1st Edition
Critical Resource Theory A Conceptual Lens for Identifying, Diagnosing, and Addressing Inequities in School Funding
Critical Resource Theory (CReT) offers an innovative critical perspective on education funding. This new conceptual lens enables school leaders and policy makers to analyze quantitatively school funding policies and practices as a catalyst to make them more equitable. It offers a useful orientation and tool to increase fairness and opportunity in a society that systemically advantages the dominant group with ample resources while it disadvantages others by withholding them. Presenting a balance between the theoretical and its practical application to improve educational outcomes for marginalized children, chapters introduce and discuss this new extension of Critical Theory, validate it as a value-added and complete theory, place it within a broader philosophical framework, and construct its historical, social, political, and educational contexts.
Designed for use in school finance and educational policy courses, this book presents an analytical tool that leaders, scholars, and policy makers can use to alter how they view public funding policies and practices – to question their assumptions about funding and resource allocations, look for, identify, and assess inadequacies and inequities, share their findings, and use these data to shape policy recommendations for increased fiscal fairness and improved student outcomes.
1. Critical Resource Theory 2. Critical Resource Theory’s "Family Tree" 3. Critical Resource Theory and Education Funding Inequities 4. From Courthouse to Schoolhouse: Determining School Funding Equity and Adequacy 5. Colorism, Caste, Structural Racism, and Racial Colorblindness 6. Education: Socializing Children for American Democracy
Biography
Leslie S. Kaplan is a retired teacher, school counselor, and school and district-level administrator and is currently a full-time education writer. She serves on the editorial board of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Bulletin. She is a 2014 National Education Finance Academy Distinguished Fellow of Research and Practice.
William A. Owings is a Professor of Educational Leadership at Old Dominion University, USA. He serves as co-Treasurer of the National Education Finance Academy, is on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Education Finance, and is a 2014 National Education Finance Academy Distinguished Fellow of Research and Practice.
"No other book on finance and schooling combines and integrates deep expertise in both funding and learning. Critical Resource Theory is a unique and deeply insightful book. Kaplan and Owings are an unbeatable pair—they know the theory, they know practice, and above all they know how to put them together. A powerful book at a crucial time. Interesting and full of ideas for understanding and action."
--Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/University of Toronto
"The book makes the technical and complex subject of school finance easily accessible. Students and practitioners alike are in for a treat. But it also makes a valuable substantive contribution to conversations about school resources. It makes clear that our school funding inequities are the product of active choices by state, local, and federal officials and communities, not simply the way things are."
--Derek W. Black, Ernest F. Hollings Chair in Constitutional Law at the University of South Carolina and author, Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy
