Aligning District Improvement Toward Equity: The Need to Generate Alignment

• In Event: Focusing on Capacity, Coherence, and Communication With School and District Improvement Efforts

Abstract

Students of color struggle to achieve equitable access to high-quality educational experiences, and scholarship needs to thoroughly explore the role of district offices in disrupting inequities. This study utilizes districts as institutional actors (DIA) framework (Rorrer et al., 2008) to highlight the efforts of one district central office in an urban district in the Midwest to improve achievement and advance equity. Findings implicate the need to tightly couple equity and every DIA framework role. While inherent in the framework, equity, without explicit centralization in every model role, may continue to be overlooked and de-centered. Implications highlight the need for district leaders to embed equity across their practice.

Author

• Jason Salisbury, University of Illinois at Chicago