Assessing School Choice Politics and Policy Through Historical, Sociological, and Philosophical Frameworks

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Our goal is to provide an interdisciplinary forum to discuss recent scholarship examining school choice through historical, sociological, and philosophical frameworks. The first panelist will discuss how educational eras of the past illuminate the trade-offs and tensions that persist in contemporary policy debates. The second panelist will address the consequences of Chicago’s competitive choice policy from the perspective of students who must navigate the process. The third panelist will describe how San Francisco’s intradistrict choice policy sought diversity but hindered its court-mandated desegregation efforts. The fourth panelist will discuss the tensions inherent in progressive, community-based charters in the face of choice-based discourses of market and competition. The final panelist will provide a civic democratic assessment of current school choice policies.

Sub Unit

• Division L - Educational Policies and Politics / Division L - Section 4: School Choice and Other Market Reforms

Chair

• Rand Quinn, University of Pennsylvania

Papers

• Historical Reflections on School Choice - Michael C. Johanek, University of Pennsylvania

• A Contest Without Winners: How Students Experience Competitive School Choice Policy - Kate L. Phillippo, Loyola University Chicago

• Choice in the Name of Diversity: The Struggle to Desegregate San Francisco Schools - Rand Quinn, University of Pennsylvania

• What Is the Role of Community-Based Charter Schools in Education Justice Movements? - Terrenda Corisa White, University of Colorado-Boulder

• A Civic Democratic Assessment of Current School Choice Policies - Sigal Raday Ben-Porath, University of Pennsylvania

Discussant

• Linn E. Posey-Maddox, University of Wisconsin - Madison