Let us decide: An analysis of educational equity indicator systems and the radical notion of community power

Using Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA), this study examines educational equity indicator systems in the United States to understand how equity indicators have been defined, the degree to which community members have meaningfully participated in educational equity indicator projects, and the impact of local educational equity indicator systems on communities. We ground our analysis in standards for educational equity to assess the quality of each municipality’s indicator system, and we used a framework for community-based research to examine the role of community members in equity indicator development. Findings show that indicator systems did not involve the community in the leadership of indicator system development; most indicator systems that appear to be community-derived engage community members superficially; and indicator systems appear to have an indirect impact on communities. We conclude that indicator systems need to privilege community participation at each phase of indicator development. Without such engagement, indicator development projects risk reinscribing existing inequities and power dynamics.