Systems Work: Processes of Institutionalizing Racial Justice in One New York City High School

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Leveraging Organizational Theory to Understand and Address Racial Inequities (Table 17)

Abstract

Uprooting historical and contemporary forms of racial injustice in education requires moving beyond changing individuals’ consciousness to shifting how school organizations operate. However, whole-school efforts to systematize racial equity are relatively understudied. In this paper, we examine how one New York City High School simultaneously disrupted exclusionary operations and designed new systems for racial justice. Drawing on a two-year case study, our analyses spotlight changes in the schools’ culture, structure, and policies. Further, we found specific processes behind these shifts including: 1) laying the groundwork (initializing); 2) advancing efforts and fostering buy-in (initializing and actualizing); and 3) solidifying changes (sustaining). This investigation attends to complex processes of systemic disruption and redesign, moving us closer to developing institutions for student thriving.

Authors

• Dana Marie Conlin, University of California - Irvine

• Jomar M. Lopes, University of California - Irvine

• Adriana Villavicencio, New York University