Neoliberalizing Educational Reform [recurso electrónico] : America's Quest for Profitable Market-Colonies and the Undoing of Public Good

Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Educational Reform in the Age of Neoliberalism....Pages 1-19 Front Matter....Pages 21-21 Farming the Poor....Pages 23-51 (Un)Making the Neoliberal Agenda in Public Education....Pages 53-77 Dominating Educational Policy....Pages 79-98 Front Matter....Pages 99-99 “Boot Camp” Teacher Certification and Neoliberal Education Reform....Pages 101-121 From Student to Steward of Democracy....Pages 123-147 Funding Re/De/Form in Higher Education....Pages 149-182 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 “Give Me A 3, Tell Me I’M Effective, and Leave Me Alone”....Pages 185-212 21st Century Learning Initiatives as a Manifestation of Neoliberalism....Pages 213-237 Cultures of Collaboration and Blame....Pages 239-263 Front Matter....Pages 265-265 Flatlands Charter School and the Common Core....Pages 267-291 From Alternative Policies to Alternative Ideologies....Pages 293-319 Shaping and Challenging Neoliberal School Reform....Pages 321-336 Back Matter....Pages 337-344 TABLE OF CONTENTS 8 FOREWORD: Pointing the Way toward a More Socially Just World 10 NEOLIBERAL MULTICULTURALISM 11 NEOLIBERAL REFORM AND THE CAPITALIST STATE 12 COUNTERING THE LOGIC OF THE MARKET PLACE 13 STEM EDUCATION IN, THE HUMANITIES OUT 14 TOWARD A COHERENT POLITICAL VISION OF STRUGGLE 15 A COURAGEOUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE EDUCATIONAL DEBATE 17 REFERENCES 17 1. EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN THE AGE OF NEOLIBERALISM: A Call for a Focused, Empirically-Supported, Collective Response 20 NEOLIBERALISM & EDUCATIONAL REFORM 20 IMPLEMENTS, PURPOSE, MOVEMENT 24 Demand for Social Change 25 A Vision for a Total Social Movement 25 Identity Production and a Collective Movement 27 Shades of Antagonism 30 Collectivism, Empiricism, and Participatory Democracy 31 RATIONALE FOR THE BOOK 31 VOLUME’S ORGANIZATION 33 NOTES 36 REFERENCES 36 SECTION 1: MANIFESTATIONS OF NEOLIBERAL IDEOLOGY IN EDUCATION POLICY 39 2. FARMING THE POOR: Cultivating Profit at the Schoolhouse Door 40 INTRODUCTION 40 GETTING RICH ON THE BACKS OF THE POOR (CHILDREN) 41 Farming the Poor with R&D 43 Divestment, Displacement, Replacement and Misplacement 49 Farming the Poor through Credentialism 56 BETTING ON THE POOR 60 NOTES 61 REFERENCES 62 3. (UN)MAKING THE NEOLIBERAL AGENDA IN PUBLIC EDUCATION: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Texas High School Social Studies Policy Processes 69 INTRODUCTION 69 MAKING THE NEOLIBERAL AGENDA 70 The Culture Wars: Critical versus Neoliberal “Drill and Kill” Education 71 METHODOLOGY 73 Data Collection 74 Data Analysis 75 THE SBOE AND TEKS AS SITES OF IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICT 76 Narrowing Curriculum through State Board of Education Policy Processes 77 The TEKS as a Mechanism to Regulate, Deskill, and Disempower Texas Students 79 CONCLUSION 86 (Un)Making the Neoliberal Agenda 87 NOTES 89 REFERENCES 90 4. DOMINATING EDUCATIONAL POLICY: The Normative Harms of Military Recruiting under NCLB 94 INTRODUCTION 94 SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY 96 DEMOCRACY, CHILDREN’S RIGHTS, AND BUREAUCRATIC DOMINATION 99 DELIBERATIVE FREEDOM, REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY, AND FIDUCIARY OBLIGATIONS 101 FORMAL PRACTICES OF BUREAUCRATIC DOMINATION 103 INFORMAL PRACTICES OF BUREAUCRATIC DOMINATION 104 The Data Collection Provision 104 The Equal Access Provision 106 TWO POLICY OPTIONS 109 Desirable 109 Achievable 109 CONCLUSION 110 NOTES 111 REFERENCES 112 SECTION 2: PROFITING FROM HIGHER EDUCATION & TEACHER EDUCATION 114 5. “BOOT CAMP” TEACHER CERTIFICATION AND NEOLIBERAL EDUCATION REFORM 115 INTRODUCTION 115 RESEARCHER POSITIONALITY, THEORY & METHOD 116 BOOT CAMP TEACHER EDUCATION & NEOLIBERAL LOGIC 118 UNDERMINING CRITICAL MULTICULTURAL PEDAGOGY 124 REPRODUCING WHITE SUPREMACY 130 CONCLUSION 133 NOTE 133 REFERENCES 133 6. FROM STUDENT TO STEWARD OF DEMOCRACY: Developing Teachers as Transformative Change Agents 136 INTRODUCTION 136 MINOR IN URBAN CIVIC EDUCATION 138 Undergraduate Critical Education 139 Critical Service-Learning as Transformative Education 140 Community of Practice 141 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 142 VIGNETTES 144 Chloe 144 Julianna 149 DISCUSSION 153 CONCLUSION 155 REFERENCES 156 7. FUNDING RE/DE/FORM IN HIGHER EDUCATION: Diverse Points of Engagement 161 INTRODUCTION 161 DIGITAL AGE OF NEOLIBERAL SCIENTISM 163 RESEARCH HAPPENS HERE TOO: FUNDING AT A COMMUNITY COLLEGE: PROCTOR’S TALE 165 Personal Experience and Policy as a Social Process in Public Schools 167 We Don’t Do Research Here, but We Do: How Neoliberalism Hurts Social Justice from a CC Perspective 168 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FUNDING FOR/AS KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION: A CASE ON UNFUNDED PROJECTS: SUBREENDUTH & RHEE’S TALE 172 AMBIGUITY OF GRANT-SCIENCE LABOR: DAZA’S TALE 180 Conceptualizing Academic Labor 183 Logics of Grant-Science in Practice: Ambiguity Matters 185 Implications and Provocations 189 CONCLUSION 190 NOTES 191 REFERENCES 191 SECTION 3: NEOLIBERALIZING SITES OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 195 8. “GIVE ME A 3, TELL ME I’M EFFECTIVE, AND LEAVE ME ALONE”: Portrait of an Urban Teacher under the Assault of Education Reform 196 INTRODUCTION 196 PORTRAITURE 197 A Sketch 199 CONTINUITY OF EXPERIENCE AND INTERACTION 201 An Illustration 202 THE PORTRAIT: CONTINUITY OF WILL’S EXPERIENCES 204 Pre-teaching Experiences and Dispositions: 1956–1987 204 First 5 Years of Teaching: 1988–1993 207 The Middle Years: 1993–2007 211 The Late Years: 2007-present 213 FINAL THOUGHTS 220 Postscript 220 NOTES 221 REFERENCES 221 9. 21ST CENTURY LEARNING INITIATIVES AS A MANIFESTATION OF NEOLIBERALISM 224 INTRODUCTION 224 Neoliberalism and Public Education 225 Critical Discourse Analysis 226 STUDY CONTEXT AND METHODS 226 State Priorities and P21 226 Flint Hills School District 228 Research Design and Methodology 228 NEOLIBERAL DISCOURSE AND 21ST CENTURY LEARNING IN FLINT HILLS 231 21st Century Learning Means Prioritizing the Needs of Business 231 Technology Hardware and Software are Highly Valued but Contested 234 Project-based Learning to Teach P21’s “Soft Skills” 238 Preparing the Global Citizen 240 DISCUSSION OF THEMES 241 Neoliberalism and P21’s Framework for 21 st Century Learning 243 Critique of Partnership for 21 st Century Learning Discourse 244 CONCLUSION 245 NOTE 247 REFERENCES 247 10. CULTURES OF COLLABORATION AND BLAME: The Complexities of Neoliberalism’s Impact on Charter School Climates 249 INTRODUCTION 249 NEOLIBERALISM IN ACTION: KEY FACTORS THAT SHAPE CHARTER SCHOOL “CULTURES” 251 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 254 COMMUNITY CONTEXTS AND CHARTER SCHOOL CULTURES: RACE, CLASS AND SEGREGATION IN CHARTER SCHOOLS 258 CHARTER SCHOOL POLICY AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: TEACHER DISSATISFACTION IN A NEOLIBERAL REGIME 263 STRATEGIC POLICY & COMMUNITY-BASED APPROACHES: FOSTERING CULTURES OF COLLABORATION IN CHARTER SCHOOLS 270 REFERENCES 272 SECTION 4: COMMUNITY & SCHOOL RESPONSES TO NEOLIBERAL REFORMS 274 11. FLATLANDS CHARTER SCHOOL AND THE COMMON CORE: A Love Story 275 INTRODUCTION 275 Researcher’s Positionality 278 The “C” Words 279 Pedagogy is Political, Pedagogy is Love 280 Acting on a Call to Love 281 FLATLANDS CHARTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL—DESCRIPTION AND CONTEXT 282 METHODS 284 FINDINGS 285 A Love Ethic 285 Untangling Politics 289 Beyond the Critique of Common Core Standards 291 So Far, It’s Not There 293 DISCUSSION 294 CONCLUSION 296 REFERENCES 298 12. FROM ALTERNATIVE POLICIES TO ALTERNATIVE IDEOLOGIES: Parent-led Education Organizing and Resistance to the Neoliberal Imaginary 300 INTRODUCTION 300 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: THE NEOLIBERAL IMAGINARY 302 Schoolplace Market Beginnings 303 The Market in the Form of the Portfolio Management Model 304 LOCAL CONTEXT: THE STATE’S ROLE: MAYORAL CONTROL AND THE PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT MODEL IN NYC 305 METHODS 307 Reflexivity 307 SCHOOL CLOSINGS PROLIFERATION IN NYC AS PART OF THE PORTFILIO MANAGEMENT MODEL 308 THE NEW YORK CITY COALITION FOR EDUCATIONAL JUSTICE AND “THE FIX OUR SCHOOLS, DON’T JUST CLOSE THEM” CAMPAIGN 310 Case Study: Fix Our Schools, Don’t Just Close Them 311 The School Transformation Zone 313 CEJ’S SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION ZONE AS AN & LDQUO; ALTERNATIVE IMAGINARY” TO NEOLIBERALISM 317 The State’s Role 320 Equity 317 Accountability 318 Parent and Community Engagement 319 CONCLUSION 321 NOTES 322 REFERENCES 324 13. SHAPING AND CHALLENGING NEOLIBERAL SCHOOL REFORM: How Youth Impact School Reform Politics from Their Positions in Non-Profit Community Organizations 327 INTRODUCTION 327 COMMUNITY AND YOUTH POWER IN THE CONTEXT OF NEOLIBERAL SCHOOL REFORM 329 LOCAL RESEARCH CONTEXT 331 METHODS 332 CHALLENGING THE COLORBLINDNESS OF NEOLIBERAL REFORM: YOUTH VICTORIES AND SETBACKS 334 Racial Justice vs. Educational Excellence 334 Racial Justice as Educational Excellence 336 Building Youth Power 337 Softening the Message 339 CONCLUSION 340 NOTE 342 REFERENCES 342 AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHIES 343 INDEX 347 “In this era, when ‘commonsense’ in educational discourse is so deeply framed by neoliberalism, we must better understand both the uniquely situated and the insidiously interconnected nature of so-called reforms. Thank you to Keith M. Sturges and colleagues for illuminating exactly this in their important and hard-hitting new book that reveals not merely how neoliberal reforms are designed to reinforce inequity, but also how the contradictions within provide ample opportunity to collectivize and act with hope.” – Kevin Kumashiro, author of Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture “In this important volume, editor Keith M. Sturges has taken the most useful discussions of neoliberalism and – with great precision, clarity and utility – seen them applied to the education arena. Over 13 chapters, leading education thinkers lay bare sets of realities that the broader public, school administrators, and policy makers would do well to fully understand. These range from the impact of neoliberal thinking upon chartering, parent involvement, teacher training, school climate, funding and more. I’ll be using the chapters in this text in a variety of ways. They’ll inform conversations with local, state and federal policy makers, and inform conversations with school leaders and district leaders. I’ll also be assigning the text in my graduate seminar on education policy. Finally, the chapters will inform several lectures in my undergraduate class on ‘The Promise and Peril of Public Education.’ What a gem of a volume!” – Kevin Michael Foster, Executive Director, The Institute for Community, University and School Partnerships (ICUSP)