Envisioning Beyond Community - Community Organizing and Education Planning Across Neighborhoods (Stage 3, 11:59 AM)

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research Ed-Talk (Stage 3)

Abstract

In an era of expanded school choice, districts and community organizations face unique challenges in developing new schools. This dissertation focuses on the dynamics surrounding a proposal for a new neighborhood high school intended to serve a diverse set of communities in Chicago. This chapter considers a variety of community meetings that district officials and community leaders designed to foster public deliberation on the proposal. By comparatively analyzing public meetings held by several different organizations, I show that design choices shaped the composition of participants, participants’ orientation toward the community at large, and public discourse with important implications for sensemaking across lines of social difference. I argue that community engagement strategies critically inform the direction of efforts to promote equity.

Author

• Andrew Frangos, University of Chicago