Quantification and the Representation of Urban Students in School Choice Research and Politics

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to formally examine the “quantification” of low-income and racially minoritized students in research on urban charter schools, the representation of those students in the politics of school choice, and the relationship between them. To do so, I conduct a critical discourse analysis of the debates over school choice in Detroit during the confirmation of former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, including the quantitative research cited during those debates. I show that the way Detroit students are quantified in research and data reinforces homogenizing and deficit-based representations of urban education in the policy discourse, which are deployed by political actors to support their arguments over the value of and impact of school choice in Detroit.

Author

• Jeremy Lee Singer, Wayne State University