Judith Kafka

Education

Ph.D., Educational Policy, Univ. of CA, Berkeley

M.A., Education, Univ. of CA, Berkeley

B.A., History, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Books

Kafka, J. (2011). The History of "Zero Tolerance" in American Public Schooling. New York, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

Journal Articles

(2023). Happiness Oriented Parents: An Alternative Perspective on Privilege and Choosing Schools. American Journal of Education, 129(2). 145-176. In Progress.

(2023). Growing up Together: Brooklyn's Truant School and the Carceral and Educational State, 1857-1924. Journal of Urban History,

(2023). Interest Convergence and Market-based School Reform: The Promise and Limits of Using Controlled Choice to Desegregate Schools. The Urban Review,

Kafka, J., & Matheny, C. (2022). Racial Integration, White Appropriation, and School Choice: The Demise of the Colored Schools of late Nineteenth Century Brooklyn. Journal of Urban History, 48(1). 35-62.

(2022). When Information Isn't Enough: School Choice, Segregation and the Elusive Notion of Fit. Teachers College Record, 124(4). 95-123.

Kafka, J., & Matheny, C. (2021). Boundary Matters: Uncovering the Hidden History of New York City’s School Subdistrict Lines. AERA Open, (7).

Jewett, P. I., Gangnon, R., Kafka, J., Areba, E., Malecki, K., & Borowsky, I. W. (2021). Weapon-Carrying among Boys in US Schools by Race/Ethnicity: 1993-2019. Pediatrics, 148(1).

Waisanen, D., & Kafka, J. (2020). Conflicting Purposes in U.S. School Reform: The Paradoxes of Arne Duncan's Educational Rhetoric. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 23(4). 637-674.

(2009). "Shifting Authority: Teachers' Role in the Bureaucratization of School Discipline in Postwar Los Angeles". History of Education Quarterly, 49(3). 211-246.

(2009). "The Principalship in Historical Perspective". Peabody Journal of Education, 84(3). 318-330.

(2008). "Disciplining Youth, Disciplining Women: Motherhood, Delinquency and Race in Postwar American Schooling". Educational Studies, 44(3). 197-221.

(2008). "'Sitting on a Tinderbox': Racial Conflict, Teacher Discretion and the Centralizatin of Disciplinary Authority". American Journal of Education, 114(3). 247-270.

(2008). "Thinking Big about Getting Small: An Ideological History of Small School Reform". Teachers College Record , 110(9). 1802-1836.

(2003). "Looking at a Student Work for Teacher Learning, Teacher Community and School Reform". Phi Delta Kappan, 85(3). pp.184-192.

(1997). "Action, Reaction and Interaction: Slave Women in Resistance in the South of San Domingue, 1793-94". Slavery and Abolition, 18(2). pp.48-72.

Book Chapters

Kafka, J. (2024). The Myth of Declining Student Behavior. 23 Myths about the History of American Schools: What the Truth Can Tell Us and Why It Matters (pp. 61-72). New York, New York. Teachers College Press.

Kafka, J. (2019). Inequality in Education. In Rury, J., & Tamura, E. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of Education (pp. 335-354). New York. Oxford University Press.

Kafka, J. (2018). Institutional Theory and the History of District-level School Reform: A Reintroduction. The Shifting Landscape of the American School District: Race, Class, Geography, and the Perpetual Reform of Local Control 1935-2015 (pp. 223-237). New York. Peter Lang.

Kafka, J. (2016). In Search of a Grand Narrative: The Turbulent History of Teaching. Handbook on the Research of Teaching, Fifth Edition (pp. 69-126). Washington, D.C.. American Educational Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2015). Bureaucratizing from the Bottom Up: The Centralization of School Discipline Policy in the United States. Education and the State: International Perspectives on a Changing Relationship (pp. 121-137). Oxford/New York,U.K./U.S.A.. Routledge.

Media Contributions

Wilson, A., & Kafka, J. (2022). NYC Middle Schools Shouldn't Pick their Students, (October 25).

Kafka, J., & Matheny, C. (2020). "The Colored People Have Dispersed": Race, Space and Schooling in Late-19th Century Brooklyn on Gotham Center's Blog..

Kafka, J. (2020). Interview on Have You Heard podcast.

Roda, A., & Kafka, J. (2019). How G&T programs hurt NYC: They create a climate of scarcity and drive segregation inside the system.

Roda, A., & Kafka, J. (2019). Gifted and Talented Programs Are Not the Path to Equity.

Kafka, J. (2017). Order in the Classroom: From Hall Monitors to Handcuffs, Interview segment on NPR's 1A.

Kafka, J. (2016). A Brief History of School Discipline: Interview with APM Reports.

Kafka, J. (2012). Sunday Dialog: Schools for Rich and Poor.

Kafka, J. (2007). "It's Guns, Not School Size".

Presentations

Kafka, J. (2024, October 21). Growing Up Together: Brooklyn’s Truant School and the Carceral and Educational State, 1857-1924 . Biannual Meeting of the Urban History Association. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Urban History Association.

Kafka, J., & Matheny, C. (2024, March 21). Boundary Matters: Uncovering the Hidden History of New York City’s School Subdistrict Lines. : New York City Independent Budget Office.

Kafka, J. (2024, November 21). HES Graduate Student Council Presents: Historians as Co-authors. History of Education Society. Baltimore

Kafka, J. (2024, November 21). Jonna Perrillo’s Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands. History of Education Society. Baltimore

Kafka, J. (2024, March 21). The Twisted Histories of U.S. Schools and Prisons. : Wesleyan University, College of Education Studies.

Kafka, J. (2024, November 21). Social Impact Panel. SEEK. : Baruch College.

Kafka, J., Debs, M., Makris, M., & Roda, A. (2024, September 21). Happiness Oriented Parents: An Alternative Perspective on Privilege and Choosing Schools. : Yale University, Education Studies.

Kafka, J. (2024, June 21). Historical Perspectives on Educational Justice and Injustice. Just Education Policy Institute. virtual

Kafka, J., & Lewis, H. (2024, April 21). NYC’s Entwined History of Housing & Educational Segregation Formative Highlights from the Late 19th and 20th Centuries. Designing Education Symposium, Presented by The Desegregation Think Tank. Virtual: Pratt Institute School of Architecture.

Kafka, J. (2024, April 21). Fireside Chat: A Big Tent, Educational Policy from Diverse Standpoints. American Education Research Association, Division L. San Diego

Debs, M., Kafka, J., Makris, M., & Roda, A. (2024, April 21). Striving for Happy: Privileged Parents and the Social-Emotional Purposes of Schooling. American Education Research Association. San Diego

Kafka, J. (2024, November 21). Schooling and the Carceral State. History of Education Society. Baltimore

Kafka, J. (2021, April 30). “The Social Construction of “Fit”: School Choice, Segregation and the Limits of the Market Model. American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. Virtual: AERA.

Kafka, J. (2021, November 30). “An Institution for Confinement, Betterment, and Education”: The Truant School and the Carceral Continuum in Progressive Era Brooklyn. History of Education Society Annual Meeting. San Diego: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2021, October 31). Threading the Needle: Balancing Core Competencies with Specializations in Undergraduate Public Affairs Education. NASPAA Annual Conference.

Kafka, J. (2019, April 30). Choice, Opportunity Hoarding, and the Social Construction of School Quality. American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. Toronto, CA: American Education Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2019, November 30). Boundaries or Borders? Tracing the History of Brooklyn’s District Lines. History of Education Society Annual Meeting. Columbus, OH: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2018, December 31). "Their Hearts Are in the Right Place": School Segregation and Opportunity Hoarding in Brooklyn. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. New York: American Educational Research Association.

Kafka, J., & Waisanen, D. (2018, April 30). Education as a Civic Marketplace: The Political Rhetoric of Arne Duncan. American Educational Research Association Conference. New York, NY: AERA.

Kafka, J., & Matheny, C. (2018, December 31). Space, Place, and Student Enrollment in Brooklyn’s Colored School No. 1, 1882-1900. History of Education Society Annual Meeting. Albuquerque: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2017, December 31). District Schools without District Boundaries: School Choice, Local Control, and the “Colored” Schools of Nineteenth Century Brooklyn. History of Education Society Annual Meeting. Little Rock, Arkansas: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2016, April 30). In Search of a Grand Narrative: The Turbulent History of Teaching. American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. Washington, D.C.: American Education Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2015, July 31). Education and American Pluralism. MultiInternational Institute of American Studies. NYU: New York University.

Kafka, J. (2014, November 30). What’s the Right Unit of Analysis? Institutional Theory and District Reform. Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society. Indianapolis, Indiana

Kafka, J. (2014, October 31). “'Zero Tolerance' in School Discipline: Where Did It Come from and Where Is It Going?". Invited Lecture. : Syracuse University.

Kafka, J. (2013, November 30). Searching for a Grand Narrative: Using the Instructional Triangle to Review Research on the History of Teaching. Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society. Nashville, TN: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2013, November 6). Zero Tolerance Discipline and the Centralization of Educational Authority, or Why Don’t Teachers Make the Rules Anymore?. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Graduate School of Education.

Kafka, J. (2013, April 30). Historical Perspectives on Teaching. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Francisco: American Educational Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2012, April 30). The Politics of Institutional Change: Institutional Theory and the Case of School Discipline. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Vancouver, BC

Kafka, J. (2012, November 30). Politics and Institutional Change in American Schooling. Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society. Seattle, WA

Kafka, J. (2012, November 30). Manager, Politician, Entrepreneur, Educator: The Role of the Principals in the Context of Choice-based School Desegregation in the 1970s. Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society. Seattle, WA

Kafka, J. (2011, November 30). Leading in a Time of Racial Conflict: The Role of School Principals in the 1960s and 70s. Annual Meeting of the History of Education Society. Chicago, IL: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2011, September 30). When the State Follows its Institutions: School Discipline Policy in the United States. Education and the State. Zurich, Switzerland: University of Zurich.

Kafka, J. (2008, October 31). The Principalship in Historical Perspective (Presented in absentia). History of Education Society Annual Meeting. Tampa, FL: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2008, April 30). ‘Cracking Down’ in the 1970s: Shifting School Discipline away from the Schools. Politics, Activism and the History of America’s Public Schools Conference Marking the 40th Anniversary of Michael B. Katz’s The Irony of Early School Reform. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.

Kafka, J. (2008, March 31). How NYC Principals and Schools Are Rated in the New Model of Accountability. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. New York City: American Educational Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2007, April 30). From 'Vipers' to 'Victims'; Motherhood, Delinquency and School Discipline in Postwar America. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL: American Educational Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2007, August 31). Disciplining Youth, Disciplining Women: Motherhood, Delinquency and the Organization of Schooling in Postwar America. Social Studies Department Professional Development Seminar/ Invited talk. New York City: Stuyvesant High School.

Kafka, J. (2006, April 30). "Thinking Big About Getting Small: A Genealogy of Small School Reform". American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. : American Education Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2006, April 30). Centralizing Authority: The Bottom-Up Bureaucratization of School Discipline in the Los Angeles City School District, 1967-1975. American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA: American Education Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2006, June 30). From Social Movement to Public Policy: An Ideological History of Samll School Reform. Policy History Conference. Charlottesville, VA: Journal of Policy History.

Kafka, J. (2005, November 30). Something Ought to Be Done about Johnny': Motherhood, Delinquency, and School Discipline in the Poswar Era. History of Education Society Annual Meeting. Baltimore, MD: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2004, March 31). We Can Do More With a Boy Before He is Whipped Than We Can After': Discipline and Social Control in American Public Schools, 1790-1950. American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA: American Education Research Association.

Kafka, J. (2004, November 30). Disciplinary Dialectics: Race, Rights, and Punishment Post-Brown. History of Education Society Annual Meeting. Kansas City, MO: History of Education Society.

Kafka, J. (2003, October 31). Condition of Control: The Bureaucratization of School Discipline in the Los Angeles City Schools, 1956-1959. History of Education Society Annual Meeting. Evanston, IL: History of Education Society.

Gearhart, M., Warren Little, J., Curry, M., & Kafka, J. (2002, April 30). Looking at Student Work: Locating Opportunities for Teacher Learning in the Context of Practice. American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA: American Education Research Association.

Warren Little, J., Gearhart, M., Curry, M., & Kafka, J. (2002, April 30). Looking at Student Work for Teacher Learning and School Reform: A Review of Practice and Research. American Education Research Association Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA: American Education Research Association.

Other Scholarly Works

Reviews

Kafka, J. (2020,May 1). Ansley T. Erickson and Ernest Morrell (Eds.). Educating Harlem: A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community. History of Education Quarterly.

Kafka, J. (2005,April 1). Ron Miller. Free Schools, Free People: Education and Democracy after the 1960s; Richard Neumann. Sixties Legacy: A History of the Public Alternative Schools Movement, 1967-2000. History of Education.

Kafka, J. (2004,April 1). Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy. Educational Studies .

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