Race, Class, and the Hidden Aims of School Reform


Howard Ryan, West Virgina University

The ostensible purpose of school reform—e.g., to equip students with 21st century skills while holding teachers and schools accountable—is undermined by reform’s high-stakes testing regime that degrades schooling, discourages critical thought, and deepens inequities. Therefore, to make sense of reform and to effectively challenge it requires that we deconstruct the system and uncover its hidden aims. Here, progressive education scholars apply competing frameworks and analytic tools. So, those who embrace race-based frameworks see reform as “an act of white supremacy” (Gillborn 2005), whereas those embracing Marx’s class approach see reform as “part of the grander project of capitalism” (Maisuria 2010). This paper argues that a class analysis provides the most robust tools for identifying reform’s hidden aims, and then demonstrates through a political and policy history the specific role of capitalist actors in bringing test-driven schooling to its current dominance in the United States and globally. The paper also proposes how regressive curriculum, including the suppression of anti-racist pedagogy and programs, tie to larger conservative aims that benefit capitalist hegemony. Finally, the paper offers that clarifying and sharing our respective worldviews can be the starting point for deeper dialogues and the building of stronger, united communities in education and beyond.

This paper will be presented at the following session: