EQUITY & EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION , VOL. , NO. , – http://dx.doi.org/./.. Mapping Educational Equity and Reform Policy in the Borderlands: LatCrit Spatial Analysis of Grade Retention Cristóbal Rodríguez a , Adam Amador b , and B. Abigail Tarango b a Howard University; b New Mexico State University ABSTRACT The purpose of our study is to investigate reform policy, specifcally a proposed third grade reading retention policy within the Borderlands. Under this policy, students not performing profciently on the third grade reading standardized exam will be automatically retained in the third grade. The research methods and approach used in this study include an equity analysis formed by com- bining two steps across a Borderland county in New Mexico. The frst step is a regression analysis to answer if access to early childhood education and access to highly qualifed teachers inform diferences in third grade reading scores, and the second step uses a LatCrit informed Spatial Analysis to create an equity index, to see how equity varies across the spaces of elementary schools. This allows us to essentially map Third Grade Reading Retention Reform Policy in the Borderlands. The setting of the study is in the U.S. Southwest Borderlands, specifcally Doña Ana County, which borders Texas and Mexico, in southern New Mexico. Up to a quarter of the population is under the age of 18, two thirds (66.6%) of the population is Latino, and half of the population speaks a language other than English at home. Implications from this study include, for policy makers, policy considerations that come from a non-defcit thinking perspective and focus on systemic considerations to improving educational equity. Given that the setting demographically mirrors much of the state of New Mexico, as well as demographic shifts across communities throughout the U.S., this study provides further considerations for key systemic changes to improving academic measures like reading scores. There is a current battle, a struggle to improve educational equity for all children. As education policy reformers push forward to resolve challenges to our public education system in the United States, this study reframes those challenges. Despondently, some of the policy discourse in accountability resolves these challenges by punishing children and families through systemic and automatic grade retention. By demanding better achievement outcomes through such punitive measures we neglect to enhance opportunities for students by improving the educational process. Such education policies are ultimately informed by defcit thinking and place the blame on the proposed “victim” (Valencia, 2010). One recent education reform policy is the third grade reading retention policy, where students not performing pro- fciently on third grade reading standardized scores will repeat the third grade in order to make sure that they can read profciently. The following questions guided our study and allowed us to form our primary research questions. If access to early childhood education leads to academic preparation for third grade reading achievement, does early childhood accessibility vary across elementary schools? If the quality of teachers informs third CONTACT Cristóbal Rodríguez cristobal.rodriguez@howard.edu Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, Howard University,  Monroe St. NE, Washington, DC . Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/ueee. ©  University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Education