This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Urban Affairs Association. In this paper, the authors explore the transition from the previous reform era in Philadelphia to a radically different landscape of relationships and power, under the diverse provider model. The authors draw on the works of scholars of the civic context of school reform in order to illuminate the political dynamics in Philadelphia. They describe the strategies the new CEO has used to find a place for groups that had been a part of the anti-privatization effort in his vision of reform, and raise questions about whether this type of ‘inclusion’ has blunted critique of a new corporate reform or has the potential to lead to substantive modifications of it.
Civic Leadership & State Takeover in Public Education: Conflict or Convergence
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