Understanding Special Education and Standards-Based Reform as Biopolitical Systems

• In Event: 70.053 - Discourse, Ethics, Biopower

Abstract

An urban elementary school and school district located were the focal points for this research study. Both the school and the district were labeled as failing under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA). Foucauldian conception of biopolitics and the Deleuzian notion of the ‘dividual are theoretical frameworks used to make meaning of qualitative data collected for this study. Interview, observation, and document data revealed that the district, operating under a biopolitical framework, hierarchized, segregated, and geographically shifted certain demographic groups of students based on their potential to succeed on high-stakes examinations. Teachers and administrators were also linked with the demographics of the students they taught, and were subsequently seen as ‘dividuals within the biopolitical system that standards-based reform exacerbated.

Author

• Jessica K. Bacon, Montclair State University