Education Policy Commons^™

From Toxic Tours To Growing The Grassroots: Tensions In Critical Pedagogy And Community Development, Celina Su, Isabelle Jagninski

Publications and Research

Structural inequalities in American public education are inextricably tied to deep-seated patterns of racial and economic segregation. Children in poor neighborhoods are less likely to have the household resources, neighborhood institutions, or school amenities necessary for a good, challenging education. In response, a growing number of organizations have launched initiatives to simultaneously revitalize neighborhoods and improve public education, emphasizing youth participation as an essential component in their efforts. We draw upon ethnographic data from two such organizations to examine their practice of place-based critical pedagogy in community development. We focus on how they engage marginalized, “hard-to-reach” youth via (1) experiential …

Marginalized Stakeholders And Performative Politics: Dueling Discourses In Education Policymaking, Celina Su

Publications and Research

American urban education policy debates pivot around dueling lines of discourse on what ails inner-city youth; such students are portrayed as emblems of a largely African-American and Latino ‘culture of failure’, even as their voices remain largely absent from debates about them. In response, youth-led organizations attempt to forward youth as political stakeholders. I draw upon ethnographic data from two such organizations to examine the performative aspects of their campaign work. I focus on how they engaged in (1) counter-scripting, to imagine themselves as political stakeholders and substantively prepare themselves for their new roles, and in (2) counter-staging, to gain …

Latino Educational Enrollment And Attainment Levels In New York City, Victoria Stone

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines educational attainment rates among racial/ethnic groups in the US and New York City as of 2000 – particularly Latinos.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Statistics show that close to 50% of the Asian and White populations between 18 and 24 years of age are enrolled in undergraduate programs. Enrollment for Blacks and Latinos in respective populations of …

Cracking Silent Codes: Critical Race Theory And Education Organizing, Celina Su

Publications and Research

Critical race theory (CRT) has moved beyond legal scholarship to critique the ways in which “colorblind” laws and policies perpetuate existing racial inequalities in education policy. While criticisms of CRT have focused on the pessimism and lack of remedies presented, CRT scholars have begun to address issues of praxis. Specifically, communities of color must challenge the dominant narratives of mainstream institutions with alternative visions of pedagogy and school reform, and community organizing plays an important role in helping communities of color to articulate these alternative counter-narratives. Yet, many in education organizing disagree with CRT's critique of colorblindness. Drawing on five …

Segregated Schools: Educational Apartheid In Post-Civil Rights America And Unfinished Business: Closing The Racial Achievement Gap In Our Schools, Kristopher B. Burrell

Publications and Research

This book review of Segregated Schools and Unfinished Business assesses each author's views on the question: can schools be agents of social change? Both books also illustrate that there is much more work that needs to be done in order to fulfill the letter and spirit of the Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

Private And Public School Attendance Patterns Among New York City’S Racial/Ethnic Groups And Latino Nationalities In 2000, Cecilia Salvatierra

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors concerning New York City racial/ethnic groups in 2000 – particularly private and public school attendance rates.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Data indicated that total White educational enrollment for all grades was evenly divided between public and private education, with 49.6% of all students enrolled in public educational institutions and 50.4% enrolled in …

Cuny Trustees Vote To End Remedial Classes, Alisa Solomon

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

In a decision that threatens to slam closed the door on thousands of CUNY undergraduates, the University's Board of Trustees voted on May 26 to eliminate remedial courses at the system's eleven senior colleges. For people interested in CLAGS — which is not involved in remedial education and is based at the Graduate Center — the new policy may not seem momentous, relevant, or even objectionable. Nonetheless, it has far-reaching political, economic, and practical implications for CLAGS. What's more, as hundreds of CUNY faculty, students, and community groups testified at public hearings over the last several months, it's a pedagogically …

Dropping Out Of High School: An Inside Look, Michelle Fine

Publications and Research

In September, 1984, I began an ethnography of student life in and out of a New York City public high school to figure out why urban students drop out of high school at such extraordinary rates. By December, why urban students stay in high school through graduation struck me as an equally compelling question.