In this article, the author discusses the technologies of power in classroom organization practices that occur on two levels: (1) locally, in a study of open-concept, learner-centered classrooms; and (2) discursively, in a commentary on the value of a Foucauldian analysis of power for educators. Foucault's analysis of what the author calls…

In this paper, the authors depict performance ethnography as having multiple ethical dimensions and multiple implications for the relationships between the evaluator and program participants. They have found performance ethnography to be essentially an intimate form of representation that has tremendous implications for the ownership of…

Social mobility carries with it a sense of loss. To be socially mobile is to move from one place, economically, culturally, personally, to another. One consequence of that loss, sometimes, is immobility--a paralysis brought on by the violent, forceful, uncertain rush of social mobility itself. The immobility of fear, the feeling stuck, the not…

In this paper, the author describes his own understanding of the process on how he moved from being a working-class boy who experienced school as a digression from his real interest--sports--to someone who had made education his life work. In particular, he describes his own changing gender, race, and class identity within the context of an…

The author posits that testing teacher quality will not improve education unless people realize how current means of teacher testing could eliminate from teacher preparation the utopian elements that foundations courses present through material from authors such as Maxine Greene, Samuel Bowles, and Herbert Gintis. He presents a history of the…

In this paper, the author explores her experiences growing up of being defined as "different" due to her class background. The author uses the term "difference" to mean how the concept of the "other" is defined and understood in this society. The "other" in this instance are individuals or groups who have existed on the margins of the society;…

In an effort to explore how racial and class oppressions intersect, the authors use their autobiographical narratives to depict cultural and experiential continuity and discontinuity in growing up white working class versus Chicano working class. They specifically focus on "racializing class" due to the ways class is often used as a copout by…

In this article, the author recounts his experiences at Michigan State University during his graduate studies and at Washington University in St. Louis, when he worked as an assistant professor. He focuses his narrative on his struggle to define his quest, to avoid both success and failure. The author was born in a small town in rural Wisconsin…

This paper presents a narrative that explores the author's own life as a woman from a working class background who is now a professor. After situating her work in the small but growing research field about the intersection of social class and academics, the author presents her autobiography by providing a documentary through the three categories…

For the last four decades, students' scores on standardized tests have increasingly been regarded as the most meaningful evidence for evaluating U.S. schools. Most Americans, indeed, believe students' standardized test performances are the only legitimate indicator of a school's instructional effectiveness. Yet, although test-based evaluations of…

Kurt Squire knew something unusual was happening in his after-school Western civ program. His normally lackluster middle and high school students, who'd failed the course once already, were coming to class armed with strategies to topple colonial dictators. Heated debates were erupting over the impact of germs on national economies. Kids who…

Virtual schools make available a world of new courses from obscure electives to advanced placement classes that challenge students intellectually and open up new doors educationally. Thanks to the anytime, anywhere nature of online courses, students with a range of special circumstances (from health issues to job or family constraints) don?t have…

The Child Development Center of the Hamptons (CDCH) is a K?7 charter school founded to educate disabled and nondisabled students side by side in the classroom. Classes are small, averaging 15 students per grade. All students take their courses together, except for special ed pullouts for speech and physical therapy sessions. Each class includes…

It was late August four years ago when I sat down at a scratched wooden desk to begin my first teaching position. I was nervous. I knew that the job, if done right, wouldn't be easy. There would be long hours and little pay. But I also hoped that I could inspire kids the way my best teachers had inspired me. This report discusses the experiences…

Nearly half of all new teachers leave the job within five years. What is killing their spirit? How can they be convinced to stay? This article attempts to answer such questions in presenting one person's account of why she left the teaching profession. Statistical data relating to teacher employment and turnover; reasons for leaving among…