Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service: Marketization and Public Engagement in Education

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Autor/inn/en	Cucchiara, Maia Bloomfield; Gold, Eva; Simon, Elaine
Titel	Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service: Marketization and Public Engagement in Education
Quelle	In: Teachers College Record, 113 (2011) 11, S.2460-2502 (43 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-9620
Schlagwörter	Grounded Theory; Privatization; Participant Observation; School Choice; Citizen Participation; Program Effectiveness; School Districts; Commercialization; Educational Change; Accountability; Urban Schools; Governance; Administrative Change; Case Studies; Interviews; Qualitative Research; Educational Policy; Policy Analysis; State Action; Outsourcing; Pennsylvania + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Privatisation; Privatisierung; Teilnehmende Beobachtung; Choice of school; Schulwahl; 'Citizen participation; Citizens'' participation'; Bürgerbeteiligung; School district; Schulbezirk; Bildungsreform; Verantwortung; Urban area; Urban areas; School; Schools; Stadtregion; Stadt; Schule; Education; Educational policy; Financing; Steuerung; Bildung; Erziehung; Bildungspolitik; Finanzierung; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Qualitative Forschung; Politics of education; Politikfeldanalyse; Staatliche Intervention
Abstract	Background/Context: Market models of school reform are having a major impact on school districts across the country. While scholars have examined many aspects of this process, we know far less about the general effects of marketization on public participation in education and local education politics. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article uses an examination of marketization in Philadelphia over a six-year period (2001-7) to explore its implications for public engagement--or the ability of individuals and groups to work with and influence the school district and hold officials accountable. Setting: The research was conducted in Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the country. In 2001, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took over the School District of Philadelphia, citing on-going fiscal crises and poor student achievement. The resulting reforms included new leadership, new governance structures, and significant privatization. Research Design: This is a qualitative case study of school district change in Philadelphia, focusing on the implications for public engagement. Data Collection and Analysis: Data included over 50 interviews with education administrators, civic and political elites, and representatives of grassroots and community groups. Data also included six years of participant observation at public meetings and in reform coalitions. Analysis followed a grounded theory approach designed to identify district policies and practices related to public participation and to document how these practices shaped the ability of individuals and groups to engage productively with the district. Findings/Results: We find that the marketization of education in Philadelphia had a major impact on the district's institutional structure and practices for interacting with local stakeholders. Our data point to several changes that were particularly consequential in shaping the opportunities for engagement and the direction such engagement took. These are: a corporate governance structure, an emphasis on communication, widespread contracting out for services, an increase in school choice, and a focus on customer service. Conclusions/Recommendations: These changes have resulted in channeling of public participation along individual lines at the expense of collective forms of action and, more broadly, undercutting of the understanding of education as a public good. Given the continued influence of market models of education reform at the local and national levels, it will be important for policymakers to pay close attention to the ways by which marketization can limit engagement and to develop strategies, such as increased transparency and new vehicles for public input, to address this tendency. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10