Symbolic Change Is Not Enough: A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Student Policy Discourses

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Voices From the Field: Students' Policy Experiences (Table 33)

Abstract

This work centers the voices of students fighting for anti-racist policy changes in Central City Public Schools. Students enacted critical leadership to educate their community and articulate specific ways institutionalized racism is entrenched within the school division. Our critical analysis examines students’ policy discourses via a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework. Findings show that while not actively naming CRT in their policy work, students strategically drew on CRT tenets to move policy discourses from symbolic to systemic change and sway public opinion around their fight for political and social equality. This work also attests to the transformational possibilities of student leadership and is a clarion call to include students as legitimate policy actors in schools and in their communities.

Authors

• Marina Lambrinou, Loyola University Maryland

• Katherine Cumings Mansfield, University of North Texas