Chapter 7: Improvecrit: Using Critical Race Theory to Guide Continuous Improvement

Equity is the current buzzword in education. Annual conferences are tying their themes to equity, so everyone is trying to speak to how their work advances equity. Dugan (2021) admonishes educators in her article in Educational Leadership—to beware of equity traps and tropes. I have often cited the Negro spiritual that says, “Everybody talking about heaven ain’t going there” to draw parallels to everyone talking about equity ain’t trying to achieve it. Educational leaders need discernment when addressing issues of equity, and they must approach issues of oppression with a critical eye if they want to see improvement.

Continuous improvement research in education is being heralded as methods dedicated to equity when critical scholars argue that is simply not the case (Bang & Vossoughi, 2016; Bush-Menenas, 2022; Capper, 2019; Horsford et al., 2018; Safir & Dugan, 2021). Hinnant-Crawford and Anderson (2022) explain that most improvement research has one of three purposes: efficiency, efficacy, or justice. While improvement work can have multiple purposes, in this claim is the clear admission that all improvement work does not lead to justice. In fact, some improvement work often makes racist educational systems more efficient in perpetuating inequality.