This document discusses power and authority in education systems. It begins by noting that while access to education aims to promote equality of opportunity, hierarchies of power and authority still impact education. It then outlines several sub-topics that influence these systems, including empowering students, teachers unions, teaching for equity, the effects of poverty on education, and state-level administration and policy.

1. Power and Authority in Education

2. Overview
Access to free education is hailed as one of the hallmarks
of a modern society and is often considered a great equalizer
of opportunity and equality for its members. However, the
hierarchy of power and authority that exists in society affects
the education system in a variety of ways.
The ways that students, teachers, public officials, and
community members organize and influence this system leads
to important questions about how we can best operate within
the ethical, legal, and practical frameworks that make up
education today.

3. Sub-Topics
• Empowering Students (Student Voice)
• Teachers Unions
• Teaching for Equity
• Poverty’s Effects on Education
• State-Level Administration and Policy

4. Empowering Students (Student Voice)
• Student voice can be described as students
contributing to educational planning, research and
reform (Cook, 2014). Student voice can also be
referred to as student empowerment, student
leadership or youth activism.
• Empowering students means giving students a say in
how they are being educated. Examples of student
empowerment include: student/teacher curriculum
writing, student ambassador programs, student
council, and student leadership groups.

5. Empowering Students (Continued)
A: What happens in schools when we do empower students?
Pedersen, et al studied how student leadership opportunities at the elementary school
level impact school community. The results from Pedersen’s study were quite impressive.
Of the teachers and administrators involved in completing the survey, 77% said the student
ambassadors made a significant positive impact on character development of ALL students.
82% of educators involved believed the Ambassador Program made a significant positive
impact on school climate. And 86% of respondents wanted to see the Ambassador
Program continue at their school (Pedersen, et al, 2012).
B: How can schools and classrooms empower students and help foster leadership
amongst their students?
The Student Leadership Challenge is an accessible way to foster leadership qualities
within a school community. It operates under a model of five practices of exemplary
leadership. These practices are: Model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the
process, enable others to act, and encourage the heard. “The most important personal
quality people look for and admire in a leader is personal credibility. Credibility is the
foundation of leadership. If people don’t believe in the messenger, they won’t believe the
message. Titles may be granted but leadership is earned,” (Kousez, Posner). By introducing
students to the methods discussed in the Student Leadership Challenge, schools can
empower students and help foster leadership skills amongst their learners.

6. Empowering Students (Continued)
• What happens when we empower students?
-Explore the following links to get an idea of what happens when we give
more power to our students:
-Student Voice
-Student Empowerment
– How can schools and classrooms empower
students and help foster leadership amongst their
students?
- Explore the links below to see how educators can help
foster leadership and student voice:
- YATST
- Student Leadership Challenge

7. Teachers’ Unions
• How strong are teachers’ unions?
– Who dictates this?
– What are the implications of those who try to quantify
this?
– See: How Strong Are Teachers’ Unions? A State-by-
State Comparison
– This study is by Sen. Teresa Ruiz/NJ
• Brainchild behind NJ Achieve
• Backs Education Reform Now
• Opposes teachers’ unions

8. Unions and the Government
• Nationally
– Unions have been affected by NCLB
– Union contributions to political funding
– See Teachers’ Unions and the War Within
• State Wide
– Teacher evaluation systems
– Campaign financing
– Collective bargaining

9. Social Justice Teaching
• One way to meet the needs of diverse learners
is through social justice teaching.
– Social justice teaching is a philosophy in education
that weaves social justice topics and issues in the
curriculum of any subject area in order to
promote equity among all students and to give
students a voice in their classroom and beyond.
Making Numbers Count

10. Critical Theory and Social Justice
• Social justice teaching is rooted in critical theory, which is a theory
that helps with the understanding of society but it is aimed towards
critiquing and changing society as a whole.
• Paulo Freire is one of the key names associated with the idea of
teaching for social justice.
• His book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, discusses teaching within the
system that exists but giving students the knowledge to overcome
the oppression that they encounter.
• It is about giving students the ability to thrive academically but also
develop a sociopolitical consciousness, a positive social and cultural
identity.
• Equality is not enough. People have differences and it is important
to value those differences and not necessarily treat everyone
exactly the same.

11. Freire on Power and Teaching to Think
Critically
• Paulo Freire
– Focus on 3:50-5:50 where he discusses language
and power
• Social Justice Teaching
– Teaching teachers to think critically so they can do
the same with their students through social justice
projects

12. Social Justice Pedagogy (SJP)
• There are four ideas of social justice teaching that have
social and educational impacts:
– High quality subject matter instruction for all
– A curriculum focused on experiences of marginalized
students
– Use of Subject matter as a critical tool to understand:
• Social life
• One’s position in society
• Issues of power, agency, and oppression
– Use of subject matter to transform society into a more just
system.
The nuances and complexities of teaching mathematics for
cultural relevance and social justice

13. It is clear that poverty is crippling the education system
because we do not have the tools to overcome this
uncontrollable factor.
•In a majority of research surrounding issues of poverty it is documented
that schools in the United States are highly segregated by income, social
class and race/ethnicity (Rumberger, 2013).
.

14. Effects of Poverty on Students
• Students who live in poverty and/or dropout and do not receive a diploma
are less likely to find a job; however, they are more likely to rely on public
assistance and engage in crime (Rumberger, 2013).
• A large percentage of research shows that children in poverty do worse by
many academic measures.
• Olivares-Cuhat (2011) states, “Over the past ten years, 4th and 8th graders attending
high-poverty schools in the United States have obtained lower reading, math, visual arts
and music test scores on average than their counterparts in low-poverty schools

15. How does this impact teachers?
• Darling-Hammond (2015) reminds us that the teaching profession
has become much more demanding because of outside factors, like
poverty, being brought to the forefront in a large percentage of our
nation’s school districts. It is stated that teachers:
work more hours in total each week than their global
counterparts (45 hours per week versus the TALIS average of
38), with less time in their schedules for planning,
collaboration, and professional development. This schedule—
a leftover from factory-model school designs of the early
1900s—makes it harder for our teachers to find time to work
with their colleagues on creating great curriculum and
learning new methods, to mark papers, to work individually
with students, and to reach out to parents. (Darling-
Hammond, 2015, p. 16)

16. State Level Administration and Policy
• State policy, legislature, and governance influence the
day-to-day operations of educators across the nation
and determine the direction of educational progress.
The decisions made at this level are often controversial
and can be influenced by political pressure from
lobbying groups, corporations, unions, and voter-
constituents.
• The state should ideally function cooperatively with
teachers, students, and local bodies to ensure a quality
education system for all parties involved. Some ways
that the state does and does not fulfill these goals are
listed below.

17. Successes
• Issues such as school
funding, teacher
certification, and curriculum
design are often dealt with
in a centralized, state
department of education.
Although many of these
issues are controversial in
and of themselves, the
need for a centralized
authority on some issues is
widely recognized as a
necessary part of a
successful and efficient
education system
• YATST and engageNY are
examples of programs that
benefit from the large-scale
state sponsorship and
administration. These
programs provide state-
wide frameworks and
curriculum resources to
teachers, students and
parents and are particularly
effective due to their easy
access and consistency
across the state.

18. Controversy
• States are often criticized for
their practices in determining
school funding across diverse
demographic areas (rural vs
urban, etc). One example of this
is Title I funding. Schools must fall
into specific categories of need
and performance in order to
qualify for funding under these
guidelines. Often, these criteria
are criticized as being
unsophisticated and failing to
provide funding equitable and
perpetuating a pattern of cyclical
poverty and underachievement.
• Elected state leaders and
teachers unions often struggle to
cooperate and become fiercely
opposed. This is particularly
apparent currently in NY with
Cuomo’s proposed reforms being
strongly protested by NYSUT, and
in NJ where some teachers are
working without a union contract.
Often the desires and demands of
teachers’ unions are opposed to
what is politically advantageous
for public officials.

19. References
• [Coming soon]