Education Policy From the Ground Up: Teachers' Perspectives on Problems and Solutions in Urban Schools

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Sociology of Education Roundtable

Abstract

Within policy discourses, teachers are situated as objects of reform that enact policy under rational systems of observation and accountability and are, therefore, situated as de-professionalized actors lacking expert knowledge. This research project asks a relatively straight-forward question: If practicing teachers were given a voice in political debates over urban education policy and reform, what would they say? What macro-level policy problems would they identify as being important? Findings indicate the primary policy problems that we identified include systemic inequity and bad policy. The primary policy solutions identified included, Schools as a Community Resource, Shared Decision-Making, Contextual Goals, and Time, Space & Resources.

Authors

• Scott Ellison, University of Northern Iowa

• Ashlee Anderson, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

• Brittany Alexis Aronson, Miami University - Oxford