ERIC Number: EJ1196572
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0957-8234
EISSN: N/A
Re-Imagining Turnaround: Families and Communities Leading Educational Justice
Journal of Educational Administration, v56 n5 p546-561 2018
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of how minoritized families and communities contribute to equity-focused school change, not as individual consumers or beneficiaries, but as educational and community leaders working collectively to transform their schools. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study examines one poverty-impacted racially diverse high school in the US West and the changes that occurred over a seven-year period. Findings: Minoritized families, community leaders and formal leaders leveraged conventional schooling structures -- such as turnaround reforms, the International Baccalaureate program and the PTA -- to disrupt the default institutional scripts of schools and drive equity-focused change for all students, particularly African-Americans from the neighborhood. Research limitations/implications: Though one school, this case contributes insights about how families and communities can collaborate with systems actors to catalyze educational justice in gentrifying communities. Practical implications: This study suggests strategies that families and communities used to reclaim school narratives, "infiltrate" conventional structures and reorient them toward equitable collaboration and educational justice. Social implications: This study contributes to a body of critical scholarship on "turnaround" reform efforts in urban secondary schools and suggests ways to reshape decision making, leadership, parent engagement and student intervention to build collective agency. Originality/value: This research raises provocative questions about the extent to which families and communities can use conventional structures and policies to pursue educational justice in the US public education. Learning from such efforts highlights strategies and practices that might begin to help us construct more decolonizing theories of change.
Descriptors: School Turnaround, Minority Groups, Equal Education, Educational Change, Social Justice, Poverty, Ethnic Diversity, High School Students, Community Involvement, Honors Curriculum, Parent Associations, Teacher Associations, Parent Teacher Cooperation, African Americans, Urban Schools, Participative Decision Making, Parent Participation, Student Participation
Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 1WA, UK. Tel: +44-1274-777700; Fax: +44-1274-785201; e-mail: emerald@emeraldinsight.com; Web site: http://www.emeraldinsight.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A