ERIC Number: EJ1137238
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1559-5692
EISSN: N/A
Indigenous Parents Navigating School Choice in Constrained Landscapes
Anthony-Stevens, Vanessa
Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v11 n2 p92-105 2017
Educational reform policies in the United States promote school choice as a central tool to empower low-income and minoritized families in order to close the achievement gap. However, research on school choice rarely reflects the voice of minoritized families and offers little evidence that choice significantly addresses inequities in educational outcomes. This article analyzes the perspectives of Indigenous parents as they navigate school choice options with their children in the southwestern U.S. Through the conceptual lens of enduring struggle and educational survivance, ethnographic data offers insight into factors significant for three families as they select schools from a highly constrained landscape. Deeper analysis of why Indigenous families reject and select schools reveals an educational landscape fraught with persisting inequities, in spite of choice. The continued silencing of issues relevant to Indigenous education, such as the impacts of colonization, tribal sovereignty, and rights to culturally responsive education marginalize Indigenous voices from the school choice debate. This study adds Indigenous voices to the school choice debate, and contributes new dimensions to parent choice behaviors. Implications support scholarly claims that current school choice policy masks the entrenched operations of race, class and deficit discourse which perpetuate unfavorable school outcomes for Indigenous youth.
Descriptors: Parent Attitudes, School Choice, Educational Policy, Minority Groups, Outcomes of Education, Ethnography, Educational Change, American Indians, Equal Education, Culturally Relevant Education, Disadvantaged, Social Class, Race, American Indian Education, Charter Schools, Interviews, Middle School Students, American Indian Students
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Arizona
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A