Critical Perspectives on Education Policy and Schools, Families, and Communities: Possibilities for the Public Good

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This session demonstrates the benefits of bringing two rich areas of scholarship together: Critical Policy Analysis (CPA) and family, school, community (FSC) partnerships. CPA is a body of policy research undertaken by scholars and activists in the pursuit of social justice. CPA challenges dominant assumptions about the nature of policy. It prompts scholars of FSC partnerships to ask questions that will broaden the purposes of their research and expand the field by redefining what is considered policy research. CPA, on the other hand, benefits by encouraging critical policy scholars to consider the impact of educational policies on relationships between families, schools, and communities. The papers examine diverse outcomes of three policy initiatives for FSC partnerships in Canada and the USA.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Family, School, Community Partnerships

Chair

• Sue Winton, York University

Papers

• In/Exclusive Engagement of School Communities Through School District Decentralization: A Critical Policy Analysis - Sarah Diem, University of Missouri; Laura Gavornik Browning, University of Missouri - Columbia; Carrie Sampson, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Arizona State University

• Teasing Out the Tension: Policy Reform, Research-Based Practice, and Parental Choice in Public Education - Gillian Parekh, York University

• Youth Participatory Action Research as Policy Production: Youth Building Relationships With Home, School, and Community for Change - Cristina Alexandra Guerrero, University of Toronto

Discussant

• Michael P. Evans, Miami University - Oxford