The Long Haul of Innovation: Operationalizing Equity for Big Picture Learning

Abstract

This capstone examines my effort to operationalize racial equity while serving as a school leadership coach for Big Picture Learning at a startup school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Facing New Orleans’ history of racism and the lingering effects of segregation, I was forced to consider what it meant to lead for equity in the South while working in the education ecosystem consisting of all-charter schools. In this capstone, I examine lessons learned while working as a coach, including which equity domains to target when leading. I discuss the ambiguous concept of equity – especially when compared to the historic systems of inequity in the South. I also describe the collaborative planning and “doing” with Big Picture staff in order to make equity real within its National Affinity Cohort (NAC) training model. This includes sharing my framework, mapping and strategy for operationalizing racial equity within Big Picture Learning and out to network school leaders; and analyzing the process, sources of influence, and outcomes of my strategic project through the lenses of Ron Heifetz’s adaptive leadership framework and William Julius Wilson’s culture-mediates-structure framework. With connection to both frameworks, I argue that one must maintain a sense of urgency, while embracing the long haul, to counter institutional entrenchment when leading for equity and innovating.