Public Education is Synonymous with Public Housing: Urban Education Reform and Gentrification in Urban Spaces

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 19. Local, State, and Regional Landscapes and Educational Experiences

Abstract

Public education in urban spaces faces unique challenges. Stressed urban infrastructures, austerity measures, dwindling public resources, and persistent wealth extraction are just a few. In this paper, I share narrative data - through a counter narrative frame (Matsuda, 1995) - from a two-and-a-half-year participatory action research study with teachers in a gentrifying neighborhood in an urban school district. Teacher narratives highlight how the departure from Keynesian policies created rife opportunities for public private partnerships, leaving an urban public education landscape where historically marginalized students are pushed out of neighborhoods and schools, replaced by a gentry, affluent population. The study revealed the myriad ways deficit narratives fuel public education as detested school sites and the displacement of longstanding school communities.

Author

• Thais Council, Temple University