The End of Consensus: Diversity, Neighborhoods, and the Politics of Public School Assignments - Softcover

Parcel, Toby L.; Taylor, Andrew J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1469622548 ISBN 13: 9781469622545

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015

Synopsis

One of the nation's fastest growing municipalities, Wake County, North Carolina, added more than a quarter million new residents during the first decade of this century, an increase of almost 45 percent. At the same time, partisanship increasingly dominated local politics, including school board races. Against this backdrop, Toby Parcel and Andrew Taylor consider the ways diversity and neighborhood schools have influenced school assignment policies in Wake County, particularly during 2000-2012, when these policies became controversial locally and a topic of national attention. The End of Consensus explores the extraordinary transformation of Wake County during this period, revealing inextricable links between population growth, political ideology, and controversial K–12 education policies.

Drawing on media coverage, in-depth interviews with community leaders, and responses from focus groups, Parcel and Taylor's innovative work combines insights from these sources with findings from a survey of 1,700 county residents. Using a broad range of materials and methods, the authors have produced the definitive story of politics and change in public school assignments in Wake County while demonstrating the importance of these dynamics to cities across the country.

About this title

About the Author

Toby L. Parcel is professor of sociology at North Carolina State University, USA.

Andrew J. Taylor is professor of political science at North Carolina State University, USA.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1469622548
• ISBN 13: 9781469622545
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208