Toward a Theory of Equity-Minded Organizational Learning

• In Event: Leveraging Organizational Theory to Make Educational Systems More Effective and Racially Equitable

Abstract

In today’s educational settings, equity initiatives are simultaneously ubiquitous and highly contested. In this paper, we argue that the frequent failures of equity initiatives, which have often been studied as public policy or leadership crises, could and should be addressed anew as a matter of organizational learning, which is mediated by practitioners’ socio-political identities in organizational contexts. We build on organizational learning, educational equity, and identity literatures to highlight the relationship between identity and equity work across three contexts: 1) a faculty learning community within a university, 2) science museums, and 3) education grantmaking organizations. We propose a set of testable propositions to sharpen future work on equity initiatives as co-constitutive of organizational learning, individual learning, and individual socio-political identities.

Authors

• Aireale J. Rodgers, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Heather N. McCambly, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Krystal R. Villanosa, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author