{"title":"“The Business of Teaching and Learning”: Institutionalizing Equity in Educational Organizations Through Continuous Improvement","authors":"Susan C. Bush-Mecenas","doi":"10.3102/00028312221074404","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The continuous improvement (CI) approach to systems change has rapidly spread across education policy circles in recent years and has been hailed as a promising means to achieve educational equity and social justice. CI’s highly routinized, scientific process for improving efficiency and productivity is a somewhat unexpected means to pursue equity. To understand this puzzle, I examine the use of CI to promote equity through two qualitative, multilevel case studies. I draw on institutional theory to understand how CI has integrated logics of racial equity and performance, and how local actors have improvised novel approaches. This analysis illuminates the complex institutional dynamics at play with CI implementation and identifies the challenges and promise of using CI to promote educational equity.","PeriodicalId":48375,"journal":{"name":"American Educational Research Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"4","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Educational Research Journal","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312221074404","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 4
Abstract
The continuous improvement (CI) approach to systems change has rapidly spread across education policy circles in recent years and has been hailed as a promising means to achieve educational equity and social justice. CI’s highly routinized, scientific process for improving efficiency and productivity is a somewhat unexpected means to pursue equity. To understand this puzzle, I examine the use of CI to promote equity through two qualitative, multilevel case studies. I draw on institutional theory to understand how CI has integrated logics of racial equity and performance, and how local actors have improvised novel approaches. This analysis illuminates the complex institutional dynamics at play with CI implementation and identifies the challenges and promise of using CI to promote educational equity.
期刊介绍:
The American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) is the flagship journal of the American Educational Research Association, featuring articles that advance the empirical, theoretical, and methodological understanding of education and learning. It publishes original peer-reviewed analyses that span the field of education research across all subfields and disciplines and all levels of analysis. It also encourages submissions across all levels of education throughout the life span and all forms of learning. AERJ welcomes submissions of the highest quality, reflecting a wide range of perspectives, topics, contexts, and methods, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work.