The Complex Web of Inequality in North American Schools analyzes and challenges the critical gaps and inequalities that persist in the American school system. Showing how historical biases have been inherited in current polices relating to non-dominant youth, the text calls for educational reforms that perform in the name of social justice.

Gilberto Q. Conchas is Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of California, Irvine, USA.

Briana M. Hinga is Assistant Professor of Clinical Education at the University of Southern California, USA.

Miguel N. Abad is Doctoral Candidate in Educational Policy and Social Context at the University of California, Irvine, USA.

Kris D. Guiterrez is Professor of learning sciences, research methodology, policy, and literacy at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Examining the role that policy reform plays in shaping school systems, this edited collection critically interrogates educational policies that marginalize the most marginalized populations in schools. The original case studies highlight how inequities persist or have worsened for the most vulnerable populations when structures, practices, and/or beliefs are not adequately addressed through policy reform. Chapter authors consider how numerous policy reforms have failed to eradicate opportunity gaps between economically rich and poor students, between white and Asian students versus Black and Latino students, for Second language Learners, and other marginalized populations in the US and internationally. The insights into such policies shed light on the complex web of historically embedded inequities that continue to shape the construction, roll-out, and consequences of education policy for the most at risk populations today.

Part I: Overview 1. When Policy Reform Really Means Restructuring an Unethical World in a way that Allows us to Sleep at Night PART II Silences Voices 2. "How long do we have to wait?": Re-conceptualizing "diversity policy" as a racial formation (Sophia Rodriguez) 3. Unfinished Bridges over the Digital Divide: A Case Study in 1:1 Technology and Community Engagement (Stacy Gherardi) PART III Accounting for History and Structure 4. Preschool to Prison Pipeline: Special education, discipline, and the unintended consequences of IDEA (Green and McKenzie) 5. The intended and unintended Consequences of School Turnaround: A case study of

an American Indian District's Experience (James Lopez) 6. Inequities and Policy: Racial Disproportionality in Special Education (Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides) 7. (Dis)Connected: Youth Peer Culture During a Racial/Ethnic Integration Reform (Campos-Holland and Hall) PART IV The Reification Role of Assessments

8. How free market approach to charter schools has failed the minority students that were intended to benefit the most (Brittany Larkin) 9. "PAAP Season": A case study in good intentions and unintended consequences for students with significant cognitive disabilities (Maria Timberlake) PART IV Acknowledging Embedded Systems 10. Under Pressure: School-Level Factors that Facilitate or Resist Subgroup Accountability Pressure (Rachael Garver) 11. Zero Tolerance, Safe Schools, and the Police State of U.S. Schools (Paula Smith). Part V Epistemological Contradictions 12. The Case of Florida's Extended Reading Time Policy (Carrie L. Gentner) 13. Turnaround and its Intentions (James Wright) Part VI The Role of Critical Education 14. Education for What and Whom?: The Conflicting Aims and Results of an Upward Bound Program (Kevin Clay)15. Educating the undisciplined: Separate but equal? (Eleni Natsiopoul) 16. Conclusion: Insight from the forest and the weeds (Briana Hinga, Gilberto Q. Conchas, Kris D. Gutiérrez)