Enacting an Equity Framework with a Teacher and Students in an Urban Elementary Classroom: A Qualitative Study

This purpose of this study was to engage a fifth grade teacher and students in the exploration and application of the EFE (Education for Equity) conceptual framework, and to develop understandings of how EFE functioned in this context. This framework, developed around a decade of equity-focused research in elementary contexts, outlines research-based categories of practices for equity work in elementary schools, and it draws attention to areas lacking attention in the literature. Using and extending from case study methods and participatory methods, I worked with a teacher and her students in this urban classroom for approximately six months in both eLearning and face-to-face classroom settings to engage in collaborative, equity-focused work. We produced data through pedagogical documentation, observations and field notes, teacher-researcher conversations, student conversations, a researcher journal, artifacts, and documents. Our layered, nonlinear analysis process included framework-based, polyvocal, and material analyses. Findings are organized around the components of the EFE framework and include various representations aimed at portraying practices, challenges, themes, critical incidents, meaning-making processes, polyvocal influences, material influences, and more in relation to our equity advancement work in this elementary context. I conclude by discussing considerations and implications in relation these findings and our ongoing pursuit of equity and justice in education and beyond