The Politics of Charter Expansion in the Southern City (Poster 33)

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

School choice evolved from an obstructionist tactic by white, middle-class families and policy makers determined to undermine desegregation efforts to a policy utilized by some advocates to (re)construct civil rights for Black communities. Since 1991, advocates offer charter schools as a policy lever to improve educational opportunities for Black students – with substantial federal and philanthropic support – despite mixed evidence on their effectiveness. This project explores contemporary modes of segregation, such as exploitative housing policies and county secession, in relationship to charter growth in a majority Black city in the U.S. South. By exploring the contemporary implications of the historical relationship between Jim Crow era segregation, education policy, and unequal political and economic power, this case study illuminates the locally contingent processes that shape how charter schools take root in new places, while building knowledge on the structural conditions that shape Black politics in a majority Black U.S. Southern city. Despite the structural forces constraining their power over public education, findings show how Black Memphians leveraged local, cultural, and racial consciousness to develop place-based alternatives to privatization, aiming to reshape the terms of Black educational experiences and political power, which illuminate the possibilities for public education emanating from Black lived experiences.

Author

• Rachel E. Williams, University of Wisconsin - Madison