The Micropolitics of Educational Inequality: The Case of Teacher' Student Assignments

Authors
Jason A. Grissom,
Demetra Kalogrides,
Susanna Loeb
Year of publication
2015
Publication
Peabody Journal of Education
Publisher
Special issue: 2015 Politics of Education Association Yearbook
Volume/Issue
90(5)
Pages
601-614

Politics of education researchers have long recognized the role of micropolitics in school decision-making processes. We argue that investigating micropolitical dynamics is key to an important set of school decisions that are fundamental to inequities in access to high-quality teachers: assignments of teachers and students to classrooms. Focusing on the intraorganizational political power of experienced teachers, our analysis of survey and administrative data from a large urban district suggests that more experienced teachers have more influence over which students are assigned to their classrooms. By a variety of measures, we also find that more experienced teachers are assigned fewer disadvantaged students, on average, a pattern inconsistent with goals of ameliorating educational inequality by matching more qualified teachers with the students who need them most.

Suggested Citation

Grissom, J.A., Kalogrides, D., & Loeb, S. (2015). The Micropolitics of Educational Inequality: The Case of Teacher' Student Assignments. Peabody Journal of Education. Special issue: 2015 Politics of Education Association Yearbook, 90(5), 601-614