Reform Implementation and Equity: Implications for Continuous Improvement Approaches to Implementation and Scale

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating the Road to Improvement: Finding Comfort in an Ever-Changing Landscape

Abstract

This paper examines the implementation of a reform using a continuous improvement approach through the lens of equity. The reform—Personalization for Academic and Social Emotional Learning (PASL)—is a systemic reform intended to mobilize educators towards norms and practices that foster the adult-student relationship. We use Unterhalter’s framework of equity from below, equity from above, and equity from the middle to examine how continuous improvement approaches shape opportunities for equitable implementation. Drawing from interviews and focus groups, we explore how school leaders implement and scale PASL. We are particularly interested in what accounts for the variation between schools, the resources schools have to implement PASL, and how the improvement approach itself contributed to equitable implementation.

Authors

• Marisa A. Cannata, Vanderbilt University

• Stacey A. Rutledge, Florida State University

• Elizabeth Gilliam, Florida State University

• Brittany R. Closson-Pitts, Florida State University

• Carla P. Wellborn, Vanderbilt University