Accountability Interpretations: Neoliberal Policies in the Context of Youth Serving Community-Based Organizations

• In Event: Roundtable Session 111
  In Roundtable Session: Serving Families and Youth in Need in Schools and Communities

Abstract

Through preliminary case study data, this paper investigates ways in which community-based organizations (CBOs) that provide afterschool programming to low-income students of color are interpreting and strategically dealing with accountability. About 25% of low/moderate-income children regularly participate in afterschool programs. CBOs provide an array of benefits to children, their families, schools and communities. New expectations driven by high-stakes accountability and school related agendas threaten to fundamentally undermine vital aspects of the afterschool environment. Neoliberalism—a global education privatization movement—has spurred external pressures creating new accountability expectations. Providing a better understanding of the role of CBOs in neoliberal polices and how neoliberal policies shape relationships/expectations between the various stakeholders in this public-private enterprise will be explored this paper.

Author

• Joy Connolly, University of Wisconsin - Madison