Educational Reforms, White Supremacy, and Systemic Distancing of Urban Schooling From Families and Communities

• In Event: 35.077 - MTCC Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 35.077-2 - Contesting Dominant Regimes of (Post-)Truth and Commonsense (Un)Knowing

Abstract

This qualitative study draws on 5,897 daily reflections written by 38 TFA Corps Members (CMs) enrolled at an urban university. Rooted in critical theories of Whiteness, this paper considers the effects of educational reforms on the climate and context of urban schools. Analysis of data coded “family and community influence” indicate that in this context, families and communities were minimized as partners and were frequent targets of bias by teachers, reducing families’ socializing impact on CMs learning to teach. Viewed through the lens of theories of Whiteness, these reflections (a) reveal effects of educational reform (accountability, high-stakes testing, TFA) which further distance urban schooling from surrounding communities and mutually constructed educational experiences and (b) illuminate patterns which reify White Supremacy.

Authors

• Anne E. Martin, Georgia State University

• Kara M. Kavanagh, James Madison University

• Teresa R. Fisher-Ari, Georgia State University