The Politics of African-American Education: Representation, Partisanship, and Educational Equity

Kenneth J. Meier · Amanda Rutherford

Aug 2016 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

Based on the 1,800 largest school districts in the United States over a decade, The Politics of African-American Education documents the status of African-American education and the major role that partisanship plays. The book brings together the most comprehensive database on minority education to date that centers around three arguments. First, partisanship permeates African-American education; it affects who is elected to the school board, the racial composition of school administrators and teachers, and the access of African-American students to quality education. Second, African-American representation matters. The effectiveness of African-American representation, however, is enhanced in Democratic districts while representation in Republican districts has little influence. Third, political structures matter, but they are not determinative. Two different structures - election rules and the independent school district - create the rules of the game in US education politics and policy but do not limit others from using those rules to change the outcome.

About the author

Kenneth J. Meier is the Charles H. Gregory Chair in Liberal Arts and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Texas A & M University. He is also a Professor of Public Management at the Cardiff University School of Business. He was formerly the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and the editor of the American Journal of Political Science. He is the founding editor of Perspectives on Public Management and Governance.

Amanda Rutherford is an assistant professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. She is the book review editor for the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and is a member of the Rising Professionals Editorial Board for the Journal of Student Financial Aid. Rutherford's research interests include managerial values and decision making, performance management, organization theory, representative bureaucracy, higher education policy, and research methodology.