Clients, Consumers, or Collaborators? Parents and their Roles in School Reform During Children Achieving, 1995-2000. Occasional Paper

Gold, Eva; Rhodes, Amy; Brown, Shirley; Lytle, Susan L.; Waff, Diane

doi:10.1037/e383582004-001

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…This is not to imply that prior to the takeover there existed a golden age of public participation in Philadelphia-and it is also not to imply that engaging the public productively is a simple or painless task. While one earlier superintendent (David Hornbeck) made increasing public engagement a pillar of his reform model, it has been less central in other administrations (Gold, Rhodes, Brown, Lytle, & Waff, 2001). What we show here is that marketization, as it has been manifest in Philadelphia, is not just about a lack of concern for participation (although that is certainly the case).…”

Section: "On the Ground" Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 70%

Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service: Marketization and Public Engagement in Education

Cucchiara

Gold

Simon

2011

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

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Background/Context Market models of school reform are having a major impact on school districts across the country. While scholars have examined many aspects of this process, we know far less about the general effects of marketization on public participation in education and local education politics. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This article uses an examination of marketization in Philadelphia over a six-year period (2001-7) to explore its implications for public engagement—or the ability of individuals and groups to work with and influence the school district and hold officials accountable. Setting The research was conducted in Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the country. In 2001, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took over the School District of Philadelphia, citing on-going fiscal crises and poor student achievement. The resulting reforms included new leadership, new governance structures, and significant privatization. Research Design This is a qualitative case study of school district change in Philadelphia, focusing on the implications for public engagement. Data Collection and Analysis Data included over 50 interviews with education administrators, civic and political elites, and representatives of grassroots and community groups. Data also included six years of participant observation at public meetings and in reform coalitions. Analysis followed a grounded theory approach designed to identify district policies and practices related to public participation and to document how these practices shaped the ability of individuals and groups to engage productively with the district. Findings/Results We find that the marketization of education in Philadelphia had a major impact on the district's institutional structure and practices for interacting with local stakeholders. Our data point to several changes that were particularly consequential in shaping the opportunities for engagement and the direction such engagement took. These are: a corporate governance structure, an emphasis on communication, widespread contracting out for services, an increase in school choice, and a focus on customer service. Conclusions/Recommendations These changes have resulted in channeling of public participation along individual lines at the expense of collective forms of action and, more broadly, undercutting of the understanding of education as a public good. Given the continued influence of market models of education reform at the local and national levels, it will be important for policymakers to pay close attention to the ways by which marketization can limit engagement and to develop strategies, such as increased transparency and new vehicles for public input, to address this tendency.

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Section: "On the Ground" Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 70%

Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service: Marketization and Public Engagement in Education

Cucchiara

Gold

Simon

2011

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education

Self Cite

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“…But the model in itself does not inform us how to achieve parent engagement. That is a question perhaps best answered by research into community development and community organizing (for important case studies on this point see, Shirley 1997Shirley , 2002Gold et al 2001). In other words, the urban-regime model provides a guide as to where policy-relevant research is needed, but the model itself operates in a more confined scope of explanation.…”

Section: The Analytics Of Local Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Looking Back to Look Forward

Stone

2005

Urban Affairs Review

201

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Abstract. The current theories of governance and economic development require the possession of certain social values. The spreading of these values is poor in the Hungarian society. Accordingly, real development cooperation activities and real bottom-up organised partnership networks in Hungary are not frequent phenomena. It seems that the early results of a research project in the agglomeration of Pécs verify this hypothesis.

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“…voting, participation within political parties and community organizations) in low-income communities (Putnam 1995). The reasons that have been suggested for lower involvement vary, ranging from lack of time and information (Gold 2001), to feelings of powerlessness and a low sense of individual and collective efficacy (Lareau 1988). Whatever the explanation it is clear that in urban areas like Oakland, where poverty is concentrated and poor people are socially isolated, the parents of the children who experience the greatest difficulty in school also tend to be the least involved.…”

Section: ____________________________________mentioning

confidence: 99%

Racial Isolation, Poverty and the Limits of Local Control as a Means for Holding Public Schools Accountable

Noguera¹

2003

Youth and Work in the Post-Industrial City of North America and Europe

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There is perhaps no other sector that reflects the fractured nature of civil society in the United States more than public education. Despite a Supreme Court decision calling for schools to be racially integrated, public schools across the United States remain largely segregated with respect to the race and class make-up of their student populations (Orfield and Eaton 1996).Public schools are not only segregated, but in most American cities, poor children have been consigned to schools that show very little evidence of serving their educational needs. On every known measure of academic performance, the vast majority of students attending urban public schools in the United States (especially those who are African American and Latino), are deficient with respect to basic literacy and math skills (Miller 1995; James, Jurich and Estes 2001).In California, the state's Academic Performance Index (API) rankings reveal that poor academic performance is most common in school districts serving low-income populations, particularly in racially isolated urban areas where poverty tends to be concentrated (Ed-data 2002). This is true in large cities such as Los Angeles, Fresno and Oakland, and it is also true in smaller cities such as Compton, Marin City and East Palo Alto. The State of California holds local school districts accountable for the academic performance of students, but it does relatively little to ensure that schools meet the conditions that are necessary to provide adequate educational opportunities for all students. Although numerous studies have shown that poverty and racial isolation contribute significantly to school failure (Coleman 1966;Jencks 1972;Kozol

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Clients, Consumers, or Collaborators? Parents and their Roles in School Reform During Children Achieving, 1995-2000. Occasional Paper

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service: Marketization and Public Engagement in Education

Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service: Marketization and Public Engagement in Education

Looking Back to Look Forward

Racial Isolation, Poverty and the Limits of Local Control as a Means for Holding Public Schools Accountable

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