@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1563,
title = "What’s in Play: The Strategic and Symbolic Use of Racial Equity Frames When Racial Politics Shift",
author = "Meghan Comstock",
number = "1563",
year = "2026",
month = "August",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1563",
abstract = {Shifting racial politics place substantial pressures on organizations to navigate whether and how to sustain DEI commitments. In this study, I examine how partnerships between public school districts and private school improvement organizations (SIOs) responded to shifting environmental pressures around racial equity in their espoused goals and practice over time. I found that organizations engaged in strategic discursive responses—inflating, amplifying, and tempering their racial equity language—that produced distinct partnership dynamics. SIOs converged on socially palatable language—what I term a race-evasive justice frame. This work offers a novel framework for understanding how educational organizations in partnership navigate shifting environmental pressures, and details how stark political shifts can have a homogenizing effect on SIOs.},
}