Performance Is Not Enough: The (Marginalizing) Effects of School Choice Competition on an Underserved Neighborhood Public School

• In Event: Critical Theory, Contested Educational Spaces

Abstract

This paper utilizes critical policy analysis and ethnographic methods to interrogate the effects of the broad policy trend of school choice on a particular neighborhood public school. In an effort to respond to choice competition, a historically underperforming and predominantly LatinX school responded by focusing on improving test scores and marketing its dual language program. The findings imply that school choice policies further exacerbate inequalities and marginalize the most vulnerable schools and students.

Author

• Bryan J. Duarte, Purdue University