The Effects of Neoliberal Education Reforms on Students With Dis/Abilities and the Larger School Community at a Reconstituted High School

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

Abstract

Purpose and Overview
This study examined how neoliberal approaches toward accountability reform led state and district administrators and stakeholders within a historically underperforming urban high school to implement numerous school-improvement plans through reconstitution. I chronicle the significant turmoil that occurred within the school, and highlight how neo-liberal reforms affected the schooling experiences of 10 students with an identified dis/ability, their friends and teachers, and their school identity.

To contextualize the study, I provide an overview of the school’s history leading up to its initial reconstitution in 2007 and changes between 2007 and 2013, when the State Commissioner of Education announced the school must achieve acceptable ratings for two out of three years (2013 through 2016) or face permanent state closure. I describe the advocacy efforts of the immediate and larger school community and the challenges they faced in their efforts.

Theoretical Frameworks
To tell the story of this school as it has transpired over time, I utilize Student Voice (SV) and Critical Disability Studies (CDS) as frameworks for analysis and interpretation. SV affords youth the opportunity to share in “school decisions that shape their lives and the lives of their peers” (Mitra, 2009, p. 819). When we listen closely to students, we can better (a) understand school-related topics and problems, (b) rethink policy and practice, and (c) embark on school improvement efforts (Cook-Sather, 2002; Harris et al., 2014). CDS exposes the socially constructed assumptions influencing a particular policy from the perspective of those for whom the policy was actualized (Baglieri & Shapiro, 2012). SV and CDS inform my critique of neoliberal reforms by focusing on the disparate impacts students in this study encountered due to the structural disadvantages faced by a school located geographically within an impoverished section of the city.

Method and Data Sources
This qualitative case study focuses on one school and zeroes in on the individual and corporate perspectives of individuals within the school and larger community (Merriam, 1998). My research questions aimed at understanding the impact of neoliberal reform efforts on an urban minority high school and the inequities that occurred at the intersections of dis/ability, race, and class to account for the ways in which stakeholders at this school experienced positive and negative effects of education and accountability policy reforms.

Primary data sources were derived from students with dis/abilities and their friends as well as document analyses of media reports, board meeting minutes, and state and district-level websites. Additional sources included data from interviews with teachers, administrators, parents, and community members/activists.

Results & Scholarly Significance
Preliminary results reveal neoliberal education reforms exacerbate the structural inequities and challenges at schools situated at the intersection of dis/ability, race, and low socio-economic status. Nevertheless, these disadvantages were mitigated through the involvement of community engagement and activism. The significance of this work lies in the author’s ability to gain the perspectives of students with dis/abilities, their friends, and members of their larger school community and highlight how neo-liberal reforms and incentive systems disrupt and complicate students’ lives.

Author

• Barbara L Pazey, University of North Texas