Opportunities for Democratic Governance Across Ideologically Diverse Charter Schools

• In Event: 41.030 - The Politics of Neoliberal Educational Policies and Equal Educational Opportunity: Empirical and Conceptual Examinations

Abstract

A longstanding goal of public education has been to serve democratic purposes and the public good. Researchers have demonstrated that opportunities for democratic public school governance are inequitably distributed along racial and socioeconomic lines and are particularly limited in an education policy arena favoring privatization. In particular, decision-making around privately-managed charter schools has tended to amplify the interests of elite White reformers while the voices of poor communities and communities of color remain constrained. However, we know little about how governance opportunities compare and contrast across charter schools oriented around diverse political, ideological, and philosophical perspectives. This exploratory, descriptive case study of New York City charter schools aims to address this gap in the literature. I examined the websites of 23 charter schools self-identifying as progressive and compared these with the websites of four charter management organizations (CMOs) underpinned by neoliberal ideals. I analyzed how each charter school’s website functions as a space wherein parents and community members can access up-to-date information on how to participate in school governance through charter school board meetings and parent organization activities. Findings demonstrate that progressive-leaning charter schools provide more information relative to CMOs regarding opportunities for public participation in school governance. These findings suggest that progressive-leaning charter schools enact more democratic school governance practices compared with their neoliberal-leaning counterparts.

Author

• Elise Castillo, University of California - Berkeley