placeholder

Maia Bloomfield Cucchiara, Assistant Professor,
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

252 Ritter Hall
1301 Cecil B. Moore Ave.
Ritter Hall, College of Education
Philadelphia, PA 19122

phone/fax: (215) 204-8184 / (215) 204-2743
maia.cucchiara@temple.edu

Education

2007, Ph.D.  University of Pennsylvania.  Education and Sociology

1997, M.A.  Teachers College, Columbia University.  Elementary Education

1993, B.A.  Carleton College.  History

Areas of Professional Interest

  • Education Policy and Politics
  • Sociology of Education
  • Urban Education
  • Equity and Access
  • Families and Schools
  • Qualitative Research

I am a sociologist of education focusing on urban education policy.  My research examines urban education policy and its implications for disadvantaged students.  I do this in two distinct ways.  First, I am interested in understanding the impact urban revitalization and redevelopment have on public schools.  My research in this area is designed to provide an understanding of the relationship between public education and deindustrialization, urban revitalization, and other macro-level urban processes.  What role do schools play in 21st century cities?  How do processes such as urban transformation and gentrification affect policy and practice in public schools?   In particular, I am interested in the extent to which these developments ameliorate or exacerbate existing inequalities between students, families, and schools.  Second, I am interested in school reform in Philadelphia and its implications for equity and capacity.  Much of my work on Philadelphia school reform has examined the ways the state takeover of Philadelphia’s schools and the resulting marketization of the district affected civic engagement and civic capacity around education.  I have published in the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, and the Journal of Education Policy.

 

Recent Scholarship

Cucchiara, M., Gold, E., and Simon, E.  (forthcoming/2011) “Contracts, Choice, and Customer Service:  Marketization and Public Engagement in Education.”  Teachers College Record.

Cucchiara, M.  (2010)  “New Goals, Familiar Challenges:  A Brief History of University-Run Schools.”  Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 7 (1).

Gold, E., Simon, E., and Cucchiara, M.  (2010).  “The Prospects for Public Engagement in a Privatizing System:  A Case Study of Philadelphia, 2001-2007.”  In J. Rogers and M. Orr (Eds.).  Public Engagement for Public Education:  Joining Forces to Revitalize Democracy and Equalize Schools.  Stanford, CA:  Stanford University Press.

Cucchiara, M. and Horvat, E.  (2009).  “Perils and Promises:  Middle-Class Parental Involvement in Urban Public Schools.”  American Educational Research Journal, 46 (4):  974-1004.

Gold, E., Cucchiara, M., and Simon, E.  (2009).  “Market-Oriented Education Reforms:  The Cost to Civic Capacity in Philadelphia.”  Voices in Urban Education (23):  5-12.

Cucchiara, M.  (2008).  “Re-Branding Urban Schools: Urban Revitalization, Education, and Marketing Public Schools to Upper-Middle-Class Parents.  Journal of Education Policy, 23 (2):  165-179.