The Unseen Influence: How Education Policies Undermine Title 1 Schools’ Progress

• In Event: The Interplay of Discourse, Policy, and Perception in Education Inequities

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological, qualitative study was to understand how the use of accountability policies by external forces influenced the leadership experiences of New York City principals from Title 1 schools. Organizational control and policy scholarship framed the study and highlighted the power dynamics, socio-political, and historical contexts of accountability faced by principals. The study found that the design of high stakes accountability policies created disadvantaged learning environments, expanded structural inequities, were discriminatory, restrictive, and undermined the efforts of principals to improve their schools. The coercive power of educational policy and threats of sanctions against schools swayed the decision-making of principals, leading them to prioritize achieving the external policy goals established by their state’s accountability system.

Author

• Michele R. Williams, Lehman College - CUNY