ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AND EQUITY
Developing a genuine commitment to equity in higher education requires educators and practitioners to build a clear, shared understanding of what equity truly means. These means reframing equity not as an abstract concept, but as a guiding principle that shapes teaching practices, learning environments, and institutional culture. Scholars emphasize that equity involves more than equal access; it requires actively identifying and addressing systemic barriers that produce unequal outcomes among student groups. Research consistently shows that persistent equity or achievement gaps are often linked to institutional structures, policies, and cultural norms rather than the abilities or motivations of students themselves. Historically, many explanations for these gaps have relied on deficit-minded perspectives that place responsibility on students’ backgrounds instead of examining systemic inequities within higher education institutions. A more effective equity approach therefore requires critical reflection on institutional practices and a commitment to transforming policies, support systems, and pedagogies so that all students can thrive. In this topic, you will explore these ideas and engage with key questions about what equity means and how it can be meaningfully implemented within higher education.
myPATH Presentation – (Required Reading/Viewing):
Presentation: Organizational Learning and Equity: Facilitating Dialog and Establishing Definitions.
Supplemental Reading – (Required Reading/Viewing):
Estela Mara Bensimon, Closing the Achievement Gap in Higher Education: An Organizational Learning Perspective.
Cheryl Ching, Why race? Understanding the importance of foregrounding race and ethnicity in achieving equity on college campuses.
Additional Resources – (Optional Reading/Viewing):
Association of American Colleges and Universities: What Higher Education Can Do to Reverse Our Deepening Divides.
American Association of Colleges and Universities: Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence.
American Council on Education: Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education.
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office: Student Equity.
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office: Vision for Success Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force Report.
Center of Urban Education: California Community Colleges Equity Plan Review.
Campaign for College Opportunity: The State of Higher Education for LatinX in California.
Institute for Higher Education Policies / Penn Graduate School of Education: Men of Color: Role for Policymakers in Improving the Status of Black Male Students in U.S. Higher Education.
Penn Graduate School of Education: The Elusive Quest of Civil Rights in Education.