Education Policy Speaker Series

Dr. Erica O. Turner
Associate Professor – University of Wisconsin, Madison

Erica O. Turner is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and an affiliate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. Her research examines racism and inequity—and efforts to challenge those—in education policy and practice.

In this talk, Dr. Erica Turner will discuss her new book, Suddenly Diverse: How School Districts Manage Race and Inequality (University of Chicago Press, 2020). Drawing on ethnographic and comparative case study methods and critical race theories, the book delves inside two midwestern school districts, chronicling how district leaders attempted to address increasing inequality and diversity while grappling with pressures associated with major economic, political, and demographic shifts confronting school districts across the U.S.. Through the notion of “race-evasive managerialism,” she explains how and why these two districts–one relatively well off and more progressive, one conservative and more working class–adopt similar, business-inspired policy approaches that do not fully address the inequality and diversity district leaders faced. Indeed, these efforts perpetuate existing inequalities and advance new forms of racism.