Transformative Education Coalitions: Building Leaders and Collective Power for Education Justice

• In Event: The Role of Movement-Building and Cross-Sector Partnerships in Organizing for Educational and Racial Justice

Abstract

Public education in Philadelphia is entrenched in political struggles for power and control between the city and state governments marked by extreme austerity measures, school closures, privatization, and a racist state funding formula. This paper focuses on a critical participatory action research (CPAR) project situated in a city-wide education coalition. Our research and organizing centers directly impacted individuals and communities as experts and co-researchers through an intersectional leadership praxis. Findings illustrate the ways in which a transformative approach to organizing or schooling is a philosophical shift operating across the cultural, practice, and relational levels. This work contributes strategies and insights for designing transformational spaces to grow leaders and build collective power in service of education justice.

Authors

• Kristen P. Goessling, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Pep Marie, Our City Our Schools
  Presenting Author