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The Politics of Inequality, Social Policy, and Educational Change

This issue of the Peabody Journal of Education is dedicated to exploring “The Politics of Inequality, Social Policy, and Educational Change.” Concerns about the poor quality of public education in the United States have brought about a dizzying (and sometimes confusing) array of educational reforms, including higher standards, accountability, high-stakes testing, Common Core, No Child Left Behind, merit pay, revisions to teacher tenure rules, and school choice, among others (Cross, 2004). These reforms have been controversial and have reaped marginal degrees of success, as discussed below. Changes brought about by reform have subsequently produced some profound shifts in power relationships among stakeholders, particularly increasing state and federal control over education (Fusarelli & Cooper, 2009; Fusarelli & Fusarelli, 2015). Even Hollywood is getting into the act, with releases such as Waiting for “Superman,” which profiles the angst of a handful of students and their families as they try to get their children out of failing public schools, and Race to Nowhere, which looks at the overwhelming stress placed on students, parents, and school staff created by high-stakes testing and accountability systems (DeBray, 2006). However, despite decades of reform, school performance and educational attainment on most international indices (PISA, TIMMS, etc.) remains flat (OECD, 2011). In fact, the United States does not fare well in international comparisons of academic achievement (Sahlberg, 2011), falling near the bottom in many academic ranking categories (UNICEF, 2007). One implication is that many of the educational reforms promulgated in the past three decades, which have been touted as magic bullets to save public education, are incomplete insofar as they fail to adequately address the broader social context within which students live, learn, and increasingly work (Berliner, 2005, 2009; Fusarelli, 2011; Ladd, 2011). It is no coincidence that the United States also fares poorly on international assessments of child well-being, ranking near the bottom on indices such as material well-being, child health and safety, educational well-being, and family and peer relationships (UNICEF, 2007). This issue focuses on the politics of inequality, social policy, and educational change and contains a cross-cutting look at recent trends in child welfare, social policy, and educational attainment in the United States and abroad. In addition, it examines inequality in both the K–12 and higher education realms, because inequalities in K–12 education directly impact and influence inequalities in higher education.