Date Approved
1-8-2025
Embargo Period
2-5-2027
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
Department
Educational Leadership
College
College of Education
Advisor
Ane Turner Johnson, PhD
Committee Member 1
Cecile Sam, PhD
Committee Member 2
David Lindenmuth, EdD
Keywords
Anti-blackness;Critical Policy Analysis;Document Analysis;Race Policy Analysis;School Improvement;Whiteness
Disciplines
Education Policy | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
School improvement (SI) policies provide an opportunity for educational equity. This critical policy analysis (CPA) (Diem & Young, 2015; Diem et al., 2014; Young & Diem, 2017; Young & Diem, 2018) investigated whiteness in school improvement policy documents within and across state and local levels. The study interrogated whiteness within school improvement policy using documents from the New York State Department of Education and New York City Public Schools. The overarching aim of this research was to name and disrupt whiteness, and thereby white supremacy, in school improvement policy by interrogating its presence within documents. This scholarship adds new insights to the critique of school accountability legislation by examining whiteness and racialized discourse practices within SI policy, a previously unexplored area. Analysis revealed how, through hierarchical structures, inequitable resource allocation, and cultural disregard, whiteness was reinforced and validated throughout SI policy documents. Additionally, coded language and deficit discourse pathologized and degraded racialized communities. SI policies failed to address the racial root causes of educational inequity or stratification. The narrative of SI policy reinforced a white supremacist regime that perpetuates traditional power dynamics.
Recommended Citation
Nekulak, Erica Dawn, "INTERROGATING WHITENESS IN EDUCATIONAL POLICY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT POLICY DOCUMENTS" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 3322.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/3322
