Equity Reform in Action: How Teachers and Working-Class Families Fight for Expanded Opportunities to Learn

• In Event: Implementing More and Better Learning Time: Understanding the Actors, the Stage, and the Setting

Abstract

Although there is widespread support among policymakers and researchers for the idea of redesigning the school today towards the goal of expanding equitable learning time for all, few studies show how this particular reform is playing out at in the everyday lives of teachers, students, and families, or the role that community organizations play in its instantiation. Our purpose is to share findings from ethnographic research about the barriers to equitable implementation that confront local actors and how those local actors address these barriers.

To frame our study we draw on recent analyses of community organizing as a force for equity-based reform in communities of color (Fruchter, 2007; Oakes & Rogers, 2006). We also draw on the view that equity-focused reform is not just a technical challenge but instead mediated by cultural norms and political interests in the local policy ecosystem (Welner, 2001). Community and teacher organizing groups address this challenge by working with those who have been most affected by inequitable policies.

Our research for this paper was carried out in partnership with two organizations seeking to advance MBLT in Colorado: a reform network for teacher union members and a parent organizing group. Our design followed the principles of exploratory, qualitative research, meaning we used an evolving, iterative process of snowball sampling and ongoing data collection until we reached saturation. Our primary method was to interview leaders of the groups, accompanied by observation of meetings and public events.

We found that local actors in these different community organizations support and advocate the aims of MBLT. They confront several barriers, however, to equitable implementation, including inflexible transportation, misalignment with the daily routines of working families, and inconsistent district buy-in to MBLT goals. These have the potential to disrupt MBLT from working for the needs of Colorado’s vulnerable communities.

Participating groups have employed several strategies to over these barriers. For example, parents and community organizers have identified the need to re-organize the way transportation mediates access to school and after-school. These programs work with public transportation and school districts to develop a more flexible system that enables students to participate in after-school activities with varying pick-up and drop-off times. Such efforts pose complex political and financial challenges because of current budget cuts and existing transportation contracts.

Second, teacher unions are adopting organizing roles outside of their traditional teacher sector to build support for MBLT among various stakeholders in their districts. Union leaders argue that not only is superintendent buy-in necessary, but so is the support of teachers and parents.

Major school reform initiatives that aim to accomplish equity need to partner with the targets of those reforms who will ultimately shape their implementation: families and teachers. We examine the experiences of those affected by the MBLT initiative - and what organized groups are doing to meet their needs. As such, our paper will generate important implications for the role that teachers and working families can play in guaranteeing quality in large scale reform initiatives.

Authors

• Hannah Jones, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Daniela Kruel DiGiacomo, University of Colorado - Boulder