School Reputation as a Site of Struggle: An Investigation of the Impact of School Choice in Washington, DC on a Neighborhood Public School

Jenkins, De Marcus A.

doi:10.1007/s11256-020-00562-2

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Competition led to some principals and teachers increasing engagement through community walks, social media, and school climate. Yet, promoting a school could be hard for novice principals and principals leading schools with a negative reputation, often based on perceptions of the neighborhood or historical episodes not related to school quality (Jenkins, 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Principals experience differing challenges depending on the preexisting market position of schools (Ladd & Fiske, 2001). For instance, principals in historically low-performing schools within high-choice districts may have to overcome decades of negative labels in order to avoid having enrollment shortfalls that can cause their school to be closed or taken over (Holme et al, 2013; Jenkins, 2020). Therefore, there is much greater pressure on the principal at the so-called “low-performing school” or one with a history of disciplinary problems known to the community to devote time and resources to marketing their school than another principal at a higher performing school in a more affluent neighborhood.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Principals and District Leaders Navigating the Marketplace: Lessons From Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania

Kotok

DiMartino

DeMatthews

2020

Journal of School Leadership

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Due to the growth of school choice across the United States as well as declining enrollment in some districts, schools are experiencing increasing competition for students. As a result, principals and school district leaders in high-choice districts are now expected to develop strategies such as branding, marketing, and community outreach to attract and retain students. Yet, there is a lack of literature exploring whether principals and district leaders are prepared to navigate these competitive spaces effectively, ethically, and equitably. Our study examines how principals and district leaders experience competition as well as their perspectives and practices in terms of marketing their school. In order to understand this complex process, we juxtapose theoretical perspectives on family and community partnerships with more mainstream market theories and critiques. We then apply these frameworks on three unique cases along the Texas–Mexico border, a low-income area of New York City, and rural Pennsylvania. Data were collected primarily through interviews with principals, superintendents, and other district leaders. We find that in all three cases, principals and district leaders felt they had to engage in marketing practices. Yet, some principals clearly embraced market-based rhetoric while others viewed strong community engagement as a means for maintaining enrollment. The three cases also reveal critical equity issues regarding principal experience, district support, and preexisting market hierarchies. We conclude with a discussion considering how districts can create equitable conditions for marketing and how leadership preparation programs can prepare principals and school leaders to work ethically and effectively in competitive spaces.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Principals and District Leaders Navigating the Marketplace: Lessons From Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania

Kotok

DiMartino

DeMatthews

2020

Journal of School Leadership

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“…In one example, King’s father re-enrolled his son at Metro because of his unwillingness to risk King’s safety by keeping him at Lincoln solely to boost his son’s chance of earning a lucrative college athletic scholarship (and perhaps a lucrative career). King’s account nuances prior work (Brody et al, 2006; Jenkins, 2020; Mandara, 2006) to show how families raising Black boys in contexts that pose high physical threat prioritize safety in ways that may trump, contradict, or re-orient supports for building their child’s capacity for attaining certain elements of their futures (i.e., athletics).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Black and Latino families also influence their children’s education by choosing the most ideal school and by molding their educational ambitions (Allen, 2015; Auerbach, 2007; Carey, 2021; Chapman et al, 2018; Freeman, 2012; Jenkins, 2020; Johnson & McGowan, 2017; Knight & Marciano, 2013; Quiñones & Kiyama, 2014). The Black mothers in Cooper’s (2007) study chose certain schools based on their beliefs that education would help their children “become financially independent; to compete against more affluent peers; to protect and defend themselves in a racist society; and to have greater life options” (p. 498).…”

Section: The Role Of Families In Shaping Postsecondary Future Selvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Whatever You Become, Just Be Proud of It.” Uncovering the Ways Families Influence Black and Latino Adolescent Boys’ Postsecondary Future Selves

Carey

2021

Journal of Adolescent Research

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As researchers and school stakeholders determine ways to best support Black and Latino adolescent boys from low-income communities in actualizing their postsecondary future ambitions, more attention is needed on the types of futures these boys imagine and how family members influence this process. Guided by future orientations and possible selves frameworks, this school-based ethnographic study investigated the ways families influenced what the author calls the “postsecondary future selves” of Black and Latino (i.e., U.S.-born Salvadoran) 11th-grade boys ( N = 5). Described as what youth conceptualize as possible, likely, and expected for their lives after high school, postsecondary future selves considers three future domains: “college” (postsecondary education), “career” (postcollege employment trajectory), and “condition” (expected financial stability, relational and familial prospects, future living arrangements, happiness, and joy). Findings indicate that families built their boys’ capacities for envisioning and making strides toward ideal futures. Finding “success,” “being somebody,” and “having a future” underscored familial messages that emphasized the salience of college going in obtaining a career and life condition that would lead their boys to finding pride and fulfillment. Implications support stakeholders in building adolescents’ efficacy for threading linkages between college going and college majors, career trajectories, and expected life conditions, thus complementing familial-based supports.

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“…Current research on the principal preparation programs that practiced equitable and social justice tenets via pedagogy and practice, which in turn, has impacted the educational experiences of underrepresented students (Bertrand & Rodela, 2018; Jean-Marie et al, 2009). The stakes are higher when the politics of school choice and integration are not equally or equitably accessed by all families (Horsford, 2019; Jenkins, 2020). From a social justice perspective and understanding, principal preparation programs have not consistently presented significant evidence of change (Fernández & Scribner, 2018; Neri et al, 2019) More recently, educational leadership has accepted a broader term of social justice that includes not only fairness, equity, participation, and empowerment but also democracy, social transformation, inclusion, critical approach, and ethical/moral care.…”

Section: Historical Implications On Principal Preparation Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

All We Need Is One Mic: A Call for Anti-racist Solidarity to Deconstruct Anti-Black Racism in Educational Leadership

Genao

Mercedes

2021

Journal of School Leadership

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In this article, we outline some of the vital measurements of racism and anti-blackness as a macro system in education. We contend that principal preparation programs have not explicitly prioritized anti-racist school leadership, while often resisting the possibilities of solidarity or one mic of knowledge to increase anti-racist dispositions. Considering the lexicon of whiteness as an assemblage, a racial discourse should be “supported by material practices and institutions,” that prepare educational leaders to examine anti-blackness curriculum that have been embedded as a standard method. We also posit that theoretical understanding of racism as global whiteness from a post-oppositional lens and decoloniality that will challenge the way racism is currently referenced in educational leadership scholarship. Moreover, current global and decolonial research gives way for a new vision of solidarity by humanizing scholarly resistance that cultivates a vision of community that regards differences of knowledge across groups and investigates racist policies and practices in educational leadership programs.

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School Reputation as a Site of Struggle: An Investigation of the Impact of School Choice in Washington, DC on a Neighborhood Public School

Cited by 13 publications

References 28 publications

Principals and District Leaders Navigating the Marketplace: Lessons From Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania

Principals and District Leaders Navigating the Marketplace: Lessons From Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania

“Whatever You Become, Just Be Proud of It.” Uncovering the Ways Families Influence Black and Latino Adolescent Boys’ Postsecondary Future Selves

All We Need Is One Mic: A Call for Anti-racist Solidarity to Deconstruct Anti-Black Racism in Educational Leadership

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