Dismantled

Dismantled is an accessible, critical look at the devolution of local power in the Detroit public school system. The author examines the rise of charter schools and other private enterprises, the eclipse of control from local actors to new players and influences, and the invaluable lessons the experience holds for urban school systems nationwide. Kang provides a compelling narrative of this shift in power beginning in the 1980s and leading to the breakup of Detroit Public Schools in 2016, and concludes with a discussion on the implications and dilemmas of regime change. The text looks at such questions as: What happens when local actors no longer have a voice in what happens to their schools? What are the consequences when teachers and administrators cede control to private interests and cease to participate in decisionmaking? What are some ways to redirect public schooling toward democracy in the aftermath of dismantling the Progressive Era system?

Book Features:

• Examines how a series of policies dismantled the Detroit Public Schools, resulting in new educational characteristics such as the marketization and privatization of schooling.
• Offers an historical perspective on market-based reform, including why and how race and politics serve as barriers to reform.
• Explains the role and influence of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in the Detroit events.
• Provides a framework from which to envision the next steps for public education in the 21st century.

Leanne Kang is an assistant professor of educational foundations at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“Each chapter of Dismantled pulls the reader deeper into the battle of school reform in DPS, while really expanding understandings of the ways national politics linked to race and policy directly inform state and city politics.”

—Teachers College Record

“Kang makes a compelling case for how state and private actors outside Detroit ‘dismantled’ DPS and established a market system of education that some have labeled the ‘Wild West’ of school reform.”

—History of Education Quarterly

"In Dismantled, Leanne Kang delves deeply into the often-troubled history of publicly funded schooling in Detroit by using the complex story of politics and governance in one city to illuminate how a broad range of educational reform efforts have called into question long-standing assumptions about educational systems. Kang’s lucid account offers an important contribution to our understanding of urban educational change in a moment of upheaval.”
—Katrina Bulkley, professor of educational leadership, Montclair State University

“Grounded in the history of school governance and inequitable schooling opportunities, in particular for African Americans, Kang examines recent history and realities of school governance in Detroit—long one of our nation’s most important sites for understanding educational politics and reform. Dismantled is a narrative that combines foci on race and school inequality, market forces and policies, debates over school district control, the emergence of charter schools in large urban districts, and the role of foundations in contemporary reform to examine the dismantling of Detroit Public Schools in recent years. Such a dismantling occurred through the interplay of battles among state and local policymakers and local community leaders alongside the cementing of market governance. Through this case study, those concerned with urban education will grapple with the ramifications of such governance, including its effects on local school control and the fate of public schools.”
—Michelle A. Purdy, associate professor of education, Washington University in St. Louis

Contents (Tentative)

1. Introduction: What Happened to Public Schools?
Methodology
Organization of the Book

2. A Brief History of School Governance Change in the United States
From Village School to School Board Governance, 1780-1940
The Progressive Era Schooling Regime, 1890-1940
The Black Educational Movement
Dissatisfaction with School Board Governance, 1960s and 1970s
Conclusion

3. DECLINE: The Passage of Proposal A, 1980-1994
The Struggle to Restore School Board Governance: Clashes with the DFT
The HOPE Campaign, 1988-1993
The First Assault: Proposal A
Conclusion

4. DISRUPTION: Mayoral Control of DPS, 1995-2005
Plans for Mayoral Takeover
“This is Not Racism”
Implementation and Failure
Conclusion

5. CRISIS AND SEIZURE: Emergency Financial Management, 2006-2014
Prelude to Emergency Financial Management
Market-Based Reforms Come to Detroit
A Secret Plan: Establishing the Education Achievement Authority
Save Michigan’s Public Schools
Conclusion

6. DISMANTLED: Market Governance and the Rise of Betsy DeVos, 2015-2016
The Final Rescue Plan, a System Up for Grabs
The Rise of DeVos: A Closer Look
Conclusion

7. Conclusion: Who Should Govern Public Schools?
Market Governance, a Third Governing Pattern
Characteristics of Market Governance
Implications of Market Governance
Conclusion

Notes

Index

About the Author