"Learning and Leading With Equity": Value Conflicts in an Equity-Oriented School District

• In Event: Values, Access, and Civics: The Politics of Equity in U.S. Education

Abstract

This paper explores the political and racial dynamics of redistricting in Maryland’s Howard County, a community and school district with historical commitments to racial equity. I use political and critical theories to study this “critical case” of redistricting and test the policy’s theory of action, which assumes that if districts have the capacity and will to redistrict, they can effectively do so. Preliminary findings suggest that, even in equity-oriented communities that presumably have the will to redistrict, community and district stakeholders’ competing conceptions of equity and how to achieve it undermine districts’ ability to advance equity-oriented policies.

Author

• Kayla Bill, University of Maryland - College Park