The Educational Theory Institute 2017
Contesting Public Education: Opting Out, Dissent, and Activism in Education Policy

The Eighth Educational Theory Institute (ETI) was held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from September 20-22, 2017. The journal Educational Theory and the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership co-sponsored this event.

This 2017 theme wasContesting Public Education: Opting Out, Dissent, and Activism in Education Policy. Educational Theory commissioned a team of leading international scholars to produce fresh and substantive contributions for a special issue on this theme, which will be published in volume 69 of Educational Theory. The 2017 participants were:

• Terri S. Wilson, University of Colorado Boulder (co-director)
• Michele M. Moses, University of Colorado Boulder (co-director)
• Amy B. Shuffelton, Loyola University Chicago
• Sarah Stitzlein, University of Cincinnati
• Ashley Taylor, Colgate University
• Quentin Wheeler-Bell, Indiana University Bloomington
• Terrenda White , University of Colorado Boulder

During the first two days of the institute, participants workshopped each other's papers in internal sessions with Educational Theory staff. The Institute culminated on Friday, September 22, with an all-day open conference, that featured the scholars above and the following scholars: David Blacker, Paula McAvoy, andKaine Osburne. The conference included three panels:

1. The History and Politics of Opting Out (Wilson & Moses and Wheeler-Bell)
2. Student Resistance and Teacher Activism (Taylor and White)
3. The Democratic Dimensions of Dissent (Shuffelton and Stitzlein)

Activism and dissent have long histories within public education. Parents, students, teachers, and citizens have protested against a long line of educational reforms and inequities, from racial segregation and school privatization to the adoption of particular educational standards, curricula, and assessments. What democratic aims and challenges emerge when parents, teachers, and students engage in organizing and activism in the name of education justice and against privatized interests in public education? While these are perennial issues in public education, recent political shifts in the U.S. context have the potential to reignite debates about the purposes of public education, the rights of parents to pursue private alternatives, and the potential roles of student and teacher dissent. The questions considered include: What values and claims are at stake when parents and students opt out of education? How do these claims intersect with public goals for education, including equity? How might opting out be understood as a form of dissent, activism and political action? What limitations--if any--should be placed on activism for teachers and students? In what ways might such activism be central to the public aims of education?