The Irony of Rigor: Understanding Conflict Between Black and Latina/o Parents of Students With Dis/abilities and Charter Schools

• In Event: 34.037 - Neoliberal Education Reforms at the Intersection of Dis/Ability, Race, and Class

Abstract

Objectives or purposes
The purpose of this study is to understand conflict between Black and Latin@ parents of students with dis/abilities and charter schools. A related purpose was to understand if these conflicts reflected steering away practices, explicit or implicit mechanism employed by charter schools to avoid serving unwanted students.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
This study draws from two interconnected analytical lines of work. First, we use Disability Critical Race Studies (Annamma, Connor, Ferri, 2012) to understand conflict between Black and Latin@ parents of students with dis/abilities and charter schools. We conceptualize these conflicts as a reflection of two intertwined ideologies: Whiteness and Normalcy. Second, we draw from the political economy of education to understand urban education policy as a neoliberal tool to restructure the urban space for capital accumulation (Lipman, 2011; Soja, 1989). The combination of these analytical frameworks affords researchers the opportunity to examine the intersection of race, dis/ability, and neoliberalism in education and their role in producing unjust spaces (Soja, 1989).

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry
We used analytical tools from grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014) to analyze open-ended interviews with 24 Black and Latin@ parents of students with disabilities who experienced conflict with a charter school, and six lawyers that provided legal services to these parents. We also analyzed individual education plans (IEPs) and charter school artifacts (e.g., handbooks, websites, and brochures).

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view
A key concept in our findings was the Irony of Rigor. That is, parents chose to go to a charter school because of these schools’ reputation of disciplinary and academic rigor. Ironically, parents experienced conflicts in charter schools because of the rigidity of those disciplinary and academic practices, as charter schools were not willing to change them to serve the needs of students with dis/abilities. Out of 24 cases, we found that 21 reflected steering away mechanism. We examined how disciplinary practices informed by whiteness and normalcy are at the core of conflicts between Black and Latin@ parents of students with disabilities and charter schools. We also examine issues of governamentality and parents’ participation in educational decisions.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work
Advocacy groups, parents, neighborhood associations, state officials, and professional organizations have raised concerns about steering away practices in charter schools. These concerns about charter schools have emerged amid historical forms of exclusion already experienced by students of color with dis/abilities, particularly those living in urban areas (Blanchet, Klingner, & Harry, 2009). Our study examines these intersecting forms of inequities and their relations with neoliberal reforms in education, providing recommendations to dismantle them.

Author

• Federico R. Waitoller, University of Illinois at Chicago