Linn Posey-Maddox - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Linn Posey-Maddox

Journal of Education Policy, Aug 5, 2015

Given recent budgetary gaps in public education, many civic and educational leaders have relied u... more Given recent budgetary gaps in public education, many civic and educational leaders have relied upon private sources of funding for US public schools, including funds raised by parents. Yet parents’ role as economic actors in public education has been largely unexplored. Drawing from a qualitative study of parent engagement, fundraising, and school change in Chicago public schools, I explore the educational investments of a largely White group of middle- and upper middle-class parents and how they understand their collective engagement in relation to educational disparities. The findings show that parents were not only consumers through school choice, but also economic brokers of private capital via their fundraising efforts and producers of urban school change. Despite their stated commitments to public education and desire for diversity, most parents worked with and for a more selective public in their school change efforts, exacerbating resource disparities in the segregated urban district. The findings highlight the tensions and equity issues that arise when White, economically advantaged parents are positioned as consumers within neoliberal urban educational contexts while simultaneously called upon to support, sustain, and improve the public schools they choose for their children.

Social Science Research Network, 2013

Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is understood about ... more Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is understood about the implications of parents’ employment for another key role: being a “school-engaged parent.” In this paper we examine how employed parents of elementary school students understand expectations for school engagement, and how employment supports and constraints shape that engagement. Using in-depth interviews with 17 employed mothers in a mid-size Midwestern city – recruited from surveys of a racially and socioeconomically mixed sample of 95 parents – we find a shared emphasis on doing “something” rather than “nothing” to be engaged, variation in access to job supports that can facilitate school engagement (such as paid time off and work time and place flexibility), and tradeoffs to using those supports. The research findings advance a line of inquiry in work-life research on the “third role” of community engagement, here the case of parents’ engagement in their children’s schools. Our findings suggest that relegating all non-work, non-home/family activities and roles to a general category of “life” obscures potentially unique opportunities and challenges that different community engagement roles may present. School engagement emerges here as a pressing if variable feature of parents’ daily lives across the occupational and socioeconomic spectrums, one that both influences and is in many ways constructed by their employment conditions.

In recent decades a growing number of middle-class parents have considered sending their children... more In recent decades a growing number of middle-class parents have considered sending their children to - and often end up becoming active in - urban public schools. Their presence can bring long-needed material resources to such schools, but, as Linn Posey-Maddox shows in this study, it can also introduce new class and race tensions, and even exacerbate inequalities. Sensitively navigating the pros and cons of middle-class transformation, When Middle-Class Parents Choose Urban Schools asks whether it is possible for our urban public schools to have both financial security and equitable diversity. Drawing on in-depth research at an urban elementary school, Posey-Maddox examines parents' efforts to support the school through their outreach, marketing, and volunteerism. She shows that when middle-class parents engage in urban school communities, they can bring a host of positive benefits, including new educational opportunities and greater diversity. But their involvement can also unintentionally marginalize less affluent parents and diminish low-income students' access to the improving schools. In response, Posey-Maddox argues that school reform efforts, which usually equate improvement with rising test scores and increased enrollment, need to have more equity-focused policies in place to ensure that low-income families also benefit from - and participate in - school change.

Community, Work & Family, Apr 20, 2015

Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is known about the i... more Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is known about the implications of employment for another key life role, particularly for working mothers: being a ‘school-engaged parent’. Using data from in-depth interviews with 17 employed mothers in a mid-size Midwestern city, recruited from a diverse sample of 95 survey-taking parents, we examined the mechanics of how mothers' employment conditions shaped their involvement in their children's schools. We observed patterns between occupational status – professional and low-wage jobs, particularly – and when and how mothers engaged. Some with job schedule flexibility and paid time off were more often and easily able to participate in school activities, while others faced barriers to or negative consequences from using such supports. Several mothers lacked any time-related accommodations from their jobs. Yet all mothers pushed themselves to be involved, even as they had to make hard calculations about their work lives to do so. The findings extend research on the ‘life’ side of work–life research and point to the limits of U.S. education reform's emphasis on family engagement, suggesting that varied bundles of employment conditions stratify parents' school participation in ways that may be difficult for schools to accommodate.

Educational Researcher, Nov 23, 2020

M ost students in the United States attend suburban schools, yet the vast majority of education s... more M ost students in the United States attend suburban schools, yet the vast majority of education scholarship focuses on urban schools rather than suburban ones. For example, between 2000 and 2018, of the articles published in the top five American Educational Research Association Journals, 80% explicitly focused on urban schools, 11.7% focused on suburban schools, and 8% focused on rural schools (Diamond & Posey-Maddox, 2020). Indeed, in contrast to "urban" and "rural" education, "suburban" education is not a keyword option for articles published in AERA journals. This is, at least in part, because many core educational issues-race and class inequities, demographic change, immigration, and English learning-are commonly perceived to play out most acutely in urban (and even rural) contexts instead of suburban schools. Our collective image of metropolitan regions is rooted in a conceptual shorthand that identifies urban spaces with minoritized youth, high poverty, lan

Equity & Excellence in Education, Apr 2, 2020

Suburban school districts in the United States (U.S.) have experienced major demographic shifts i... more Suburban school districts in the United States (U.S.) have experienced major demographic shifts in recent decades and vary substantially in their student populations. More than half of Asian, black, and Latinx students in large metropolitan areas attend suburban schools, and the suburbs are commonly the first destination for new U.S. immigrants. Thus, suburban schools offer the opportunity to study the confluence of race, ethnicity, class, and immigration in education. Yet most scholarship on race and education has focused on urban contexts. The articles in this symposium examine how students, parents, and educators understand, navigate, and confront racial inequities and whiteness in suburban schooling. Drawing from qualitative studies of suburban communities in the Midwestern U.S., these articles reveal the ways in which racial discourses and racialized patterns of inequality are taken up and contested by students, families, and educators in suburban schools.

Urban Education, Jul 22, 2016

We examined how parents and educators in a low-income school conceptualize parental engagement, a... more We examined how parents and educators in a low-income school conceptualize parental engagement, and how school, work, and family domains together shape these parties' practices as well as understandings of how and why parents engage. From interviews with the principal, five teachers, and 17 mothers of children at a Title I elementary school, we observed mothers' varied approaches to juggling employment and caregiving responsibilities with desires to be involved in their children's education, strategies often unknown and mismatched to the focuses of school staff. The study suggests the value of engagement opportunities tailored to families' unique circumstances and assets.

British Journal of Sociology of Education, Dec 22, 2014

ABSTRACT A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations... more ABSTRACT A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these environments, we show, middle-class parents’ use of social networks often extends beyond basic information-sharing about school quality to encompass a range of activities undertaken with other families ‘like them’ who have also chosen to enroll their children in an urban public school. We find that, in some instances, middle-class parents’ collective actions can benefit an entire class or school. Yet in other instances, their activation of social capital can contribute to processes of social reproduction in urban schooling by excluding or marginalizing low-income students and their families.

Gender and Education, Jan 5, 2017

Few studies have explored the engagement of fathers in children's schooling. Understanding the ro... more Few studies have explored the engagement of fathers in children's schooling. Understanding the role that black fathers, in particular, play in their children's education is both important and timely given the persistent opportunity gaps faced by many black students in the US and the influential role that black fathers can play in their children's academic success. This paper thus explores the experiences and educational engagement strategies of a socioeconomically mixed sample of 16 black fathers in a predominantly white suburb in the US. The research findings challenge dominant portrayals of black fathers as largely absent or uninvolved in their children's education, and illustrate the importance of understanding the intersections of race, class, gender, and place in studies of parents' engagement.

American Journal of Education, Feb 1, 2013

A growing number of parents-particularly middle-and upper-middle-class parents-are working to fil... more A growing number of parents-particularly middle-and upper-middle-class parents-are working to fill budgetary gaps through their fundraising, grant writing, and volunteerism in urban public schools. Yet little is known about how this may shape norms and practices related to parental engagement within particular schools. Drawing from a case study of an elementary school undergoing demographic shifts in its student population, this article examines the scope and consequences of middle-class parents' collective engagement. ...

Sociology Compass, Apr 1, 2014

Middle-class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key s... more Middle-class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle-class and upper-middle-class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention in the media, this growing body of research tells a more complicated story. Middle-class familieswith their economic, cultural, and social capitalcan bring important resources to schools, resulting in widespread benefits. However, their engagement in urban public schools can also lead to marginalization and exclusion. We review the emergent literature on this topic, highlighting four themes: (i) parent preferences, identities, and values; (ii) the role of marketing campaigns and informal networks in attracting the middle class; (iii) the nature and consequences of middle-class parent engagement in urban schooling; and (iv) the relationship between neighborhood change and school change. We conclude by outlining a research agenda aimed at deepening our understanding of the mechanisms by which middle-class parent engagement in urban schooling may serve to mitigate, reproduce, or exacerbate educational inequalities.

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

The Educational Forum, Feb 16, 2016

Abstract This article builds a case for nuanced conceptualizations of “urban” and “-suburban” edu... more Abstract This article builds a case for nuanced conceptualizations of “urban” and “-suburban” educational contexts and issues. The author analyzes data across two studies—one of upper-middle-class White parents with children in Chicago public schools, and the other of Black low-income and working-class parents who moved from Chicago to a Wisconsin suburb. The findings suggest that monolithic framings of urban and suburban educational issues and populations can mask patterns of inequality within and across particular locales.

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

Sociology of race & ethnicity, Nov 7, 2022

While a large body of literature examines Black parents’ racial socialization, few studies have e... more While a large body of literature examines Black parents’ racial socialization, few studies have employed a sociological lens to explore parents’ own racial learning and how it relates to the implicit and explicit messages they send their children. Based on an ethnographic study of Black parents’ experiences and educational engagement in a predominantly white Midwestern suburb, this article uses a racial learning framework to examine how Black parents’ own racialized, place-based experiences relate to the lessons they attempt to teach their children about race and racism. The research reveals that parents’ racial socialization practices were influenced by their own racial learning and experiences in the predominantly white suburban context, their children’s experiences in the local schools, and for some parents, the things they learned with and from other Black families in school and community organizational spaces. The research findings illustrate the importance of understanding Black parents’ own place-based racial learning and how it shapes and informs their efforts to support their children’s wellbeing and academic success, particularly in predominantly white school districts and communities.

Journal of Education Policy, Aug 5, 2015

Given recent budgetary gaps in public education, many civic and educational leaders have relied u... more Given recent budgetary gaps in public education, many civic and educational leaders have relied upon private sources of funding for US public schools, including funds raised by parents. Yet parents’ role as economic actors in public education has been largely unexplored. Drawing from a qualitative study of parent engagement, fundraising, and school change in Chicago public schools, I explore the educational investments of a largely White group of middle- and upper middle-class parents and how they understand their collective engagement in relation to educational disparities. The findings show that parents were not only consumers through school choice, but also economic brokers of private capital via their fundraising efforts and producers of urban school change. Despite their stated commitments to public education and desire for diversity, most parents worked with and for a more selective public in their school change efforts, exacerbating resource disparities in the segregated urban district. The findings highlight the tensions and equity issues that arise when White, economically advantaged parents are positioned as consumers within neoliberal urban educational contexts while simultaneously called upon to support, sustain, and improve the public schools they choose for their children.

Social Science Research Network, 2013

Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is understood about ... more Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is understood about the implications of parents’ employment for another key role: being a “school-engaged parent.” In this paper we examine how employed parents of elementary school students understand expectations for school engagement, and how employment supports and constraints shape that engagement. Using in-depth interviews with 17 employed mothers in a mid-size Midwestern city – recruited from surveys of a racially and socioeconomically mixed sample of 95 parents – we find a shared emphasis on doing “something” rather than “nothing” to be engaged, variation in access to job supports that can facilitate school engagement (such as paid time off and work time and place flexibility), and tradeoffs to using those supports. The research findings advance a line of inquiry in work-life research on the “third role” of community engagement, here the case of parents’ engagement in their children’s schools. Our findings suggest that relegating all non-work, non-home/family activities and roles to a general category of “life” obscures potentially unique opportunities and challenges that different community engagement roles may present. School engagement emerges here as a pressing if variable feature of parents’ daily lives across the occupational and socioeconomic spectrums, one that both influences and is in many ways constructed by their employment conditions.

In recent decades a growing number of middle-class parents have considered sending their children... more In recent decades a growing number of middle-class parents have considered sending their children to - and often end up becoming active in - urban public schools. Their presence can bring long-needed material resources to such schools, but, as Linn Posey-Maddox shows in this study, it can also introduce new class and race tensions, and even exacerbate inequalities. Sensitively navigating the pros and cons of middle-class transformation, When Middle-Class Parents Choose Urban Schools asks whether it is possible for our urban public schools to have both financial security and equitable diversity. Drawing on in-depth research at an urban elementary school, Posey-Maddox examines parents' efforts to support the school through their outreach, marketing, and volunteerism. She shows that when middle-class parents engage in urban school communities, they can bring a host of positive benefits, including new educational opportunities and greater diversity. But their involvement can also unintentionally marginalize less affluent parents and diminish low-income students' access to the improving schools. In response, Posey-Maddox argues that school reform efforts, which usually equate improvement with rising test scores and increased enrollment, need to have more equity-focused policies in place to ensure that low-income families also benefit from - and participate in - school change.

Community, Work & Family, Apr 20, 2015

Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is known about the i... more Although incompatibilities between work and home life are well studied, less is known about the implications of employment for another key life role, particularly for working mothers: being a ‘school-engaged parent’. Using data from in-depth interviews with 17 employed mothers in a mid-size Midwestern city, recruited from a diverse sample of 95 survey-taking parents, we examined the mechanics of how mothers' employment conditions shaped their involvement in their children's schools. We observed patterns between occupational status – professional and low-wage jobs, particularly – and when and how mothers engaged. Some with job schedule flexibility and paid time off were more often and easily able to participate in school activities, while others faced barriers to or negative consequences from using such supports. Several mothers lacked any time-related accommodations from their jobs. Yet all mothers pushed themselves to be involved, even as they had to make hard calculations about their work lives to do so. The findings extend research on the ‘life’ side of work–life research and point to the limits of U.S. education reform's emphasis on family engagement, suggesting that varied bundles of employment conditions stratify parents' school participation in ways that may be difficult for schools to accommodate.

Educational Researcher, Nov 23, 2020

M ost students in the United States attend suburban schools, yet the vast majority of education s... more M ost students in the United States attend suburban schools, yet the vast majority of education scholarship focuses on urban schools rather than suburban ones. For example, between 2000 and 2018, of the articles published in the top five American Educational Research Association Journals, 80% explicitly focused on urban schools, 11.7% focused on suburban schools, and 8% focused on rural schools (Diamond & Posey-Maddox, 2020). Indeed, in contrast to "urban" and "rural" education, "suburban" education is not a keyword option for articles published in AERA journals. This is, at least in part, because many core educational issues-race and class inequities, demographic change, immigration, and English learning-are commonly perceived to play out most acutely in urban (and even rural) contexts instead of suburban schools. Our collective image of metropolitan regions is rooted in a conceptual shorthand that identifies urban spaces with minoritized youth, high poverty, lan

Equity & Excellence in Education, Apr 2, 2020

Suburban school districts in the United States (U.S.) have experienced major demographic shifts i... more Suburban school districts in the United States (U.S.) have experienced major demographic shifts in recent decades and vary substantially in their student populations. More than half of Asian, black, and Latinx students in large metropolitan areas attend suburban schools, and the suburbs are commonly the first destination for new U.S. immigrants. Thus, suburban schools offer the opportunity to study the confluence of race, ethnicity, class, and immigration in education. Yet most scholarship on race and education has focused on urban contexts. The articles in this symposium examine how students, parents, and educators understand, navigate, and confront racial inequities and whiteness in suburban schooling. Drawing from qualitative studies of suburban communities in the Midwestern U.S., these articles reveal the ways in which racial discourses and racialized patterns of inequality are taken up and contested by students, families, and educators in suburban schools.

Urban Education, Jul 22, 2016

We examined how parents and educators in a low-income school conceptualize parental engagement, a... more We examined how parents and educators in a low-income school conceptualize parental engagement, and how school, work, and family domains together shape these parties' practices as well as understandings of how and why parents engage. From interviews with the principal, five teachers, and 17 mothers of children at a Title I elementary school, we observed mothers' varied approaches to juggling employment and caregiving responsibilities with desires to be involved in their children's education, strategies often unknown and mismatched to the focuses of school staff. The study suggests the value of engagement opportunities tailored to families' unique circumstances and assets.

British Journal of Sociology of Education, Dec 22, 2014

ABSTRACT A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations... more ABSTRACT A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these environments, we show, middle-class parents’ use of social networks often extends beyond basic information-sharing about school quality to encompass a range of activities undertaken with other families ‘like them’ who have also chosen to enroll their children in an urban public school. We find that, in some instances, middle-class parents’ collective actions can benefit an entire class or school. Yet in other instances, their activation of social capital can contribute to processes of social reproduction in urban schooling by excluding or marginalizing low-income students and their families.

Gender and Education, Jan 5, 2017

Few studies have explored the engagement of fathers in children's schooling. Understanding the ro... more Few studies have explored the engagement of fathers in children's schooling. Understanding the role that black fathers, in particular, play in their children's education is both important and timely given the persistent opportunity gaps faced by many black students in the US and the influential role that black fathers can play in their children's academic success. This paper thus explores the experiences and educational engagement strategies of a socioeconomically mixed sample of 16 black fathers in a predominantly white suburb in the US. The research findings challenge dominant portrayals of black fathers as largely absent or uninvolved in their children's education, and illustrate the importance of understanding the intersections of race, class, gender, and place in studies of parents' engagement.

American Journal of Education, Feb 1, 2013

A growing number of parents-particularly middle-and upper-middle-class parents-are working to fil... more A growing number of parents-particularly middle-and upper-middle-class parents-are working to fill budgetary gaps through their fundraising, grant writing, and volunteerism in urban public schools. Yet little is known about how this may shape norms and practices related to parental engagement within particular schools. Drawing from a case study of an elementary school undergoing demographic shifts in its student population, this article examines the scope and consequences of middle-class parents' collective engagement. ...

Sociology Compass, Apr 1, 2014

Middle-class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key s... more Middle-class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle-class and upper-middle-class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention in the media, this growing body of research tells a more complicated story. Middle-class familieswith their economic, cultural, and social capitalcan bring important resources to schools, resulting in widespread benefits. However, their engagement in urban public schools can also lead to marginalization and exclusion. We review the emergent literature on this topic, highlighting four themes: (i) parent preferences, identities, and values; (ii) the role of marketing campaigns and informal networks in attracting the middle class; (iii) the nature and consequences of middle-class parent engagement in urban schooling; and (iv) the relationship between neighborhood change and school change. We conclude by outlining a research agenda aimed at deepening our understanding of the mechanisms by which middle-class parent engagement in urban schooling may serve to mitigate, reproduce, or exacerbate educational inequalities.

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

The Educational Forum, Feb 16, 2016

Abstract This article builds a case for nuanced conceptualizations of “urban” and “-suburban” edu... more Abstract This article builds a case for nuanced conceptualizations of “urban” and “-suburban” educational contexts and issues. The author analyzes data across two studies—one of upper-middle-class White parents with children in Chicago public schools, and the other of Black low-income and working-class parents who moved from Chicago to a Wisconsin suburb. The findings suggest that monolithic framings of urban and suburban educational issues and populations can mask patterns of inequality within and across particular locales.

University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2014

Sociology of race & ethnicity, Nov 7, 2022

While a large body of literature examines Black parents’ racial socialization, few studies have e... more While a large body of literature examines Black parents’ racial socialization, few studies have employed a sociological lens to explore parents’ own racial learning and how it relates to the implicit and explicit messages they send their children. Based on an ethnographic study of Black parents’ experiences and educational engagement in a predominantly white Midwestern suburb, this article uses a racial learning framework to examine how Black parents’ own racialized, place-based experiences relate to the lessons they attempt to teach their children about race and racism. The research reveals that parents’ racial socialization practices were influenced by their own racial learning and experiences in the predominantly white suburban context, their children’s experiences in the local schools, and for some parents, the things they learned with and from other Black families in school and community organizational spaces. The research findings illustrate the importance of understanding Black parents’ own place-based racial learning and how it shapes and informs their efforts to support their children’s wellbeing and academic success, particularly in predominantly white school districts and communities.