School Reform as a Catalyst for Sustainable and Engaged Communities in the United States: Theoretical Analysis for Regenerative Strategies

School reform, as well as, sustainability has become a rallying cry for groups both globally and locally because it involves issues that touch all of us. The paper applies a qualitative methodology comprised of a theoretical analysis and examination of social sustainability, from the point of view of two pioneering writers on the subject, namely, Jane Jacobs and Lewis Mumford and within the lens of current planning approaches; New Urbanism and Smart Growth. In order to answer key research questions, several key obstacles to social sustainability are explored, as well as, relevant top-down and bottom-up paradigms, namely, structural functionalism, conflict theory and critical theory, along with their views, strengths and weaknesses. Policies on education reform often embody within their core assumptions values and constructions of deservedness, which are often consolidated at the level of policy design and distilled from key assumptions of these three dominant theoretical paradigms. They are often presented as the product of consensus, though in reality they are the result of conflict and dominance of one paradigm over the others, often the one whose proponents have consolidated political power and framed the debate to reflect the issues from their particular perspective. This has serious implications for present and future school reform as a critical measure of socially engaged and sustainable communities.

Keywords: School reform, social sustainability, social conflict, culture, social allocation, social integration, social mobility, stratification, elitism, critical analysis, late capitalism, ethnographies, equal opportunity, educational equity, resource accessibility, value transmission, policy design, policy transparency, engagement, institutional accountability, urban-regeneration, vitality, new urbanism, smart growth.