Vance, Gina DeGenova
(2022)
Becoming Equity-minded: An Organizational Learning Approach to Improving Black Student Success.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This study explored the potential of a training intervention to build equity-minded capacity among practitioners in higher education. The goal of this Dissertation in Practice was to determine if a workshop grounded in organizational learning theory could be effective at changing practitioner language, beliefs, and practices around racial equity in student success. In their efforts to understand and address retention of Black students, Westminster College practitioners were engaging in practices that reify racial inequity in student outcomes. Racial equity persists as a problem throughout higher education; therefore, Westminster College is not alone in its struggle to remedy the equity gaps in student success (Banks & Dohy, 2019; Ching, 2018; Johnson, 2013; McNair et al., 2020b). Because the focus of this study is to prepare practitioners to change their practice in equity-minded ways, the results of this study may have broad application in higher education.
The training intervention brought together the frameworks of improvement science and organizational learning theory. Improvement science is an iterative methodology employed to define problems, understand systemic influences, apply and test interventions, and spread change (Bryk et al., 2015; Hinnant-Crawford, 2020). Double-loop learning, a component of organizational learning theory, is essential for examining the root causes of a problem and invites practitioner reflection such that beliefs and practices change (Argyris, 1991; Argyris & Schon, 1996). As such, improvement science and organizational learning theory collectively informed the intervention design so that practitioners might see the equity problem as a problem of practice. A third framework, Bensimon’s (2005) cognitive frames (i.e., diversity, deficit, equity) was used to assist practitioners in recognizing the beliefs that both promote and hinder racial equity. The cognitive frames were also used to measure participants’ pre- and post-intervention frames.
Fifty practitioners, consisting of faculty, staff, and administrators, participated in a two-part, six-hour training intervention. Forty-six of those participants completed a pre-post-test which measured change in practitioners’ beliefs across the discourse, orientation, and strategies associated with each cognitive frame. The results of this study demonstrate that practitioners’ beliefs and assumptions can change and that the training is an effective way to promote this change.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Vance, Gina DeGenova | GMV11@pitt.edu | GMV11 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
2 September 2022 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
7 July 2022 |
| Approval Date: |
2 September 2022 |
| Submission Date: |
9 August 2022 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
179 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Education > Administrative and Policy Studies |
| Degree: |
EdD - Doctor of Education |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Black student success
organizational learning
improvement science
cognitive frames
equity-minded
racial equity |
| Date Deposited: |
02 Sep 2022 19:21 |
| Last Modified: |
02 Sep 2022 19:21 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/43571 |
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