AMLT.GE:3301: Educational Reform and Leadership in the New Economy.
Program in Educational Leadership
Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology
The Steinhardt School of Education, New York University
Spring Semester, 2014
Instructor: / Gary L. Anderson / Class Location: / Bobst LL 145Office Location: / Pless Hall 6th Floor / Class Time: / Weds. 4:55 – 7:35
Telephone / (use email for quicker response) / Email Address: /
Office Hours: / Before and after class or by appointment
Catalog description: This course will explore educational reform and leadership in the context of fundamental economic, cultural, and technological changes that have occurred globally particularly in the last 40 years. We will especially study the impact of post-welfare, neoliberal policies on schools, universities, and classrooms, teachers and administrators, the public and private spheres, racialized and gendered identities, and youth culture.
Background of Course:
From the mid-1940s to the mid 1980s, American schools were broadly shaped by an ideology and set of discourses, policies and practices strongly influenced by Welfare State agreements manifested in Roosevelt’s New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society policies. Beginning in the late1970s and early 1980s a new ideology and set of discourses, policies and practices were introduced by both major political parties characterized by some as the “new “ economy or Neoliberalism. With origins in classical liberalism, but more recently in the work of Milton Friedman and his colleagues at the University of Chicago, these ideologies, discourses, policies, and practices are transforming what it means to reform and lead schools.
While perhaps the primary shift has been economic, this seminar will explore other changes that have occurred either parallel with or as a result of these economic shifts. Sometimes referred to as “Globalization,” shifts have also occurred such as 1. changes in information, communication, and media technologies, 2. growing levels of worldwide migration creating new diasporas 3. new ways of constructing identities around ethnicity, gender, race, class, and sexuality, and 4. growing social inequality.
This seminar will explore research that describes the influence of these shifts on educational goals, reform (NCLB), school leadership, teachers’ work, children, youth, families and local communities. Many scholars are using various research methodologies designed to capture these influences, such as critical ethnography, institutional ethnography, critical policy analysis, and critical discourse analysis. We will experiment some with these methodologies in class, especially critical discourse analysis (CDA).
Seminar Objectives:
1. Participants will demonstrate an understanding of various ideological and theoretical frameworks to explain recent economic, cultural and political shifts and their impact on education.
2. Participants will demonstrate an understanding of various issues associated with recent economic, cultural, and political shifts interact with school leadership and Educational reform/policy.
3. Participants willdemonstrate an understanding of how these shifts are manifested—often in contradictory ways--in the everyday life of students, teachers, schools, and local communities, how these groups take up, accommodate, or resist them, and how researchers are responding methodologically to these changes.
4. Participants will demonstrate an understanding of educational policies and practices that might effectively address these economic, cultural, and political shifts, including leadership models, curricular and instructional practices, and national, state and school level policies.
5. Students will learn to analyze neoliberal texts and discourses using Critical Discourse Analysis.
Grades:
Attendance and informed participation: 10%
Mini-assignments 40% (10% each) minimun of 3 pages each.
Paper: 50% (First draft of an AERA paper, 20-page minimum)
If your final paper is a CDA study, prepare a draft of a proposal for a study using Critical Discourse Analysis. (2-3 pages) This can be an individual proposal or a group of two or three. For some good guides, see Chapter 8 of the Fairclough book, the Hillary Janks article below (on NYU classes)
Required Course Texts:
Anderson, G. L. (2009). Advocacy Leadership: Toward a post-reform agenda. New York: Routledge. (galley proofs on NYU classes)
Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and social change. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Read chapters 1, 2, 6, 7)
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. London: Oxford University Press. (Read chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7)
Suggested (not required) texts:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition) Washington, D.C.: A.P.A. (All of your papers should follow APA. Guidelines; All students should own a copy of this manual.) See also for an overview of changed to the 6th edition.
Saldana, J. The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Class Schedule:
January 29: Introduction, Interviews (bring a recording device)
February5: Multi-level Analysis
Bring coded Interview transcripts. Code multiple interviews.
Required readings:
Anderson, G. (2009). Advocacy Leadership: Toward a post-reform agenda. New York: Routledge. (Chapter 2: authentic leadership)
Saldana, J. The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (chapter one)
Jigsaw (Groups of two or three--Prepare a PowerPoint):
Rowan, B. (2006). The new institutionalism and the study of educational organizations: Changing ideas for changing times.In H.D. Meyer & B. Rowan (Eds.) The New Institutionalism in Education. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Bourdieu, P. & Wacquant, L. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (The Logic of Fields, pp. 94-117).
Wilson, William Julius (2009). More than just race: Being Black and poor in the inner city. New York: W.W. Norton. (Chapter 2: The forces shaping concentrated poverty)
Anderson, G.L. & Scott, J. (2012). Toward an intersectional understanding of social context and causality.Qualitative Inquiry, 18(8).
See also (not required)
Phillips, N., Lawrence, T.B. & Hardy, C. (2004).Discourse and institutions.Academy of Management Review, 29(4), 635-652.
Gary Anderson (discussing chapter 2)
February 12: ATLAS.ti workshop (meet in Bobst library, rm. 617)
Bring a digital transcription of your interview from Jan 29th to analyze.
Required reading:
Saldana, J. The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (chapter one)
February 19: Discourse-Practices and Critical Discourse Analysis
Mini-assignment #1: Select an article for analysis from appendix C. What approach to CDA is used? Describe how the author uses the method. How effective is the analysis? (3-4 double spaced pages) Due: Feb. 26.
Anderson, G.L. and Grinberg, J. (1998). Educational administration as a disciplinary practice: Appropriating Foucault’s view of power, discourse, and method. Educational Administration Quarterly, 34(3), 329-353.
Fairclough, Norman. (1992). Discourse and social change.Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. (Chapters 3, 8)
February 26: Critical Discourse Analysis (cont.)
Fairclough, Norman. (1992). Discourse and social change.Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. (Chapters 4, 7)
Mautner, Gerlinde (2010).Language and the Market Society : Critical Reflections on Discourse and Dominance. London: Routledge. (Chapters 2, 3)
Haig, E. (2004).Some observations on the critique of critical discourse analysis.Studies in Language and Culture (Nagoya University), 25(2), 129-149.
See also on CDA: (not required)
Fairclough, N. (2003).Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. New York: Routledge. Other critical discourse analysis texts:
Gee, J.P. (2005). An introduction to Discourse Analysis. New York: Routledge.
Gee, J.P., Hull, G., and Lankshear, C. (1996). The new work order: Behind the language of the new capitalism. Westview Press.
Janks, H. (1997). Critical Discourse Analysis as a research tool. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Studies of Education. 18(3), 329-42.
March. 5: Neoliberal/Neoclassical Economics
Required Readings:
Anderson, Gary L. (2009). Advocacy Leadership: Toward a post-reform agenda. New York: Routledge. (Chapter 6: Toward a post-reform agenda)
Friedman, Milton. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Preface, Chapters 2 and 6)
Naomi Klein:
Wall Street Crisis Should Be for Neoliberalism What Fall of Berlin Wall Was for Communism.
See also (not required):
Chubb, J.E. and Moe, T.M. (1990). Politics, markets, and America's schools. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.
Friedman, Milton. (Feb. 19, 1995). Public schools: Make them private The Washington Post.
Milton Freidman interview:
Hoover Institution videos:
Noam Chomsky, Howard Gardner, BrunodellaChiesa: Paulo Freire and “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”:
March. 12: Neoliberalism
Required Readings: (Jigsaw for Harvey chapters)
Harvey, David. (20005). A brief history of neoliberalism. London: Oxford University Press. (Introduction and chapters one, two, three, six, seven)
See also (not required)
David Harvey on HardTalk
March. 19: Spring break (No class)
March 26: New Public management
Due: Mini-assignment #2: Read Ward (2011), summarize the main tenets of New Public Management (NPM), and discuss how the article you chose (Montecinos, et. al., Black, or Court) implicitly or explicitly uses these concepts as a framework for their analysis. (2-3 pages)
Ward, S. (2011). The machinations of managerialsim: New public management and the diminishing power of professionals. Journal of Cultural Economy, 4(2), 205-215.
Montecinos, C. Pino, M., Campos-Martinez, J. Dominguez, R, Carreno, C. (2013).Master teachers as professional developers: Managing conflicting versions of professionalism. Educational Management, Administration & Leadership, 1-18.
Black, W. (2008). The contradictions of high stakes accountability “success”: A case study of focused leadership and performance agency. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 11(1), 1–22.
Court, M. (2004). Talking back to New Public Management versions of accountability in education: A co-principalship’s practices of mutual responsibility. Educational management administration & Leadership, 32, 171-194.
See also (not required):
Fusarelli, L. & Johnson, B. (2004). Educational governance and the new public management.Public Administration and Management, 9(2), 118-127. (While out of date, this article provides a good U.S.-based primer for those unfamiliar with NPM).
Arellano-Gault, D. (2010). Economic NPM and the need to bring justice and equity back to the debate on pubic organizations. Administration and society, 42(5), 591-612.
April 2: New Policy Networks: Philanthropy, Special Interests, and Markets.
Due: Mini-assignment #3: Choose an educational reform and research the policy network promoting the reform (e.g., venture philanthropists, think tanks, edu-businesses, policy entrepreneurs, etc.) 3-4 pages.
Required readings:
Scott, J. (2009). The politics of venture philanthropy in charter school policy and advocacy, Educational Policy, 23(1), 106-136.
Mini-assignment #4: Think tank paper (due next week). Do a cursory critical discourse analysis of the following three think tank websites (especially concerning education policies). How does their language indicate where they fall on the political spectrum? To what extent does their language fit ideologically into “right” or “left”? How do they use images? Do a little research on their board members. What policy networks do they belong to? Who funds these think tanks?
Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), Institute for Policy Studies,The American Enterprise Foundation.
See also (not required)
Anderson, G.L. & DonchikMontoro, L. The Privatization of education and policy-making: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and network governance in the United States. AERA presentation
DeBray-Pelot, E., Lubienski, C. and Scott, J. (2007) The Institutional Landscape of Group Politics and School Choice', Peabody Journal of Education, 82(2),204-230.
Pedroni, T. C. (2007).Market Movements: African American involvement in school voucher reform. New York: Routledge.
Janelle Scott (Intro)
April 9: Neoliberalism and Educational Leadership
Gewitz, S. (2002).The Managerial School: Post-welfarism and social justice in education.London: Routledge. (chapters 2,3,4)
Anderson, G. L. (2009). Advocacy Leadership: Toward a post-reform agenda. New York: Routledge. (Chapter 4: Disciplining leaders: Mediating the new economy)
See also (not required):
Gunter, Helen (2011). Leadership and the reform of education. London: Polity Press.
Anderson, G.L., Mungal, A., Pini, M., Scott, J., Thomson, P. (in press). Policy, Equity, and Diversity in Global Context: Educational Leadership after the Welfare State. Handbook of Educational Leadership for Equity and Diversity.AERA, Sage Pub. (On Blackboard)
April 16: The new Audit Culture/Performativity
Ball, S. (2001). Performativities and fabrications in the education economy: Towards the performativesociety. In D. Gleason & C. Husbands (Eds.), The performing school: Managing, teaching and learning in a performance culture (pp. 210–226). London: Routledge/Falmer.
Cohen, M. (2013). In the back of our minds always’: reflexivity as resistance for the performing principal.International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-22.
See Stephen Ball video:
April 23: School-Business Partnerships
Guest speakers:
Required Readings:
DiMartino, Katherine, (2006). Public-Private partnerships and the new small schools movement.Dissertation Proposal, NYU.
See also (not required)
Minow, Martha (2002). Partners, not rivals: Privatization and the public good. Boston: Beacon Press.
April 30: Analyses of dissertations
Select one dissertation from Appendix B and come to class prepared to answer the following questions: What are the research questions? Are they clear? Focused? How are they “pushing” on the literature? What methods were used to answer the questions? What data was gathered? Be specific. How was data analyzed? How was data displayed? What were the findings? Did the author address both agency and structure (micro-macro)? If so, how?
May 7: Presentations
Appendix A: Additional Books on Leadership and School Reform in the New Economy (not required):
Neoliberalism:
Boggs, C. (2000). The end of politics: Corporate power and the decline of the public sphere. New York: The Guilford Press.
Harvey, D. The enigma of capital and the crises of capitalism. New York: Oxford University Press
Peck, J. (2010). Constructions of neoliberal reason. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sennett, Richard (1998). The Corrosion of Character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York: W.W. Norton.
Sennett, Richard (2006). The culture of the new capitalism. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Neoliberalism and Education (Pro-neoliberal):
Chubb, J., & Moe, T. (1990). Politics, markets, and America’s schools. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institute.
Hanushek, E., Peterson, P., Woessman, L. & Summers, L. (2013). Endangering prosperity: A global view of the American school. Brookings Institution Press.
Hess, F. (2008). The Future of Educational Entrepreneurship: Possibilities for School Reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Press.
Hess, F. and Horn M. (2013). Private Enterprise and Public Education. New York: Teachers College Press. Hess, Frederick (2008). The future of Educational Entrepreneurship: Possibilities for school reform. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.
Hill, Paul (2010). Learning as we go: Why school choice is worth the wait. Stanford: CA: Hoover Institution Press.
Hoxby, C. (2003). The economics of school choice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Peterson, Paul. (Ed.) (2006). Choice and competition in American education.Lenham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Peterson, P. (2003). The future of school choice. Palo Alto, CA: Hoover Institution Press.
Walberg, H. and Bast, J. (2003). Education and Capitalism: How overcoming our fear of markets and economics can improve America’s schools. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press.
Neoliberalism and Education (anti-neoliberal):
Anyon, Jean (2005). Radical Possibilities: Public Policy, Urban Education, and a New Social Movement. New York: Routledge.
Apple, M. (2006). Educating the ‘right’ way: Markets, standards, God, and inequality. New York: Routledge.
Apple, M., Kenway, J. and Singh, M. (Eds.) (2005). Globalizing education : policies, pedagogies, & politics. New York : Peter Lang.
Dolby, Nadine; Dimitriadis, G. and Willis, P. (Eds.) (2004). Learning to labor in new times. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
Gabbard, D. (2007). Knowledge and power in the global economy: The effects of school reform in a neoliberal/neo-conservative age. New York: Routledge.
Harris, S. (2007). The governance of education : how neo-liberalism is transforming policy and practice. London ; New York, NY : Continuum International Pub.
Hyslop-Margison, E. and Sears, A. (2006).Neo-liberalism, globalization and human capital learning : reclaiming education for democratic citizenship. Dordrecht, The Netherlands : Springer.
Lipman, Pauline (2004). High stakes education: Inequality, globalization, and urban school reform. New York: Routledge.
Peters, Michael (2001). Poststructuralism, Marxism, and Neoliberalism. Boston: Rowman and Littlefield.
Porfilio, B. and Malott, C. (Eds.) (2008). The destructive path of neoliberalism: An international examination of education. Sense Publishers.
Segall, William (2006). School reform in a global society. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Neoliberalism, Education and Democracy:
Abernathy, S.F. (2005). School choice and the future of American Democracy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Duggan, L. (2003). The twilight of equality: Neoliberalism, cultural politics, and the attack on democracy. Boston: Beacon Press.
Engel, M. (2000). The struggle for control of public education.Market ideology vs. democratic values. Philadelphia: Temple University.
Plank, D. and Boyd, W. L. (1994).Antipolitics, education, and institutional choice: The flight from democracy. American Educational Research Journal, 31(2), 263–281.
Wolf, P. and Macedo, S. (2004). Educating citizens: International perspectives on civic values and school choice. Washington, D.C.: Brooking Institution Press.
New Policy/Advocacy Networks
Ball, S. (2012). Global Education, Inc.: New policy networks and the neoliberal imaginary. New York: Routledge.
Ball, S. and Junemann, C. (2012). Networks, new governance and education. Chicago: Policy Press.
Ball, S. (2009A) 'Privatising education, privatising education policy, privatising educational research: network governance and the 'competition state'', Journal of Education Policy, 24 (1), 83 -99.
Ball, S. (2009B). Beyond networks? A brief response to “which networks matter in education governance.” Political Studies 57, 688-691.
Ball, S. (2008). New Philanthropy, New Networks and New Governance in Education, Political Studies, 56 (4), 747–65.
Henry, A. (2011). Ideology, Power, and the Structure of Policy Networks.The Policy Studies Journal, 39(3), 361-383.
Rhodes, R. A.W. (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance, Reflexivity and Accountability. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Neoliberalism, Education and Race:
Barlow, Andrew (2003). Between fear and hope: Globalization and race in the United States. New York: Rowan and Littlefield.
Lipman, Pauline (2011). The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city. New York: Routledge.
Scott, J. (Ed.) (2005). School choice and diversity: What the evidence says. New York: Teachers College Press.
Stullberg, Lisa (2008). Race, schools, and hope: African-Americans and school choice after Brown. New York: Teachers College Press.