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Sensemaking is a popular framework for studying the meaning-making dimensions of policy implementation, change initiatives, and practitioner action in education. While generative, it has traditionally offered less guidance on how certain organizational actors have formal and/or informal power to advance their version of events and how certain narratives gain legitimacy over others. A power and politics approach addresses these lacunae. Yet, to date, this approach is little used in education research, despite the fact that contests over meaning and meaning-making are routine in educational institutions. Using an empirical case of meaning-making about "equity" at a community college, this study demonstrates how a power and politics analysis identifies and interrogates the forces--implicit and explicit, within and outside an organization--that make meaning(s) (il)legitimate.

While there is no shortage of scholarship on "equity" in higher education, researchers typically examine whether a policy or practice is (in)equitable rather than how those responsible for designing and enacting a policy or practice make meaning of equity. Using a sensemaking framework and case study approach, I explored the collective meaning-making of practitioners at one community college during a time of increased policy attention to equity. Despite lacking a formal definition after 2 years of meaning-making, practitioners labeled specific ideas and activities as equity, suggesting the development of an implicit understanding. From this case, I offer five lessons to propose the concept of "equity sense," a practitioner-constructed, contextually bounded meaning with implications for practice, policy, and research.

While assessment, curricular, and pedagogical reforms have improved overall success rates in college math courses, they have been less effective in closing racial equity gaps and fostering equitable classroom experiences for racially minoritized students. Following the insights of critical race math scholars, we argue that racial inequity persists because these reforms do not tackle the dominant instructional template that informs how many math faculty teach. We propose that racial equity requires a reconfiguration of practice involving (a) race-conscious sensemaking of teaching; (b) awareness of racial dynamics in math classrooms; and (c) a humanizing math pedagogy. We describe these three principles of a racial equity practice, along with the challenges that can arise when faculty confront complicity in producing racial inequity, attempt to undo practices serving them well, and wrestle with institutional factors that constrain change.

While acknowledged as vital to expanding educational opportunity for Latinx students, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are also criticized for not adequately serving this population. Drawing on interviews with faculty at three HSIs, this study examines how faculty view Latinx students and their role in advancing these students' learning, development, and success. Findings show that faculty perceptions of Latinx students coalesced around three broad areas, but interpretations varied, as did faculty's actions in response.

Can equity policies foster success and close the outcome gaps experienced by racially minoritized students in community colleges? Using a critical policy analysis and equity-mindedness framework, we examine whether and how the design and early implementation of one such policy--the California Community Colleges' Student Equity Policy--addresses racial equity. Findings show that attention to race and racial equity diminished over time in state policy documents, and varied widely in colleges' response to the policy, suggesting that its potential to tackle racial inequities is so far unexploited. Implications are discussed and recommendations for policy, practice, and research are proposed.