It Takes a City: The Process and Politics of Urban School Restructuring Open Access
Wilbon White, Tirza (2012)
Abstract
This historic case study reveals the process, goals, and
motivations of
stakeholders who were involved in the restructuring of a K-5 urban
elementary school.
Although extensive literature exists on urban school restructuring
and on the influence of
context in school reform efforts, the literature omits voices
belonging to those individuals
who shape restructuring reform agendas and goals during the
process: educators; non-
school, external stakeholders; and community members. Moreover, no
studies illuminate
embedded motivations for restructuring and the role that race,
class, and power assumes
in those efforts. Oral histories, in-depth interviews, narratives,
document analysis,
and focus groups were used to illustrate the process from the
perspectives of multiple
stakeholders. Urban regime theory (URT) and critical race theory
(CRT) framed the
study's results and revealed the counter-narratives that challenged
key assumptions
located in mainstream literature. They show that (1) school
restructuring occurred within
the context of a simultaneous investment in neighborhood
revitalization; (2)
external, non-school stakeholders with varied primary goals
initiated and invested in
restructuring because they viewed a high-performing school as
critically important yet
secondary, a tool needed to supported their primary motivations;
(3) restructuring
resulted in dramatic increases in student achievement for
low-income, African America children,
increases that were subsequently sustained over a ten-year period;
(4) committed school-
level educators were disinvested in the political process of change
and therefore found
their future trajectory at the will of district-level
administrators; and (5) many of
the problems attributed to the education of African American
children and families were
not the result of poverty as a deficit of individuals but rather
were the result of a legacy of social
policy neglect. This study is instructive because it can inform
those concerned with the
education of children in urban settings about the mechanisms,
motivations, and broad
understanding that were required to turnaround a failing school
prior to the passage of the
No Child Left Behind Act. This study is also theoretically
significant because it gives
voice to the perspectives of stakeholders of color and adds to the
growing literature on
race-conscious education policy.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter I: Introduction and Statement of the Problem
.......................................................1
Purpose of the Study
............................................................................................................5
Significance of the
Study............................................................................................6
Theoretical Frameworks
.............................................................................................7
Urban Regime Theory
.........................................................................................8
Critical Race Theory
.........................................................................................12
Definition of
Terms...................................................................................................16
Chapter II: Review of the
Literature.................................................................................20
Systemic Urban School
Reform................................................................................21
School Reconstitution
...............................................................................................26
School
Restructuring.................................................................................................37
Race and Civic Engagement in School
Reform........................................................48
Chapter III: Methodology
.................................................................................................56
Research
Design........................................................................................................56
The
Setting................................................................................................................57
Data Sources
.............................................................................................................60
Data Analysis
............................................................................................................68
Reliability and
Validity.............................................................................................70
Researcher
Positionality............................................................................................72
Limitations
................................................................................................................73
Chapter IV:
Findings.........................................................................................................76
Phase One: Housing in Atlanta in Black and White,
1932-1936.............................76
Phase Two: Principally Speaking, 1982-1987
..........................................................85
Phase Three: The Social Context of Reform, 1987-1991
.......................................101
Phase Four: The Community Matters,
1991-1994..................................................121
Phase Five: Why Children Are the Measure of Success, 1994-1998
.................... 134
Chapter V: Discussion
...........................................................................................178
Theoretical Frameworks and Themes from the Literature
..............................................182
Implications for Research
................................................................................................185
Implications for
Educators...............................................................................................186
Implications for Policymakers
.........................................................................................187
References........................................................................................................................190
Appendices.......................................................................................................................205
Appendix A: Basic Tenets of Urban Regime
Theory............................................205
Appendix B: Basic Tenets of Critical Race Theory
..............................................206
Appendix C: Interview
Participants.......................................................................207
Appendix D: Invitation to Participate Letter
.........................................................211
Appendix E: Informed Consent
.............................................................................213
About this Dissertation
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