this helpful discussion and answering some of the questions from the audience. And we'd like to thank you, the audience, for submitting your questions and taking the time to listen to the discussion here today. Another quick reminder that we'll be holding a webinar on teacher shortages on October 17. And we invite you to sign up for our mailing list to receive a notification for more information. And as we've mentioned a couple of times during the webinar, we'll also be providing a lot of these resources online. And we'll be emailing that to everyone who's been registered, but also we'll include those slides and all the resources on this webinar's events page. And we'll share that link as well. And finally, we'd like to let you know that a survey will appear in your web browser when this webinar ends. It'll just take a few minutes to complete. So if you have the time, we'd love you to get your feedback. So again, we'd like to thank our panelists and the audience for tuning in today. And we'll check in with you all next month for our next webinar around teacher shortages. Thanks again, everyone.


We are back, the king is right here in the studio to talk to us about his music. He goes by his love, King. But before we talk to him, let's appreciate another person who is with me on this show. Mr. Saminbibes himself. How are you feeling? I'm okay for me. I'm fine. What's your name? Kwa ni ni? You know you're not okay. Ah weh weh, wacha bana. He's hero, he's hero. You can see, when I'm at home and I hear pekiyake, he's usually crying so much, much, much I think I saw him showing it. Wee ni mambo ki dogo ba. Like he's here. He will only look up to ya guys kiba o last weeks. So it's an effect. It's an effect of unity. Let's talk about it. Kamatu ga lamba lamba ki dogo jiyana, Kidogo nili wame peanutpa boha. See me o. Nibayu na fana gana kwa imipor. K no kwa Never come out this area Ahh men, see where is the tachua, What are those, why? No, no, no Anyway back to the matter, back to the matter back to the important matter of important age that we have against right here for standing up on the exterior he is the 24h artist he is a hiphop artist listen Daljen His Love King was served Kwa na kwa na Melecti kwa nda na nda Gina His Love His Love Tell us about that His Love is a Bank Is a Bank He's a banki, he's a banki Ahh, why people stole money like a banki? Bank as in, say when you're in a bank, there's a bank There's a... Korp There's a Korp, there's a kingdom bank Yeah Say that you ask, he's a bank, he's a business Ahh He's a bank Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa bank We have a bank right here in Mejilechandania studio Yeah So you are in Mejilechandania studio Right So, I know I introduced you but I think I didn't do you justice So can you just go ahead and reintroduce yourself to the guys from Camera 4 Kizun right here Yeah Me nitu a Hezlop King Yeah, I'm from Mungo 43 in the world, you know where it is I'm from Mungo, Hezlop King That's what's up Yeah Kymburod muna se maze? Kymburod maze, tu kufiti bana, tu nuakilesha, tu koloktsana Ajota saywa na hochibana Eh, hoor Kingwa wakorada maze Iniria maze, ajulikani maze kwa zonbana Yeah Dona ilata sa kumap sa Da sayu na ya kumap Wachwingi, by the way come on Wachwingi wana, I think wamezki angu mongo But they don't know where it is Come on maze Woko na jiko api But I've heard the name You've heard it Sayzi ku direct Umezki angu mongo, but munti kikwambia ni pelike You're like, okay, I'll do one No jokuna ok, kuna angu mongo flani Ok, kuna kuna angu mongo kaza Kuna angu mongo flani a kasa rani But he nye na ungelele, nile iko Ayonekani, iko sejzaki anguro So ikona kajena flani, di kamoshada But Sisi watu wamoshada Sini mage to yani Sini Nairobi Sani benye sa, ikona yako kajena flani Kamoshada Sani kusaman jaza hini wasa wana di kwaata Angu mongo 43 in the world That's what's up Tretin go mongo 43 Ka wanywa wako mazesu represent Come on preview, show some love Telebo, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Uke mekani area ya kwa We appreciate that Tama niyadze Right, so tell us about Did you always want to do music? Like growing up, did you know music is what you wanted to know And growing up Sikwa na jana zapa na music btw Kuz Mi ni kwa tiza puti bol I love, mi kwa na penda kutiza bol Sana na manze So Sikwa na zani Sikwa na atasiku wa fanoa music Nona So nili na kwa na music ko sababu Nilita akuto maiparens kwa pavati Napia mtahia ngu manze Community ngu piya kuchihenj Mabijana manze So uzii shinda kukitimo Uzii shinda kukitimo Iwa ni bwana na changitu na nanda sektuengin Ya Nanda tukapu Nanda dreami kutukapu blok Niko kwa dreami kutukapu blok Sizi nalaw limba Laka ni miskiwa wimbo Uwa mk in shorts Ya ni uwa mk in shorts Nili kwa na dreami kutua Maiparens kwa pavati manze Nika nika Nika nika kwa influence na kufanya Music sana nuna Nika sama aiki tu na zaiwana Wachani zarib Napanda medifiki shamaanze So uzii shinda kutu na In some thing you line Kiki kwa ikuanda ni angu mano Nili yanzaku Nili yanzaku kukipenda ptania Nisha kuruyalize nizah Ni zahium So how do you come to that realization Nili yanzana spoken word And then you nurtured it into know rap Kumana msaneni influence masze Kwa 2 sikuana fateria music sana manze Ya But uboyz muhyz muhyd sana Uduzwheniku Udiwara sa ziqnina zama Uzei mahiu wata na hansRCu Zifani transmissionally kwenya ahazia koji-choutzi Kufunia mgtunga kumug에서 Ibu zengali alini, alini motivate alini influence nga maza ke manze Hadofti wezi uch Cherry Kwa imu zia manza yana kwa zia maza kodiyo Rada nani na follow Ah Zena li kwinspayak alini inspire manze Nika zambia j baka 1 gradi So, nika zema Naka, muitanga, kitanga kwa na usini, nga muitanga na nasuwa muitanga na usini. Muitanga na usini, nga muitanga na nasuwa muitanga na nasuwa muitanga na naka but we got to be given no. Nisa na takani onqeni weizi, kwen small bwakka kwa nasuwa muitanga and piazi kitanga y Touch. Ikia 12 katai umimhikana ni amanda nubingi yi matafukuna. Kwen small bwakka kwa asa yaa nubingi. Kwa nini yi tupiki. Kwa asa yaa janglisha, hii. Na na, nougati keveni wanata buti waku wa mashana Nini nambiaje wa sei wangupia Piwa situ na zafi kahu, karma wa sei waga fe kapa piwa situ na zafi Nizafi ika I think na jere buku inspire mtaya angupia nabali wa sei wana infolo Yeah E' really amazing and eno hivu been doing music for a while now Oh, for like five years? Yes, five years For five years Ah, so how have you evolved as an artist? Kandulinata, pokenmaa na achi and now you've gotten to rap have you seen any changes, have you evolved kinii kutuka manu enzi ya? ya nima ana changes nge March nikianda liku wa no March wa zana kumuka kwa nierikwa kwa wangori kutua videos liku wangori pa tinii liku wa nili patshoni ya ku sku ma ya ku push ma ya huma mai dada na penda sana ku push so nili atingi oni ni yo jini yang kiko illa jini ya ke lakki do kukuy so ay uswa ku ku piyu na penda ku sku ma sana Jaiwa na mtik time lakini But I think we need to make it up and push So that time we need to make it normal Sayi ma lini mefika, at least na ona changes Na ona saa pia brandengu pina daku changes We need to make it up and see him change Kuna upka mingatis wana jarebu, wana give up, wana quit Wakuna content normal lakini wana shindwa ta fika japa Akin ni asulangi sumo juna pa na mo fika paka kwa mbulu We see upka mingatis We see upka We know him saa dim kubu We know him saa dim kubu Exactly Lela jo, those 5 days I took over the easy So what are some of the challenges you've encountered along the way?  Kwa wana ganti apa hanzo I think it's not because I do it cuts across Like generally if you don't have money Ok kuna wala ja ni seme Sikilam sayana zaka wana kwa Producers umbaia I think maze Sijina zasa maze Wengi na nekebore Wengi na wana faniatu Mibu wali faniwa ibo Kiyaga piya So piya wana Wana daka piya Nini waku faniwa ibo Fili nikamwa mepona Fili kwa mepona maze So I think say pawa maze Right and you know one of your dreams Niku make sure that you inspire the people within your Community Within your community So like pure they can do better How do you intend to go about that So just lazima Maybe puyo kwa na msa nakushikamkono So do you have like a management Do you have a team for it to be able to inspire Others you also need to be somewhere Fasili kwa na management Bara ya kwa hanzo Bata management ni watana do Ome sota Ome sota sana Na kutamara mingi maze Wala menezina amse niya ni Kama na kutawu producer Tata say kumtaja Jina kia maze nindogata Na fili kwa menezina kubokumili Kwa kutawu management So mingi ni na tafuta Storia video ni nashiguli Ya nashiguli Ya ni manager Eksime ya na platuli rolki dogo Kama ni video ni sawa Pia interview ame Lalisha sana So Tili kwa sana ni wengi Apa ni kama 20 maali Apa sana ni waku pekiangu Ata kama ita kasa Ata ni siku me 2 solo manze So siku panda kwa na mse Mse kaza mkumunia zina Angali ma liya na yandabana Kama producer kwa na jela ya So ni kama kusku ma solo ya Na yandodika fika Mali ni me fika saia Mungu ma ni saia na mimi Sesa ma niwa ma producer ma nini So nashikuru mungu Na mungu na mimi Ya, but I like the bamba You know you're a top in life And then I know one thing Especially when you're starting out Not everyone is going to relate in you Kuna sana kama ya So how do you handle that kind of criticism Akitia kwa hanza Me ni msem tabu sana Me ni msem gumu hard sana Me ni msem nini Wezi ni kadao Natu ni mba tia Ngu mazaka bana kuna bini ziko So atatuku wemba Fana kitu inge Me ni msem bia iwa banda Me ni msem ani ani ua si Stambush hiti kama hezo manze Me ni msem na jua, mi na belip god manze Nasi kizangivi bausu zawa 7 Ua 7 na 7 atu kochi So kenye mi kwa ni kaguro sana manze Na upakami bitu kama hezi Niduru prayaz manze Niduru prayaz Lafuna kwa umteaf sana na So Nini kwa umteaf bana So stambush hiti kama hezo manze Oh, that's nice Right, and another thing I know for any artist If you want your name to get out there Moodze na kwa kolaab Fana kolaab na wasi Fana kolaab na wasi Especially kwa rapa Have you tried reaching out to them And what was the response I would love to know For me Sija try anyone Kus Sai ni na jia mini a kuwanzata ni fanya kazi Kama kuna kuna mi sa niya kopale Pa lejo anaza ni ona, ni kufiti Anaza ni ta futati upale Sii kuna kwa nga sana yungi piol Kama trio niyo Sa li tuwango maya kepa lego Akata funa kina major image Akiwa high school Sii na zema niwa ta futati Handozangu ziko pa le ni kuna Content pa le YouTube Mi sija kwa ni kitagemi Awa sana niwa bigi Mi na munguata anaza niwa solo Sii na zema wasa niwa niwa But na jo kuna wasa niwa puwa Maze kuna wasa nipa leona Kucheki pa lewa kuhinua bad We love to hear from that Because you just keep pushing I think you can push Na zema, the best thing you can do for yourself Talent nga Talent ni 20% 80% ni 10% talent Talent ni 10% 90% is you pushing You keep doing that I'm sure it's a jipa You dream Tuna minimungu Do you have any projects You're currently working on Anything you want us to know about Ya kuna project Ni kwa nakupanya remix kwanza apoloji Ni kwa na yu project remix Na kama very soon sana Mi si misiwa kusimasa yama bana La kwa na tawbiya La very soon ni after 2 yas Mi ni misiwa kukipnene Sema angisuno Mi na sama kama ni kuna remix Apoloji Mi na sama kwa 2 yasa So ni kona apoloji Ni kona ingine na jitarememba Tuna palia komedia Piya niymungu mu to follow bana Wala wasi waja tu follow bana Piya si tu na wajiki palia Pia Of course, we really support As long as we gonna talent We support everybody But thank you so much for coming through And making time But first thing, do you have any shoutouts Ya shoutouts banzi Ni kama na papuelo bioneta Kama salimiwa tu bana Wala e Ama tu liya miwa gupa sana Banzi waja tu se maji na We ni tu papelo bana Shara utsana banzi We ni buzwangu bana umtani Big up sana Mi kugote lafu Wase wengi umtani banzi Ni have big up kwanzata familiya Mokoro palia evo Nambig up sana Wase wengi ani Wase wengi ani Mokefa na naiwa Nambu zwangu pia umtani Mokefa na naiwa palia evo Ni naku kote apia maze Mpochi apia ni naku kotea Maale pia ni naku kotea Kono atungi mende sumbu asana Ni kosa kupiga salamu Shimani Shimani maze Unidem flani Ni support sana Kipana bituzake Ni radio host na kugote sana Apia bro palia maze Shivo official bana Naku kotea sana So what you do Social media And where we can find your music Tell us that What you want to happen kwa maako Na manakhto awapi social media Bila kusaha wubana Fala social media facebook Hislobkin Instagram facebook twitter Hislobkin Hizal Hizal LOP Hislobkin IG badu Hislobkin IG rani pataiga hislobkin Youtube Hislobkin We appreciate that, thank you so much for coming through Laku kutia mwisha buta fadali poele Namitia mwisha wubana Sake aniwe bana Treva bana kuna boizangaretoa treva Treva fotele Treva fotele Namitia mwisha wubana Masipia na mbiga pusana And thank you so much Hislobkin Representing wasilongo mongo Representing wasilokiyambu as well Thank you so much for making time We appreciate that So right now King Apoloji So what's in here hashtag is Bangs Nation keep taking it to us We have one more shot for you Alright let's go


All right, let's move on to the third section in some cute We ended up here again Now we just going to pivot right into the left while keeping our hands by our chest This time we're going to lift up our knee and this time we're going to do a heel stomp like that straight up So last time the first kick we did a knee lift into a flick kick. So the motion is actually up Like that So up That's the second section now in the third section We're going to go actually bring our knee even higher and go down a little bit slightly So we're actually going down use that momentum To come up into your step. So knee up down step So again, I'm just turning facing this way Yeah Down step now when you step remember to put your foot in the 45 degree angle and that after your stomp It doesn't end up like this So from this side make sure your foot steps down like that. I kick my toes this way But when I'm stepping down I got to turn my foot Make sure that it's not back in 45 Okay, so When I do the stomp my toes going that way So when I step down You don't want to be in the center. You want to be actually 45 discreet degrees this way. So I'm here turn Yeah, stomp use the momentum and then we do a double low bong sound So this could be about your belly level. All you do is doing bong sound same angles Are you doing two of them in a low position?  So just wait now from here we're going to do a double thump sound and then Stand up straight and do a double palm now after that we're going to go and drop our weight and do our Eliminary stance so people are together drop knees and bring our chest fist to our chest They may step back about one step With our back foot the weight is still on the front Okay, from here just find this back Wait still on the front And then now we're going to turn 180 degrees now facing to the right We're going to repeat what we just did. So knee up Stomp kick use the momentum into a double bong sound then we're going to drop my elbows and And hands relaxed and upper position then do a step shuffle and double bong sound Okay, flip them again the third time step shuffle double bong sound Now I'm going to flip them again, and then we're going to do a double hand cell So both hands I do a hand cell and when you do when it's up and you pull in and do it That's out double that's out With our feet together and then when you see when you stand up straight and use that spring to push out with both palms All right, and then we're going to Drop again and now I have pull both fits back Okay, from here. We're going to just Pivot now we're facing 45 degrees this way. So all you're doing is we can just do a little hot So 45 degrees this way or if you can have if you have a smooth surface you can hit it on just give it 45 degrees this way. So now I'm doing this step Now I'm going to look to my left this way. So I'm actually looking on the angle this way And then I'm going to lift my left leg and do a side kick All right, so what I'm doing is a long tech with me the diagonal kick So I'm just going to lift it up and straighten it like that So in this kick no need to chamber up and then kick you're going to lift it directly on a Directly from here to here. So just directly from here to here. Okay. So that's our bottom tip look this way Lift our foot up diagonally Like that Then when you step down Step down to here and do our gum so will sell All right, so one more time You do it a long time look this way diagonally Step down here in the middle and do it comes out. So so I'm in my diagonal stance This is a gums out Make sure that arm is not completely straight. It's a little bit bad, but nice and extended This is going to be here as a wuss out in the middle So stand in the middle, right? So here's the middle in the middle Now we're going to pivot to the right and we're just going to put this over top the right one And I'll do it on the right side So you have this press me down and This is a wuss out. I'll do it third time Pick to the to the right and now this is what comes up. This is wuss out From this point now, we're going to do some punches. I'll do quickly for you just to show you so one two three All right, so from here what we're doing is punching this straight out While pivoting so here we're going to pivot back to the left On our back stance on our left and punch this out. The target is on the center here And I'm punching this way, but notice that my body and my head is now off the center Okay, and now this becomes a wuss out on the back And we repeat on the left side on the left hand and pivot on this side This one is going to come over the other hand And now I'm going to punch to the center and this is a wuss out on the set But my head is over here because I'm in the back stance Now the third punch is going to be a straight punch So all I'm doing is just pivoting the right foot getting back into our straight stance So for the plate, I'm just going to pivot back to get to our straight stance So from here, we're going to punch the middle straight punch Directly in the middle. I'm in the middle and pull back our fist to our chest on the left Open thang so, hyun-sao And sook it Alright, so and then now step back left foot left hand Hands relax and now we finish the chang-kyu form


Hey everybody, it's Eric Johnson from Airtay Throws Nation. I want to welcome you to this episode of Inside the Ring, and this is where we just kind of take a look inside what we're doing in our training sessions. In this video, we go through an athlete named Kai and Schild. He came up from Tucson's about two hours south of Arizona, two hours south of Phoenix, a young motivated guy. He's been in eighth grade as a freshman, so he's making the transition from the one kilo to the one six. So he's growing, learning. It's a big transition year. The process of the throwing chain reaction is to be able to look at the six pillars and see if we see those common mistakes throughout all the pillars. In his case, we did. There's a couple of key things that were really creating some limits on distance. He actually moves pretty well, but he needs to learn how to set that up a little better. So he was doing things like pulling the head off, kind of setting some artificial points, thinking that they were correct. And so what we did is we kind of took him through the training session, explained how to fix a number of things that were going to fix his chain reaction. We wanted to fix one or two things that we're going to fix like five or six things. All right guys, hopefully you enjoy. Check it out. That was a lot better. That was actually better. Closer. Okay, so let's try a pre-block. See how you're kind of going to the outside of your foot? We're going to keep your weight on the inside of your foot and you're going to keep this knee just slightly bent. That was much better. You're going like this. See that? Instead of here, see where my head's at? See where's my hips and my head? Here. You see that? How we set. Remember, we set tension. Lower body turns and we're going to wind this up and we're going to learn how to stretch. So your shoulders sit here. Hip sits on top of this and I have the hip there. Now I'm loaded up. That was a lot better. That was a lot better. That was a lot better actually. Take your shoulder and reach your shoulder. Yeah, that's stretching it. Okay. Try the single leg heel up and push, drill. Knee and hip push. Knee and hip push. That was closer. Now see how your arm's always up here? It's got to get them. When I do a step in, we're going basically end of two, beginning all through three, right? Much closer to this so I can get that push position, right? See how everything's going here? You feel that? That's your hip going ahead because look where I've got this hip.  That was actually better.


More evidence has emerged for the heart health benefits of cocoa, it appears that cocoa may lower the risk of death by cardiovascular disease in aging adults. Coco, chocolate's main ingredient, is rich in flavonol such as Epikatechin, which are known for their beneficial qualities, including a possible link to heart health. Other good flavonol sources include kale, tea, grapes and red wine, berries, tomatoes and broccoli. The exact mechanism by which flavonols seem to improve heart health is not known, but it may involve boosting the production of nitric oxide, which is involved in vasodilation. Scientists from Harvard University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have recently published results from a trial that studied the effect of cocoa extract supplementation on cardiovascular diseases, the number one cause of age-related mortality in the world. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial study was called Cosmos, cocoa supplement and multivitamin outcome study. It was sponsored by Mars Edge, a subsidiary of Mars, the company behind products such as M&M's, Snickers, Twix and Pedigree dog food. Mars Edge is the manufacturer of cocoa-based supplement, Coco Via, although the company was not involved in the study design or the collection of data. It was conducted among over 21,000 people over the age of 60 in the United States over the course of more than three years. The participants, who had to be free of major heart diseases and cancer at baseline, were randomly assigned to take either a cocoa extract supplement with 500 milligrams of flavonols, including 80 milligrams of epikatecine per dose or placebo. The researchers looked at the prevalence of a number of cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction, stroke, carotid artery disease and more. During the follow-up, cardiovascular events happened in 410 participants who were on cocoa extract and in 456 of those who were on placebo. Although the second number is a bit higher, the difference is not considered significant. However, participants who took the supplement had a 27% reduced risk of cardiovascular death. This interesting finding means that cocoa extract might reduce the severity of cardiovascular events rather than their occurrence. One of the secondary endpoints was the prevalence of cancer, which was unaffected by the treatment. The researchers controlled for various potentially relevant factors, such as age, sex, education, smoking status, diabetes status, cardiovascular health, and of course, chocolate consumption, since it could affect dosage. No serious adverse effects were observed, although people who were taking the supplement were 6% more likely to self-report nausea. On the other hand, the cocoa group reported 5% fewer flu-like symptoms and 15% fewer migraines, which is quite substantial. While cocoa extract has been shown to be good for cardiovascular health, this is not an excuse to eat a lot of chocolate. In dark chocolate, the best source of non-fat cocoa solids apart from cocoa powder, flavonol contents can vary widely, and this data is not on the wrapper. In addition to the beneficial flavonols, chocolate is also packed with fat, sugar, and many other ingredients, which might be the reason why data on the health effects of chocolate has been largely inconclusive. According to this study, cocoa extract, when consumed regularly, can decrease the severity of cardiovascular events and lead to less cardiovascular death in people over 60. These results can possibly be extrapolated to other flavonol rich foods, though additional research is needed. When there's more to share, we'll have it for you here, so please subscribe so you don't miss out. I'm Ryan O'Shea and we'll see you next time on Lifespan News.