Shifting Policy Contexts and the Purposes of Teacher Education: Minority-Serving Institutions in a Post-DEI Era

Lillie Ko-Wong

As scholars contend with a "post-DEI" era, we must consider not only what is happening to DEI initiatives, but also what will replace them. This study examines how shifting policy contexts are reshaping the purposes of teacher education within minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and how these shifts are mediated through organizational practices and interorganizational partnerships. Although federal support for MSIs has come under growing political pressure, several states have introduced new MSI designation systems and funding initiatives in the midst of a rapidly changing policy landscape. Studying MSIs in this moment offers a unique window into how institutions adapt to changing policy environments and how racial equity efforts are constrained and renegotiated amid declining federal support. At a time when race-evasive policies are becoming increasingly prevalent, the project also investigates how race and racism continue to shape educational opportunity despite efforts to minimize their significance in public policy. Drawing on organizational theory and education policy scholarship, the study investigates how teacher preparation programs respond to changing policy environments and how partnerships among universities, school districts, and community colleges shape pathways into teaching. Through a comparative qualitative study of enrollment-based MSIs in varying state contexts, the project explores how institutions navigate competing demands related to educator development, racial equity, and educational reform. The findings will inform broader debates about the future of racial equity in teacher preparation, while illuminating how institutions shape who becomes a teacher, the ideological formation of educators, and the public purposes of education in an increasingly diverse democracy.

About Lillie Ko-Wong

Lillie Ko-Wong (she/her) received her Ph.D. in Education from the Transforming Education in a Diverse Society program at the University of California, San Diego. Her research investigates how institutions and policy systems shape educational opportunity and the formation of educators. Bridging scholarship in teacher education, organizational studies, and education policy, she examines how educational institutions adapt to changing demographic and policy contexts. Her work investigates how these institutional responses influence educator development, racial equity, and the civic and ideological formation of teachers. Her research focuses particularly on minority-serving institutions, interorganizational partnerships, and state policy environments, with the goal of understanding how institutional structures can expand opportunities for historically marginalized communities while strengthening the public purposes of education. Her research has been published in the Review of Educational Research, Educational Researcher, Journal for Multicultural Education, among others. She received her M.A in Education at the California State University, Sacramento, and B.A from the University of California, Davis. Previously, she also worked as a middle school history teacher at a Title I school in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was a 2024 National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellow.