School Reform and School Choice

• In Event: Policy and Reform Issues in Urban Education

Abstract

In this paper, the authors begin by defining urban education from a geographical perspective. Using New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Chicago as case studies, the authors then examine the current reform movement that seeks to shrink traditional school boards, increase charter schools, and disempower teachers’ unions (Lipman, 2011a; Useem, Christman, & Boyd, 2006). They examine the ways that education policies in these areas have been shaped by constituencies outside of the local contexts (Gold, Christman, & Herold, 2007; Lipman & Haines, 2007; Sutton, 1994). In particular, they examine how these policies reflect a particular political ideology that in many ways exacerbates racial and educational inequity, a goal counter to what these constituencies presumably seek to address (Foster, 1990; Franklin, 1979).

References

Foster, M. (1990). The politics of race: Through the eyes of African-American teachers. Journal of Education, 172, 123–141.

Franklin, V. P. (1979). The education of Black Philadelphia: The social and educational history of a minority community, 1900–1950. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Gold, E., Christman, J. B., & Herold, B. (2007). Blurring the boundaries: A case study of private sector involvement in Philadelphia Public Schools. American Journal of Education, 113, 181–212.

Lipman, P. (2011a). Contesting the city: Neoliberal urbanism and the cultural politics of education reform in Chicago. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(2), 217–234.

Lipman, P., & Haines, N. (2007). From accountability to privatization and African American exclusion: Chicago’s renaissance 2010. Educational Policy, 21(3), 471–502.

Sutton, J. (1994, June 28). Having your say. The Philadelphia Tribune.

Useem, E., Christman, J. B., & Boyd, W. L. (2006). The role of district leadership in radical reform: Philadelphia’s experience under the state takeover, 2001–2006. Philadelphia, PA: Research for Action.

Authors

• Adrienne D. Dixson, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign

• Camika Royal, Loyola University Maryland

• Kevin Lawrence Henry, University of Wisconsin - Madison