By Laurel White
A School of Education faculty member’s research on how state-driven charter school growth can reshape political power and city development recently earned a nationally-competitive Pipeline Grant from the Russell Sage Foundation.
Rachel Elizabeth Williams, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies, will use the funds to continue her examination of a state-backed charter school growth plan in Memphis, Tenn. Williams began her study of the initiative in 2020 as part of her dissertation, which recently received an Outstanding Dissertation Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA)’s educational policy and politics division.
Williams’ interest in state-backed charter school growth initiatives stemmed from her own academic roots in New Orleans. New Orleans’ charter school growth plan in the wake of Hurricane Katrina has earned widespread national attention, emulation, and scrutiny. Williams says her examination of the Memphis initiative, which was modeled after New Orleans, is not simply focused on whether the changes “work” in improving school performance.
Instead, Williams’ research focuses on the political dynamics at play during such changes, as well as the relationship between charter schools and city development.
“I’m looking into how a state takeover of a traditional public school district in a majority Black town in a conservative, predominantly white state creates tensions and has potential implications for our democracy,” she explains. “These initiatives strongly relate to issues like new modes of segregation, such as county secession, and how charter schools can reshape majority Black cities surrounded by majority white suburbs.”
Over the next year, Williams will conduct interviews, review a wide array of historical and contemporary policy documents, and use digital tools to create community maps. The maps will seek to illustrate how neighborhoods may have changed in the wake of Memphis’ charter growth initiative.
The Russell Sage Foundation awarded the grant, which is accompanied by mentorship, in partnership with the Economic Mobility and Opportunity program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Seventeen scholars from across the country received the awards. According to the foundation, the grants are aimed at supporting early career scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences and/or who are employed at under-resourced institutions, promoting racial, ethnic, gender, disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity.