School Community Perceptions of an Equity Team in a Suburban School

Equity reform is a pressing issue in education, particularly due to the continually shifting demographics in our nation. Historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups are slated to be the majority of the U.S. population in the very near future, and students of color are already the majority in U.S. public schools. Issues related to equity have largely been studied in urban schools, but little attention has been given to equitable learning environments in suburban school contexts. Equity teams are a recent reform effort, but the research on their effectiveness is emergent. The purpose of this instrumental case study was to understand an equity team's actions to address disparate educational outcomes for students of color, and how the work of the equity team was perceived by the larger school community. This study sought to answer the following questions: What actions do equity teams take to establish equitable school environments in high-performing, suburban, public schools? How does the school community perceive the work of equity teams in high-performing, suburban, public schools? How do teachers, staff, and parents perceive the work of equity teams?This instrumental case study is based on data collected from a school-wide survey and semi-structured individual and group interviews with members of the school community. Findings resulting from data analysis included: (a) the Watts Equity Team is still in its infancy; (b) the school community is largely unsure of the team's existence or efforts; (c) based on MAEC's components of an equitable school, Watts High School exhibits moderate evidence of an equitable learning environment. Recommendations are offered for both future research and practice.