A Site of Resistance and/or Reclamation? The Role of the Black Church in the Charter School Movement

• In Event: 54.018 - Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

The struggle for equitable educational opportunities for students of color and those from low income families began well before the seminal Brown case, and continues with each new wave of education reform. The charter school movement is one such reform rapidly expanding across the United States and often targeting students from low-income communities of color. Black churches have traditionally played a significant role in the education of African Americans, and have become increasingly involved in the charter movement. Some have elected to mobilize in opposition to the expansion of charters, while others participate in the movement through the support and opening of charter schools. Unfortunately, there has been little scholarly investigation into the nature of this involvement.

This dissertation examines the charter movement participation of nine predominantly Black churches, and the extent to which they have mobilized themselves as sites of resistance and/or reclamation of Black education through the charter school movement. They are located in two regions of the country, and span five different states. Six of the churches have mobilized in support of the charter movement, and three have mobilized in opposition. Article 1 examines the nature of Black church participation in the charter movement, and Article 2 examines discursive claims around their reasons and motivations for becoming involved. Finally, a related case study examines a coalition of Black clergy that mobilized congregations and communities across their state to defeat legislation that would have expanded the reach of charter schools in Georgia.

Preliminary findings suggest that Black church participation in the charter movement falls into four categories: political mobilization, parent and community education, creation and engagement of school choice-related coalitions, and “birthing” and/or supporting charter schools. There appear to be two emerging discourses regarding motivations for becoming involved in the charter school movement: health of the church and community revitalization. These discourses are not currently included in the literature on African-Americans’ motivations for supporting school choice, and further research is necessary to determine the extent to which they are pervasive across Black faith communities. In addition to these preliminary findings, the data suggest that Black churches hold highly nuanced perspectives on the charter school movement, and cannot easily be classified as “supporting” or “opposing” charter schools through their involvement. Many pastors and congregants at churches appearing to act in support of the movement held serious reservations about the direction of the charter school movement at large, and several participants at churches appearing to act in opposition to the movement agreed with several central tenets of the original charter school idea. This suggests that charter school related tensions within the African American faith community are not nearly as polarized as public debate would have us believe. The data reveal a number of commonalities in beliefs that would allow for mobilization and joint advocacy among Black churches supporting both traditional public schools and charter schools alike.

Author

• Danielle Allen, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill