Change Frames: How District Teams Approach the Building of Systems That Support Leadership for Equity

In this paper, we investigate systems change in the service of equity-focused leadership. We explore how eight large school districts approached this change at the beginning of a multi-year, grant-funded initiative aimed at strengthening school leadership for equity. We draw on framing theory to analyze the districts’ actions and discourses in the first year of the initiative. Two different frames emerged across the districts: a structural alignment frame, which privileges alignment across areas of work, and a collective action frame, which foregrounds shared understanding and ownership. We discuss the distinguishing characteristics of the two frames, and the types of actions that accompany each.