The Hidden Discourses of School Choice and Student Assignment Policies

• In Event: Context Matters: Cultural Identity, Inequity, and Choice

Abstract

As race continues to play a major role in access to equal educational opportunities, federal education reform efforts continue to target low-income communities of color. Yet, while such policies operate upon the pretense of “helping” students within these communities achieve academic success, the punitive components of reform efforts fail to recognize the contextual specific realities facing many communities. Utilizing the newly revised Title I SIG program, which focuses on turning around chronically low-performing schools and continues to promote school choice policies, as a case study, we illustrate the need for preparation programs to more purposefully prepare leaders to engage in race-related issues, and help enable leaders to realize their identities as advocates for communities most targeted by reform efforts.

Authors

• Sarah Diem, University of Missouri

• Bradley W. Carpenter, University of Louisville