Professionalism and Parents: A New Frame for Color-Blind Racism in Schooling

Abstract

This study deconstructs the racial dimension of teacher resistance to parent authority within the shared social institution of education. More specifically, we examine how teachers responded to a teacher evaluation policy that included a parent-based component to assess teacher quality. Using framing theory, this study illustrates the use of professionalism as one mechanism connecting teachers’ individual actions to broader sociocultural experiences of privilege and oppression. To illustrate the anatomy of color-blind framing, we deconstruct three tactics teachers used when framing their resistance to parents: minimizing professional responsibility for engaging parents, masking racist perspectives through geographic and social distance, and misdirecting attention away from parents’ rights to judge education as a public good.