This Research Topic is about equity-centered improvement in education. Equity means every child gets what they need to actualize their full potential in their academic and social life, as defined by the National Equity Project. In theory, to center equity in continuous improvement (including improvement science) efforts, educators can identify a problem of practice with inequity at the core of the problem and develop and test a theory of improvement to redress that inequity and arrive at equitable outcomes. Centering equity can also mean ensuring the continuous improvement process itself is equitable. In practice, it is often unclear how equity-centered improvement is implemented and if making the improvement process equitable translates into equitable outcomes. If we conceptualize equity-centered improvement as a lever in school reform, what is the aim that educators should work towards? How might this lever be operationalized in research and practice? What might be the theory that guides the emerging field of continuous improvement in education?

The goal of this Research Topic is to arrive at a shared definition of equity-centered improvement and create boundary objects that connect researchers and practitioners in their pursuit of equity through the study and use of continuous improvement methodology.

The literature in continuous improvement in education has focused on mechanism and impact. And when connection to equity is made, it is often about leveraging improvement principles, processes, and tools to achieve equitable outcomes. Exploration of infusing equity into the process of improving is in infantile stage. Although some schools of thought argue that continuous improvement is intrinsically equity-centered, others raise doubts and concerns about this assumption and warn that an equity focus has to be made explicit in improvement work to avoid further perpetuation of inequity. This Research Topic seeks to contribute to this debate.

We welcome submissions from across the globe that align with our goal and examine the why, what, and/or how of equity-centered improvement. The methodology used can be conceptual, qualitative, quantitative, or mixed. We particularly encourage submissions that focus on the following topics:

- Equitable development and use of measurement and data infrastructure (roles, processes, tools) in support of continuous improvement;

- Social conditions that foster the progression (initiation, implementation, and institutionalization) of equity-centered improvement and ways to cultivate such conditions;

- Hindering forces (individual, organizational, societal, political, and cultural) that influence the progression of equity-centered improvement and ways to counter such resistance, and

- Conceptualization and operationalization of equity-centered improvement networks.

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Frontiers in Education

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