Educators’ Conceptualizations of Equity and Self-Efficacy for Equity-Centered Teaching in the Face of Divisive Concepts Policies

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 2:15 pm - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Mixed Methods Integration: Theory-Driven Joint Displays for Visualizing Equity Policy

Abstract

Purposes
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts are under attack in K–12 schools (Filimon & Ivanescu, 2023). Amidst anti-DEI policies (i.e., bans), educators’ conceptualizations of equity are critical, informing whether they pursue equity-related goals and practices (Levinson et al., 2022). We examined educators’ conceptualizations of equity and related them to their self-efficacy for equity-centered teaching (ECT) to understand how educators presently understand equity across policy lines.

Conceptual Frameworks
Levinson et al. (2022) summarized eight equity conceptions that shape educational goals: equal resources across groups; equal outcome distribution across populations; equal learner outcomes; equal learner experiences; equal learner growth levels; prioritizing the less advantaged; educational adequacy for all; and educational liberation. Calabrese Barton and Tan’s (2020) rightful presence framework argues for allied political struggle, making present injustices in schools and society, and collectively disrupting guest/host classroom mentalities, which illustrates more liberatory equity definitions. We draw on these frameworks to examine practitioners’ equity conceptualizations.

Methods
We employed a convergent mixed methods design. We conducted a round of deductive and open coding on a subset of open-ended survey responses, then met to adjudicate codes and finalize the codebook. Next, we independently coded all qualitative responses, using thematic analysis to interpret the data. Concurrently, we calculated participants’ self-efficacy for ECT and coded whether educators taught in a DEI ban state, examining the self-efficacy quartile distribution across each group. Finally, we converged the data, connecting self-efficacy quartile distributions and geographic location to equity conceptions. We created joint displays to draw meta-inferences from the integrated results (Firestone et al., 2024).

Data Sources
We surveyed 168 full-time K–12 U.S. educators with Prolific (2025). The survey included the Self-Efficacy for ECT scale (Author et al., 2025) and two open-ended questions: (1) What is your definition of equity in education? and (2) In your opinion, what would it take for all students to thrive in schools?

Results
We found that most educators conceptualized equity as an input-oriented pursuit. Many expressed that equity requires educational adequacy for all learners via equal opportunities and treatment. Though this theme was consistent across all four quartiles and teaching location, the meta-inference we gleaned was that participants in the highest quartile—regardless of location—more frequently espoused that equity requires equal inputs and outputs (e.g., equal outcomes, equal development), plus an understanding of rightful presence (e.g., disrupting guest/host mentalities, making present injustices). More liberatory understandings of equity often related to higher levels of self-efficacy for ECT (see Figure 1).

Scholarly Significance
The findings about those with higher self-efficacy levels underscore the need to bolster educators’ capacity to enact ECT, particularly through exposing them to more liberatory theories and definitions. That teachers in states with and without bans conceptualize equity similarly at the highest self-efficacy levels represents an opportunity to move equity work forward, despite current polarization. Educational leaders hoping to resist anti-DEI policies through practitioners’ classroom actions must first determine the equity definitions they want to endorse and then provide targeted development to bolster teachers’ understandings of the trade-offs of various conceptions.

Authors

• Rachel Saperstein McClam, Johns Hopkins University

• Sarah A Caroleo, Brown University