Investigating White Supremacy Culture and Push-out Strategies at an Urban Charter School

• In Event: 50221 - Section on Disability in Society Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3: Disability, Work, and Education

Abstract

Charter schools have steadily expanded in the United States over the last two decades. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2023), public charter school enrollment more than doubled from 1.8 million in fall 2010 to 3.7 million in fall 2021. By 2021, more than 50 percent of the charter school population was comprised of students from minoritized communities with 37 percent identifying as Hispanic, 24 percent Black, .7 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native, and .4 percent Pacific Islander. As the enrollment of minoritized students in charter schools has increased, so has criticism of the school choice movement and its impact on public schools, and vulnerable students including those with intersecting marginalized identities – specifically, minoritized students with disabilities.
Research demonstrates how charters contribute to racial (Renzulli & Evans, 2005) and socioeconomic segregation (Kotok et al., 2017), employ harsh discipline practices that disproportionately impact Black and other minoritized groups (Golann, 2021), and enact ableist practices that exclude minoritized students with disabilities from general education (Waitoller, 2020). In his study of Chicago charters, Waitoller (2020) identified four “push-out” practices used by schools to encourage parents to disenroll minoritized students with disabilities. These included (1) inflexible and rigorous academic and disciplinary practices, (2) delay and/or denial of special education services, (3) lack of adequately trained teachers, and (4) suggesting to parents that they “choose” another school for their children (Waitoller, 2020). Push-out practices, rooted in neoliberal, racist, and ableist ideologies were used to remove minoritized students with disabilities from charters when they were unwilling or unable to assimilate to white, middle-class, able-bodied norms for learning and behavior (Waitoller, 2022). Given the increased number of minoritized students enrolled in charter schools, additional research investigating the impact of inequitable practices, including pushing out nonconforming students in charter schools, is warranted.

Author

• Armineh Hallaran, The City College of New York