Teachers as grantseekers: The privatization of the urban public school teacher

This article explores the impact of grantseeking on urban public school tea chers. It first analyzes how grantseeking, primarily but not exclusively pr omoted by numerous private and corporate foundations, has introduced urban teachers to and fostered among them some of the central tenets of the movem ent to privatize education-to "market" one's teaching as a product and ones elf as a valuable commodity; to embrace competition and the creation of sel f-selected communities; and to replace a commitment to a broad-based democr acy in which the needs of all are met with fulfilling the needs of the "des erving" few. The article next discusses the ways in which specific assumption about urba n teachers have influenced the development of such grant competitions. It a lso discusses the ways these assumptions promote the ability of a very limi ted number of high status urban teachers to successfully compete in such co mpetitions while working to exclude others, particularly teachers of color and those whose native language is not English. The article then presents a case history of one grantseeker to illustrate t he contradictory effects of teachers' participation in privately funded gra nt programs. It ends bz: raising questions about the purpose and effect of grantseeking in education and its Potential role in changing the dominant,m eans of educating children in the United States from a public school system subject to community urine support and governance-in theory if not in prac tice-to an increasingly privatized one.