Reimagining School Districts as Sites for Transformation

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

The school district serves as the main organizing feature for local democratic control in education, and it is the central platform for educational decisions that impact teaching and learning. This session features district central office leaders that will speak to the challenges they are facing in these times, the generative possibilities that emerge amidst change and crisis, and how districts can operate as sites of struggle for freedom. We will explore how context enables and forecloses equitable, transformative approaches to district reform. With differences in school funding models, union presence, socio-political contexts, student diversities, and de/centralization, leaders from both the United States and Canada will help us imagine new ways of engaging with schools and communities.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chairs

• Caitlin Farrell, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Vidya Shah, York University

Participants

• Nikole Booker, New York City Department of Education

• Kingsley Botchway

• Jeewan Chanicka, Waterloo Region District School Board

• Ritu Khanna, San Francisco Unified School District

• Camille Williams-Taylor, Durham District School Board

Discussant

• Muhammad Khalifa, The Ohio State University