The politics of choice: A case study of Latino-centered charter schooling

Employing a case study methodology, this dissertation seeks further understanding of the significance of Latino-centered charter schooling for economically disadvantaged Latino youth in inner-city Philadelphia. The study focuses on the origin and operation of Movimiento Academy Charter School (MACS), a Latino-centered institution that is examined in relation to the politics of race and school choice.;Despite vast research on charter schools, very little is known about the formation and operation of ethno-centered charter schools, or schools that focus on serving a particular ethnic group. Ethno-centered charter schools are becoming increasingly popular in minority communities across the United Sates. However, in the light of post-Brown desegregation politics, critics have portrayed ethno-centered charter schooling as counterproductive to equity efforts in education. Since Brown, school desegregation, as opposed to ethno-specific schooling, has been perceived as the panacea for the educational ills of inner-city minority youth.;This dissertation finds that charter school reform opens key political space that Latinos can tap into in order to create schools where their issues and needs are recognized and prioritized. This study finds that MACS founders' connection with the charter school movement is primarily opportunistic and pragmatic, as opposed to ideological. Founders are not committed to neoliberal market principles. They rather use the opportunity space provided in charter school reform to politicize the needs of Latino youth and to mobilize resources for the creation of a Latino-centered institution. Furthermore, the need for a Latino-centered school is justified through a particular discourse of community empowerment.;This study also reveals how charter school "autonomy" is translated into practice. In implementing founders' vision, MACS operators encounter serious academic challenges. This study shows how the school's leadership and operators deal with challenges in their attempt to build an academically strong school. In this respect, this study highlights how MACS operators utilize increased autonomy to build and shape the school's community, sometimes resulting in sorting and exclusionary practices. Additionally, this study explores students' views of their schooling at MACS.