Editor's Introduction
" #CritEdPol: Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies at Swarthmore College: Vol. 1 :
Iss. 1
Editor 's Introduction
Edwin Mayorga
Swarthmore College
emayorg
@swarthmore.edu
Follow this and additional works at; https; //works; swarthmore; edu/critedpol
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Editor’s Introduction
It is with the utmost joy that I welcome readers to the first issue of #CritEdPol,
A Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies at Swarthmore College. After nearly
15 years of educator-scholar-activism (Suzuki & Mayorga, 2014) in New York City,
I arrived at Swarthmore College in August of 2014 ready to teach, research, and
engage in addressing the social conditions that shape education and the broader
society. I do not privilege any one area of “the work” over the others, but instead
attempt to hacer trenza (braid) these different strands
(Gonzalez, 1998)
. I approach
working with my students as invitation to do this kind of braiding work, and thus
was born the Critical Education Policy Studies group (CEPS) and soon after our
journal #CritEdPol.
So what is the purpose of #CritEdPol and what do we, the CEPS study group,
mean by critical education policy studies? #CritEdPol is an open access, online,
journal that centers on the perspectives and ideas of undergraduates and “on the
ground” education advocates (teachers, youth, families, organizational activists, etc)
as a means to make education policy accessible to a broader cross-section of people
invested in the issues that shape education today. As we mention in our description
of the journal, “#CritEdPol is a space for critical discussions of education policies
and education-related issues, and their relationships to various communities and
educational practice.” By creating a space where the ideas and voices of those who
are often directly affected by education policy formations but at the same time on
the margins of policy, we hope to contribute to enriching policy conversation and
being part of a push toward more responsive and just education policy.
But, what do we mean by doing critical education policy studies? To us, doing
critical work is an evolving perspective that counters views that frame policy as apo
litical, intrinsically technical, rational, action-oriented instruments used by decision
makers to solve problems2. Instead we view policy as social phenomena that are con
nected to socio-historical context, ideologies, institutions, and individuals involved
in the formation and implementation of policy. As such we are not so much thinking
about policy but instead “thinking through”
(Shore & Wright, 1997)
educational pol
icy and the many intricacies that are involved in forming a policy and its subsequent
material and cultural effects.
Of course tied to thinking through policy is writing. Underlying the journal is the
notion that “writing is thinking”
(Stevens & Cooper, 2009)
. A common narrative
about writing is that you only write when you have completed all research and are
ready to “dump” all that you have learned into a formal paper. Moving away from
this narrative I envision writing an article for #CritEdPol as a stopping point in a
longer arch of inquiry that the author is following. In this first issue, I asked the
authors to engage in a process of thinking and writing that follows our developing
critical education policy framework. They were asked to, among other things, identify
the policy problem, critique extant policy work, map who the policy actors involved
in the issue are, and consider future directions.
The writing process in this issue was wonderfully supported by the good people at
Swarthmore College’s Writing Program. Under the guidance of Jill Gladstein, direc
tor of our Writing Program, and Maggie Christ, our indispensable Writing Associate
(WA), the authors spent the last few months going through the process of drafting
and refining their pieces (all while balancing their other academic work). After they
had submitted their papers, the authors commented how much they enjoyed being
able to think through both the content and structure of their writing. In the end
this experience was, in my mind, a fine example of writing as thinking, and now that
the pieces are presented in the journal the authors are inviting readers to think along
with them.
The authors address education policy questions and problems that are as broad
and deep as the field is. We begin with the fight for ethnic studies in California
public schools. Tania Uruchima looks at this policy issue from two angles: the
legislative push for the state to take action, and grassroots organizing by community
organizers, students, teachers, parents, and others. Looking at the convergence of
these two narratives, Uruchima argues that policy work in California must focus on
funding and facilitating the centering of grassroots voices within this policy struggle.
Elias Blinkoff takes readers into the area of dyslexia on the state and federal lev
els. Blinkoff argues that “desp (...truncated)