Between public and private: politics, governance, and the new portfolio models for urban school reform

The Political Economy of Subprime Educational Policy: A Critical Analysis of Charter Schools in Black Communities

“…Research also illuminates how charter expansion is typically tied to new governance arrangements that constrain local democratic governance and accountability such as state takeover agencies, mayoral control, appointed boards, and portfolio management models, further circumscribing notions of empowerment (Bulkley et al, 2010;Buras, 2014;Glazer & Egan, 2018;Lipman, 2013;Scott, 2013a). In a particularly compelling study, national evidence demonstrates that state takeovers, oftentimes preceding and facilitating charter expansion, are more likely to be advanced in districts with Black and Latino political representation on local school boards and city councils, despite similar low performance in white districts (Morel, 2018).…”

2018 -- "SUM" is Better than Nothing: Toward a Sociology of Urban Mathematics Education

“…This growth has occurred within a larger market-based approach to educational reform or as part of urban districts' adoption of a portfolio management model (Anderson & Dixson, 2016;Bulkley, Henig, & Levin, 2010;Dixson, Royal, & Henry, 2014). These schools have increased levels of autonomy, relative to traditional district schools, with respect to issues such as curriculum and instruction, staffing, budgeting, and so on (Berends, 2014;Bulkley, 2010). We do not know from Jackson's (2009) study how the specific history or characteristics of Johnson Middle School might reflect the larger trends of urban education reform.…”