Whose Schools? Justice, Recognition, and School Closure

• In Event: 16.051 - Justice, Democracy, and Educational Policy

Abstract

School closure has become an increasingly prevalent means of educational reform, particularly in urban communities, yet it is not without controversy. Competing claims position closure as either a step towards achieving a more just distribution of educational resources and outcomes, or as perpetuating further injustice by misrecognizing the interests of the communities subject to closure decisions. Using grounded reflective equilibrium (Levinson, forthcoming), an empirically-sensitive normative analysis, I address the merits of these two claims and consider what limits, if any, they place on the use of closure as a educational reform policy.

Author

• Jacob Fay, Harvard University