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This chapter examines how the larger political context and policies enacted at different points i... more This chapter examines how the larger political context and policies enacted at different points in American history have affected the questions education researchers asked and answered. The authors argue that while education researchers are often quick to consider how their research should shape policy, they are less likely to contemplate the possible effect of policies on their scholarship. To examine whether the policy–research relationship is indeed bidirectional, the authors conducted a thorough content analysis of six of the most prominent education research journals, some of which date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The goal was to consider how shifts in racial politics and educational policies may have influenced what was studied, particularly research that examined the role of race and ethnicity in education. The authors looked for shifts between education research examining race and education within a broader social context and research focused on the personal and familial deficits of individual students or families. They argue that if these shifts in research are somewhat synchronized with shifts in racial politics and policies in the United States, this is a potential indicator of the impact that the larger political milieu may have had on education research over the last 100 years. Consideration of this research−policy relationship may raise the awareness of education researchers in terms of the origins of the questions they will ask and answer in the American Educational Research Association's second century.
![Research paper thumbnail of 'More [Time] is better or less is more?' Neoliberal influences on teaching and learning time](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/50578219/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](This article examines the neoliberal influences on ‘Port City Schools’ (PCS) unique district-wide... more This article examines the neoliberal influences on ‘Port City Schools’ (PCS)
unique district-wide extended learning time (ELT) initiative. Despite the
recent popularity of ELT in urban schools, there have been few qualitative
studies that question how stakeholders make sense of ELT on the ground.
This research fills that gap in the literature by exploring ELT programming
across PCS’s choice and neighborhood K-8 schools. The interview and
observation data reveal an inherent tension between ‘more time is better’
in the enrichment-filled choice schools and ‘less is more’ in the interventionfilled
neighborhood schools. Findings illuminate the ways in which school
choice, neighborhood segregation, and high stakes testing push the district
to use ELT to boost test scores in the lower performing neighborhood schools,
while the choice schools are given flexibility in ELT programming because
they are meeting expectations for student success. Because neoliberalism
fails to take into account the strong relationship between test scores and
socio-economics and school choice and segregation, it leads to a cycle of
inequality in which children in the choice schools receive a well-balanced
curriculum and children in the neighborhood schools get test preparation
during ELT. Fixing this system could fix inequalities in ELT programming
across all schools.
hechingerreport.org/how-‐to-‐end-‐segregation-‐in-‐new-‐york-‐citys-‐gifted-‐and-‐ tale... more hechingerreport.org/how-‐to-‐end-‐segregation-‐in-‐new-‐york-‐citys-‐gifted-‐and-‐ talented-‐program/ Much of the discussion surrounding New York City's school segregation problem has focused not on serious policy moves involving school integration for the nation's largest district but rather on maximizing school choice and improving quality. The city's education department still has not taken into full account research evidence showing that school integration leads to positive social and academic benefits for all students, while school choice spurs more segregation. Meanwhile, another type of school segregation occurring within the city's schools has received much less focus in the media and popular press: The type of segregation caused by school-‐within-‐school gifted and talented programs. These programs act as a magnet to attract higher-‐income, white families to the public school system and increase achievement levels. Since the Bloomberg and Klein policy regime supported these programs and pushed to expand the number of programs across the city, the education department has used a single standardized test score to admit students to these high-‐status programs. The admissions policy is also based on the faulty premise that all parents will get their children tested and apply. As a result, the city's gifted programs remain disproportionately white, Asian and higher-‐income. General education programs housed within these same schools, however, tend to enroll a majority of low-‐income children of color. This practice can by default, desegregate schools at the building level. It can also have the unintended consequence of segregating students by race, class and perceived academic ability inside schools.
This report is a clarion call for those paying attention to the changing racial and ethnic demogr... more This report is a clarion call for those paying attention to the changing racial and ethnic demographics of this country and its suburbs in particular. It is the in-depth story of one suburban county and its public schools as the demographics of who lives in the suburbs versus the cities in the 21 st Century is shifting quickly, as the affluent and the poor, the black and the white are trading places across urban-suburban boundary lines. The same story could be told about hundreds of suburban counties across the country that are facing similar pressures and approaching similar breaking points.
This chapter examines how the larger political context and policies enacted at different points i... more This chapter examines how the larger political context and policies enacted at different points in American history have affected the questions education researchers asked and answered. The authors argue that while education researchers are often quick to consider how their research should shape policy, they are less likely to contemplate the possible effect of policies on their scholarship. To examine whether the policy–research relationship is indeed bidirectional, the authors conducted a thorough content analysis of six of the most prominent education research journals, some of which date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The goal was to consider how shifts in racial politics and educational policies may have influenced what was studied, particularly research that examined the role of race and ethnicity in education. The authors looked for shifts between education research examining race and education within a broader social context and research focused on the personal and familial deficits of individual students or families. They argue that if these shifts in research are somewhat synchronized with shifts in racial politics and policies in the United States, this is a potential indicator of the impact that the larger political milieu may have had on education research over the last 100 years. Consideration of this research−policy relationship may raise the awareness of education researchers in terms of the origins of the questions they will ask and answer in the American Educational Research Association's second century.
This article examines the neoliberal influences on ‘Port City Schools’ (PCS) unique district-wide... more This article examines the neoliberal influences on ‘Port City Schools’ (PCS)
unique district-wide extended learning time (ELT) initiative. Despite the
recent popularity of ELT in urban schools, there have been few qualitative
studies that question how stakeholders make sense of ELT on the ground.
This research fills that gap in the literature by exploring ELT programming
across PCS’s choice and neighborhood K-8 schools. The interview and
observation data reveal an inherent tension between ‘more time is better’
in the enrichment-filled choice schools and ‘less is more’ in the interventionfilled
neighborhood schools. Findings illuminate the ways in which school
choice, neighborhood segregation, and high stakes testing push the district
to use ELT to boost test scores in the lower performing neighborhood schools,
while the choice schools are given flexibility in ELT programming because
they are meeting expectations for student success. Because neoliberalism
fails to take into account the strong relationship between test scores and
socio-economics and school choice and segregation, it leads to a cycle of
inequality in which children in the choice schools receive a well-balanced
curriculum and children in the neighborhood schools get test preparation
during ELT. Fixing this system could fix inequalities in ELT programming
across all schools.
hechingerreport.org/how-‐to-‐end-‐segregation-‐in-‐new-‐york-‐citys-‐gifted-‐and-‐ tale... more hechingerreport.org/how-‐to-‐end-‐segregation-‐in-‐new-‐york-‐citys-‐gifted-‐and-‐ talented-‐program/ Much of the discussion surrounding New York City's school segregation problem has focused not on serious policy moves involving school integration for the nation's largest district but rather on maximizing school choice and improving quality. The city's education department still has not taken into full account research evidence showing that school integration leads to positive social and academic benefits for all students, while school choice spurs more segregation. Meanwhile, another type of school segregation occurring within the city's schools has received much less focus in the media and popular press: The type of segregation caused by school-‐within-‐school gifted and talented programs. These programs act as a magnet to attract higher-‐income, white families to the public school system and increase achievement levels. Since the Bloomberg and Klein policy regime supported these programs and pushed to expand the number of programs across the city, the education department has used a single standardized test score to admit students to these high-‐status programs. The admissions policy is also based on the faulty premise that all parents will get their children tested and apply. As a result, the city's gifted programs remain disproportionately white, Asian and higher-‐income. General education programs housed within these same schools, however, tend to enroll a majority of low-‐income children of color. This practice can by default, desegregate schools at the building level. It can also have the unintended consequence of segregating students by race, class and perceived academic ability inside schools.
This report is a clarion call for those paying attention to the changing racial and ethnic demogr... more This report is a clarion call for those paying attention to the changing racial and ethnic demographics of this country and its suburbs in particular. It is the in-depth story of one suburban county and its public schools as the demographics of who lives in the suburbs versus the cities in the 21 st Century is shifting quickly, as the affluent and the poor, the black and the white are trading places across urban-suburban boundary lines. The same story could be told about hundreds of suburban counties across the country that are facing similar pressures and approaching similar breaking points.