Policy That Cares: Bridging the Gap Between Education Policy and Care Theory in Texas

• In Event: 75.025 - Examining the Education of Immigrant, Undocumented, and Newcomer Students: Considering Contextual and Structural Inequalities

Abstract

Care in education is typically studied as a relation, a visible interaction, between two actors; the actual language of care is rarely explored. The following study fills this gap in two ways: By establishing a framework for caring language, and by examining the school policies of ten Texas public school districts. The guiding research questions: What is care in education? How can scholarship on care inform a framework for caring school policy? Is there a discernible pattern to the use of caring language in school policies across economically and racially diverse Texas school districts? Yielded mixed findings. Overall, property wealthy school districts used more caring language than property poor school districts.

Author

• Olivia A Johnson, The University of Texas at Austin