Building District Capacity to Address Racial Inequality Through a District Equity Office

• In Event: Innovative Approaches to Addressing Equity

Abstract

School districts have long engaged in improvement and reform efforts. The emergence of district “equity offices” represents a more recent approach to improving experiences and outcomes for students, specifically students of color. This research uses theory on institutional capacity building to examine the work of the district equity office in “Cedar Park County Schools,” a large, ethno-racially diverse suburban school district outside a major East Coast city. I use case study methods to analyze how equity office staff use different mechanisms (i.e. professional development, new equity-focused positions, etc.) to address racial inequality, specifically racially disproportionate discipline harming Black students. I ultimately document three common mechanisms, primarily increasing human capacity to address disproportionate discipline.

Author

• Andrew Matschiner, University of California - San Diego