Local Educational Democracy Under Threat: The Role of Research on School Boards

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

For decades, sweeping education reforms have undermined the democratic foundations of public education and restricted equity and justice in schools. Local school boards have often been at the crux of these reform efforts, and local meetings have frequently been sites of the most well-publicized conflicts. Not only are school boards venues for this political advocacy, but local school board operations are also a target of these reforms. A new wave of efforts seeks to limit the role of school boards and may also limit political possibilities for advancing liberating visions of education. This session brings together educational researchers, school board members, and other local leaders to identify our role in remedying and repairing democratic governing bodies.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Carrie Sampson, Arizona State University

Participants

• Sarah Diem, University of Missouri

• Rachel Sue White, University of Texas at Austin

• Richard Blissett, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• Gabriela López, Stanford University

• Bret Miles, Colorado Association of School Executives

• Lolita A. Tabron, University of Denver

• Michael W. Apple, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Elizabeth Todd-Breland, University of Illinois at Chicago

Moderator

• Erica O. Turner, University of Wisconsin - Madison