Is it Equity or is it Equality?

The last few posts I have made have talked about engagement in the classroom. Without engagement, we have little chance to reach those students who are either falling through the cracks or hiding because they feel inadequate at doing mathematics. One of the most effective ways to create engagement in our classrooms is through equity. I saw the attached picture in a seminar a few years ago and it really resonated with me in terms of the equity in our math classrooms. Often everyone gets the same instruction, the same supports, and the same work. In these situations, we have created a classroom like the picture on the left. We have increased everyone's knowledge but we still have students who aren't "seeing the baseball field"(fully understanding the mathematics). I have heard talk by many educators that to get the picture on the right we give too much assistance to our lower level learners and not enough to our students who excel. Or the curriculum is "watered down" to give the impression through data that everyone is being successful. What I have found after reading more about equity in math classrooms is that we can keep the rigor elevated for all students and still get the success we are looking for. I would like to hear from viewers of this post whether you have seen the picture before and even if not, what are your thoughts. Have a great day!