Accountability for equity: can state policy leverage social justice?

Leadership preparation: engine of transformation or social reproduction?

“…Such goals remain positioned within a belief that schools are an engine of social justice moving towards equity. Numerous commentators, from Bourdieu and Passeron (1977) onwards, have pointed out that schools have not, do not and in the foreseeable future will not function in this way (Gamoran 2001, Skrla et al 2001. Indeed, as Pajak and Green (2003) point out, were there to be a genuine transformation, with many rather than the exceptional few from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds achieving equitable outcomes, so much of the middle class would be displaced in universities and jobs that society would experience a major upheaval.…”

Loosely coupled organizations, misrecognition, and social reproduction

“…. (2001: 239) While acknowledging that abuses of testing have been perpetrated in the past, Skrla et al (2001) question the assumption that children of colour and children from low-income families are inevitably hurt by state-sponsored accountability systems. Citing student achievement data over multiple years from Texas and other states, they make a strong case that accountability systems can and, in some instances, do improve overall student achievement and particularly the achievement of low-income and ethnic minority students.…”

“…novice, apprentice, proficient, distinguished) are designed to provide a way to clearly communicate expectations to students and their parents, as well as convey specific feedback about concrete examples of student work. Skrla et al (2001) echo Olneck's (2000) call for educators to become engaged in the development of standards and accountability policy as a means to further equity and social justice. They draw attention to two related failings of American education with respect to students from lowincome and ethnic minority family backgrounds.…”

“…A careful and critical analysis of this evidence can also reveal the contributions to social reproduction made by the very same education structures that are falsely believed by many to be the primary vehicle to higher status. Skrla et al (2001) advocate using results from accountability systems to leverage both resources and services for children from poor and minority backgrounds. They also suggest that educational practices can be borrowed from schools and districts where high levels of success for all students already exist.…”

Racial-Equity Policy as Leadership Practice: Using Social Practice Theory to Analyze Policy as Practice

“…It could be argued that the majority of education policy is concerned with making changes that address (in)equities inherent in the education environments, and yet inequity persists (e.g., Ingram & Schneider, 1991;Kluger, 1975;Skarla, Scheurich, Johnson, & Koschoreck, 2001;Yudof, Levin, Moran, Ryan, & Bowmans, 2012). One contributing factor constraining policy may be the fact that education systems largely ignore the knowledge production value in studying their own policy implementation activity (e.g., Gherardi, 2006;Honig, 2006b;Yanow, 1996).…”