The disruption of the pandemic underscored inequities in education systems and prompted educators to think beyond traditional measures of student achievement. However, as students returned to the classroom, conventional narratives of learning loss reemerged. Learning loss implies students, not systems, need to be "fixed," which misses the more critical issue: equity. Sonja Cherry-Paul says educators must replace a deficit mindset with a liberatory one by centering culturally responsive pedagogies and emphasizing student strengths.