In Pursuit of Racially Equitable Transformation: A Content and Cross-Comparative Analysis of an Urban District of Organizational Routines

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 10:50 am
  In Roundtable Session: Freirean Legacy Toward More Equitable Schools (Table 17)

Abstract

The racial hierarchy of K-12 school districts shapes how racial equity change efforts manifest because schools have been historically manufactured to marginalize the subaltern. Organizational routines must be examined to engender a sustained racial equity transformation. Using a qualitative cross-comparative and content analysis methodological approach, I analyzed two years of data to understand how one large urban district is transforming toward racial equity. The data suggest that four central routines helped spur an organizational transformation. Leaders improved talk routines by including dialogic action. Like the Freirean theory of dialogic action, leaders expressed that they could discuss racial equity freely and critically. This encouraged curiosity, and transformed organizational routines, advancing tangible efforts toward a racially equitable district. Implications will be discussed.

Author

• Patricia M. Virella, Montclair State University