"Great Equalizer" at 170: Conversations With Practitioners on the "Balance Wheel" Spun out of Control

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: The Impact of School Choice on Schools and Communities

Abstract

Paradoxically, as public schooling continues to become a private good, those who control it wave proudly the banner of social equalization. In this qualitative study, interviews with public, charter and nontraditional school practitioners yielded a sense of how the culture of U.S. public education is changing, and how institutional conflict is building. As the aim of “equalization” becomes increasingly mandatory in school rhetoric, assessment and representation, many teachers understand the practice of justice to be more complex. Moreover, the equalizer mandate often forces educators to proliferate toxic social norms and to deprioritize pedagogical ideals. Based on the data, the institutional implementation of schooling for social equality seems to have become not merely illusory but presents major barriers for emancipatory practitioners.

Author

• Jerald Isseks, Rutgers University