How Grassroots Activism Can Challenge Marketization of Schools

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Marketization of schools can increase school segregation and inequality, and disregard the disparate impact of school closures, test score rankings, and school reputations upon minoritized populations. These outcomes are particularly evident in gentrifying school districts, where the interests of low-income families of color are often marginalized in favor of White or higher-income families, raising equity issues. Grassroots education activists are challenging market-based policies through their organizing efforts to promote racial equity and integration. This panel’s papers examine how teachers, students, and parents have mobilized to promote greater diversity and integration, as well as improved outcomes for low-income students. In doing so, these papers uncover how grassroots activism can influence school policies, a less studied area of growing interest.

Sub Unit

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

Chairs

• Allison Roda, Molloy College

• Katherine Chen, City University of New York

Papers

• Teacher Dissent in a City of Market Reform: The Multiple Meanings of Activism - Terrenda Corisa White, University of Colorado-Boulder; Erin R Kurtz, University of Colorado - Boulder

• New York City School Integration Activists During COVID-19 - Mira C. Debs, Yale University; Molly V. Makris, Guttman Community College - CUNY; Elise Castillo, Trinity College

• Promoting Diversity, Integration, and Activism Through a Parent-Driven Gifted and Talented Phase-Out Proposal - Allison Roda, Molloy College

• Community Organizing Against Market Reforms: How Organizers Frame Their Movement in Response to the Challenges of Racial Neoliberalism - Frances Free Ramos, University of California - Berkeley

Discussant

• Ujju Aggarwal, The New School