When Middle–Class Parents Choose Urban Schools – Class, Race, and the Challenge of Equity in Public Education - Hardcover

Posey–maddox, Linn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 022612018X ISBN 13: 9780226120188

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2014

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Linn Posey-Maddox is assistant professor of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022612018X
• ISBN 13: 9780226120188
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224