The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is entering its 25th year as an organization and a network of schools dedicated to transforming the experience of schools and education for young people, their teachers, and their communities nationwide. The practice of educators to engage in cycles of inquiry and actions that address challenges and improve outcomes evolved directly from the "conversation among friends" that began 25 years ago. The first wave of Essential schools, and early gatherings of CES educators, placed a premium on the collective reflection, data-gathering, and decision-making that has come to be a defining characteristic of the CES network. During the cycle of 2008-2009 CES year, the CES Small Schools Network (CES SSN) has made the work of establishing inquiry groups for equity its top priority. The CES SSN has focused on establishing an equity lens through which practitioners within and supporters of small, personalized, and academically challenging schools see their students, their families and communities, and the larger systems in which schools are located, CES National staff members built on efforts that included the Teacher Research Collaborative to develop inquiry groups for equity across the CES SSN.